Acts 14:8

In these verses we have,

I. A miraculous cure wrought by Paul at Lystra upon a cripple that had been lame from his birth, such a one as was miraculously cured by Peter and John, Act 3:2. That introduced the gospel among the Jews, this among the Gentiles; both that and this were designed to represent the impotency of all the children of men in spiritual things: they are lame from their birth, till the grace of God puts strength into them; for it was when we were yet without strength that Christ died for the ungodly, Rom 5:6. Observe here, 1. The deplorable case of the poor cripple (Act 14:8): He was impotent in his feet, disabled (so the word is) to such a degree that it was impossible he should set his foot to the ground, to lay any stress upon it. It was well known that he had been so from his mother's womb, and that he never had walked, nor could stand up. We should take occasion hence to thank God for the use of our limbs; and those who are deprived of it may observe that their case is not singular. 2. The expectation that was raised in him of a cure (Act 14:9): He heard Paul preach, and, it is likely, was much affected with what he heard, believed that the messengers, having their commission thence, had a divine power going along with them, and were therefore able to cure him of his lameness. This Paul was aware of, by the spirit of discerning that he had, and perhaps the aspect of his countenance did in part witness for him: Paul perceived that he had faith to be healed; desired it, hoped for it, had such a thing in his thoughts, which it does not appear that the lame man Peter healed had, for he expected no more than an alms. There was not found such great faith in Israel as was among the Gentiles, Mat 8:10. 3. The cure wrought: Paul, perceiving that he had faith to be healed, brought the word and healed him, Psa 107:20. Note, God will not disappoint the desires that are of his own kindling, nor the hopes of his own raising. Paul spoke to him with a loud voice, either because he was at some distance, or to show that the true miracles, wrought by the power of Christ, were far unlike the lying wonders wrought by deceivers, that peeped, and muttered, and whispered, Isa 8:19. God saith, I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth, Isa 45:19. Paul spoke to him with a loud voice, that the people about might take notice, and have their expectations raised of the effect. It does not appear that this cripple was a beggar; it is said (Act 14:8) that he sat, not that he sat begging. But we may imagine how melancholy it was to him to see other people walking about him, and himself disabled; and therefore how welcome Paul's word was to him, "Stand upright on thy feet; help thyself, and God shall help thee; try whether thou hast strength, and thou shalt find that thou hast." Some copies read it, I say unto thee, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Stand upright on thy feet. It is certain that this is implied, and very probably was expressed, by Paul, and power went along with this word; for presently he leaped and walked, leaped up from the place where he sat, and not only stood upright, but to show that he was perfectly cured, and that immediately, he walked to and fro before them all. Herein the scripture was fulfilled, that when the wilderness of the Gentile world is made to blossom as the rose then shall the lame man leap as a hart, Isa 35:1, Isa 35:6. Those that by the grace of God are cured of their spiritual lameness must show it by leaping with a holy exultation and walking in a holy conversation.

II. The impression which this cure made upon the people: they were amazed at it, had never seen nor heard the like, and fell into an ecstacy of wonder. Paul and Barnabas were strangers, exiles, refugees, in their country; every thing concurred to make them mean and despicable: yet the working of this one miracle was enough to make them in the eyes of this people truly great and honourable, though the multitude of Christ's miracles could not screen him from the utmost contempt among the Jews. We find here, 1. The people take them for gods (Act 14:11): They lifted up their voices with an air of triumph, saying in their own language (for it was the common people that said it), in the speech of Lycaonia, which was a dialect of the Greek, The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men. They imagined that Paul and Barnabas had dropped down to them out of the clouds, and that they were some divine powers, no less than gods, though in the likeness of men. This notion of the thing agreed well enough with the pagan theology, and the fabulous account they had of the visits which their gods made to this lower world; and proud enough they were to think that they should have a visit made to them. They carried this notion so far here that they pretended to tell which of their gods they were, according to the ideas their poets had given them of the gods (Act 14:12): They called Barnabas Jupiter; for, if they will have him to be a god, it is as easy to make him the prince of their gods as not. It is probable that he was the senior, and the more portly comely man, that had something of majesty in his countenance. And Paul they called Mercury, who was the messenger of the gods, that was sent on their errands; for Paul, though he had not the appearance that Barnabas had, was the chief speaker, and had a greater command of language, and perhaps appeared to have something mercurial in his temper and genius. Jupiter used to take Mercury along with him, they said, and, if he make a visit to their city, they will suppose he does so now. 2. The priest thereupon prepares to do sacrifice to them, Act 14:13. The temple of Jupiter was, it seems, before the gate of their city, as its protector and guardian; and the priest of that idol and temple, hearing the people cry out thus, took the hint presently, and thought it was time for him to bestir himself to do his duty: many a costly sacrifice he had offered to the image of Jupiter, but if Jupiter be among them himself - in propria persona, it concerns him to do him the utmost honours imaginable; and the people are ready to join with him in it. See how easily vain minds are carried away with a popular outcry. If the crowd give a shout, Here is Jupiter, the priest of Jupiter takes the first hint, and offers his service immediately. When Christ, the Son of God, came down, and appeared in the likeness of men, and did many, very many miracles, yet they were so far from doing sacrifice to him that they made him a sacrifice to their pride and malice: He was in the world, and the world knew him not; he came to his own, and his own received him not; but Paul and Barnabas, upon the working of one miracle, are immediately deified. The same power of the god of this world which prejudices the carnal mind against truth makes errors and mistakes to find easy admission; and both ways his turn is served. They brought oxen, to be sacrificed to them, and garlands, with which to crown the sacrifices. These garlands were made up of flowers and ribbons; and they gilded the horns of the oxen they sacrificed.

Victimae ad supplicium saginantur,

hostiae ad poenam corenantur.

So beasts for sacrifice do feed,

First to be crown'd, and then to bleed.

- So Octavius in Minutius Felix.

III. Paul and Barnabas protest against this undue respect paid them, and with much ado prevent it. Many of the heathen emperors called themselves gods, and took a pride in having divine honours paid them: but Christ's ministers, though real benefactors to mankind, while these tyrants only pretended to be so, refused those honours when they were so tendered. Whose successor therefore he is who sits in the temple of God, and shows that he is god (Th2 2:4), and who is adored as our lord god, the pope, it is easy to say. Observe,

1. The holy indignation which Paul and Barnabas conceived at this: When they heard this, they rent their clothes. We do not find that they rent their clothes when the people vilified them, and spoke of stoning them; they could bear this without disturbance: but when they deified them, and spoke of worshipping them, they could not bear it, but rent their clothes, as being more concerned for God's honour than their own.

2. The pains they took to prevent it. They did not connive at it, nor say, "If people will be deceived, let them be deceived," much less suggest to themselves and one another that it might contribute both to the safety of their persons and the success of their ministry if they suffered the people to continue in this mistake, and so they might make a good hand of an ill thing. No, God's truth needs not the service of man's lie. Christ had put honour enough upon them in making them apostles, they needed not assume either the honour of princes or the honour of gods; they appeared with much more magnificent titles when they were called the ambassadors of Christ, and the stewards of the mysteries of God, than when they were called Jupiter and Mercury. Let us see how they prevented it.

