12 - Afflictions and Persecutions

And so the messengers continued on their way, Paul leaning on his staff and Barnabas carrying the bundle of provisions. Sometimes they spent the night in the clay hut of a poor villager, and told him the good news in exchange for shelter and a cup of goat’s milk. Sometimes they slept in the open, under the starry sky. Often the fire they lit for protection attracted shepherds, and the story of redemption would be told by firelight in the field. The hill people were simple. They listened with wonder to the story, and then looked up at the great stars, as if they expected God to show himself in the clouds. The messengers feared no robbers. Their treasure was any man’s for the asking.

Five days out of Antioch they came to the friendly shelter of Iconium, and though the Jews in Antioch had written them off, Paul now rethought his threat to turn to the Gentiles. Who but Jews, after all, could better understand the story of redemption? Okay, so they quarreled with the Jews in Antioch, but were the Jews in Iconium any less their brothers? Besides, their footsteps seemed to automatically take them to the Jewish synagogue. It was the only way they could discover whether or not there would be an open heart and a ready ear, whether among the Jews or among the god-fearing Gentiles.

Iconium was a pleasant spot in the heart of the Phrigian-Pisidian hills. The soil was fruitful and watered by many wells and rivers. The air came in cool waves from the heights. The people were simple and hardworking, and much different from the inhabitants of a Roman colony like Antioch. Greeks and Jews lived together as peasants, artisans, and small merchants. Paul was happy and at peace among this simple folk.

And he needed rest. The malaria he’d contracted at Perga broke out again, and the reawakened fire ate up his bones. One day he tottered and fell while preaching. His eyes turned inward and a dreadful expression came over his face. The Jews covered him with a sheet and carried him to his bed in the hospice.

When Paul came to, he was greatly ashamed, more before the Gentiles than before the Jews. He felt that his words were wasted because of what happened and that no one would ever listen to him again. What sort of good news could he be bringing to others if he himself was tormented by sickness and could find no cure?

But a marvelous thing happened. Gentiles as well as Jews came to the hospice, bringing little gifts, like a bowl of milk, a cruse of oil, and a vase of ointment. Paul was deeply moved that Gentiles would come to visit him in his sickness. There was one woman who tended him with special care. She sewed shirts for him out of the cloth others brought and gathered the best oils for him. She also brought him wine of pressed figs to restore his strength, and every day she made his bed and prayed with him for his recovery. Paul’s eyes filled with tears and his heart was warm with faith and hope. He thanked God for having humbled him in his own eyes, so that he might not fall victim to pride, and for having lifted him up in the eyes of others, especially strangers and Gentiles.

One day he made it a point to talk to Barnabas about it. “Look and see the grace God has given them through Christ. Even before they know him, he prepares their hearts for understanding. If a Jew were to do what these folks have done for me, we wouldn’t consider it anything special. But the Gentiles have no Abraham to teach them compassion, so when they do so, it’s against their nature. Their nature says, Steal, rob, do after the desires of your heart. But instead they treat me with kindness. They’ve learned the grace of compassion from their own hearts. Great is their merit!

“The Gentiles long for salvation, and we keep it from them. Who are the sinners, they or we? God has opened a spring of help in Jesus Christ. We can’t remain closed in by our narrow limits and feel ourselves righteous, when the world is going under in a flood of whoredom and sin. We must carry salvation to the world. The whole earth must be made fruitful with the living waters of God’s word. It’s written about Christ, ‘I have set you as a light to the nations, and you shall be a salvation to the ends of the earth.’”


A rush of energy returned to Paul and filled his limbs and nerves. Once more he threw himself into the work of winning souls for Christ. He preached on Sabbaths, on Mondays, and on Thursdays. He spoke in the synagogue and in the markets. He visited the workshops, and went into fields and homes. He visited rich and poor alike. Wherever men were found, he was there. In Christ there was neither freedman nor bondman, neither master nor servant, neither men nor women. All were born equal.

