Acts 14:9Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

When Paul came to Lystra, he performed a great miracle. He raised up a lame man, and did so with a loud voice. Listen how. And see with what zeal the man attended to Paul's words. This is precisely what is meant by the word "heard." Do you see his love of wisdom? His lameness did not hinder his zeal at all in listening. "Looking intently at him and seeing that he had faith to be healed." He had already been converted inwardly. With others, however, the opposite took place. First their bodies were healed, and only afterward their souls were healed. But this man was not so. It seems to me that Paul penetrated into his very soul.

As for the words, "who, looking intently at him and seeing that he had faith to be healed," it seems to me that these words express the thought that Paul penetrated into his soul. For to attend to what Paul was saying was possible only for a philosophic soul.

The apostles went to another city of the same province and at first labored for quite a long time in Lystra. Here, as is evident, there was no synagogue, and Jews did not live there in general. Therefore no better place remained for preaching the Gospel than the public assemblies in the squares and outside the city. While Paul and Barnabas were carrying on their work in this way near the city, a man lame from birth, perhaps a beggar, listened to their preaching. Paul's words made such a strong impression on him that he waited with hope not only for spiritual restoration, but also for bodily healing. Paul noticed this and, to strengthen his hope in Christ, and through him the hope of others, said to him, "Stand on your feet and walk upright." The lame man was healed.

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.

On one occasion the Apostle Paul noticed among his hearers a man who had been crippled from birth. His evident thirst to listen made him come forward toward the apostle as a man who could perform wondrous deeds. He was not mistaken. Fixing his gaze on the sick man, the apostle cried out with a loud voice: "Stand upright!" Stirred by the miraculous power, the cripple stood up and began to walk.

"He listened to Paul." As is evident, he attracted the apostle's special attention, perhaps by his exceptional attentiveness to Paul's speech, or by his special condition, since he had no use of his feet. "Looking at him," and so forth. Looking at the lame man, the apostle saw that he had faith to receive healing. Probably Paul's preaching, and his whole person, awakened in the lame man a special trust in the apostle's words. It also awakened faith in the almighty power of Him Whom Paul preached, a power able to heal even him, lame from birth. The penetrating gaze of the God-enlightened apostle perceived this faith in the lame man's soul. In the name of the One preached, the preacher granted healing to the lame man (cf. Acts 3:6-8 and note).

The miraculous healing of the lame man in the city of Lystra is very significant in its beginning. The Apostle Paul first became convinced that the lame man had faith, and a definite faith, namely that he would receive healing. The apostle discerned this with a single glance. From this it is clear what gift of insight the holy Apostle Paul possessed. It also shows how boldly great his hope in God was when he cried out with a loud voice, "Stand upright on your feet." It was as though he were handing over a ready gift from the Master of life. The creature who had lacked the ordinary gift of walking from birth obeyed the authoritative command spoken in the name of the almighty Creator. Like certain newborn creatures already complete, he leaped up and walked. "It seems to me," says St.