The Acts of the Apostles by James D. G. Dunn

Author:James D. G. Dunn
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, Co.

The Mission from Antioch (2)

(14.1–28)

The pattern set in Pisidian Antioch is repeated in the south Galatian towns of Iconium and Lystra: initially the gospel message meets with enthusiastic response; but then hostility, particularly Jewish in inspiration, forces the missionaries to move on.

The absence of detail (vague time notes, and no names recorded of hosts or converts whom Luke could have consulted for the beginnings of the churches in these places) again raises questions as to how good Luke’s sources were for this phase of Paul’s mission, and whether he has not here extrapolated a pattern which tradition told him had recurred elsewhere (the language is almost wholly Luke’s). The questions are sharpened by two further factors. First, the letter to the Galatians (more likely than not to have been written to churches in this area) was provoked by other Jewish Christian missionaries from outside rather than by local opposition from Jewish synagogues (though cf. Gal. 4.29; 6.12). Secondly, the report that Paul and Barnabas appointed elders in these churches (14.23) is not borne out by anything we learn of the ordering of the Pauline churches in his early and principal letters.

On the other hand, the pattern is not simply repeated in a wooden way; for example, nothing is said of any opposition at the final port of call (Derbe). The repeated reference to Paul and Barnabas as ‘apostles’ (14.4, 14), where the sense must be ‘missionaries sent out from Antioch’, reflects an Antioch perspective behind the account more than Luke’s own. And Timothy, who reportedly came from these churches (16.1–2), could have been a source of basic information. So we have once again the not unfamiliar mix of good tradition, storyteller’s art and theological perspective.

The principal theological feature appears in the story which forms the heart of the chapter (14.8–18) — Paul’s first encounter with pagan ideas about God. The dangers of confusing divine and human, God with human creation, have been a strong concern in Luke’s history (particularly 8.10 and sequel; and 12.20–23). And in Cyprus Paul had already confronted the worst kind of religious syncretism (a Jewish false-prophet and magician). In Lystra, however, we read of a head-on clash with the simple worshippers of the traditional gods and with the belief that these gods could appear as men on earth. Luke takes the opportunity to show that the word preached to Gentiles was also a word about God: Jewish monotheism is a presupposition of the Christian gospel; God as not only the initiator and mover behind the mission, but also the content of its gospel. Rightly to receive the message about Jesus depends on a right understanding of God and of God’s relation to creation and to humankind.

The word received and rejected in Iconium

14.1–7

The pattern of preaching in synagogue, met by favourable response from both Jews and Greeks, followed by Jewish opposition stirring up Gentile opposition is repeated. It is important to note that Jews and non-Jews are recorded as both accepting the message and as rejecting it. The fact that Luke does not speak uniformly of ‘the Jews’ but varies the reference (14.

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