Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and won over the crowds. They stoned Paul and dragged his body outside the city, thinking he was dead — the arrival of hostile Jews from previous cities reveals an organized opposition following the missionaries' trail. The stoning (lithoboleo) fulfills the threat mentioned in 14:5. Paul's apparent death experience (nomizō tehnēkos, thinking him dead) prefigures his later recounting of being caught up to the third heaven (2 Corinthians 12:2-4), suggesting this trauma may link to that mystical experience.

COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS

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