📖 Biblical Definition
Lystra was a Roman colony in Lycaonia (south-central Asia Minor) and one of the cities Paul and Barnabas evangelized on the first missionary journey (Acts 14:6-20). They healed a man crippled from birth, and the pagan crowd, speaking in their native Lycaonian dialect, hailed them as the gods Hermes and Zeus and tried to offer sacrifice. The apostles tore their clothes and barely restrained the priests. Then Jews from Antioch and Iconium arrived, turned the crowd, and Paul was stoned and dragged outside the city for dead. He rose, returned to the city, and continued his work. Lystra later became the home of Timothy, Paul’s most beloved spiritual son (Acts 16:1-3).
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
LYSTRA — a city of Lycaonia preserved as the place where worship was offered to apostles, then stones thrown at them within hours.
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Webster 1828 omits the proper name. Acts 14 records one of the most volatile crowd-reversals in Scripture: divine honors offered, refused, then exchanged for stones. Lystra also became the hometown of Timothy, whose mother Eunice and grandmother Lois had taught him the Scriptures from childhood.
📖 Key Scripture
Acts 14:8 — "And in Lystra a certain man without strength in his feet was sitting, a cripple from his mother's womb, who had never walked."
Acts 14:11 — "Now when the people saw what Paul had done, they raised their voices, saying in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!”"
Acts 14:19 — "Then Jews from Antioch and Iconium came there; and having persuaded the multitudes, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead."
Acts 16:1 — "Then he came to Derbe and Lystra. And behold, a certain disciple was there, named Timothy."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
The crowd that crowns you in the morning will stone you by afternoon.
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Lystra is the apostolic warning against crowd-trust. The same Lycaonians who tried to garland Paul as Hermes were within hours dragging his body from the city as a corpse. Modern ministry that builds on viral applause inherits the Lystran instability: crowds turn faster than weather.
The corruption is the assumption that popular favor is divine favor. Paul rose from his stoning and walked back into the city the next day. The pattern is clear: refuse the crown when it is offered, accept the stones when they fall, return to the work either way.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
Greek Lystra (G3082); paired with Lycaonian language (G3072) and the cult of Zeus and Hermes.
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G3082 — Lystra — Lystra; a Lycaonian city in Asia Minor
G3072 — Lykaonisti — in the Lycaonian dialect
G2203 — Zeus — Zeus; chief Greek deity, applied to Barnabas
Usage
"The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men! (Acts 14:11)."
"They stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city (Acts 14:19)."
"Then he came to Derbe and Lystra (Acts 16:1)."