Healing in Acts 13 and 14

While they were serving the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”
Then, after they had fasted and prayed and placed their hands on them, they sent them off.
So Barnabas and Saul, sent out by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus.
When they arrived in Salamis, they began to proclaim the word of God in the Jewish synagogues. (Now they also had John as their assistant.)
When they had crossed over the whole island as far as Paphos, they found a magician, a Jewish false prophet named Bar-Jesus,
who was with the proconsul Sergius Paulus, an intelligent man. The proconsul summoned Barnabas and Saul and wanted to hear the word of God.
But the magician Elymas (for that is the way his name is translated) opposed them, trying to turn the proconsul away from the faith.
But Saul (also known as Paul), filled with the Holy Spirit, stared straight at him
and said, “You who are full of all deceit and all wrongdoing, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness—will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord?
Now look, the hand of the Lord is against you, and you will be blind, unable to see the sun for a time!” Immediately mistiness and darkness came over him, and he went around seeking people to lead him by the hand.
Then when the proconsul saw what had happened, he believed, because he was greatly astounded at the teaching about the Lord.
Then Paul and his companions put out to sea from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia, but John left them and returned to Jerusalem.
Moving on from Perga, they arrived at Pisidian Antioch, and on the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down.
After the reading from the law and the prophets, the leaders of the synagogue sent them a message, saying, “Brothers, if you have any message of exhortation for the people, speak it.”
So Paul stood up, gestured with his hand and said,
“Men of Israel, and you Gentiles who fear God, listen:

…For the people who live in Jerusalem and their rulers did not recognize Jesus…
Though they found no basis for a death sentence, they asked Pilate to have him executed.
When they had accomplished everything that was written about him, they took him down from the cross and placed him in a tomb.
But God raised him from the dead,
and for many days he appeared to those who had accompanied him from Galilee to Jerusalem. These are now his witnesses to the people.
And we proclaim to you the good news about the promise to our ancestors…

…Therefore let it be known to you, brothers, that through this one forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you,
and by this one everyone who believes is justified from everything from which the law of Moses could not justify you.…

As Paul and Barnabas were going out, the people were urging them to speak about these things on the next Sabbath.
When the meeting of the synagogue had broken up, many of the Jews and God-fearing followers followed Paul and Barnabas, who were speaking with them and were persuading them to continue in the grace of God.
On the next Sabbath almost the whole city assembled together to hear the word of the Lord.
But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy, and they began to contradict what Paul was saying by reviling him.
Both Paul and Barnabas replied courageously, “It was necessary to speak the word of God to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we are turning to the Gentiles.
For this is what the Lord has commanded us: ‘I have appointed you to be a light for the Gentiles, to bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’ “
When the Gentiles heard this, they began to rejoice and praise the word of the Lord, and all who had been appointed for eternal life believed.
So the word of the Lord was spreading through the entire region.
But the Jews incited the God-fearing women of high social standing and the prominent men of the city, stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and threw them out of their region.
So after they shook the dust off their feet in protest against them, they went to Iconium.
And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.

The same thing happened in Iconium when Paul and Barnabas went into the Jewish synagogue and spoke in such a way that a large group of both Jews and Greeks believed.
But the Jews who refused to believe stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers.
So they stayed there for a considerable time, speaking out courageously for the Lord, who testified to the message of his grace, granting miraculous signs and wonders to be performed through their hands.
But the population of the city was divided; some sided with the Jews, and some with the apostles.
When both the Gentiles and the Jews (together with their rulers) made an attempt to mistreat them and stone them,
Paul and Barnabas learned about it and fled to the Lycaonian cities of Lystra and Derbe and the surrounding region.
There they continued to proclaim the good news.
In Lystra sat a man who could not use his feet, lame from birth, who had never walked.
This man was listening to Paul as he was speaking. When Paul stared intently at him and saw he had faith to be healed,
he said with a loud voice, “Stand upright on your feet.” And the man leaped up and began walking.
So when the crowds saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have come down to us in human form!”
They began to call Barnabas Zeus and Paul Hermes, because he was the chief speaker.
The priest of the temple of Zeus, located just outside the city, brought bulls and garlands to the city gates; he and the crowds wanted to offer sacrifices to them.
But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard about it, they tore their clothes and rushed out into the crowd, shouting,
“Men, why are you doing these things? We too are men, with human natures just like you! We are proclaiming the good news to you, so that you should turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and everything that is in them.
In past generations he allowed all the nations to go their own ways,
yet he did not leave himself without a witness by doing good, by giving you rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying you with food and your hearts with joy.”
Even by saying these things, they scarcely persuaded the crowds not to offer sacrifice to them.
But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and after winning the crowds over, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, presuming him to be dead.
But after the disciples had surrounded him, he got up and went back into the city. On the next day he left with Barnabas for Derbe.

Updated on 2010-02-04 (r.130) by Andrew Fountain