Acts 14: From Altar to Stones

The turn in this chapter is almost dizzying. Paul heals a man lame from birth in Lystra, and the crowd decides he and Barnabas are Hermes and Zeus in human form, ready to offer sacrifices (14:11-13). A few verses later, agitators arrive from out of town and the same general population is stoning Paul and dragging him out of the city for dead (14:19). Adulation and violence, same crowd, barely a page apart.

Read it in the terminal: bible acts 14

We are men, not gods

Paul and Barnabas’s reaction to being worshiped is immediate and physical — they tear their clothes and run into the crowd shouting: “we also are men of the same nature as you, and bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to the living God” (14:15). Refusing worship, here, is itself part of the good news.

Getting up, going back in

After the stoning, Luke’s description is almost too plain: disciples gather around what they assume is a corpse, “he rose up, and entered into the city” (14:20). Paul doesn’t flee to safety first — he walks back into the town that just tried to kill him, and only leaves for Derbe the next day.

Through many afflictions

On the return trip, strengthening the churches they’d planted, Paul is candid rather than triumphant: “through many afflictions we must enter into God’s Kingdom” (14:22). No promise that it gets easier — just elders appointed, prayer, and commendation to the Lord.

Questions for study

1. What does the crowd’s swing from worship to violence reveal about building faith on a crowd’s approval?
2. Why might refusing to be worshiped be as important a part of the gospel as any sermon?
3. What do you make of Paul walking back into the city right after being stoned there?
4. How do you respond to Paul’s claim that affliction, not comfort, is the normal road into the Kingdom?

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