Unlike the pagan Gentiles, who did not have and did not know the Old Testament, when dealing with Jews and “God-fearing” Gentiles who knew and believed the Old Testament, Paul could go to the synagogue, find a willing audience, and then “reason” with them directly from the Scriptures.  Paul did this by “explaining” and “proving” that it was necessary for Jesus to suffer unto death and to rise again from the dead as Paul tried to demonstrate that Jesus was the Messiah promised to Israel throughout the Old Testament (6).

Paul in the Synagogue

Throughout the first and second missionary journeys of Acts, Paul begins his efforts in each new city by finding the local synagogue, and then immediately making it the base of his operations (See for example, Acts 13:5, 14 ff; Acts 14:1 ff., Acts 17:2, 10, 17; 18:4, 19 etc.).  As Luke puts it in Acts 17:2, Paul went to the Synagogue in Thessalonica, “as was his custom,” and for three successive weeks “Paul went in . . .  and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, `This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ’” (Acts 17:2-3).

By taking a closer look at this, we can learn a great deal about Paul’s approach to proclamation-defense with those with whom he found common ground in the pages of the Old Testament.  Unlike the pagan Gentiles, who did not have and did not know the Old Testament, when dealing with Jews and “God-fearing” Gentiles who knew and believed the Old Testament, Paul could go to the synagogue, find a willing audience, and then “reason” with them directly from the Scriptures.  Paul did this by “explaining” and “proving” that it was necessary for Jesus to suffer unto death and to rise again from the dead as Paul tried to demonstrate that Jesus was the Messiah promised to Israel throughout the Old Testament (6).  In the original language we are given a bit more of a clue as to how Paul did this, when Luke tells us that Paul set the Old Testament teaching regarding the Messiah, “side by side” with the account of the historical events of Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection.  Paul used what are apologetic arguments from fulfilled prophecy and miracle to demonstrate the truth of the Christian faith.  Jesus was the one of whom the Scriptures spoke, because the events of his life and death, and especially his resurrection, are exactly what the Old Testament predicates of the coming Messiah.  The very fact that the expectations of Israel’s prophets all come to fruition in the historical events surrounding the life, death and burial of Jesus Christ is a very powerful and compelling argument, and Paul uses it repeatedly.

Paul and Barnabas in Lystra

Things were markedly different when Paul encountered pagan Gentiles who did not know much, if anything, of the Old Testament and the God of Israel.  We have two accounts of such incidents, the first being that of Paul and Barnabas’ encounter with indigenous paganism recounted in Acts 14:8 ff.  According to Luke, the whole incident began with an amazing miracle.  “Now at Lystra there was a man sitting who could not use his feet.  He was crippled from birth and had never walked.  He listened to Paul speaking.  And Paul, looking intently at him and seeing that he had faith to be made well, said in a loud voice, `Stand upright on your feet.’  And he sprang up and began walking” (vv. 8-10).

This should sound vaguely familiar if you know the earlier chapters of Acts.  Luke is, no doubt, drawing a parallel here between the ministry of Peter and that of Paul.  What Peter had done in the Jerusalem temple before watching Israel (Acts 3:1 ff.), Paul is doing here before the Gentiles.  The reference to bold preaching supported by signs and wonders occurs not only here, but also in Iconium (Acts 14:1 ff.).  In both cases, Paul proclaims the gospel of Jesus Christ and God himself confirms the content of the preaching by the miraculous signs that follow.  The parallels to Peter healing the man crippled from birth and Paul doing the same here in Lystra, serves to put Paul on the same footing as Peter, and the mission to the Gentiles on the same footing with the original work in Jerusalem, especially in the accounts we find in Acts 3-4 (7).  God confirms the truth of his word as proclaimed by Paul when the lame man stands up at Paul’s command, jumps around and begins to walk.  This serves to confirm the legitimacy of the Gentile mission, a point that will be especially germane in the debate that takes place in the next chapter (Acts 15).

The result of this is recounted by Luke.

“And when the crowds saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in Lycaonian, `The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!’   Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, because he was the chief speaker.  And the priest of Zeus, whose temple was at the entrance to the city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates and wanted to offer sacrifice with the crowds” (Acts 14:11-13).

As Luke puts it, the crowds present were so amazed at what had happened, word quickly spread throughout the city that Zeus and Hermes had come to them disguised in human form.  The background to this is important.  Some fifty years earlier, a legend began circulating throughout the region of southern Galatia that Zeus and Hermes had wandered through the local hill country disguised as mere mortals seeking lodging.  They supposedly stopped at nearly a thousand homes but were not able to find a place to stay and were refused hospitality wherever they went.  When a humble peasant took them in, his home was transformed into a glorious temple.  He and his wife were transformed into beautiful oak trees which still stood in the region.  Those who refused to take the gods in, instead, saw their homes destroyed and they were left destitute.  This legend, along with the presence of a temple to Zeus just outside the city, meant that the expectation of the return of the gods to the region for a repeat performance was quite prominent in the minds of the Lyconians.  When Paul healed the lame man, it must have meant that Zeus and Hermes had returned. (8)  As a result, Paul finds himself face to face with superstitious pagans wanting to worship him!

But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their garments and rushed out into the crowd, crying out, “Men, why are you doing these things?  We also are men, of like nature with you, and we bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them.  In past generations he allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways.  Yet he did not leave himself without witness, for he did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.  Even with these words they scarcely restrained the people from offering sacrifice to them” (Acts 14:14-18).

Paul and Barnabas rush headlong into the crowds which had gathered, tearing their clothes, which was an act of pious Jews in the presence of blasphemers.  Paul shouted to them, “why are you doing these things? We also are men, of like nature with you” (Acts 14:15).

Once the miraculous healing had gotten the Lyconian’s attention, Paul begins to proclaim to them the true and living God.  Luke gives us but a very brief summary of Paul’s proclamation-defense (9).  In this case, even though the Lyconians had no Old Testament, the Apostle begins by proclaiming “the good news to them,” but he also attempts to show them the untenable nature of paganism, pointing out the uselessness of idolatry and telling his hearers to turn from “these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them” (v. 15).  In this, we see a simple form of the argument from contingency, as created things depend upon a creator.  Paul is also very clear that unbelief has serious consequences, for Paul also tells his hearers that the same God who has created all things, will not let these false religious practices go on.  God has demonstrated his common grace to the Lyconians in the fact that the rain falls upon their crops and thereby provides them with food and joy, and the Lyconians are, therefore, without excuse.  Where his audience is not familiar with the Old Testament, Paul proclaims the “good news” of Christ crucified, but the proclamation is, apparently, soon followed by a direct challenge to those false notions upon which Lyconian paganism was based.  The pattern here is clearly “proclamation-defense,” as the good news is proclaimed and pagan assumptions are challenged.  But all this was of little avail, for as Luke tells us in verse 18, “even with these words, they had difficulty keeping the crowd from sacrificing to them.”  This must have been an amazing scene.

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