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Acts 14:24–28
“When [Paul and Barnabas] arrived and gathered the church together, they declared all that God had done with them, and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles. And they remained no little time with the disciples” (vv. 27–28).
The Lord blessed the first missionary journey of the Apostle Paul with many conversions to Christ among both Jews and gentiles and churches established on Cyprus and throughout the southern portion of the Roman province of Galatia (Acts 13:1–14:23). During this journey, Paul and Barnabas also endured many tribulations, being chased out of cities and even being physically assaulted. Through it all, Paul and Barnabas persevered. They did not escape trouble entirely but remained committed to the Lord, embodying the truth of Paul’s words in Romans 5:1–5 that suffering produces endurance. Basil the Great, one of the fourth-century Cappadocian Fathers who helped the church develop a vocabulary for the doctrine of the Trinity, draws an application from Paul and Barnabas’ journey. He writes, “God does rescue the holy from affliction, but he does so not by rendering them untested but by blessing them with endurance.”
In today’s passage, Luke describes the end of Paul and Barnabas’ missionary journey. We saw in Acts 14:20–23 that the men went as far as Derbe before making their way back to Syrian Antioch by passing through the cities they had visited on the way to Derbe—Lystra, Iconium, and Pisidian Antioch. Verses 24–28 tell us that they continued their travels back through the regions that they had visited earlier in the journey. They passed through Perga in the region of Pamphylia before leaving Attalia to return to Syrian Antioch, not passing through Cyprus as they had previously done (see 13:13). One commentator notes that Paul and Barnabas’ passing back through the regions they had evangelized, no doubt ministering to the congregations they had planted, showed the ongoing pastoral concern of the two men. They ordained elders to lead those churches once they left, but they remained in contact with the congregations.
Finally, Paul and Barnabas made it back to the church that had sent them on their missionary journey, the church in Syrian Antioch (14:26–28; see 13:1–3). They reported to that church all that God had done through their ministry, including the news that the Lord had opened a door to the gentiles and was bringing many of them to faith in the God of Israel through Jesus Christ. The Christians in Antioch were edified by this report, learning what their partnership with Paul and Barnabas in the gospel had accomplished.
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
The church needs people who are willing to go to the ends of the earth to preach the gospel and help plant churches. Equally important are those who stay behind and provide support to world missions through their gifts and their prayers for and encouragement of missionaries. Not everyone can go, but all Christians can help send those who can declare the gospel to the nations.
For further study
- Isaiah 52:7
- 2 Corinthians 9
The bible in a year
- Esther 4–6
- Acts 5:17–42
- Esther 7–Job 2
- Acts 6:1–7:22