Acts 28:4Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

God did not allow the barbarians to see and say this in vain. It was so that they would not reject the miracle when it occurred. See what natural judgment the strangers express. See how respectfully they speak among themselves and do not condemn without any basis. They see this now in order to marvel more afterward. Thus the Jews, who had seen so many miracles, drove Him away and persecuted Him. But the strangers, who had seen nothing of the kind, showed humanity from compassion for misfortune alone. “Certainly,” they say, “this man is a murderer.” They do not assert it outright, but say, “Certainly,” that is, so far as can be seen.

See: natural judgment is full of truthfulness even among barbarians. They do not condemn simply, but speak among themselves with a feeling of compassion.

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.

From the fact that the serpent had fatally bitten Paul, the islanders concluded that he must surely be a murderer. Justice, though it had preserved him from destruction in the sea during the shipwreck, still did not allow him to live. It was repaying him with death for a mortal sin, supposedly murder. Perhaps they had seen and heard that Paul was a prisoner, which makes their judgment more understandable. By the name Justice, Dike, Iustitia, the Greeks understood the goddess who avenges crimes upon men, the daughter of supreme Jupiter.

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.