Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Acts 14:26

"and thence they sailed to Antioch, from whence they had been committed to the grace of God for the work which they had fulfilled." — Acts 14:26 (ASV)

On returning to Antioch of Syria and to the congregation that had sent them out, Paul and Barnabas “reported all that God had done through them and how he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles.” They had gone out under divine ordination, and their report stressed the fact that God himself had brought about the new policy for evangelizing the Gentiles, which was inaugurated at Paphos and followed throughout the cities of southern Galatia—a claim that was called into question by some believers in Jerusalem and was soon to be tested at the Jerusalem Council. So having returned from a missionary journey that occupied the best part of a year, the apostles remained at Syrian Antioch, ministering in the church there for approximately another year.