(1.) They ran in among the people, as soon as they heard of it, and would not so much as stay awhile to see what the people would do. Their running in, like servants, among the people, showed that they were far from looking upon themselves as gods, or taking state upon them; they did not stand still, expecting honours to be done them, but plainly declined them by thrusting themselves into the crowd. They ran in, as men in earnest, with as much concern as Aaron ran in between the living and the dead, when the plague was begun.

(2.) They reasoned with them, crying out, that all might hear, "Sirs, why do you these things?" Why do you go about to make gods of us? It is the most absurd thing you can do; for,

[1.] "Our nature will not admit it: We also are men of like passions with you" homoiopatheis: it is the same word that is used concerning Elias, Jam 5:18, where we render it, subject to like passions as we are. "We are men, and therefore you wrong yourselves if you expect that from us which is to be had in God only; and you wrong God if you give that honour to us, or to any other man, which is to be given to God only. We not only have such bodies as you see, but are of like passions with you, have hearts fashioned like as other men (Psa 33:15); for, as in water face answers to face, so doth the heart of man to man, Pro 27:19. We are naturally subject to the same infirmities of the human nature, and liable to the same calamities of the human life; not only men, but sinful men and suffering men, and therefore will not be deified."

[2.] "Our doctrine is directly against it. Must we be added to the number of your gods whose business it is to abolish the gods you have? We preach unto you that you should turn from these vanities unto the living God. If we should suffer this, we should confirm you in that which it is our business to convert you from:" and so they take this occasion to show them how just and necessary it was that they should turn to God from idols, Th1 1:9. When they preached to the Jews, who hated idolatry, they had nothing to do but to preach the grace of God in Christ, and needed not, as the prophets in dealing with their fathers, to preach against idolatry: but, when they had to do with the Gentiles, they must rectify their mistakes in natural religion, and bring them off from the gross corruptions of that. See here what they preached to the Gentiles.

First, That the gods which they and their fathers worshipped, and all the ceremonies of their worship of them were vanities, idle things, unreasonable, unprofitable, which no rational account could be given of, nor any real advantage gained from. Idols are often called vanities in the Old Testament, Deu 32:21; Kg1 10:13; Jer 14:22. An idol is nothing in the world (Co1 8:4): it is not at all what it is pretended to be, it is a cheat, it is a counterfeit; it deceives those that trust to it and expect relief from it. Therefore turn from these vanities, turn from them with abhorrence and detestation, as Ephraim did (Hos 14:8): "What have I to do any more with idols? I will never again be thus imposed upon."

Secondly, That the God to whom they would have them turn is the living God. They had hitherto worshipped dead images, that were utterly unable to help them (Isa 64:9), or (as they now attempted) dying men, that would soon be disabled to help them; but now they are persuaded to worship a living God, who has life in himself, and life for us, and lives for evermore.

Thirdly, That this God is the creator of the world, the fountain of all being and power: "He made heaven and earth, and the sea, and all things therein, even those things which you worship as gods, so that he is the God of your gods. You worship gods which you made, the creatures of your own fancy, and the work of your own hands. We call you to worship the true God, and cheat not yourselves with pretenders; worship the Sovereign Lord of all, and disparage not yourselves in bowing down to his creatures and subjects."

Fourthly, That the world owed it to his patience that he had not destroyed them long ere this for their idolatry (Act 14:16): In times past, for many ages, unto this day, he suffered all nations to walk in their own ways. These idolaters, that were called from the service of other gods, might think, "Have we not served these gods hitherto, and our fathers before us, time out of mind; and why may we not as well go on to serve them still?" - No, your serving them was a trial of God's patience, and it was a miracle of mercy that you were not cut off for it. But, though he did not destroy you for it while you were in ignorance, and knew no better (Act 17:30) yet now that he has sent his gospel into the world, and by it has made a clear discovery of himself and his will to all nations, and not to the Jews only, if you still continue in your idolatry he will not bear with you as he has done. All the nations that had not the benefit of divine revelation, that is, all but the Jews, he suffered to walk in their own ways, for they had nothing to check them, or control them, but their own consciences, their own thoughts (Rom 2:15), no scriptures, no prophets; and then they were the more excusable if they mistook their way: but now that God has sent a revelation into the world which is to be published to all nations the case is altered. We may under-stand it as a judgment upon all nations that God suffered them to walk in their own ways, gave them up to their own hearts' lusts; but now the time is come when the veil of the covering spread over all nations should be taken off (Isa 25:7), and now you will no longer be excused in these vanities, but must turn from them. Note, 1. God's patience with us hitherto should lead us to repentance, and not encourage us to presume upon the continuance of it, while we continue to provoke him. 2. Our having done ill while we were in ignorance will not bear us out in doing ill when we are better taught.

