[00:00:00] Hello listeners, welcome to my podcast. We will continue from yesterday. Acts, a Commentary by E. M. Blaiklock, M.A. Acts 14, 2021a. The belief that the more statuesque of the figures was the superior, Jupiter, is characteristically oriental and an indication of the strength of the Anatolian element beneath the veneer of Hellenism in the town.
[00:00:30] An inscription has been found at Isoria, near Lystra, to Zeus before the gate. It may be inferred that the altar was also before their city, verse 13, at Lystra, and that the proposed sacrifice was to take place outside the gate.
[00:00:48] The apostles had probably proceeded to their lodgings after healing the lame man, and when they heard of the preparations for sacrifice hurried forth again. The old enemies from Antioch and Iconium now arrive on the scene, verse 19, and, after the fickle fashion of crowds, feeling was stirred against the apostles and a vicious assault staged against Paul. It was not a Jewish stoning, such as that to which Stephen found,
[00:01:18] fell a victim, but a piece of mob violence on the part of the Lycaonian natives, egged on by the Jews and mortified by those who had rejected their divine honors. Writing to the same Galatians, Acts 6, verse 17, Paul states, I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus. He probably won these scars at Lystra.
[00:01:41] Ramsey points to verse 19 as an example of Luke's historical manner. He contrasts its careful phraseology with the full evidence about the condition of the lame man. In verse 19, he simply states that the persecutors supposed Paul to be dead. Ramsey concludes, Paul's address, Paul's address briefly reported in three verses,
[00:02:10] 15 to 17, the first recorded appeal to a pagan audience, is singularly true to Paul's method. As at Athens, 27, verse 24, Paul is found laying the foundation of his teaching as a wise master builder in the truths of natural religion and leading his audience from them as stepping stones to higher things. G. Darby, Acts 19, verses 20 and 21a.
[00:02:40] At Darby, on the limits of the Roman province, the evangelist paused. A view scattered stones on the lonely plain, and one or two Christian inscriptions are the only evidence of life, secular or religious, which once flourished there. Eastern Christians have maintained that the 8,000 foot peak of Hadji Baba, or the Pilgrim Father, to translate the title, which dominates the empty plain, contains a memory of St. Paul.
[00:03:11] Rather say that the Muslim title speaks of the completeness with which the Creed of the Turk blotted out a Christian witness. Derbe was one of the least cultured cities of Acts, and seems to have made little impression on the church. H. Back to Syrian Antioch, Acts 24, verses 21b-26. From Derby the party turned back. The local magistrates had not formally exiled Paul and Barnabas,
[00:03:40] and would, in any case, now be superseded. It was therefore possible, though no doubt perilous, to return over the old route. Open preaching seems, for obvious reasons, to have been avoided. Instead, Paul devoted his energies to establishing the converts in their faith, 22, and organizing their communities, 23. The basic arrangement seems to have been the appointment of elders, 23,
[00:04:09] an eminently sensible scheme, in tune with common secular practice, which in no way interfered with the emergence of gifted leadership of other types, for example, the prophets and teachers, of Acts 13, verse 1. It became Paul's standard practice, C.F. Titus 1, verse 5. A brief mission was held in Perga, 25, where some misfortune prevented their preaching on the outward journey,
[00:04:37] but this was the only evangelistic task undertaken on the way home. Cyprus was completely omitted. It had been an astonishing year, in many ways one of the most fruitful and varied in Paul's career. Luke has now shown us Peter and Paul being drawn to the joint experience of the following chapter. Tomorrow we will proceed to the additional notes for Acts 13, at the bottom of page 109. Thank you.