We have been going through Acts in church, and am still reconciling certain aspects of the texts. We read: ...Yet he did not leave himself without witness, for he did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.” Even with these words they scarcely restrained the people from offering sacrifice to them... It must be recognized that Scripture doesnt record every act, nor every word spoken by either the Apostles or Jesus. We cannot surmise from this that this is not part of a much longer exposition of Jewish texts and of the well known history that happened only a few hundred miles away and had cause regional chaos. ...But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and having persuaded the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead.... As I mentioned before, there were already Jews at Lystra according to the history of town. It was a Roman Garrison city, very cosmopolitan. Lycaonian was a regional dialect, but most likely fully Greek since the region had been Hellenized for over six hundred years. Though no mention of a Jewish Synagogue is made, since there was wealth in the town, it is likely that there was one because there was an existing Jewish population there. One must question, that if the crowd was so bent on sacrificing to Paul and Barnabas, how the Jews from Antioch and Iconium could have riled them. Unless of course, the crowds they riled were the Jews of Lystra and not the native temple cultists. It is highly doubtful that the Jews persuaded those who were eye witnesses who knew the lame man. It should go without saying that the people of Lystra were well aware of the Jewish Scriptures, their history, and the most recent goings on in Judea/Palestine. ...But when the disciples gathered about him, he rose up and entered the city, and on the next day he went on with Barnabas to Derbe. When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.... Acts is a book of miracles. At least early on. Here, again, we see the miraculous work of God in the healing of the lame man, perhaps also in raising up Paul. It is not explicit, but then again, this is Acts, and a lot of information is left to the imagination. But thinking about it. He is dragged, stoned cold out of the city, they supposed him dead... but no one checks for a heart beat or breath? No need perhaps. Being stoned to death is not a pretty way to die, head all smushed and crushed in, and what not. If they dragged him out of the city the probably had good reason to suppose him dead. Perhaps it was the massive loss of blood? Anyway... How did the riotous killers get away with this? Just before we are told that the temple cultists were going to sacrifice to them. Lystra had a Temple at the city gate. It was renowned for it. However, it seems that it was more or less an abandoned following if the Jews could persuade an majority of the crowd that P&B were something other that gods. Luke may just be recording that the crowds that were riled up were Jewish; and that P&B and what they were spreading was anti-Jewish, anti-Jerusalem Temple propaganda, as part of this band of men of the sect called Christians. How did they convince those who had witnessed the healing of the lame man? It would seem a mystery, but perhaps through the same argumentation that the Jerusalem Jews argued against Jesus, e.g., that he healed by the power of the evil one, or that they were speaking against the Temple. Who knows? The fact remains, it most likely wasnt the cultist who stoned Paul, it wouldnt have been the Greeks, they didnt care, it wasnt the pagan Romans who were charged to keep order. What is left are the Jews, and a crowd of them from Lystra at that. One wonders why the Romans didnt do anything to stop what was happening. In any case, the disciples gathered around, and the disciples carried him back into the city (Lystra), and he left with Barnabas the next day. The next day? After a stoning? Wowza! Who were these disciples? Ones Paul just made? Ones who traveled with him? Just how long were P&B in Lystra? Could it have been that there were already disciples there? Dont forget the persecutions and the more than five hundred to whom the Lord appeared. P&B arrived in Antioch and there was already a sizeable collection of disciples there. It is well within reason that refugees had made their way to this region as they had done to others. Beside, we know of men of this region who were in Jerusalem at Pentecost. This gets more complicated seeing that Paul appoints elders from those disciples. Who was not a recent convert? There are two possibilities, a third but it is really a stretch. First, the elders were made up of men who either were eye-witnesses to the resurrection, or close disciples of them, or more long term disciples, obviously studied men perhaps or at least seasoned disciples; second, by some miraculous means God quick-matured these men who would be trusted with the souls of others; third, they were just quick to catch on, sort of instant-elders, just add waters of baptism. I favor the miraculous mixed with men who had long been disciples, who were such even before Pauls conversion. As I said, not all the pieces are put into play in the historic narrative. We had learned in the previous chapter that this was no mean group of men who traveled with Paul. And though as a literary marker we hear of P&B, it is assumed in the text that they were not alone. That may explain the multiple disciples who gather around Paul. It may not. For from this region had come a proselyte from Antioch to be one of the seven in Jerusalem. Known as the cradle of Christianity, Antioch was the hub of missionary endeavor for the region, especially of the gentiles. Lets mention again that God has not left himself without witness. Jesus upon entering a synagogue quotes from Isaiah 61. In that passage there is an outrage to the Jews. As with the fulfilling of the birth of the One, the prophecy of the witness bearing role changing from the Jews to the Gentiles is a threat to the hierarchy of Jewish dominance in biblical revelation. From now on, the nation which was to be a light to the gentiles would be shepherded by the Gentiles: Strangers shall stand and tend your flocks; foreigners shall be your plowmen and vinedressers; (Isaiah 61:5 ESV)... For you are our Father, though Abraham does not know us, and Israel does not acknowledge us; you, O LORD, are our Father, our Redeemer from of old is your name. O LORD, why do you make us wander from your ways and harden our heart, so that we fear you not? Return for the sake of your servants, the tribes of your heritage. (Isaiah 63:16-17 ESV) What an amazing reversal. That is what is happening here. Long before the way was being prepared for the Gentile ascension and the utter destruction of Jerusalems Temple. ...Then they passed through Pisidia and came to Pamphylia. And when they had spoken the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia, and from there they sailed to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work that they had fulfilled. And when they arrived and gathered the church together, they declared all that God had done with them, and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles. And they remained no little time with the disciples... (Acts 14:17-28) Paul and Barnabas had been sent out. We dont know the full intelligence of the operation. What we do know is that they werent the head of the effort, they were men who were working with what had already been established to strengthen it and further establish it for a time when without such miraculous power, the word of God would not fail to accomplish that thing for which it had been sent to do. We are given no time tables in Acts, for certain, no little time, tells us nothing about days. It is almost like a Greek play. The line fades to obscurity, and then the next movement begins. Lukes narrative is remarkable, beauty in motion, hardly taking breath, with the expanse and detail enough, and the brevity adroit in striding to the finish. Between all the sermonizing that can be done and all the speculations that can be made, one thing will remain, it happened. What we have today, as to history a blink of the eye, as to reality the substance evident and faith the ground. If it had not been for men like Paul and Barnabas and a host of others left unnamed, humbled and submitted, the church would have wasted away. Then again, God has not left himself without witness and as he testifies of his own work: A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.” A voice says, “Cry!” And I said, “What shall I cry?” All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the LORD blows on it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. (Isaiah 40:3-8 ESV)
Posted on: Mon, 27 Jan 2014 02:06:47 +0000
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015