Acts 14:22

"When they had preached the Good News to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch,"

Key Reflection

After establishing churches in several cities, Paul and his companions revisited these places, symbolizing a cycle of ministry where the apostles not only planted but also tended to the growing Christian communities, ensuring their spiritual health through follow-up visits. This pattern underscores the importance of ongoing discipleship and the apostolic practice of returning to reinforce the faith of converts.

From the Scholars: Barnes' Notes

Verse 22. Confirming. Strengthening--episthrizontev. The expression, "to confirm," has in some churches a technical signification, denoting "to admit to the full privileges of a Christian, by the imposition of hands."--Johnson. It is scarcely necessary to say that the word here refers to no such rite. It has no reference to any imposition of hands, nor to the thing which is usually supposed to be denoted by the rite of "confirmation." It means simply, that they established, strengthened, made firm, or encouraged by the presentation of truth, and by the motives of the gospel.

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