Acts 14:1
And it came to pass in Iconium, that they went both together into the synagogue of the Jews, and so spake, that a great multitude both of the Jews and also of the Greeks believed. And it came to pass in Iconium, that they went both together into the synagogue of the Jews, and so spake, that a great multitude both of the Jews and also of the Greeks believed.
Iconium was made up of Romans, Greeks, and Jews, and was a great resort for pleasure-seekers and people with no particular object in life. Paul and Barnabas went together into the synagogue of the Jews there, beginning their work first for their own people the Jews in the same order as at Antioch. They so spoke that a great multitude of both Jews and Greeks believed in Christ and accepted the gospel, with great numbers believing daily and the preaching gaining wide attention.
They kept working faithfully and speaking boldly in the face of opposition, envy, and prejudice, and their success continued as people accepted the gospel. Signs and wonders and miracles wrought daily through them accompanied the message, strengthening its influence among receptive hearers, convincing all whose minds were open to evidence, and increasing the number of converts. Their increasing popularity stirred the unbelieving Jews to envy, hatred, and fresh opposition determined to stop them at once, including efforts to turn the Gentiles against those who had accepted the faith.
The opponents carried false and exaggerated charges to the authorities that the whole city was in danger of being incited to insurrection and that the multitudes joining the apostles were part of secret and dangerous designs, and the disciples were repeatedly brought before the authorities. Before the people they made a clear, sensible, calm, and comprehensive defense of their doctrine, so that even prejudiced magistrates did not dare condemn them and it was acknowledged that their teaching encouraged virtue and obedience to the law and made men virtuous, law-abiding citizens. Unprejudiced Jews and Greeks held that letting them remain would improve the morals and good order of the city, and these public defenses gave the doctrine great publicity before a much larger number of unprejudiced hearers.
The work met bitter opposition from ministers and people who refused and persistently refused the light of God, who by misrepresentation and falsehood blocked the messengers' access to others and closed every door by which the messenger of truth might have access to the people. Their course illustrates visiting every place where entrance could be gained with success in saving souls to Christ, and belongs to a wider pattern in which after working a large territory they visited again the churches they had planted to confirm them and then returned to Antioch from which they had been set apart by prayer and counsel. That pattern is to be carried out now so that the truth may extend to all parts of the globe through an ever-enlarging circle of influence and ever-increasing workers. Those who observe and teach the binding claims of God's law may frequently in a degree face the same bitter opposition, misrepresentation, and falsehood.