With their own spirits raised, and amid much en- thusiasm of their disciples, Paul and Barnabas now travelled on to Iconium, where the occurrences at An- tioch were repeated, and from thence to the Lycaonian country, which contained the cities Lystra and Derbe. Here they had to deal with uncivilized heathens. At Lystra the healing of a cripple took place, the narrative of which runs very parallel to the account of the similar act done by Peter and John at the gate of the Temple. The agreement becomes closer, if we insert here, with Lachmann, before "Stand upright on thy feet," the
PAUL
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PAUL
words, " I say unto thee in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ." Tlie parallel leads us to observe more dis- tinctly t hat every messenger of Jesus Christ was a her- ald of life. The spiritual life — the ^w// aiwvtog — which was of faith, is illustrated and expounded by the invig- oration of impotent limbs. The same truth was to be conveyed to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the heathens of Lycaonia. The act was received naturally by these pagans. They took the apostles for gods, call- ing Barnabas, who was of the more imposing presence, Zeus (Jupiter), and Paul, who was the chief speaker, Hermes (Mercurius). This mistake, followed up by the attempt to offer sacrifices to them, gives occasion to the recording of an address in which we see a type of what the apostles would say to an ignorant pagan audience. Appeals to the Scriptures, references to the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, would have been out of place. The apostles name the living God, who made heaven and earth and the sea, and all things therein: the God of the whole world, and all the nations in it. They declare themselves to be his messengers. They expatiate upon the tokens of himself which the Father of men had not withheld, in tliat he did them good, sending rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, the sup- porters of life and joy. They protest that in restoring the cripple they had only acted as instruments of the living God. They themselves were not gods, but hu- man beings of like passions with the Lycaonians. The living God was now manifesting himself more clearly to men, desiring that henceforth the nations should not walk in their own ways, but his. They therefore call upon the people to give up the vanities of idol worship, and to turn to the living God (comp. 1 Thess. i, 9, 10). In this address the name of Jesus does not occur. It is easy to understand that the apostles preached him as the. Son of that living (iod to whom they bore witness, telling the people of his death and resurrection, and an- nouncing his coming again.
Altlidugh the people of Lysfra had been so ready to •worship I'aul and Barnabas, the repulse of their idola- trous instincts appears to have provoked them, and they allowed themselves to be persuaded into hostility by Jews who came from Antioch and Iconium, so that they attacked Paul with stones, and thought they had killed him. He recovered, however, as the disciples were standing round him, and went again into the city. The next day he left it with Barnabas, and went to Derbe, and thence they returned once more to Lystra, and so to Iconium and Antioch, renewing their exhortations to the disciples, bidding them not to think their trials strange, but to recognise them as the appointed door through which the kingdom of heaven, into which they were called, was to be entered. In order to establish the churches after their departure, they solemnly ap- pointed "elders" in every city. Then they came down to the coast, and from Attalia they sailed home to An- tioch in Syria, where they related the successes which had been granted to them, and especially the "opening of the door of faith to the (ientiles." Thus the First Missionary Journey ended.
6. Apostolic Council at Jerusalem (Acts xv; Gal. ii). — Upon that missionary journey follows most naturally the next important scene which the historian sets before us — the council held at Jerusalem to determine the rela- tions of Gentile believers to the law of Moses. A.D. 47. In following this portion of the history, we encounter two of the greater questions which the biographer of Paul has to consider. One of those is lustorical, What were the relations between the apostle I'aul and the twelve? The other is critical. IIow is Galatians ii to be connected with the narrative of the Acts?
The relations of Paul and the twelve will best be set forth in the narrative. But we must explain here why we accept Paul's statements in the Galatian epistle as additi(>nal to the history in Acts xv. The Jirst impres- sion of any reader would be a supposition that the two writers might be referring to the same event. The one
would at least bring the other to his mind. In both he reads of Paul and Barnabas going up to Jerusalem, re- porting the Gospel preached to the uncircumcised, and discussing with the older apostles the terms to be im- posed upon Gentile believers. In both the conclusion is announced that these believers should be (^ntirely free from the necessity of circumcision. These are main points which the narratives have in common. On look- ing more closely into both, the second impression ujion the reader's mind may possibly be that of a certain in- compatibility between the two. Many joints and mem- bers of the transaction as given by Luke do not appear in the account of Paul. Others in one or two cases are substituted. Further, the visit to Jerusalem is the third mentioned in the Acts, after Saul's conversion ; in Gala- tians, it is apparently mentioned as the second. Sup- posing this sense of incompatibility to remain, the read- er will go on to inquire whether the visit to Jerusalem mentioned in Galatians coincides bette?- with any other mentioned in the Acts — as the second (xi, 30) or the fourth (xviii, 22). He will, in all probability, conclude without hesitation that it does 7iot. Another view will remain, that Paul refers to a visit not recorded in the Acts at all. This is a possible hypothesis ; and it is rec- (mimended by the vigorous sense of Paley. But where are we to place the visit? The only possible place for it.is some short time before the visit of ch. xv. But it can scarcely be denied that the language of ch. xv de- cidedly implies that the visit there recorded was the first paid by Paid and Barnabas to Jerusalem after their great success in preaching the Gospel among the Gen- tiles. We suppose the reader, therefore, to recur to his first impression. He will then have to ask himself, " Granting the considerable differences, are there after all any plain contradictions between the two narratives, taken to refer to the same occurrences?" The answer must be, "There are no plain contradictions.'' This, he will perceive, is a very weighty fact. When it is rec- ognised, the resemblance first observed will return with renewed force to the mind. (The chronological question will be considered below.)