Acts 14:21

And when they preached the gospel to that city, and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, and to Iconium, and to Antioch.

When Paul and company were at Derbe, only the Taurus Mountains separated them from Paul's native province and the city of Tarsus; and one wonders if there were any emotions tugging at his heart for a visit there. However that was, the verse before us summarizes an extensive and successful preaching experience in Derbe, after which the missionary party backtracked, visiting again the cities they had already evangelized. In view of the hardships Paul encountered in those cities, MacGreggor thought that "It is a little difficult to understand why the apostles at this point deliberately turned back to towns from which they had been expelled."[27] Blaiklock, however, pointed out that the magistrates in those cities held office for only one year and that they might easily have returned "when other magistrates took annual office."[28] See also footnote 4 under Acts 14:1. The reason for Paul's determination to revisit the cities of South Galatia, however, is not far to seek: it was for the purpose of strengthening the Christians and ordaining elders in the congregations which they had established.

[27] G. H. C. MacGreggor, op. cit., p. 191.

[28] E. M. Blaiklock, op. cit., p. 30.