Acts 14:8-18

Acts 14:8–18 (ESV)✞: Paul and Barnabas at Lystra

Passage

In the last passage Paul and Barnabas were forced to flee Iconium, so they now end up at Lystra. They find a man who’s been crippled in his feet since birth, and Paul, “seeing that he had faith to be made well” (verse 9 (ESV)✞), tells the man to stand up – which he does!

The crowd is amazed, and cry out in Lycaonian¹, “The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!” (verse 11 (ESV)✞). They assume Barnabas is Zeus and Paul is Hermes. Verse 12 (ESV)✞ says that they assumed Paul was Hermes because he was the chief speaker, though it doesn’t say why they assume Barnabas is Zeus; perhaps he’s just older than Paul, or otherwise seems to be “in charge.”

Paul and Barnabas, however, are not happy about this:

¹⁴But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their garments and rushed out into the crowd, crying out, ¹⁵“Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men, of like nature with you, and we bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them. ¹⁶In past generations he allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways. ¹⁷Yet he did not leave himself without witness, for he did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.” ¹⁸Even with these words they scarcely restrained the people from offering sacrifice to them. (verses 14–18 (ESV)✞)

Thoughts

I once heard a preacher saying that he assumed this was probably one of Paul’s worst experiences: Paul lived his life to bring the Gospel to others, and here he was recieving the worship that should have been God’s!

I probably wouldn’t have taken this as seriously as Paul did; I might even have found it amusing, were I in his shoes. The older I get, however, the more seriously I would likely be to take something like this. (Not that it’s something I ever expect to happen to me; being mistaken for a god is very unlikely in my case…)

Footnotes

1. I didn’t know “Lycaonian” was a language, but apparently it was! ↩