Soon a new congregation blossomed in Iconium. The new believers spread their faith among their own kinsmen and fellow laborers, among their friends and fellow members of the synagogue. Soon the city was divided, half the people in favor of the messengers and the other half against them. Both Jews and Greeks were in each half. Families were also divided. There was quarreling in the homes, in the marketplaces, and in the synagogue. Wherever Paul appeared, he became the center of a crowd, and anytime he opened his mouth, a fierce dispute broke out. The Jews and Gentiles on his side stood together. And those who opposed him were united in their desire to drive him out of the city. Some planned to stone him, but the believers heard of the plot and warned Paul and Barnabas of the danger. They packed their belongings and left the city.

But Paul left behind him a deeply planted congregation of Christians, made up of both Jews and Greeks. Before leaving he charged them to hold fast to the faith in God and Christ, and God would take them under His wing.


From Iconium the messengers set out across the mountains, and came to the region of Lycaonia, and the cities of Lystra and Derbe.

In Lystra an unusual thing happened.

When Paul finished preaching in the synagogue, he saw a paralyzed man among the listeners. The man’s face was aflame with faith. He stretched out his hands to Paul and asked for help. Paul thought of Simon Peter performing miracles in the power of the Holy Spirit. So he approached the man. The half-closed, half-blind eye of Paul bored deep into the eyes of the cripple and seemed to take his will captive. The cripple, filled with faith, and believing that Paul could help him, let his will become Paul’s. The longer Paul stared at him, the more he knew that he held him, like a potter holds a pot.

Suddenly he raised his voice and commanded, “Rise up, and stand on your feet!”

And the miracle happened. The lame man stood up.


Now there was a temple to Zeus in Lystra, and the local priest had persuaded the Greeks that Zeus and his attendant and servant, Hermes, were about to appear in Lystra. So when they saw or heard about the miracle Paul had performed, they ran through the streets of the city crying, “The gods have appeared to us in the likeness of men!”

Not realizing what was happening, Paul and Barnabas were standing in the city gate telling people about Christ, when they saw a large crowd coming toward them. Men and women were dressed in festival clothes. The women wore wreaths of flowers as if they were going to the temple, and the men had on multicolored tunics. The priest of Zeus was in the middle, leading an ox with gilded horns. Boys and girls carried baskets of flour, and danced and sang around the ox. The crowd soon circled around Paul and Barnabas.

The priest came forward in his ceremonial robe, threw himself at Barnabas’ feet, and cried out, “Almighty Zeus! I knew you’d come. I’ve always assured your people that you’d reveal yourself to us. Now you’re here. The people know you, great Zeus. In your graciousness accept the sacrifice we bring to you at the gates of the city.”

The multitude kept crying, “Zeus! Zeus!”

And pointing to Paul they cried, “This is the chief speaker. He must be Hermes!”

An improvised altar was built on the spot and covered with branches. A tripod was brought, and the smoke of incense rose from it.

The crowd was beside itself with joy and kept pointing at Barnabas, crying, “See the black beard? Every hair can pull up a mountain! See those eyes? The fire in them gives light to the sun and stars!”

And of the nervous, restless Paul, “See, he can’t stand still for a moment! That’s Hermes. His hands and feet are wings! He flies like an arrow to fulfill the commands of Zeus!”

And indeed, Paul could not stand still. All his wiry, bony body trembled, as in a fit. And Barnabas, shamed and bewildered, look on helplessly. The people danced around them, and the priest got ready to sacrifice the ox.

Suddenly Paul tore his clothes, in sign of mourning, and Barnabas followed suit.

Then Paul shouted, “O men and women, why do you do this?”

For a moment the people stopped the dancing and singing, and stared in fear. And Paul, taking advantage of the silence addressed them. His voice quivered with pity and suppressed anger.

“Hear us! We are only men of flesh and blood, just like you. Look at these bodies. They’re like yours. We’ve come here to preach to you, so that you might cease from folly and abandon your gods, which are nothing but emptiness and delusion, and turn to the one living God, who created heaven and earth and the sea and all that is in them. And though he has allowed the nations to wander and err in their own ways, He did not relinquish his authority over them. He is the beneficent and loving God of all of us. He is the God who sends down rain from heaven and the season of fruits, and he fills our hearts with nourishment and peace.”