Fifthly, That even when they were not under the direction and correction of the word of God, yet they might have known, and should have known, to do better by the works of God, Act 14:17. Though the Gentiles had not the statutes and judgments that the Jews had to witness for God against all pretenders, no tables of testimony or tabernacle of testimony, yet he left not himself without witness; besides the witness for God within them (the dictates of natural conscience), they had witnesses for God round about them - the bounty of common providence. Their having no scriptures did in part excuse them, and therefore God did not destroy them for their idolatry, as he did the Jewish nation. This however did not wholly excuse them, but that notwithstanding this they were highly criminal and deeply guilty before God; for there were other witnesses for God, sufficient to inform them that he and he only is to be worshipped, and that to him they owed all their services from whom they received all their comforts, and therefore that they were guilty of the highest injustice and ingratitude imaginable, in alienating them from him. God, having not left himself without witness, has not left us without a guide, and so has left us without excuse; for whatever is a witness for God is a witness against us, if we give that glory to any other which is due to him only. 1. The bounties of common providence witness to us that there is a God, for they are all dispensed wisely and with design. The rain and fruitful seasons could not come by chance, nor are there any of the vanities of the heathen that can give rain, neither can the heavens of themselves give showers, Jer 14:22. All the powers of nature witness to us a sovereign power in the God of nature, from whom they are derived, and on whom they depend. It is not the heaven that gives us rain, but God that gives us rain from heaven, he is the Father of the rain, Job 38:28. 2. The benefits we have by these bounties witness to us that we ought to make our acknowledgments not to the creatures who are made serviceable to us, but to the Creator who makes them so. He left not himself without witness, in that he did good. God seems to reckon the instances of his goodness to be more pregnant, cogent proofs of his title to our homage and adoration than the evidences of his greatness; for his goodness is his glory. The earth is full of his goodness; his tender mercies are over all his works; and therefore they praise him, Psa 145:9, Psa 145:10. God does us good, in preserving to us his air to breathe in, his ground to go upon, the light of his sun to see by; but, because the most sensible instance of the goodness of Providence to each of us in particular is that of the daily provision made by it of meat and drink for us, the apostle chooses to insist upon that, and shows how God does us good, (1.) In preparing it for us, and that by a long train of causes which depend upon him as the first cause: The heavens hear the earth; the earth hears the corn, and wine, and oil; and they hear Jezreel. Hos 2:21, Hos 2:22. He does us good in giving us rain from heaven - rain for us to drink, for if there were no rain there would be no springs of water and we should soon die for thirst - rain for our land to drink, for our meat as well as drink we have from the rain; in giving us this, he gives us fruitful seasons. If the heavens be as iron, the earth will soon be as brass, Lev 26:19. This is the river of God which greatly enriches the earth, and by it God prepares us corn, Psa 65:9-13. Of all the common operations of providence, the heathen chose to form their notion of the supreme God by that which bespeaks terror, and is proper to strike an awe of him upon us, and this was the thunder; and therefore they called Jupiter the thunderer, and represented him with a thunderbolt in his hand; and it appears by Psa 29:3 that this ought not to be overlooked; but the apostle here, to engage us to worship God, sets before us his beneficence, that we may have good thoughts of him in every thing wherein we have to do with him - may love him and delight in him, as one that does good, does good to us, does good to all, in giving rain from heaven and fruitful seasons; and if at any time rain be withheld, or the seasons be unfruitful, we may thank ourselves; it is our sin that turns away these good things from us which were coming to us, and stops the current of God's favours. (2.) In giving us the comforts of it. It is he that fills our hearts with food and gladness. God is rich in mercy to all (Rom 10:12): he gives us richly all things to enjoy (Ti1 6:17), is not only a benefactor, but a bountiful one, not only gives us the things we need, but gives us to enjoy them (Ecc 2:24): He fills our hearts with food, that is, he gives us food to our hearts' content, or according to our hearts' desire; not merely for necessity, but plenty, dainty, and variety. Even those nations that had lost the knowledge of him, and worshipped other gods, yet he filled their houses, filled their mouths, filled their bellies (Job 22:18; Psa 17:14) with good things. The Gentiles that lived without God in the world, yet lived upon God, which Christ urges as a reason why we should do good to those that hate us, Mat 5:44, Mat 5:45. Those heathen had their hearts filled with food; this was their felicity and satisfaction, they desired no more; but these things will not fill the soul (Eze 7:19), nor will those that know how to value their own souls be satisfied with them; but the apostles put themselves in as sharers in the divine beneficence. We must all own that God fills our hearts with food and gladness; not only food, that we may live, but gladness, that we may live cheerfully; to him we owe it that we do not all our days eat in sorrow. Note, We must thank God, not only for our food, but for our gladness - that he gives us leave to be cheerful, cause to be cheerful, and hearts to be cheerful. And, if our hearts be filled with food and gladness, they ought to be filled with love and thankfulness, and enlarged in duty and obedience, Deu 8:10; Deu 28:47.

Lastly, The success of this prohibition which the apostles gave to the people (Act 14:18): By these sayings, with much ado, they restrained the people from doing sacrifice to them, so strongly were these idolaters set upon their idolatry. It was not enough for the apostles to refuse to be deified (this would be construed only a pang of modesty), but they resented it, they showed the people the evil of it, and all little enough, for they could scarcely restrain them from it, and some of them were ready to blame the priest, that he did not go on with his business notwithstanding. We may see here what gave rise to the pagan idolatry; it was terminating those regards in the instruments of our comfort which should have passed through them to the Author. Paul and Barnabas had cured a cripple, and therefore the people deified them, instead of glorifying God for giving them such power, which should make us very cautious that we do not give that honour to another, or take it to ourselves, which is due to God only.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

AT LYSTRA PAUL HEALING A CRIPPLE, THE PEOPLE ARE SCARCE RESTRAINED FROM SACRIFICING TO THEM AS GODS, BUT AFTERWARDS, THEIR MINDS BEING POISONED, THEY STONE PAUL, LEAVING HIM FOR DEAD--WITHDRAWING TO DERBE, THEY PREACH AND TEACH THERE. (Act 14:8-21)

there sat there a certain man . . . a cripple from his mother's womb . . . The same heard Paul speak--in the open air and (Act 14:11) to a crowd of people.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Act_14:8-18

And there sat a certain man at Lystra.

Paul and Barnabas in Lystra

I. The incident.

1. The case of the cripple resembles that of the man at the gate Beautiful; and a particular statement of it is given, to show the reality and the greatness of the miracle. It was not an incidental, but a radical infirmity which was removed. He had been lame from his birth. His cure, therefore, would appear to all to be the effect, not of superior skill, but of supernatural power. Thus the design of the miracle would be gained, which was not only to relieve the patient, but to demonstrate that God was present with Paul and Barnabas, and consequently that their doctrine was true. Miracles are a sign to them that believe not. They are not merely prodigies intended to raise wonder. To the Jews the argument from prophecy was sufficient; and accordingly, we find the apostles insisting much upon it in their discourses to that people. But to the Gentiles it would not have been addressed with propriety, because they were not acquainted with the prophecies. Miracles, however, were an obvious and easy species of evidence.

2. Paul perceived that the lame man had faith to be healed. This faith seems to signify either a general belief of the power of Barnabas and Paul, or rather of Jesus Christ, whose ministers they were, to cure his infirmity; or a persuasion that a cure would be performed upon himself in particular. In the former case, his faith was founded on the account which he had heard of the character and miracles of Christ, and of the gifts of healing which He had bestowed on His apostles; in the latter it was the effect of a supernatural impression on his mind. This faith Paul perceived by the power of discerning spirits. Paul therefore said, Stand upright on thy feet. And he leaped and walked, and the cure instantly followed the command.

3. Paul said, with a loud voice. The circumstances in which the miracles of the gospel were performed leave no room for suspecting that they were dexterous impositions on the credulity of mankind. They were not done in a corner, but in the chief places of concourse. The juggling tricks of heathenism need only to be strictly examined to be rejected with contempt; whereas the miracles of Christianity are displays of omnipotent power, which will be the more admired the more closely they are considered.

4. The evidence of miracles is not irresistible, but may be counteracted by the power of prejudice. The Jews attributed those of our Saviour to Satanical influence; the Gentiles believed that those of the apostles were operations of magic; and the inhabitants of Lystra were disposed to turn this miracle into an argument in favour of their own idolatrous religion (Act_14:11, etc.). As soon as the idea was adopted, that Paul and Barnabas were gods, the people assigned to them their respective names. If the gods had condescended to visit the city of Lystra, religion required that they should be received with appropriate honours; but the sacrifice was prevented by the zeal of Barnabas and Paul, who ran in among them, saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? We are fellow mortals. Their being of like passions with themselves would not have appeared a good reason why Paul and Barnabas should not be worshipped: for Jupiter and Mercury, and all the rest, if history might be credited, had given many shocking displays of them. But if they were fellow mortals, beings subject, like others, to disease and death, it was evident that they were not gods. Mortals, indeed, there have been, who demanded religious honours; and base flatterers have not been wanting to comply with the extravagant request. Some of the Roman emperors were deified during their lives. But, surely, the worshippers and the worshipped must have secretly regarded one another with mutual contempt. Jealous of the glory of the true God, the apostles rejected, with abhorrence, any honour offered to themselves which intrenched on His prerogative.

