Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents

14:1 Paul's witness in Iconium followed the pattern in Pisidian Antioch. He began his witness again in the synagogue (see notes on 13:5; Rom. 1:16).

14:2-3 In Iconium, Paul and Barnabas again faced opposition. So they remained for a long time. In spite of strong opposition, they were able, by the power of the Spirit, to speak boldly and perform signs and wonders, which once again confirmed the truth of the gospel.

14:4 Both Paul and Barnabas are referred to as apostles (vv. 4 and 14). The word (Gk. apostolos) carries the general meaning of "one who is sent" but it is often used throughout the NT in a more technical term for someone specifically chosen and commissioned by Christ for the proclamation of the gospel, as in the case of the original 12 apostles (e.g., Matt. 10:2; 19:28; Mark 3:14; Luke 9:1; Acts 1:2, 15-26). The apostle Paul understood his calling as an apostle to be comparable to the calling of the original Twelve in this technical sense, that is, as one who had seen Christ and who had been specifically chosen and appointed by Christ. This was based on the fact that Paul, on the road to Damascus, had in fact personally seen the risen Christ and had been chosen by Christ (9:15), and that he had been appointed by Christ and sent by Christ (26:16-17) to proclaim the gospel to the Gentiles. (See also Paul's defense of his apostolic calling in 1 Cor. 9:2; 15:7-9; and Gal. 1:1, 12, 16.) Commentators differ as to whether the word "apostles" in Acts 14:4 and 14 refers to Paul and Barnabas as being apostles in the same technical sense as the original Twelve, or whether this is intended in the general sense of "ones who are sent" (cf. 13:2-3, where Paul and Barnabas are "set apart" by the Holy Spirit and "sent . . . off" by the church in Antioch).

14:6 they learned of it and fled. See note on 9:25. Lystra was 20 miles (32 km) southwest of Iconium and Derbe another 58 miles (93 km) southeast. Both were in the district of Lycaonia within the Galatian province. This verse likely implies that Iconium was not a city of Lycaonia (but rather of Phrygia and/or of the province of Galatia); this claim is supported by inscriptions from Iconium in the Phrygian language.