Acts 14:15Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

They do not remain silent. What do they say? "We also are men like you." They immediately stopped the evil at its beginning. They did not simply say, "men," but "like you." Then, lest anyone think that they too honored the gods, listen to what they add: "We preach the Gospel to you. That you should turn from these vain things to the living God, Who made heaven and earth and the sea and all that is in them." See, they do not mention the prophets. They do not say why God, though Creator of all, permitted the nations to live according to their own laws. Notice the speech, restrained in its rebuke, yet filled at once with wonder and reproach.

So Peter also said, "Why do you gaze at us, as though by our own power or piety we had made him walk?" (Acts 3:12). These apostles say the same thing, but act with a certain fervor: "They tore their garments and sprang in." "We also are men of like passions with you." We are men, they say, but we are above the idols, because they are dead. Do you see how common it was among the Greeks to make gods out of men? In their own books, where their ancient history is described, you will find that Zeus, being a man, made himself a god by saying that he was a god. In the same way, many Roman and Macedonian kings were called divine. Therefore there is no reason not to believe the ancient accounts that some nations were deceived and called certain men gods.

When the evangelists of the Gospel learned of this, they were filled with grief. With torn garments, they rushed into the crowd to stop their mad attempt. "What are you doing?" Paul said to them. "We are men like you. We came here precisely to turn you from these worthless idols to the living God, the almighty Cause of all being. Until now He has allowed people their own will, so that they might learn how little they can do by their own powers. Yet He never left them without witness to Himself, sending them everything needed for sustenance and enjoyment."

The apostles' stay in Lystra was marked, among other things, by the healing of a man lame from birth. Yet this great work of God, performed by the Apostle Paul in the name of Jesus Christ, produced a sad misunderstanding among the pagan inhabitants of the city. It gave rise to the thought that the wonderworkers were gods who had appeared in human form. They wanted to offer sacrifices to Paul and Barnabas, so that the apostles barely succeeded in convincing these foolish zealots of their error. Afterward the apostles preached the word of God there unhindered for some time. But Jews who came from Antioch of Pisidia succeeded in stirring up the population against the apostles even there. This disturbance was so violent that Paul was stoned and dragged outside the city, since they thought he was dead. Therefore, on the next day, he had to leave that city and go to Derbe.

Here it is related how the inhabitants of Lystra, having seen the miracle of the lame man's healing, took Barnabas and Paul for gods and wished to offer sacrifices to them. When the apostles heard this, they rushed into the crowd, saying, "What are you doing? We also are men like you." Yet by persuading the inhabitants of Lystra not to offer sacrifices to them and not to regard them as gods, the apostles do not forbid us to honor their memory, glorify their struggles, and ask their prayers for us before the Lord.

Since they did not understand the native dialect, the apostles learned only after everyone else that the people wanted to make them objects of idolatry. When they heard of this, their living awareness of the dread majesty of the one true God struck them with such horror that the pagans could scarcely understand it. Tearing their garments, they rushed into the crowd with cries. They exhorted and implored the people to believe that they were only ordinary mortals, like themselves. The very purpose of their mission was to turn them away from this vain idolatry to the one living and true God, Who made heaven and earth and the sea and all that is in them.

"We also are men like you." We are not gods, but men. We are not of divine nature, but of human nature, the same as you. We preach to you a teaching new to you precisely in order to turn you from these false gods whom you honor, and for whom you have mistaken us, to the one living God. We preach the Gospel to you about the living God not in order to receive divine honor, but to turn you away from rendering such honor to these false gods, such as your Zeus and Hermes. To Him alone all glory, honor, and worship are fitting. This living God is the Creator of heaven and earth and the sea and all that is in them. He is Creator of the three chief regions of the visible world with all their contents.

The apostles saw the whole preparation for sacrifice to them only late, because the Lystrans had spoken about all this in the local Lycaonian dialect. Therefore they tried to prevent everything with even greater force and urgency. As a sign of ordinary human anger and grief over what had happened, they tore their garments. By this they showed that they were not majestic Olympian gods, but ordinary men with ordinary clothing, and beneath it ordinary nakedness. At the same time, they loudly proclaimed to them the teaching about the one God, the Creator of all. They also proclaimed the falsity of all the gods whom they honored in idols, from the supposed thunderer Zeus to his companion Mercury. The apostles' agitation is especially significant here.