5. In the Old Testament the heathen gods are frequently styled vanities. Of the deities, whom the blinded nations adored, some had no existence except in the imagination of their worshippers; and the rest were dead men and women, whom the gratitude and admiration of posterity had consecrated. Their images, in which a Divine virtue was supposed to reside, were alike unworthy of religious honours and incapable of doing good or evil, as inanimate matter in any other shape (Psa_135:16-18). These pretended gods, and their unprofitable service, the apostles call upon the men of Lystra to forsake, and henceforward to worship the living God--Jehovah, the self-existent Being, the source of life to all who breathe.

6. But if the God, whom Paul and Barnabas preached, was the true God, why was He so late in asserting His claim to their homage? To obviate this objection against the Christian doctrine as a novel system, the apostles add, Who in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways. Although He did not leave Himself altogether without a witness, yet He employed no extraordinary means to stem the torrent of apostacy. No prophet arose among them to reprove their errors and restore the knowledge and service of the Creator. The times of this ignorance He winked at, seeming to take no notice of it, as a man closes his eyes that he may not observe what is passing around him. Every nation was suffered to adopt whatever form of religion was most agreeable to its taste. Idolatry seems to have begun early after the flood. It was practised in the family of Abraham prior to his call (Jos_24:2).

7. But this idolatry was inexcusable, because God did not leave Himself without a witness, etc. No man, who consults his reason, can consider the productions of the earth as the result of chance, because chance signifies no cause of any kind, but merely expresses bur ignorance. It is not less irrational to imagine that vegetation is the effect of certain independent qualities or powers of matter. Wherever we observe design, reason and experience point to an intelligent agent. The process by which our hearts are filled with food and gladness, consists of so many steps all conducting to a specific termination, that no person can survey them without an immediate conviction of the existence and providence of God, The heathens, amidst all their ignorance, were not so atheistical as some modern philosophers. They erred only in overlooking the true Author of their enjoyments, and returning thanks for their fruitful seasons to Jupiter, and Ceres, and Pomona, instead of acknowledging the various productions of the earth to be the work of one God, from whom cometh down every good and perfect gift.

II. Its lessons.

1. We learn from this passage that the contemplation of nature should be rendered subservient to the purposes of piety. Man is delighted with the view of what is sublime and beautiful, and with instances of curious contrivances and exquisite workmanship; but the ultimate design of this delight is to conduct him to the knowledge and love of its Author. Philosophy will afford us much entertainment by unfolding the secret operations of nature; but the pleasure of the unlettered Christian is incomparably greater when he traces, in the grand outlines of creation, the footsteps of his Father, and the smiles of His goodness.

2. Let us give thanks to God for our deliverance from idolatry. It is not to reason that we are indebted for this deliverance. We indeed find no difficulty in proving that there is only one God, who ought to be worshipped; but to demonstrate a truth already known is a much easier task than to discover a truth buried under the rubbish of prejudice and superstition. The wisest and greatest men of antiquity were polytheists. Were Christianity banished, the absurd and exploded systems of Paganism would be restored. No sooner had the French nation renounced the religion of Christ than they began to worship the Goddess of Reason.

3. As we profess to be the servants of the living God, let us remember that it is a pure and spiritual worship which He requires. He must not be treated as one of the idols of the Gentiles, to whom their votaries presented the empty homage of ceremonies and oblations. Then only do we serve Him when we present to Him the offering of our hearts, commit ourselves to the direction of His wisdom, submit to His authority, and regulate our thoughts and actions by His law. (J. Dick, D. D.)

Apostolic service and temptation

1. This man would not be admitted into a drawing room; he would be a spot on any feast of high conviviality; but Christianity always begins with the cripples. It will begin anywhere. Its one cry is, Give me a man, and in reply to this the cripple has always been given. This is the defence of the Church, that it shuts out no man, but finds a seat even for the cripple who cannot stand.

2. Paul perceived that he had faith to be healed. That man is here; dont tell me you are not a Christian; your being here means Believest thou the prophets? I know that thou believest. What you want is the faith to use faith, confidence to use the power you have. The great, kind sea waits for you. It is a great easy nurse, and says, Come, throw yourselves right upon me, and you shall not sink. Who can tell but that some poor soul now may say, Lord, I believe; help Thou mine unbelief? If so, this will be the day of miracle.

3. I wish we could be as sure that Paul is here as that the cripple is. You have here an illustration of Pauls insight into character. Not long since we noticed that Barnabas saw the grace of God. What eyes those men had. They knew faith when it was only a light in the face, a gleam in the eye. There is more faith in the world than the preachers have yet conceived. We make great mistakes in confounding one character with another, and in mistaking the symptoms that are offered in order to deceive the very elect. Many a man laughs to keep you off the scent; whilst under his assumed gaiety his heart is suffering from the bite of an adder. Many a man is silent who wants to speak. You have thought him cold, distant, indifferent, whereas in his heart he has been saying, Would God I knew how to begin. Let us pray for the spirit of discerning, and so use that spirit as to bring men who have taken one step on the right road forward on their journey.

4. Why did Paul speak with a loud voice? Some people object to loud voices--they say they could hear quite well if the preacher did not exert himself so. It is not enough to hear--you must overhear. An utterance must not deliver its own syllables only, but take with it heart, fire, life. If you had spoken with a sublimer audacity you would have elicited a nobler reply. People knew that Christ spoke with authority, and Pauls heart went with his voice, and his every syllable was glorified into a power.

5. Not only had Paul keen insight into the character of others, he had also keen insight into his own spirit. That kept him right. The high priest of Jupiter was prepared to offer sacrifice to him; but he cried, We also are men of like passions with you. Their self-knowledge was, humanly speaking, their salvation. If we knew ourselves we could not so inhale the incense of adulation as to lose our balance. Let all men know themselves to be but men, and then eulogium will bring with it honest encouragement, and instead of offering sacrifices, we shall offer the nobler homage of confidence and love.

6. This narrative throws some light upon Christianity itself. Christianity makes people do what they never did before. The man had never walked. Christianity does not make us do things a little better than we did them before; it makes us do things we and the world thought it impossible for us ever to do. When the priest of Jupiter saw what was done, he was prepared to put the knife to Jupiters own throat. Christianity must vindicate itself by the men it makes. Convince the priests of Jupiter, not by eloquent reasoning, but by noble manhood.

7. The man leaped and walked. You cannot leap long--the law of gravitation is against that--but you can walk all your lifetime. A man leaping always is beside himself; a man walking has serious business, and he is going to do it. We cannot live in raptures, but we must leap at first. Those who have seen God, and have received of His strength, mount up as on the wings of eagles: then they run, then they walk. It would be pleasant to see some of us leaping a little. Without enthusiasm, what is the Church? It is Vesuvius without fire; it is Niagara without water; it is the firmament without the sun. (J. Parker, D. D.)

