টীকা বর্তমানে শুধুমাত্র ইংরেজিতে উপলব্ধ। বাংলা অনুবাদ চলছে।
Acts 14 — Confirming the Souls of the Disciples
At Iconium many believe; the city is divided; Paul and Barnabas flee. At Lystra Paul heals a man lame from birth; the crowd cries that the gods have come down — Jupiter and Mercurius — and would sacrifice. The apostles tear their clothes and turn the people from vanities to the living God. Jews from Antioch and Iconium arrive; Paul is stoned and dragged out as dead. He rises, returns into the city, and the next day leaves for Derbe. Returning by the same cities they confirm the disciples — we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God — ordain elders, and report back to Antioch.
“Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.”
— Acts 14:22
- v.1-7 Iconium — many believe, then division
- v.8-18 Lystra — healing and worship of the apostles
- v.19-20 Paul stoned and rising
- v.21-28 Strengthening the churches; report to Antioch
The mob that wanted to worship him now stoned him. Adoration and violence in the same crowd, within days. Public mood is fickle; the servant of God cannot live by it.
Supposing he had been dead. They thought they had finished him. The next verse — he rose up, and came into the city — reads like quiet defiance. Whatever they did, they could not unmake what Christ was doing through him.
Through much tribulation. Stated plainly to brand-new converts. Paul did not soften the price of discipleship; he prepared them for it. A faith built on the expectation of ease collapses when ease ends.
Confirming the souls. New believers need not only converts' joy but the strengthening that prepares them to last. Pastoral care includes telling the truth about coming hardship.
Elders in every church, even very young ones. Paul does not leave young congregations leaderless; he plants both seed and structure. Order accompanies grace.
Commended them to the Lord. The final step. They had taught, ordained, prayed — and then handed the young churches back to the Lord they preached. Christian leadership knows when to release. The Lord keeps what is His.
Verse 22 is the verse to give new believers, not the one to hide from them. If you mentor someone fresh to faith, tell them honestly: there will be tribulation. The kingdom is on the other side of trouble. A discipleship that promises sunshine before the storm produces shipwrecks; a discipleship that promises sunshine through the storm produces saints.
Acts 14 closes the first missionary journey. The pattern is set for all that follow — preach Christ, see fruit, suffer for it, strengthen the converts, install leaders, commend them to the Lord. The Lord Himself is the through-line. Paul rises after stoning to carry His Name further; new churches are commended to Him as their keeper. The journey ends as it began — at Antioch, rehearsing what God had done with them.
Men of like passions. Paul refuses adoration. The temptation to be received as a god is one some servants have failed; Paul did not. He insists on his ordinariness.
Turn from these vanities unto the living God. The Lystra sermon is short and creational — God the maker of heaven and earth, who has not left Himself without witness. Even Gentiles without the Bible have evidence enough to be turned to the Creator.