As the crowd listened, the priest, realizing what this would do to his reputation, began wildly waving his arms to get Paul to stop. These men weren’t just denying that they were gods. They were actually urging the people to abandon their gods and to turn instead to the God of the hated Jews. He desperately tried to get Paul to hold his peace, accept the sacrifice, and concur in the deception. Finally, he brought the sacrificial knife and turned toward the ox. But Paul would not let the sacrifice be consummated. Rushing forward, he overturned the improvised altar, while never ceasing to talk and to preach.

The priest, realizing that there was no coming to terms with this man, started to yell, “The Jews have fooled us! They come to us disguised as our gods but they preach their own Gods! The Jews have fooled us!”

The astonished crowd heard the cry and began to back away from Paul and Barnabas. Word quickly spread through the streets and reached the temple of Zeus. The priest’s cry was picked up like a slogan, “The Jews have fooled us! They disguised themselves as our gods in order to preach their own.”


To make matters worse, men from Antioch of Pisidia and from Iconium came to Lystra the very next day. They reported how the messengers had spread disaffection against the old gods in their cities and had caused dissension between Jews and Jews, and between Greeks and Greeks.

The people’s anger grew daily. The hatred was as intense among Jews as among Greeks. The priest, in particular, burned with shame at Paul’s exposure of him.

Paul tried to ignore it. He still went out preaching among the people. He spoke in the synagogue to Jew and non-Jew. And in the face of opposition and danger, he created a congregation of Christians. He strengthened it and proved by his own example that in the spreading of the faith there should be no fear.

On a certain day, when Paul was preaching to a small group, an angry crowd of Jews and Greeks descended on him, scattered his listeners, and dragged him off outside the gates of the city. When they came to a hollow place in the ground, they threw him into it, and began to pelt him with stones. They continued to throw stones until they thought he was dead, and then they returned to the city.


Paul lay in the field outside Lystra covered in blood. His body, head and face were bruised and cut. His eyes were closed. Half conscious, he didn’t know if he was dead or alive. He was aware of a figure emerging out of the night that reminded him of something he’d seen in Jerusalem in his former life as Saul. He saw an angel imbedded in stones up to the waist, so that only the upper half of his body was free. The face and wings of the angel were lifted to heaven. This was the image he’d seen when he sat and guarded the clothes of the witnesses at the stoning of Stephen.

Great joy flooded his heart, and he said to himself, “Now I know God has forgiven me, for like Stephen, I have been stoned for the sake of Christ.”

Suddenly he felt a light hand, like the hand of an angel, passing over his body, wiping away the blood. Love and devotion were in that touch; it was as gentle as the hand of a spirit might have been. He thought that God had surely sent an angel to comfort him. Opening his eyes, he saw a lad of fourteen or fifteen standing over him with eyes looking down on him with love and compassion.

Paul said, “Who are you, my son?”

“My name is Timothy. My father is a Greek, but my mother is Jewish. I’ve heard of the God of Israel from my mother, and now I’ve heard of Messiah from you. I saw what these men did, and I’m here to help you.”

Then Paul embraced the boy and said, “You are a faithful son of Abraham, for you have his virtue of compassion. May your like be increased in Israel.”

By this time the believers Paul had won in Lystra arrived with Barnabas and found the stoning place. Paul was already standing up, leaning on Timothy, and he returned to the city in the company of the disciples. He went into the house of Eunice, Timothy’s mother. His grandmother Lois also lived there. Everyone in the house was Jewish, although Eunice had married a Greek. The women washed Paul, wiped the blood from his body, and kept him there a few days.

On the morning of the third day he baptized Timothy in the name of Christ.

Then he got ready to leave. First he strengthened the hearts of the new congregation, said farewell to Timothy, and, together with Barnabas, headed down the road to Derbe.


They didn’t stay in Derbe very long. Paul wanted to revisit the towns from which he’d been driven out, and to see that the work he’d started at the risk of his life not die. Barnabas was shaken and astonished when he heard Paul say that they should return to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch. But he obeyed without question, believing that God was ever Paul’s guide.

They stole into the cities under cover of night and knocked softly on the doors of the believers. In Lystra, Paul assembled the faithful in the house of Timothy’s mother, and there they fasted and prayed together. He strengthened them, saying, “We will have to bear much to be worthy of entering the Kingdom of Heaven. But for his sweet name’s sake we will endure it all!”