Worship: the false and the true

I. Man worship. Look at--

1. The great miracle.

(1) The cripple. His condition was, humanly speaking, hopeless. So the sinner (Rom_7:18; Psa_51:5).

(2) The cure. Look at the steps.

(a) The same heard Paul speaking. The gospel came with healing to the soul before healing was given to his body.

(b) Perceiving how undoubting was the mans faith in Christ as a Saviour, Paul saw that he would have just as much faith in Him as a healer.

(c) Stand upright on thy feet. To that clarion call all the energies of the lame mans being responded. The sense of impotence gave place to a sense of power. There was a second miracle in the leaping and walking; for with man walking and leaping are the result of many trials and failures.

2. The great mistake. The miracle set the people reasoning. By no mere human power could such a wonder be performed; therefore these men must be gods. Even the priest of Jupiter himself came to do priestly homage.

II. True worship. Some would have let the people suppose for a time that their surmise was true. It would give them influence, and gradually, they could turn attention away from themselves to Christ, etc. But the false never can represent the true. How did Paul and Barnabas act?

1. Self-worship rejected.

(1) The apostles horror. Evidently no such temptation had appealed to them.

(2) The apostles declaration. We also are men, etc. Capable of suffering, and hence unlike gods.

(3) The apostles mission. Bring you good tidings, that ye should turn from these vain things unto the living God. The worship of the living God is the only one that brings returns. All other worship is empty of results--a waste of time, of means, of energy--an eternal disappointment.

2. True worship enjoined. The sermon of the apostles is short, but it presents God--

(1) As Creator. Who made the heaven, etc. God was living, while their gods were of stone, or of their own imagination. He was self-existent--their gods were vanities.

(2) As Father.

(a) Indulgent. Who suffered all nations to walk in their own ways. He would not compel their adoration, but left it to themselves to find out that evil was hurtful, idolatry nothing but vanity, and that the wages of sin is death,

(b) Faithful. Yet He left Himself not without witness, in that He did good. The apostacy of the nations did not cause God to turn away from them. With infinite patience, born of infinite love, He continued to treat them as though they were His children.

(c) Provident. And gave you from heaven rain, etc. With wonderful kindness our Father maketh His sun to rise on the evil and the good, etc. His love and goodness continually plead with men to repent. And with these sayings scarce retained they, etc. The heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. It is as hard sometimes to turn them as it is to turn the course of a river. (M. C. Hazard.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Act 14:8-10. And there sat, &c. — To the general account of the apostle’s labours given above, the historian here subjoins a particular relation of some memorable events which happened at Lystra. There sat a man impotent in his feet — Disabled, as the word is, to that degree, that it was impossible he should set his feet to the ground, or lay any stress upon them; being — As was well known, a cripple from his mother’s womb. This same man heard Paul speak — Having, it seems, been laid in some place of public resort, to beg alms of such as passed by, near where Paul was discoursing; who steadfastly beholding him, and perceiving — By the ardour and humility expressed in his countenance, or by the gift of discerning spirits which he possessed; that he had faith to be healed — Had a degree of confidence in his soul, that the Jesus whom Paul preached could and would heal him: Paul probably finding at the same time in himself that the power of Christ was to be displayed on this occasion; said with a loud voice — In the hearing of all that were assembled there, as one that was conscious of the divine authority by which he then acted; Stand, &c. — Or, as is certainly implied, and as some copies read, I say unto thee, in the name of the Lord Jesus, stand upright on thy feet — And power went along with this word; for the lame man immediately leaped and walked — Thus showing that he was perfectly cured.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

HOMILETICAL ANALYSIS.—Act_14:8-20

Paul and Barnabas at Lystra; or, the Gospel among Barbarians

I. The miracle at Lystra.—

1. The subject. “A certain man, impotent in his feet, a cripple from his mother’s womb, who never had walked” (compare Act_3:2). “The three phrases are like three beats of a hammer; there is no fine literary style in this device, but there is real force which arrests and compels the reader’s attention. Luke uses the triple beat in other places for the same purpose—e.g., Act_13:6, ‘Magian, false prophet, Jew’ and Act_16:6-7, according to the true text” (Ramsay, St. Paul, etc., p. 115). The cripple, who was obviously no professional mendicant but one whose sad history was well known, was, besides being a proper subject for benevolent assistance, manifestly one whom supernatural aid alone could restore to health.

2. The place. Most likely in the street at some public resort, as Lystra does not appear to have had a synagogue, the Jews in that rude and uncultivated region being probably a mere handful.

3. The time. When Paul was preaching and the cripple listening. “I, being in the way, the Lord led me” (Gen_24:27). The Bezan text suggests that the lame man had been a proselyte before he came under Paul’s influence.

4. The agent. Paul, who had now taken complete precedence of Barnabas, who had already performed a miracle of judgment on the sorcerer (Act_13:11), and who by the Lystrans was recognised as the chief speaker.

5. The manner.

(1) The apostle fastened his eyes upon the cripple as Peter had done on the lame man at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple (Act_3:4), and as he himself had done on Elymas at Paphos (Act_13:9). He had probably been arrested by the cripple’s eager look, and in turn had searched his inner soul with that penetrating glance which belongs only to souls filled with the Holy Ghost (Act_13:9, Act_23:1).

(2) Having perceived that the cripple had faith to be healed (literally, saved, but whether more than from his physical malady is impossible to tell), the apostle said with a loud voice, “Stand upright on thy feet! “Compare Peter’s address to the lame man (Act_3:6), in which the name of Christ is invoked. That Paul omitted Christ’s name may be explained either by the brevity of the record, or by supposing Paul’s discourse had so clearly indicated the source of healing that this required no further mention.

(3) At once, without delay, the cripple “leaped and walked.” i.e., thrilled with a Divine power, he sprang to his feet (a single act like that in Act_3:8), and began to step out as he had never done before.

II. The conduct of the Lystrans.

1. Their exclamation. Like Welshmen who, after listening to an address in English, revert to their mother tongue to find an outlet to their emotions, the Lystrans in their native dialect, the speech of Lycaonia (see “Critical Remarks”), shouted forth, “The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men,” and proceeded to identify Barnabas with Jupiter (Zeus) presumably on account of his combined majestic and benignant appearance, and Paul with Mercury (Hermes), not because of his bodily insignificance (2Co_10:1; 2Co_10:10), but because of his eloquence—“he was the chief speaker.” The belief that the gods were accustomed to visit the earth in human form widely prevailed among the ancients; that such a belief, especially with regard to Jupiter (Zeus), should have existed among the Lycaonians is not surprising considering that Lystra had a temple of Jupiter (Zeus) at its gates, and was thus, as it were, placed under the tutelage of the “Father of gods and men.” That Jupiter (Zeus) should have been accompanied by Mercury (Hermes) accorded also with their own traditions, one of which told of a visit made by these divinities to this very region (see Ovid’s story of Baucis and Philemon, Met., viii. 611, etc.).

