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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Acts 14:14 - 14:18
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The horrified speech of Paul:
v. 14. Which when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of, they rent their clothes, and ran in among the people, crying out,
v. 15. and saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein;
v. 16. who in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways.
v. 17. Nevertheless He left not Himself without witness, in that He did good, and gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.
v. 18. And with these sayings scarce restrained they the people that they had not done sacrifice unto them.
Evidently there was here a bilingual situation which complicated matters. While the inhabitants of the city were fully able to use the Greek language in business and matters of every-day life and could also understand the missionaries very well, their language of religion was the tongue which they had always employed for that purpose. Very likely Paul and Barnabas did not understand the outcries of the people. for though Paul, at least, had the gift of tongues. 1Co_14:18, it does not follow that it was in his power at all times. But the news of the intended sacrifice was soon brought to the ears of the two apostles, either while they were still busy with their teaching, or when they had returned to their lodgings. Shocked beyond measure by the very thought of the pretended sacrifice. Paul and Barnabas both tore their mantles in token of deep grief, distress: and horror, Gen_37:29-34; Jos_7:6, and sprang out among the crowd, shouting loudly meanwhile to attract attention quickly. They called out: Men, what is this that you are doing? They explained that they were men, human beings, with the same affections as the citizens of Lystra. They had the same powers and appetites, needed food and clothing in the same way, and were subject to death like all other human beings. They did not preach themselves nor present themselves for adoration, but were messengers with a good, a wonderful news of salvation, namely, that the people of Lystra should turn themselves, turn entirely away from these vanities which they were professing and practicing, their idols and their worship, in doing so, they should turn to the living God, the one God who was the Author and Dispenser of life. For this true God it was that had made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything that is in them. See Act_17:24. The living God had given evidence of His power and life in the act of creation; the God of creation and the God of redemption is one. Paul here, as a wise and careful missionary, appealed to the knowledge of natural religion, in order to build upon it the beauty of revealed religion, in the admonition of Paul that the people should turn from the vanity and foolishness of their idolatry it was implied that their ways had been wrong ways. God had, in times that were now past and should never return, shown great forbearance and patience in letting all the nations go their own ways. He did not strike down and destroy the heathen that had turned to idolatry, but permitted them to live: since there was always the chance of their searching for, and learning to know, the true God, chap. 17:30. Nevertheless, as Paul points out, even during those times God did not leave Himself unattested. His continuous beneficent activity and goodness was manifested in His doing good; in His granting from heaven, whence all good things come, Jam_1:17, rains and fruitful seasons, in His filling their hearts with food and good cheer. Purposely he says "hearts" and not "bodies," since he wants to lead his hearers away from a mere care of the body and this present life to the care of their immortal soul. It was a tactful, but none the less impressive reminder of the fact that they had not been guiltless in times past, since the evidence of God's creative power and of His providence had been apparent on every hand to lead them to search more diligently for the true God. The speech barely quieted the people and prevented their carrying out the intention of offering sacrifices to Paul and Barnabas. The behavior of the two missionaries serves as an example for the missionaries of our days. To yield to, to accommodate the Christian religion to, sinful, idolatrous practices, with the specious plea that it is necessary to gain the people's confidence, is always foolish. The confidence of people cannot be held by a denial of the truth. Every form of enmity toward God, of idolatry, of the service of mammon, of the world, of sin, must be branded as such, not by a tactless zeal, but as the matters come forward for attention. Upon the basis of such instruction the preaching of the Gospel may then be built up and true and saving faith be wrought by the Spirit of God.