John Calvin Commentary Acts 14:3

"Long time therefore they tarried [there] speaking boldly in the Lord, who bare witness unto the word of his grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands." — Acts 14:3 (ASV)

A long time. Luke declares here that Paul and Barnabas did not depart the city as soon as they saw some set against them, for when he says that they behaved themselves boldly, he indicates to us that there was cause for fear offered to them. From this we gather that they stood firmly, and that through remarkable constancy and courage they counted all dangers as nothing, until they were compelled by violence to depart to another place.

This clause, επι κυριω, may be interpreted in different ways: either that they acted boldly in the Lord’s cause, or that they trusted in His grace and were thereby encouraged. I have followed that which was more common: that they behaved themselves freely and boldly in the Lord, that is, being helped not by their own strength, but by His grace.

He shows immediately after, in what way they were encouraged in the Lord; namely, because He approved the doctrine by signs and miracles. For since they knew by this that the Lord was present with them, and that His hand was near to help them, they were rightly spurred on to act boldly.

But in noting one kind, he does not exclude other kinds, for the Lord lifted them up to boldness and established them in constancy by other means. It seems that Luke spoke of miracles expressly, because the Lord showed in them His power openly before all the people. Therefore, Paul and Barnabas were greatly emboldened when the Lord so delivered their doctrine from contempt.

Furthermore, we must note this phrase: that the Lord gave witness to the gospel in miracles, for it shows the true use of miracles. This is, indeed, the primary purpose: that they may show to us the power and grace of God. But because we are wrong and perverse interpreters of them, lest they be drawn into abuse and corruption, God never allows them to be separated from His word.

For if miracles were worked at any time without His word:

• That was very seldom.
• Little fruit came of it.

God has, for the most part, worked miracles so that the world might know Him not simply, or in His bare majesty, but in His word.

So Luke says, in this place, that the gospel was established by miracles, not so that some confused religion might possess the minds of men, but so that, with Paul’s doctrine leading the way, they might be brought to the pure worship of God.

From this we may easily gather how foolishly the Papists act when they endeavor to lead the world away from reverence for God and the gospel by mere miracles. For we must hold to the principle that those miracles which came from God at any time never tended to any other end than that the gospel might have its perfect and full authority.

Now we must see whether the gospel commands us to call upon the dead, to burn incense to idols, to transfer to saints (who are claimed to reign) the grace of Christ, to undertake vowed pilgrimages, or to invent profane forms of worship, of which there is no mention made in the Word of God. But there is nothing more contrary to the gospel than that these superstitions should take place. From which it follows that the Papists wickedly turn the very supports of the gospel into weapons to attack it.

What Luke says also points to this same conclusion: that the Lord granted that miracles might be done by the hands of His servants. In these words he teaches that those who obeyed God were only ministers, and that He was the author, who used their hand and labor. Therefore, speaking properly, we cannot say that they were Paul and Barnabas’s miracles, but the miracles of God alone, who so works through men that He will not have His glory darkened by their ministry.

Furthermore, we must note the title of the gospel, which Luke includes here, so that it may be made more dear to us. For in calling it the word of grace, it has a most pleasant taste, because salvation is offered to the world in it through Christ. We must also understand its contrast with the law, in which only the curse is set before us. Therefore, let us remember that God speaks to us in the gospel for this purpose: that He may reconcile Himself to us and may testify that He is merciful to us.

Nor does this prevent it from being the savor of death unto death to the reprobate (2 Corinthians 2:16), because they do not change its nature by their own fault. Read what we have said in the second chapter concerning signs and wonders.