Acts 27:30Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Yet Paul's words inspired trust in him and encouragement in only a few on the ship, and least of all in the sailors. Therefore, after fourteen days of stormy sailing, signs appeared that the ship was approaching some shore.

They then wanted to escape from the ship by means of the boat. They hoped that if the ship were broken against the shore, they would not perish with the others.

Pretending that they wanted to cast anchors from the bow, they began to lower the boat into the sea. But Paul perceived their intention and told the centurion that, if the ship were left without sailors, salvation would be impossible.

Then the soldiers cut the ropes of the boat. After this it fell away and was driven by the waves from the ship.

Despair gave the sailors new strength. Yet now they were concerned chiefly for their own safety. After checking the ship with anchors, they tried deceitfully to board the lifeboat and get to shore, leaving the ship to its own unhappy fate. That fate would soon have overtaken it, had the soldiers, on the advice of the Apostle Paul, not hindered the execution of their inhuman plan.

The sailors wanted to flee. They probably considered the ship's condition desperate and hopeless, so that they did not hope to reach land on it. Perhaps they feared that the shores of the supposed land were not suitable enough for the ship to approach.

In any case, they formed a conspiracy and agreed to flee from the ship, leaving it to the mercy of fate. They resolved to reach land in the boat or skiff (v. 16) tied to the ship.

They began to lower it into the water under the pretext that they wanted to cast another anchor from the bow of the ship, in addition to those lowered from the stern.

The sailors' attempt to flee failed, but this too may be regarded as an act of God accomplished through the Apostle. He disclosed their secret intention and their hidden attempt, under the guise of lowering bow anchors into the sea, to descend into the boat and go secretly to shore.

They intended to abandon the ship to the mercy of fate. When Paul revealed this evil intention of the sailors, the centurion ordered the soldiers to cut the rope by which the boat was tied to the ship. The plot of the wicked men was destroyed.

"See," says St. John Chrysostom, "how obedient the centurion becomes. He cuts away the boat and casts it off. Here the writer shows that the sailors wanted to flee because they did not believe what had been said.