Acts 14:7

Note

Warned of a plot to stone them at Iconium, Paul and Barnabas fled to Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and the country around. This short verse says what they did there.

At Iconium they had spoken in the synagogue "so well that a great number of Jews and Greeks believed" (Acts 14:1). But unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles, the city was divided, and at last Gentiles and Jews together with their rulers set out to mistreat and stone them (Acts 14:2–5). The apostles learned of it and left. Jesus had told His disciples, "When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next" (Matthew 10:23). After this verse comes the healing of a man lame from birth at Lystra, and a crowd that tried to worship the two of them as gods.

In Greek the verse is three words: kakei euangelizomenoi ēsan, "and there they were bringing good news." A present participle of euangelizomai (εὐαγγελίζομαι) with the imperfect of "to be" (ēsan) describes an activity that went on for some time. They did not hide in their refuge; for as long as they stayed, they kept telling the gospel. Kakei, "and there," has the "and" folded into it: what they had done at Iconium, they did there too.

The KJV says simply, "And there they preached the gospel," which can read like a single event. The BSB, "where they continued to preach the gospel," catches the continuing sense of the Greek construction, and the LSV does the same with "there they were proclaiming good news." It is a small point of grammar that carries a whole attitude: the gospel was not something they did once on arrival, but the work of their days in Lycaonia.

Matthew Henry draws the rule from the passage: "Wherever God's servants are driven, they should seek to declare the truth" Matthew Henry. And he ends: "In times of persecution, believers may see cause to quit a spot, though they do not quit their Master's work" Matthew Henry. Wesley, on how they spoke at Iconium, adds a single line: "Persecution having increased their strength" Wesley.

In this region Paul would later find Timothy. On his next journey he came to Derbe and Lystra and found there "a disciple named Timothy" (Acts 16:1). Timothy was a disciple already, and many think he first heard the gospel on this visit. Years later Paul reminded him of "the sufferings that came upon me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra" (2 Timothy 3:11). If so, the gospel told in a place of refuge raised up a worker for the next generation.

Fleeing is not the same as quitting. The two men in this verse moved away from danger, but the work moved with them.