12. What were the circumstances that moved Paul and Barnabas to speak with boldness in Iconium?

¹² Consider also the example of Paul and Barnabas. Acts 14:1, 2 states: “In Iconium they entered together into the synagogue of the Jews and spoke in such a manner that a great multitude of both Jews and Greeks became believers. But the Jews that did not believe stirred up and wrongly influenced the souls of people of the nations against the brothers.” The New English Bible reads: “But the unconverted Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the Christians.” Not content with rejecting the message themselves, Jewish opposers embarked on a smear campaign, trying to prejudice the Gentile population against Christians.a How deep their hatred of Christianity must have been! (Compare Acts 10:28.) This, Paul and Barnabas felt, was “a time to speak,” lest the new disciples become disheartened by public reproach. “Therefore they [Paul and Barnabas] spent considerable time speaking with boldness by the authority of Jehovah,” who showed his approval by empowering them to perform miraculous signs. This resulted in some being “for the Jews but others for the apostles.”—Acts 14:3, 4.