Acts 28:3Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Then Paul gathered brushwood and placed it on the fire, as the writer says afterward: "Paul gathered a great bundle of sticks." See how he labors, and how he works miracles everywhere not simply at random, but from necessity. During the storm he prophesied when the occasion arose, and not without cause. Here again, he is gathering brushwood and throwing it on the fire. Do you see how he does everything neither from vainglory nor in vain, but so that they may be saved after warming themselves a little? At this, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened on his hand. That it fastened there is clear from what follows.

When Paul was gathering brushwood, the viper bit his hand and caused him no harm, because the holy man was a fulfiller of faith.

Wild beasts serve as a proof of faith. If you trust the Lord's statement, "You shall tread upon the asp and the basilisk, and you shall trample the lion and the serpent" (Ps 90:13), then by faith you have power to trample serpents and scorpions. Or do you not know that when Paul was gathering brushwood, a viper fastened upon him and caused him no harm, because the holy man was filled with faith? But if there is no faith in you, fear not so much the beast as your own unbelief, through which you have made yourself entirely exposed to every destruction.

The viper fastened upon the Apostle's hand and, finding no sin, at once withdrew and threw itself into the fire, as if punishing itself for having attacked a body entirely invulnerable. We, however, fear wild creatures because we are not armed with virtue.

Why even now, malicious serpent worthy of punishment, do you strive to turn us away from the Lord and plot an ancient assault against the renewed law? Why, lover of death and cause of it, do you renew war against the redeemed? You try to be a robber, yet you become the prey. Bearing death, you yourself meet your end, evil one, in the branches of another tree. After the Cross of Christ, the tasting from a tree has become death for you (cf. Gen 3:1).

Coming out of the sea, the Apostle kindled a fire because of the cold, so that by the flame of love he might warm the hearts of those whom he had saved by his teaching from the stormy waves. The brushwood signifies certain words of exhortation that serve to kindle love. They are taken from the purity of the Scriptures, as though cut from green branches. Thus the unclean spirit, driven away from the hearts of faithful people by the flame of virtues, strives to pour the poison of persecutions into those who preach the truth. In this way he seeks to wound the hand, that is, to hinder the work of spiritual teaching.

The circumstances of the disastrous voyage were meant to draw Paul's companions' attention to him. The event on the island of Malta was meant to dispose the local inhabitants favorably toward him. The harmless bite of the serpent and the healing of many sick people, including the father of the chief man of the island, Publius, during the three-month stay on Malta, were a preparatory means of Providence for the conversion of the island's inhabitants.

When those who were saved had landed, they learned that they were on the island of Melita, or Malta. The inhabitants of this island treated the saved men humanely. They kindled a fire and warmed them, for the weather was rainy and cold. At this time a miraculous event occurred, which made a strong impression on the islanders, who were pagans. When the Apostle Paul had gathered much brushwood and was laying it on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened on his hand. The pagans thought that this most venomous serpent would cause the apostle certain death. But he shook it off into the fire and suffered no harm. This so astonished the pagans that they came to think Paul was God.

The inhabitants received the shipwrecked men kindly and helped them gather wood to warm their limbs, stiffened by cold and damp. The Apostle Paul also gathered wood. But when he brought a large bundle of dry brushwood and threw it on the fire, a viper, warmed back to life, sprang out of it and “fastened on the apostle’s hand.” Seeing the venomous serpent hanging from his hand. And noticing that he was a prisoner, the simple islanders began saying to one another that he must be some murderer. Though saved from the sea, righteous vengeance was pursuing him even on land. The apostle, not troubled in the least, calmly shook the viper into the fire and suffered no harm. The natives expected that he would fall down dead at once. For a long time they watched him anxiously. When they saw that no harm followed, they changed their opinion, like the rough inhabitants of Lystra, and said that he was God.

The viper, coming out because of the heat, fastened on his hand. A viper is a most venomous kind of serpent; compare the note on Mt 3:7. This reptile becomes numb in the cold. Probably this viper was in the same state, lying in the brushwood that Paul had brought. But the heat suddenly awakened it. Irritated by this, it bit the apostle and fastened on his hand. The writer of Acts does not state directly that the viper bit Paul, but this is clear from the whole account. The islanders expected that he would swell up, or even die suddenly. Therefore they had noticed that the serpent bit him and knew that the effect of its poison was deadly, verse 6.

The Apostle Paul, gathering brushwood and placing it on the fire, performed a work of service to the suffering. Therefore it is no wonder that the deadly viper, taken up by him while numb with cold, did not bite him after it warmed and fastened on his hand. In their judgment concerning God’s judgment upon Paul, the villagers show how firm and definite their concept of God’s judgment was. But, of course, they did not guess who stood before them. Therefore, when they saw that Paul was unharmed, they rushed into the opposite extreme in their judgment of him. This is generally characteristic of direct and simple people; compare the attitude toward Paul in Lycaonia, where he and Barnabas were first taken for gods and then subjected to torment; see Acts 14.