Acts 14:8

Like Antioch of Pisidia, Lystra (modern Zoldera) was a Roman colony. [Note: See my comments on 13:14-15.] It was the most eastern of the fortified cities of Galatia. Lystra was about 20 miles south of Iconium. Twenty miles was a normal day’s travel in the Roman Empire at this time. Luke did not mention synagogue evangelism here. Evidently there were so few Jews that there was no synagogue in Lystra (or in Philippi).

"The further on Paul and Barnabas went the further they got from civilisation [sic]." [Note: Barclay, p. 115.]

Luke stressed the hopeless case of the lame man (cf. Acts 3:1-10; Acts 9:33-35).

"Luke undoubtedly wanted his readers to recognize the parallel between the healing of this crippled man and the healing of another one by Peter (cf. Acts 3:1-8) . . ." [Note: Longenecker, p. 435.]

"In opposition to those who would challenge Paul’s claim to apostolic authority based on his direct commission from the risen Christ, Luke is concerned to show that his hero shares with the chief Apostle [Peter] the healing power vested in his disciples by the Lord himself (John 14:12) and exemplified in Jesus’ own ministry (Luke 7:22)." [Note: Neil, p. 163.]

". . . it must be remembered that ancient historians looked for and believed in the existence of repeated cycles or patterns in history, such that one could learn from what has gone before and to a certain degree know what to expect from the future. [Note: Footnote 273: "See the discussion by [G. W.] Trompf, [The] Idea of Historical Recurrence [in Western Thought], of Polybius, pp. 78 ff., and of Luke, pp. 170ff."] This sort of thinking was characteristic of various of the Hellenistic historians, especially Polybius . . ." [Note: Witherington, p. 423. ]