2. Their action. The priest of Jupiter (Zeus), whether by himself or through his attendants, having procured oxen and garlands, caused them to be fetched “unto the gates”—i.e., to the temple, and, surrounded by the excited populace, would have offered sacrifice to the supposed divinities. Superstitious as the proposition was, it rebuked, and still rebukes, the lack of enthusiasm on the part of those who, though they know God, glorify Him not as God (Rom_1:21).

III. The protest of the apostles.—

1. The horror they displayed. Having learnt what the priest and people were about, Paul and Barnabas, as might have been expected of pious Jews, not to say enlightened Christians, with their strong monotheism, “sensitive conception of the awful majesty of the One True God,” and instinctive shrinking from the least approach to idolatry, “rent their garments, according to Jewish custom,” from the neck in front down towards the girdle (see “Critical Remarks”), and sprang forth—either from the city towards the temple, or from the house in which they lodged into the street, if the procession had not yet reached the temple—and dashed in among the excited and fanatic crowd.

2. The words they uttered.

(1) A question about the folly of the priest and people—“Sirs! why do ye these things?” An expostulation that might be addressed with propriety to many besides the Lystrans.

(2) A declaration about themselves and their mission, that they were ordinary mortals like the Lystrans, whom besides it was the object of their mission to turn from these vanities to serve the living God. These thoughts about ministers and their missions should be kept in mind both by ministers themselves and their hearers.

(3) A proclamation concerning God. His nature, as the living—i.e., self-existent and life-bestowing God (Deu_5:26; Psa_42:2; Jer_10:10; Dan_6:26). His omnipotence, as the maker of the universe (Gen_1:1; Neh_9:6; Psa_102:25). His justice, in suffering the heathen to go their own ways seeing they had first forsaken Him (compare Act_7:42; Rom_1:24). His forbearance (according to a different interpretation of the verse) in allowing the nations to walk in their own ways without any manifestation of righteous indignation against them (compare Act_17:30; Rom_3:25). His goodness, in giving them witness of Himself by sending them “rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling their hearts with food and gladness” (compare Mat_5:45). On the course of the apostle’s argument, as illustrating his manner of dealing with the heathen, a remarkable light is shed by the apology of Aristides (see “Hints on Act_14:15-17”).

3. The success they attained. They restrained, though with difficulty, the people from carrying out their design; that they obtained no deep hold on their hearts subsequent movements showed.

IV. The interference of the Jews.—

1. Whence these came. From Antioch and Iconium, where their hostility had been aroused and their rage baulked. Nearly every persecution Paul suffered proceeded from the Jews. However wrong, this was partly natural. No man likes apostates, and from the standpoint of the Jews Paul was an apostate of the first water.

2. How they proceeded. They stirred up the crowds who, besides being fickle, as all crowds are (compare Exo_16:2; Exo_17:4; Luk_23:21), were probably in a sullen and half hostile mood in consequence of having discovered that their visitors were not gods but ordinary mortals, and therefore most likely magicians and impostors.

3. What they effected. They so raised the mob that these “stoned Paul,” not beyond the precinets of the town, as the Jews had done to Stephen (Act_7:58), but in the streets, where they were, “and dragged him out of the city, supposing he was dead.” See Paul’s allusion to this experience (2Co_11:25). How Barnabas escaped does not appear.

4. How far they failed.

(1) They did not kill him as they intended and supposed. “As the disciples stood round him he” came to, “rose up and entered into the city.”

(2) They did not detach from him all his friends in Lystra. The disciples gained there stood round his mangled body, when, like the carcase of a dead dog, it was thrown beyond the city, and received him into their homes, when, having revived, he returned into town.

(3) They did not prevent the prosecution of his missionary work. “On the morrow he went forth with Barnabas to Derbe.

Learn.—

1. The power of the gospel to work moral miracles.

2. The credibility of the doctrine of the incarnation.

3. The folly of idol worship,

4. The power, majesty, and goodness of God.

5. The rewards of the faithful.

HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS

Act_14:9. Faith to be saved.

I. Possible to all who need salvation.

II. Requisite for all who wish salvation.

III. Observed in all who seek salvation.

IV. Rewarded to all who obtain salvation.

Act_14:8-10. The Lystra Cripple.

I. An object of sincere pity. Born lame, he had never walked.

II. A recipient of great privilege.—He heard Paul speak concerning Christ and salvation.

III. A subject of rich mercy.—He was healed in body and saved in soul.

IV. A monument of Divine grace.—Allowing to grace that he had been privileged to hear Paul, that his heart had been touched, that faith had been awaked, and that he had been healed and saved.

Act_14:11. The gods are come down to us in the likeness of man.

I. The error contained in this declaration. That there were “gods,” heathen divinities, to come down to men.

II. The truth foreshadowed in this declaration. The incarnation of the Divine Son in the person of Jesus.

III. The lessons suggested by this declaration.

1. That the human heart instinctively believes in a gracious God who can and will and does hold fellowship with His creature man.

2. That the doctrine of an incarnation is by no means contrary to the intuitive con ceptions of the human mind.

3. That the gospel of Jesus Christ the incarnate Son can find a point of contact with man’s soul in the most benighted nations.

Grecian fables on the Subject of Lycaonia.—

1. The legend of Lycaon. See Ovid, Met., Act_1:6. “The origin of the name Lycaonia is unknown, but as there happened to have been a king of Arcadia, called Lycaon, Greek invention soon discovered a connection. It was said that Lycaon had been warned by an oracle to found a city in the region of Lycaonia (why, it does not appear), and that the whole country thence derived its appellation. But further, Λύκος, or Lycus, a wolf, was so near in sound to Lycaon, that the resemblance was to be accounted for, and the ready-witted Greeks originated the fable, that when the earth was filled with wickedness Jupiter descended from the skies to satisfy himself of the fact, that he visited the house of Lycaon, and that the people around, when the god was recognised, were for paying him adoration; but that Lycaon mocked the servility of his subjects, and questioned the divinity of his inmate, and to put it to the test, served human flesh at the table to try the deity’s discrimination; that Jupiter was enraged at the attempt, and metamorphosed Lycaon into a wolf” (Lewin, The Life and Epistles of St. Paul, i. 161).

2. The story of Philemon and Baucis. See Ovid, Met., viii. 631, etc. According to this fable Baucis and Philemon were an aged couple who lived in a small cottage in a penurious manner when Zeus (Jupiter) and Hermes (Mercury) travelled in disguise over Asia. Having extended to the wandering divinities hospitable shelter which the wealthier inhabitants refused, they had their dwelling changed into a magnificent temple of which they were constituted priests, while an inundation swept away the mansions of their churlish neighbours. In addition they were permitted to live happily to an extreme old age, and to die at the same hour, in accordance with their united request to Zeus, that one might not have the sorrow of following the other to the grave. After death their bodies were changed into trees before the door of the temple.

