And when they had preached the gospel to that city, and had taught many, they returned again to Lystra, and [to] Iconium, and Antioch (Acts 14:21).
For months Paul and Barnabas navigated the Galatian region preaching in various cities and saw many souls come to a saving relationship with Christ.
The last city they came to, Derbe, essentially marked the end of their first missionary journey.
There, they had a decision to make: How would they return home?
I must confess that until recently, I never gave a great deal of thought about the significance of how they would return.
With just a casual reading, it seemed to make sense that the logical way to return would be to go back the same way they came.
But that is not at all true.
In this blog and the next, I’d like to highlight their return to Antioch Syria, and then make some concluding remarks as to their underlying motivation to return the way they did.
I’ve outlined four truths to consider – two in this blog, and two in the next.
- The Route They Elected
As already mentioned, Luke records that after they had preached in Derbe, “… they returned again to Lystra, and [to] Iconium, and Antioch” (Acts 14:21).
This is one of those things that is easy to miss, especially if we are not familiar with the geography of that region, but Paul and Barnabas could have taken a much easier route home.
Derbe was situated near the southeastern border of the Galatian region. Not far from there, roughly 150 miles, was Tarsus, Paul’s hometown.
The route from Derbe to Tarsus provided a better means by which they could pass over the dangerous Taurus Mountain Range than did the passage between Pisidian Antioch and Perga (the way they came).
They could have traveled from Derbe, easily crossed through the Taurus Mountains by way of the famous Cilician Gates, and then on to Tarsus.
Then, depending on whether they traveled by land or by sea, they could have traveled another 100-150 miles from Tarsus to Syrian Antioch and been back where they started.
In total, 250-300 miles and they would have been home. (Interestingly, that is the route Paul would take on his second and third missionary journeys).
But they didn’t do that. Instead, they backtracked, and for the most part, retraced their steps to go back like they had come, ultimately traveling roughly 600 miles.
But merely doubling their distance wasn’t the only thing that made returning that way more challenging. They would be returning to the same towns that had stoned or planned to stone them and had violently run them away.
The question then is why? Why not take the easier, quicker, and safer route home?
That answer becomes clear as we examine what Paul and Barnabas did as they revisited these various cities on their return trip.
- The Reassurance They Expressed
Luke tells us, concerning the new believers at Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch that Paul and Barnabas were “Confirming the souls of the disciples, [and] exhorting them to continue in the faith ...” (Acts 14:22).
Paul and Barnabas sought to strengthen and encourage these young believers in their newfound faith.
The Greek word for “confirming” or “strengthening” (22), means “to establish besides, strengthen more, to render more firm.”
The idea is not that they were confirming whether or not they were really believers, rather, they were giving them further instruction on how to live a life consistent with their new faith.
The Word of God is certainly the means by which men come to know Christ. They had received that from Paul and Barnabas on their first trip through.
But the Word of God is also the means by which men learn how to live for Christ in the midst of whatever circumstances they find themselves.
As Campbell Morgan pointed out here:
“The first visit through these cities had been that of proclamation; but in all the things he had said there were implications and applications, which it was necessary these early disciples should understand.”
In other words, Paul wasn’t satisfied with merely their conversion, but he was interested in follow up and spiritual development as well.
Thus Paul and Barnabas sought to strengthen them, and additionally they were “… exhorting them to continue in the faith ...” (Acts 14:22).
Try to imagine the challenges and temptations these new believers would have been subjected to.
Challenges and temptations for new believers certainly abound in our day, but if a new believer so desires, opportunities are plentiful for them to get involved in a local church and get under the teaching of a seasoned saint.
Furthermore, though hostilities against our faith are on the rise, it still pales in comparison to the hostilities new believers were faced with in those days.
Today, if a new believer is serious about his/her faith, there are many sound churches and ministries that will afford him/her the opportunity to learn and grow in relative safety.
It wasn’t quite that easy in that day.
Remember, there were no established churches for them to go to and say, “Hey we just got saved and we want to be taught.”
No, they were the new and established church, and in terms of their spiritual growth and knowledge, they were all pretty well on the same level playing field.
They could certainly grow in the Lord, but due to their circumstances, to say it would be challenging would be an understatement.
Most of these cities were overrun with paganism and false gods. Nearly every city had a statue of, or temple for, their own god just outside the city gates.
Many of these new believers had been recently converted from that paganism, and you can imagine the immense pressure they would have faced and how easy it would have been for them to have fallen back into those old ways.
They would have also faced the temptation to mix in some of their old pagan beliefs with this new faith they had accepted.
And if they were not facing temptation from their old pagan beliefs, they most certainly would have faced pressure from the unbelieving Jews, who no doubt held significant influence in these towns, as attested to by the fact that they had synagogues in some, and even sway in others like Lystra even if they didn’t have a synagogue there.
Beyond pagan influence and Jewish influence, the new Christians would have undoubtedly faced pressure from family and friends.
Scripture tells us repeatedly that these cities became divided after Paul and Barnabas preached there (Acts 13:45,50; 14:2,4,19).
That means many households were divided.
Some wives believed while husbands didn’t. Some husbands believed while their wives didn’t.
Some children believed while parents didn’t.
In a group of friends, some believed, and others didn’t.
Amongst coworkers, some believed, and others didn’t.
The truth of the gospel had brought great division, and these new believers were left to face the consequences of those divisions.
Paul and Barnabas knew that, and that’s why they wanted to encourage them to continue in the truth they had learned.
That’s why they were “exhorting them to continue in the faith.”
They knew it would be hard, and they knew they would need instruction and encouragement.
Be on the lookout for part 2 of this blog where we will notice what else Paul and Barnabas said and did in these towns, and I’ll also share my thoughts on the underlying motivation for them to return home the difficult way instead of the easy way.
