Acts 14 explained: Hailed as Gods, Then Stoned

Welcome and plots in Iconium (vv. 1-7)

As usual they began at the synagogue, the local Jewish meeting place, and many Jews and non-Jews believed, while some who did not believe turned others in town against them. When a plan to stone them took shape, they left for Lystra and Derbe and kept preaching there.

A lame man walks (vv. 8-10)

A man who had never walked listened to Paul, and Paul saw that he trusted he could be healed. At Paul's command he jumped up and walked, a scene that echoes Peter healing a lame man earlier in Acts.

Mistaken for gods (vv. 11-13)

Speaking their local language, the crowd decided Barnabas was Zeus, king of the gods, and Paul was Hermes, the gods' messenger, because he did the talking. A local priest brought bulls and flower garlands to sacrifice to them, perhaps because an old regional story told of these two gods once visiting in human disguise.

"We are only human" (vv. 14-18)

Tearing their clothes was a traditional sign of horror at something offensive to God. Instead of quoting Jewish scripture, they pointed the crowd to the one living God who made everything and shows kindness through rain and harvests, yet they barely stopped the sacrifice.

Stoned and left for dead (vv. 19-20)

Opponents from the earlier towns won the crowd over, and they stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead. Paul mentions being stoned once in one of his letters, and the text does not say whether his recovery was a miracle, only that he got up and left for Derbe the next day.

Going back to strengthen (vv. 21-28)

They returned through the towns where they had been attacked, warning new believers that hardship comes with following God and choosing elders, meaning local leaders, for each group. Back in Antioch in Syria, the church that had sent them, they reported that God had opened the way for non-Jews to believe.

Key verse: Acts 14:27

Something to think about

The same crowd that wanted to worship Paul ended up stoning him. What do you think makes people swing from admiring someone to turning against them?