Act_14:13. The Temple of Jupiter at Lystra. Concerning this, Professor Ramsay writes: “Much may yet be discovered at Lystra. We should be (specially glad to find some independent proof that a temple of Jupiter before the city (Διὸς Προπόλεως) existed there. From the many examples of such temples quoted by the commentators on Acts (see “Critical Remarks”), it seems highly probable that there was one at Lystra. The nearest and best analogy, which is still unpublished, may be mentioned here. At Claudiopolis of Isauria, a town in the mountains south-east from Lystra, an inscription in the wall of the mediæval castle records a dedication to Jupiter before the town (Δὰ Προαστίῳ).… “There is every probability that some great building once stood beside the pedestal in Lystra, dedicated to Augustus.” … “There is every probability that the worship of the Imperial Founder was connected with the chief temple, and that the pedestal was placed in the sacred precinet of Zeus, as at Ephesus the Augusteum was built within the sacred precinet of Artemis.” … “Very little excavation would be needed to verify this identification, and probably to disclose the remains of the temple, in front of whose gates the sacrifice was prepared for the Apostles” (The Church in the Roman Empire, pp. 51, 52).

Act_14:15. Sirs! why do ye these things? Idolatry.

I. Indefensible in reason, since the gods of the heathen are “vanities.”

II. Degrading to man, since man is superior to the object of his worship, when that is an idol.

III. Insulting to God, since He alone is,

1. The living God.

2. The creator of the universe.

3. The providential ruler of the world.

4. The benefactor of His creature and child man.

All men alike.

I. In their origin.—

1. From God.

2. From the dust.

II. In their nature.—

1. Soul.

2. Body.

III. In their character.—

1. Sinful

2. Mortal.

IV. In their destiny.—I. To die.

2. To live for ever.

Act_14:17. God’s Witness of Himself.

I. Beneficent in character.

II. Universal in extent.

III. Constant in duration.

IV. Despised by its recipients.

V. Condemning in its judgments.

Act_14:15-17. The Light of Nature.

I. Its excellences.—It reveals—

1. The existence of a supreme Being.

2. His perfection in wisdom and power.

3. His supreme and absolute dominion.

4. His moral government.

5. His universal beneficence.

II. Its uses.—Various.

1. To show men their duty.

2. To convince them of sin.

3. To encourage them in repentance.

4. To vindicate God’s character as a moral governor.

5. To prepare for the gospel of His grace.

III. Its defects.—

1. It illuminates but a small portion of the things of God.

2. Is but dim and feeble.

3. Exercises little influence on men’s hearts and lives.

4. Can discover no effectual relief for guilt and sin.

Note.—The lightshed by the Apology of Aristides, a document composed in the second century (A.D. 120) in Athens, on the method commonly adopted by sub-apostolic writers in dealing with the heathen, is well worthy of attentive study. “Aristides,” says Professor George T. Stokes, D.D., “begins his address to the Emperor (Hadrian) by stating, as St. Paul often does, the effect of the contemplation of nature upon his own soul, teaching him the eternal power and godhead of the Author thereof. In the very opening of his argument he attacks that subtle Pantheism, with its belief in the eternity of the material universe, which characterised the religions of Greece and Rome. ‘O King, by the grace of God, I came into this world, and having contemplated the heavens and the earth and the sea, and beheld the sun and the rest of the orderly creation, I was amazed at the arrangement of the world; and I comprehended that the world and all that is therein are moved by the impulse of Another, and I understood that He that moveth them is God, who is hidden in them and concealed from them; and this is well known that that which moveth is more powerful than that which is moved. And that I should investigate concerning this Mover of All, as to how He exists, and that I should dispute concerning the steadfastness of His government, so as to comprehend it fully, is not profitable for me; for no one is able perfectly to comprehend it. But I say, concerning the Mover of the world, that He is God of all, who made all for the sake of man; and it is evident to me that this is expedient, that one should fear God and not grieve man.’ The argument of Aristides in this passage is just the same as St. Paul’s at. Lystra, or in that great indictment of paganism contained in the First of Romans, an indictment which Aristides amply confirms in all its awful details.”—Modern Discoveries and the Christian Faith, Sunday at Home, 1891, December, p. 107.

Act_14:19. The Stoning of Paul.

I. A hideous crime.—On the part of the Jews who stirred up the Lystrans.

II. A pitiful spectacle.—For the disciples and friends of the apostle.

III. A strange experience.—Which must have recalled to the apostle’s mind the stoning of Stephen.

IV. A powerful argument.—Perhaps impressing the heart of Timothy as Stephen’s stoning did that of Saul.

The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.

§ II. The healing of a cripple in Lystra induces the people to offer idolatrous worship, which Paul and Barnabas with difficulty repress; nevertheless, Paul is afterwards, at the instigation of Jews who came from Antioch and Iconium, nearly slain

