Acts 14:13Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

They were honored with temples and altars, and the whole catalogue of pagan gods consists of such men. So that this would not happen to the saints, God permitted them to be constantly persecuted, to receive scourgings, and to suffer illnesses. Their extreme bodily weakness and abundance of temptations persuaded those then living that men who performed such great miracles were still men. They brought nothing from themselves. One grace alone accomplished everything through them. For if people regarded as gods those who had done small and insignificant deeds, they would much more have suspected these men of being gods. They did such things as no one had ever seen or heard. This would have happened if they had not suffered anything proper to men. Even though they were scourged, cast down, imprisoned, driven out, and met dangers every day, some still fell into this impious opinion. How much more would they have thought so if the apostles had endured nothing proper to men.

In these cases the angels help us, rejoice with us, and assist us as far as they can. So do all the higher powers, most mighty in their goodness and piety. But if we wished to offer anything of this kind to them, they would receive it with displeasure. They positively forbid all this when they are sent to us in such a way that we perceive their presence. There are examples of this in the sacred books. Some thought that the honors due to God should be rendered to angels by worship or sacrifice. But the angels persuaded them not to do this, and commanded them to render this honor to Him alone, to Whom alone they judged it fitting (Rev 19-22). Holy men of God imitated the holy angels in this respect. Thus Paul and Barnabas, who had performed a certain miracle of healing in Lycaonia, were taken there for gods. The Lycaonians wanted to offer sacrifices to them. But they refused this with humble piety and preached to the Lycaonians the God in Whom they believed (Acts 14). The pride of lying spirits demands these honors for itself because it knows that such honors befit the true God. They do not take pleasure in the stench of corpses, as Porphyry says and as some suppose, but in divine honors. There is more than enough stench for them everywhere. If they wanted more, they could find it for themselves. Therefore the spirits who arrogate divine dignity to themselves delight not in the smoke from the burning of some body. They delight in the soul of the one who prays. Having deceived and subjected that soul to themselves, they rule over it. They block its way to the true God. In this way they prevent a man from being a sacrifice to God while he offers sacrifice to someone other than God.

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.

Therefore it would be better not to unite, or place side by side, a moleben to the Most Holy Trinity or to Christ the Savior with a moleben to the saints. The saints will bring our prayer to the same Most High Lord. It would be better to perform the first moleben separately, or at another time, if time and circumstances permit.

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."