The text before us continues the apostles' first missionary trip in the Roman province of Galatia. They have been sent out by the Spirit and the first Gentile church in Antioch of Syria. They preached their way across Cyprus from east to west, crossed the sea to the main land landing at Paphos, then travelling north to Antioch of Pisidia. Now they are east of Iconium at Lystra.
The major point of Paul's ministry in Lystra is to show that God's intention in salvation history was to be a Savior of all mankind. The gospel can be understood only in terms of salvation history; that is, if He is ruling over all things with saving intention, He must be directing history toward that goal. History must be seen as salvation history.
We also observe that witnessing the gospel of Christ results in both success and opposition. Following Christ's example, the apostles seeing many becoming disciples of Christ, but many are also viciously opposing them.
Lystra was a Roman city established by Augustus Caesar in A.D. 6. This town was Timothy's home (cf. 16:1). There was probably no synagogue here; so Paul and Barnabas conducted street preaching.
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