Paul didn’t preach openly on these visits, for he wanted to avoid the tumults that had attended his first visits. He was content to preach only to believers, to strengthen their bonds in Christ and their brotherly love for each other. He also picked out the ablest and most devoted of them and set them as elders and leaders over the others in a manner similar to the Jewish synagogues.

If belief in Messiah was the fulfillment of the prophetic messages for the Jews, for the Gentiles it was a completely new birth. God had breathed a new soul into them. The old life of impurity fell away, and a new life began. They felt that for the sake of their portion in Christ, they must guard their lives from uncleanness, and practice the virtues Christ had taught. Love, devotion and faith were their commandments and virtues. This law was as binding on them as the Jewish law on the Jews. And as the Jews were faithful to the Law of Moses, and were ready to lay down their lives for it, so the new believers were called on to lay down their lives, if necessary, for their fellowship in Christ.


On the way back to Syrian Antioch the messengers stayed in Perga longer than the first time through. Paul hadn’t done any preaching there because of his sickness and the dispute with John. So now he founded a congregation in the busy port according to the same model as in the other cities.

From Perga they went to the port of Attalia, and founded a congregation there too. Then they sailed for Seleucia, avoiding Paul’s hometown of Tarsus, because he wanted to get back and make his report to the congregation that had given them the authority to spread the faith.


Some travelers had already told the congregation in Antioch about the accomplishments of Paul and Barnabas in Galatia, so they arrived to sort of a heroes’ welcome. There were lit lamps and candles in the doors of all the Christian houses. When the elders heard the details of their work, the congregations they founded, and the souls they won to Christ among the Gentiles, their joy and wonder were boundless.

“Surely,” they said, “this is the finger of God. God has opened the gates to the Gentiles, and He fills them with faith through Christ. Now we must pray that the gates be thrown open even wider, so that they may never be closed again.”

Paul and Barnabas stayed a longer time in Antioch. They needed rest after their journey. But while there, Paul took up the task of training Titus to replace John as a helper in future missions.


Reports of Paul’s travels had reached Jerusalem as well as Antioch. The elders there learned that Paul had admitted uncircumcised Gentiles to the congregation and that he taught a strange doctrine not taught by Messiah. Without laying on of hands, he had set out on a mission to Gentile cities with no other authority than that of the congregation in Antioch. A storm broke out. What was Saul thinking, they asked? Was he trying to establish a new authority? Hadn’t the lord vested the authority in his disciples alone? The Holy Spirit could not rest on any community without the blessing of the first disciples! This was a very dangerous precedent. The community of Antioch should not have made a compact with this man who had caused so much suffering to the congregation of Messiah.

Messengers were sent to Antioch with the warning that all the work done by Saul was a house built on shifting sand. There were no Gentiles in the faith of Messiah. Whoever desired to enter the faith must first enter into the covenant of Abraham and be circumcised. Without that yoke, there could be no Kingdom of Heaven. The works performed in the name of the community of Antioch were delusions and falsities.

Paul saw the danger of all his work being undone. He saw that he must go up to Jerusalem and take up the struggle there. He was no longer “the young man Saul who once persecuted the faithful and now bears witness for Messiah.” He was Paul, who had traveled through the length and breadth of Galatia, planting a chain of gardens of salvation. If the sacrifice of the Gentiles had not been acceptable to God, He would not have turned their hearts toward goodness. And Titus was his foremost witness.

Titus worked exactly as if the Law of Moses were inscribed on his heart, and he was filled with love, goodness, compassion and sympathy. Let Titus the uncircumcised appear in Jerusalem and testify for the work of Christ.

Paul’s decision to leave Titus in Antioch when he and Barnabas went out on their missionary journey had been a wise one. Titus had surrendered everything for his faith in Christ, visiting the sick, comforting the weak, and feeding the poor. Not one word of anger or pride came out of his mouth. He was a model of what could happen to a pagan in Christ. This was his virtue: to be circumcised not in the flesh, but in the heart.

So Paul took Titus with him as a witness for the Gentiles, and the three of them, Paul, Titus, and Barnabas, went up to Jerusalem. They passed through Phoenicia and Samaria, and in every city Paul stopped awhile to tell how God had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles.