Axis Mundi: Cyprus and Galatia

"Peregrinatio Pauli" by Jodocus Hondius from a reprint
of "Hakluytus Posthumus" by Samuel Purchas, 1625

After the Church in Antioch was firmly established, its leaders sought direction from God, who led them to commission and support Barnabas and Saul has special envoys of the Gospel. The two apostles and John Mark (a cousin of Barnabas) visited Cyprus—the native province of Barnabas—where they preached in Synagogues with no apparent opposition. The Gospel could not have been unknown in Cyprus because Cypriots were among those who had originally spoken to gentiles in Syria about Jesus. Interesting enough, the gentiles in Cyprus did not constitute a separate body of believers as they did in Antioch. Having heard favorable reports about Barnabas and Saul, the governor called them to hear their message, which he himself believed after witnessing the divine cursing of a sorcerer whose council he had previously entertained.

So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus. When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. And they had John to assist them. When they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they came upon a certain magician, a Jewish false prophet named Bar-Jesus. He was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence, who summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. But Elymas the magician (for that is the meaning of his name) opposed them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith. But Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him and said, “You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord? And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and unable to see the sun for a time.” Immediately mist and darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking people to lead him by the hand. Then the proconsul believed, when he saw what had occurred, for he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord. (Acts 13.4−12)

No doubt emboldened by their encounter with the governor, Barnabas and Saul (now going by his Roman name Paulus) ventured North into the region of Galatia rather than return to Antioch at this point, but John Mark accompanied them only as far as Perga (on the coast of Asia Minor) before abandoning them. Barnabas and Paul pressed on to Pisidian Antioch, a Roman colony where the family of Sergius Paulus had large holdings, and there they proclaimed the Gospel to an initially receptive audience in the local synagogue. These Jews later became incensed when large numbers of Gentiles embraced a message of salvation that undercut the status of Israel by redefining the terms of the covenant. The Jews persuaded women converts of high social standing (whose conversion did not require circumcision) that this defrauded them as well, and these women convinced their husbands to expel the interlopers from the region. Paul and Barnabas then moved on to Iconium, Lystra and Derbe, where they persevered through similar receptions. They eventually retraced their steps to Derbe, encouraging the believers in every previously visited city and appointing elders to continue the work they had begun. From Derbe, they returned to Antioch and gave account of their mission.

The next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began to contradict what was spoken by Paul, reviling him. And Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken first to you. Since you thrust it aside and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles. For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, ‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’ And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed. And the word of the Lord was spreading throughout the whole region. But the Jews incited the devout women of high standing and the leading men of the city, stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their district. But they shook off the dust from their feet against them and went to Iconium. And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit. (Acts 13.44−52)

Luke records a particularly striking event that occurred in Lystra. Here the crowd hailed Paul and Barnabas as gods after Paul healed a man crippled from birth who had been listening to the apostles’ message. A famous legend recounted how Mercury (Wind) and Zeus (Sky) had once destroyed a town in the region after finding no hospitality except in the house of a poor and elderly couple. The inhabitants of Lystra had no intention of repeating that mistake, and they brought bulls to make sacrifices to the supposed gods. When the apostles tore their clothes in shame and persuaded the crowd to desist, the crowd relented—after all Zeus and Mercury had similarly told Philemon and his wife to desist from killing their only goose. However, the crowd turned against the very individuals they had so recently wanted to recognize as gods when Jews from Pisidian Antioch and Iconium arrived to denounce the apostles as imposters who were deceiving the entire region. The local populace was no doubt anxious to avoid a direct conflict between the testimony of a miracle and the testimony of established tradition, so the charges against Paul and Barnabas by their own co-religionists provided the residents of Lystra a convenient opportunity to cling to tradition in the face of contrary evidence.

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. 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. 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. But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and having persuaded the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead. But when the disciples gathered about him, he rose up and entered the city, and on the next day he went on with Barnabas to Derbe. When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed. (Acts 14.8−23)

Sometime later, Paul returned to Galatia accompanied by Silas, while Barnabas made a return visit to Cyprus with John Mark. The apostles had bitterly quarreled over the propriety of including John Mark and so went their separate ways. John Mark, cousin to Barnabas, had completed the original mission to Cyprus but turned back rather than press on into the unfamiliar region of Galatia.

And after some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us return and visit the brothers in every city where we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and see how they are.” Now Barnabas wanted to take with them John called Mark. But Paul thought best not to take with them one who had withdrawn from them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work. And there arose a sharp disagreement, so that they separated from each other. Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus, but Paul chose Silas and departed, having been commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord. And he went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches. (Acts 15.36−41)

The primary purpose of these follow-up trips was to check on the health of the isolated converts, but a second purpose was to confirm the ruling by at the council in Jerusalem against burdening non-Jewish believers with the full weight of the Law. The role of Silas on this trip was of considerable significance since he was one of two official emissaries of this ruling, which rejected a requirement prevalent throughout Galatia that Gentiles be circumcised. Paul nevertheless circumcised Timothy (whose mother was a Jew but whose father was a Gentile) so that this disciple might belong to Israel for the sake of the Gospel; the circumcision was not for Timothy’s benefit but for the benefit of Israel.

Paul came also to Derbe and to Lystra. A disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek. He was well spoken of by the brothers  at Lystra and Iconium. Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him, and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. As they went on their way through the cities, they delivered to them for observance the decisions that had been reached by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem. So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and they increased in numbers daily. (Acts 16.1−5)

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? You observe days and months and seasons and years! I am afraid I may have labored over you in vain. (Galatians 4.1−11)

Paul once again visited Galatia on his way overland from Antioch to Ephesus. We have no details of this third visit, but we do note that his letter to the Colossians, written only a few years later, warns against seeking justification through the Law. Given that Colossae was located in Western Asia, not overly far from Pisidian Antioch, it seems likely that the allure of the Law remained strong in the back country of Asia Minor.

 After spending some time there, he departed and went from one place to the next through the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples. (Acts 18.23−23)