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ACTS - In the Triumphal Procession of Christ
Studies in the Acts of the Apostles
PART 2 - Reports About Preaching Among the Gentiles and the Foundation of Churches From Antioch to Rome - Through the Ministry of Paul the Apostle, Commissioned by the Holy Spirit (Acts 13 - 28)
A - The First Missionary Journey (Acts 13:1 - 14:28)

5. The Founding of the Church at Lystra (Acts 14:8-20)


ACTS 14:8-18
8 At Lystra a certain man sat, impotent in his feet, a cripple from his mother’s womb, who never had walked. 9 He was listening to Paul speaking, who, fastening eyes on him, and seeing that he had faith to be made whole, 10 said with a loud voice, “Stand upright on your feet!” He leaped up and walked. 11 When the multitude saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voice, saying in the language of Lycaonia, “The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!” 12 They called Barnabas “Jupiter,” and Paul “Mercury,” because he was the chief speaker. 13 The priest of Jupiter, whose temple was in front of their city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates, and would have made a sacrifice along with the multitudes. 14 But when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of it, they tore their clothes, and sprang into the multitude, crying out, 15 “Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to the living God, who made the sky and the earth and the sea, and all that is in them; 16 who in the generations gone by allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways. 17 Yet he didn’t leave himself without witness, in that he did good and gave you rains from the sky and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.” 18 Even saying these things, they hardly stopped the multitudes from making a sacrifice to them.

A miraculous cure was wrought at Lystra, a city 30 kilometers south-southwest of Iconium. Jesus healed a cripple through the words of Paul the apostle. Some years before this event, Peter, too, had healed in the name of Jesus Christ a man who had been paralyzed from his mother’s womb at the gate of the temple. This healing had caused a great gathering of the people in the courtyard of the temple, where Peter then gave an effectual sermon. As a result Peter was taken to trial before the high council of the Jews.

What happened to Paul in Lystra was identical. As the apostle preached to the multitudes, he observed a life-long cripple. This poor man understood the speaker and believed in the power of Christ. When his eye met with Paul’s, the apostle perceived the will of God. He looked straight at him and ordered him to stand on his feet immediately and walk. The power of Christ worked through the words of Paul the apostle, without his pronouncing of the name of Jesus, and without his taking the cripple by the hand, as Peter had done. The sick man had heard the gospel and believed in the good news of salvation. His faith had saved him.

Lystra was an idolatrous city, whose people had no acquaintance with the one and holy God, before whom all men are guilty. These idolaters believed in many gods and spirits. They believed in the possibility of their gods incarnating themselves and walking among them. They also readily deified celebrities, for the spirits of hell and of lost men do not live separated from one another.

When the multitudes heard Barnabas and Paul and saw how the sick man was healed, they thought that good gods had visited their city. They gave Barnabas the name Zeus, for he had the same characteristics as the father of their gods, the chief god of the Greek Pantheon, in whose fatherly spirit dwelt kindness, silence and prudence. To Paul they gave the name Hermes, the messenger of the gods, who distinguished himself by activity, dynamic action, speech, and strife. Since there was an old temple of Zeus outside the town, the priest of the god Zeus immediately took the hint, thinking it was time for him to bestir himself to do his duty. He excitedly hurried to bring two fat bulls adorned with flowers, wanting to offer sacrifice to the apostles. He called large numbers of the people of the town to come to a banquet of joy, which would be held in the gods’ honor. Such banquets in temples were distinguished by drunkenness, revelries, and adultery. In so doing they thought they were rewarding the gods’ with blessings, by giving all their energies to pleasure and licentiousness

Paul and Barnabas did not immediately understand the shouts of the multitudes in their native dialect. They were at some distance from them, being held in reverence and veneration. When the two apostles understood what the people were about to do they became disgusted and fearful. They ran into the middle of the crowd and tore their clothes, expressing their anger and their zeal for God. Paul climbed onto a high rock and shouted: “Stop it! You are wrong! We are not gods at all, but are only human beings like you, made of flesh and blood. You have cheated yourselves. Zeus and Hermes did not come to you, for these gods are vanities. They are but inexistent fabrications. All the gods which you worship are nothing but vanities, idle things incapable of reason, unprofitable, powerless, and lifeless.

We are here to preach to you the singular, holy, and true God, who made heaven and earth and all that is in them, all that you see, and even you yourselves. We are all the creation of the good God, who does not compel anyone to carry out His will, but gives up those who resist Him to the lusts of their own hearts, to corrupt themselves by themselves. In spite of peoples’ selfishness, God continues His history with men. He loves not only the obedient but the disobedient as well, and gives them rain, sunshine, heat, cold, and crops at the right times. It is God alone who gives us provision, feast and joy, and not Hermes, Zeus, or any other such spirit, which are all vanities. As such the two apostles spoke to individuals and multitudes, and with much effort prevented them from offering the sacrifice. The priest was angry, and the multitudes, thinking of the pleasure they would miss in connection with their gods, returned resentfully to their houses, as if a thunderbolt had fallen on them from heaven. The entire town spoke about the two apostles and their strange preaching about the one God.

QUESTION:

  1. Why did Paul call all the gods vanities?

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