Acts 14:11Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Barnabas, who may have been older than Paul and had something especially dignified in his appearance, they took for Jupiter. The superstitious inhabitants shared their guesses with one another in their own dialect. Paul and Barnabas did not know what honor was being prepared for them. The people immediately sent word to the temple about the appearance of the gods. The priest came to the gates of the city with oxen for sacrifice to Jupiter and with garlands for the sacrificial animals.

They said that the wonderworkers were gods, not men. This is very natural when a popular crowd is strongly excited. It is difficult to say what this Lycaonian dialect was. Some consider it a dialect related to Assyrian. Others consider it identical with the Cappadocian dialect. Still others regard it as a corrupted Greek dialect. One thing alone is beyond doubt: Paul and Barnabas did not understand this dialect. Otherwise they would immediately have prevented the act of the people that followed. It seems that the writer of Acts notes that the people cried out in Lycaonian precisely to indicate why the apostles did not at once prevent what followed. They did not understand what the people were shouting or what they intended to do (cf. Chrysostom). "The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men." That gods can appear, and do appear, to men in human form was an abiding and universal popular belief in paganism. It was probably a remnant of the most ancient tradition concerning the appearances of the one true God to the forefathers. Philosophers rejected such divine appearances and laughed at this popular belief. Yet among the common people this belief existed always and everywhere.

From this it is clear that the dispersion of the Jews through the chief cities rendered great service in preparing the Gentiles to receive the preaching of the Gospel. Yet where such preparation had not taken place beforehand, God, the Knower of hearts, at once performed signs and wonders. These alone, by themselves, could bring about the greatest change in unprejudiced souls.

Only it was necessary to give the proper direction to the natural impulses toward God. He alone is the one Cause of all good things and of every perfect gift found in this world. This is what the apostles undertook while remaining in Lystra.

Concerning the idolatry of the Lystrans, blessed Theophylact remarks: "Do you see how it was customary among the Greeks to make men into gods? Remember the origin of idolatry. In exactly the same way the Greeks made even the apostles into gods from among men. And in the beginning the devil tried in the same manner to introduce this impiety into the world, saying, 'You will be like gods' (Gen 3:5). Since he did not succeed then, from that time to this day he has pursued the same aim, trying everywhere to introduce polytheism."

"In general, the pagan nations attached an entirely different meaning to miracles than the Jews did. For the Jews, miracles were a theological proof of God's existence. For the pagans, they were an immediate revelation, a manifestation of deity. Therefore it is not surprising that the Lystrans took Paul and Barnabas for gods.

The author of Acts himself personally witnessed how, later, the natives on the island of Malta considered the Apostle Paul a god, cf. Acts 28:6. The author's narrative is unquestionably historical. It is not a reproduction drawn from the Apostle Paul's Epistle to the Galatians, Gal 4:14-15.

The two episodes mentioned in Galatians and in Acts are entirely different. The historical basis for the event in Lystra should not be sought in Galatians. It should be sought in the pagan belief that gods descend from heaven, assume human form, and move among men.

The life of Apollonius of Tyana, from Lycaonia, was regarded as a journey of God over the earth." The general relation of Acts to the Apostle Paul's Epistles should rather be stated in this way. One writer is silent about much that is known through the other. One narrates in detail what the other only hints at. In short, the two sacred writers are completely independent of one another.

"In the miraculous action of the foreigner, Paul, the Lycaonians saw something familiar. It corresponded to their vague ideas about God and His relation to mankind. The idea of the divine hidden within them, as a remnant of the pure biblical tradition about God, presented the Godhead to their mind's eye as something higher than external nature and human powers. It showed Him as a being whose actions are directed toward man's good.

All this was present. It remained only to say, 'God is with us.' But the pagans had walked in their own ways for too long. Having sunk in their thoughts, they exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image resembling man, cf. Rom 1:22-23. They worship the creature instead of the Creator.

Their thought descends from the essence of truth and enters the realm of delusion. The Lystrans recognize the apostles, who were only messengers of the living and one God, as gods who had come down to them in human form.

But could gods come down to such insignificant men as they, the Lycaonians? This too found its answer in the story of Zeus and Hermes journeying upon the earth. The Phrygian myth relates that these gods found shelter not in splendid palaces, but in the poor hut of Philemon and Baucis.

A temple was dedicated to Zeus in Lystra. Therefore the Lystrans could very naturally take one of the gods for Zeus. It was Hermes' duty to accompany Zeus. He appeared as a kind of mediator between Zeus and men.

As such, he possessed exceptional eloquence and was the god of good and the averter of evil. The one who healed the lame man by his powerful word corresponded exactly to all these attributes. As for Barnabas, his imposing appearance probably mattered when they named him Zeus."