The use of the Lycaonian language shows that the worshippers were not the Roman coloni, the aristocracy of the colony, but the natives, the less educated and more superstitious part of the population {incolce, p. 218).
9. DERBE. (XIV 19) AND THERE CAME JEWS FROM ANTIOCH AND ICONIUM ; AND THEY PERSUADED THE MULTITUDES AND STONED PAUL AND DRAGGED his body OUT OF THE CITY, CONSIDERING THAT HE WAS DEAD. (20) BUT, WHEN THE DISCIPLES ENCIRCLED HIM, HE STOOD UP AND WENT INTO THE CITY ; AND ON THE MORROW HE WENT FORTH WITH BARNABAS TO DERBE. (21) AND THEY PREACHED THE GLAD NEWS TO THAT CITY AND MADE MANY DISCIPLES.
1 20 Foundation of the Churches of Galatia. Chap. V.
It is interesting to observe the contrast between the emphasis of XIV 8 and the cautiousness of statement in XIV 19. The writer considered that there was full evidence as to the real condition of the lame man ; but all that he can guarantee in XIV 19 is that his persecutors considered Paul to be dead : and beyond that he does not go. As usual, he simply states the facts, and leaves the reader to judge for himself. A writer who tried to find marvels would have found one here, and said so.
In Derbe nothing special is recorded : the same pro- cess went on as in previous cases. Here on the limits of the Roman province the Apostles turned. New magistrates had now come into office in all the cities whence they had been driven ; and it was therefore possible to go back.
10. ORGANISATION OF THE NEW CHURCHES. (XIV 21) THEY RETURNED TO LYSTRA AND TO ICONIUM AND TO ANTIOCH, (22) CONFIRMING THE SOULS OF THE DISCIPLES, EXHORTING THEM TO CONTINUE IN THE FAITH, AND THAT THROUGH MANY TRIBULATIONS WE MUST ENTER INTO THE KINGDOM OF GOD. (23) AND WHEN THEY HAD APPOINTED FOR THEM ELDERS IN EVERY CHURCH, AND HAD PRAYED WITH FASTING, THEY COMMENDED THEM TO THE LORD, ON WHOM THEY HAD BELIEVED.
On the return journey the organisation of the newly founded churches occupied Paul's attention. It is probable that, in his estimation, some definite organisation was implied in the idea of a church ; and until the brother- hood in a city was organised, it was not in the strictest sense a church. In this passage we see that the funda-
Sec io. Organisation of the New Churches. 121
mental part of the Church organisation lay in the appointment of Elders (irpeo-fivrepoi). In XIII I we found that there were prophets and teachers in the Antiochian church ; here nothing is said about appoint- ing them, but the reason indubitably is that prophets and teachers required Divine grace, and could not be appointed by men : they were accepted when the grace was found to have been given them.
Paul used the word Bishops (iTrio-KOTroi) as equivalent to Elders. This is specially clear in XX, where he summoned the Ephesian Elders, v. 17, and said to them : " the Holy Spirit hath made you Bishops," verse 28. It is therefore certain that the " Bishops and Deacons" at Philippi {Phil. I 1) are the Elders and Deacons, who were the constituted officials of the Church. The Elders are also to be understood as " the rulers " {irpoiaTa^voi) at Rome and Thessalonica {Rom XII 8, I Thess. V 12). Both terms, Elders and Bishops, occur in the Epistles to Titus and Timothy ; but it is plain from Tit. I 5-7 that they are synonymous.
It is clear, therefore, that Paul everywhere instituted Elders in his new Churches ; and on our hypothesis as to the accurate and methodical expression of the historian, we are bound to infer that this first case is intended to be typical of the way of appointment followed in all later cases. When Paul directed Titus (I 5) to appoint Elders in each Cretan city, he was doubtless thinking of the same method which he followed here. Unfortu- nately, the term used {^Giporovrja-avre^) is by no means certain in meaning ; for, though originally it meant to elect by popular vote, yet it came to be used in the sense to appoint or designate {egn Acts X 41). But it is not