Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Acts 14:7

"and there they preached the gospel." — Acts 14:7 (ASV)

The opposition to the ministry of Paul and Barnabas must have grown to sizable proportions, for they took it seriously enough to leave Iconium and travel to Lystra and Derbe. By referring to Lystra and Derbe as “Lycaonian cities,” Luke implies that Iconium belonged to a different region from Lystra and Derbe. All three, of course, were part of the Roman province of Galatia. But in the administration of so large a province, the Romans subdivided Galatia into various regions, four of which have come down to us by name: Isauria, Pisidia, Phrygia, and Lycaonia. In fleeing to Lystra and Derbe, therefore, Paul and Barnabas were leaving one political region to start afresh in another. Thus in the Lycaonian region they continued preaching the Gospel, both in the cities of Lystra and Derbe and in the surrounding countryside.