Act_14:8-20

8And there sat a certain man at Lystra, impotent [powerless] in his feet, being3 [om. being] a cripple from his mother’s womb, who never had walked4: 9The same [This man] heard5 Paul speak: who steadfastly beholding [looking at] him, and perceiving that he had faith to be healed, 10Said with a loud voice, Stand upright on thy feet.And he leaped6 [sprang up] and walked. 11And when the people [But when the multitudes (ὄχλοι)] saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices [voice (φωνὴν)], saying in the speech of Lycaonia [in (the) Lycaonic (speech)], The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men [The gods have become like unto men, and have come down to us]. 12And they called Barnabas, Jupiter [Zeus]; and Paul, Mercurius [Hermes], because he was the chief speaker. 13Then [But] the priest of Jupiter [Zeus], which [who (i.e., Zeus, Δίὸς τιῦ ὄντος)] was before their city, brought oxen and garlands unto the gates [before the gate], and would have done [intended (ἤθελε) to offer] sacrifice with the people. 14Which [But] when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of [heard this], they rent their clothes, and ran in [rushed forth]7 among the people, crying out, 15And saying, Sirs [Ye men (Ἄνδρες),] why do ye these things? We also [We, too,] are men of like passions [are human beings (ἄνθρωποι), of like condition] with you, and [you, who] preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities [these unreal ones] unto the living God, which [who] made heaven, andearth, and the sea, and all things that are therein: 16Who in times [ages] past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways. 17Nevertheless [Although]8 he left not himself without witness [himself unattested], in that he did good,9 and [from heaven] gave as rain from heaven, [om. here: from heaven,] and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts withfood [nourishment] and gladness. 18And with these sayings [words] scarce restrained they [they were scarcely able to restrain] the people [multitude], that they had not done sacrifice [from sacrificing] unto them. 19And [But] there came thither certain [om. certain] Jews from Antioch and Iconium, who persuaded the people [the multitude], and, having stoned Paul, drew [and they stoned Paul, and dragged] him, out of the city, supposing10 he had been dead11 [that he had died]. 20Howbeit, as [But (δὲ) while] the disciples stood round about [encircled] him, he rose up, and came [went] into the city: and the next day he departed [went out] with Barnabas to Derbe.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Act_14:8-10. A certain man, at Lystra.—[Εν Λύστροις, but, in Act_14:7, Λύστραν; the name occurs both as a fem. sing., ἡ Λ., and as a neut. pl., τα Λ. (Meyer, and Rob. Lex.).—Tr.]. Luke has here furnished several details: (a) the healing of a cripple by Paul, Act_14:8-10; (b) the attempt, in consequence of the miracle, on the part of the population, to offer sacrifice to the two missionaries, as to gods, which was repressed only by the most resolute acts of the latter, and by the witness which they bore, Act_14:11-18; (c) the ill-treatment which Paul subsequently experienced, of which foreign Jews were the instigators, and which very nearly cost him his life, Act_14:19-20.—The healing of the cripple resembles the miracle wrought by Peter, Act_3:2 ff. The unhappy man in Lystra, like the one in Jerusalem, had been lame from his birth, had never learned to walk, and was compelled to sit; (ἐκάθητο, that is, sat there, not: dwelt in Lystra (Kuinoel; [rob. Lex.]). He listened to Paul, whenever the latter spoke; (the imperfect, ἤκονε, which, on critical grounds, claims the preference [see note 3, appended to the text, above.—Tr.], expresses continued action, and, consequently, here, persevering and attentive listening.). Paul, whose attention was arrested by this circumstance, gazed intently upon him (ἀτενίσας), in order to ascertain his spiritual state, as far as possible, and to form an opinion of the processes which were occurring in his soul. He now perceived that the man had faith to be healed; (τον͂ σωθῆναι is the complement of πίστις, and expresses the object to which his reliance and faith referred. [“The infinitive depends on πίστιν; see Winer: Gr. § 44. 4.” (de Wette).—Tr.]. It is probable that the discourse of Paul, as well as his general bearing, had gained the confidence of the sufferer, and induced him to believe that the apostle possessed both the ability and the will to relieve him. His general appearance taught the apostle that such were his sentiments. The cripple drew an inference respecting external matters from the spirit in which the apostle spoke, and accordingly hoped with confidence that his bodily infirmity would be healed. The apostle, on the other hand, formed a judgment respecting the spiritual state of the cripple, from certain external manifestations, and became convinced that the man’s soul was filled with faith. [“Dum claudus verbum audit, vim sentit in anima: unde intus movetur, ut ad corpus concludat.” (Bengel).—Tr.]. And here a difference is perceptible between the present occurrence, and the one which took place at the gate of the temple, Act_3:2 ff. The lame man, in the latter case, merely desired and hoped to receive alms, even after Peter had bidden him to “look on” him and John, Act_3:3-5. But the cripple of Lystra had already been an attentive hearer of Paul, had desired to be saved, and had hoped and believed that the apostle would afford him relief. Paul speaks to him aloud, and directs him to arise and stand upright on his feet. He does not, like Peter, Act_3:6, pronounce the name of Jesus by whose authority he issues the command, and in whose power the miracle is to be wrought, since the cripple had already been taught by the preaching to which he had listened, to receive Jesus as the Saviour; and in this respect also, the two occurrences differ. [Lachmann alone inserts between φωνῇ and ἀνάστηθι the words: Σοὶ λέγω ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι τοῦ κυρίου Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, but the manuscripts which furnish this reading (C. D. E.), do not precisely agree; no traces of it appear in the other uncial MSS. (A. B. G. H. Cod. Sin.); and hence other editors and commentators agree in pronouncing the whole an interpolation from Act_3:6.—Tr.]. As soon as the man was addressed in this manner, he at once sprang up (ἥλατο, aor), and walked about (περιεπάτει imperfect). [See above, note 4, appended to the text.—Tr.]. A third difference between the two cases is found in the circumstance, that while Peter took the lame beggar by the hand, and raised him, the cripple of Lystra was able to spring up without assistance.

Act_14:11-14. And when the people saw, etc.—The impression which the miracle made on the pagans who were assembled, apparently in large numbers, was peculiar, and, indeed, unparalleled. The healing of the cripple was so wonderful, and so exclusively a divine act in their eyes, that the thought occurred to them that the men who taught this heavenly doctrine, and exercised these supernatural powers, could themselves be nothing less than gods in human form. Hence, after such a conjecture had been expressed, possibly by a few individuals, it was at once adopted as an established truth, and the multitude exclaimed aloud: “The gods have become like unto men, and have come down to us.” To Barnabas they gave the name of Zeus, and to Paul, that of Hermes [the Greek names of Jupiter and Mercury.—Tr.]; the latter was so named, because he was ὁ ἡγον́μενος τον͂ λόγον, the chief speaker, Hermes being regarded as the active messenger, and the eloquent herald and interpreter of the gods. Luke does not state the reason for which Barnabas received the name of Zeus; he had, doubtless, remained in a state of calm repose, and may, on this account, (perhaps as the elder of the two,) as well as on account of his dignified presence (Chrysostom says: ἀπὸ τῆς ὄφεως ἀξιοπρεπής), have appeared to be the superior god. The cause which led the people to assume that the two men were precisely Zeus and Hermes, and not two others of the gods, was furnished by the worship which was offered in that spot specially to these two; thus, Zeus had a temple before the city, Act_14:13, and the legend was widely spread, especially in those Phrygian regions, respecting appearances of Zeus and Hermes in human form; they were, for instance, said to have been there entertained, on a certain occasion, by Philemon and Baucis (Ovid: Met. VIII. 621–726). [The explanation of τοῦ όντος π. τ. πολ., i.e., τον͂ Διὸς, may be found in the pagan conception that the god himself was present in this temple, which stood in front of the city gates. (Meyer).—Tr.]. Ewald expresses the happy conjecture (Ap. Zeitalt. 416, n. 1) that this legend was annually recited at the festival of Zeus in this temple, and that thus the people could the more readily form such an opinion respecting Barnabas and Paul. Luke remarks, Act_14:11, that the people uttered the words aloud, which deified the two men, but spoke λνκαονιστί, in their Lycaonic mother tongue. This notice is intended to explain the cause on account of which the apostles did not at once object to the procedure, but almost allowed the people to reach the point of offering a sacrifice. They did not understand the intentions of the Lycaonians, who spoke, not in Greek, but in a provincial language, which was unknown to the apostles. [This suggestion, which appears to have been first made by Chrysostom, Hom. 30, is here fully adopted by Lechler, and, apparently, also by Alexander and Hackett, as well as by others; but it derives no support whatever from the language employed by Luke. After the healing of the man, Act_14:10, the apostles withdrew from the spot, for the oxen and garlands were afterwards “brought” to the place to which the apostles had retired, Act_14:13-14. The cripple and others had remained behind, and were soon surrounded by larger numbers, who gazed with wonder on the man that had been healed. The statement that a theophany had occurred, began to circulate, and then the shouts arose, and the priest commenced to make his arrangements. All this consumed time. It was the absence of the apostles, not their ignorance of a certain language, which prevented them from ascertaining the intentions of the people at an earlier moment. Had they received the gift of tongues to such little advantage, and was the gift of inspiration of so little avail at a critical moment, when idolatry was gathering its forces anew, that they could witness all the previous scenes, and not suspect the purpose? Why did they “rush forth” (see note 5, appended to the text), if they had been present during the whole time, (as Lechler here seems to assume), and had heard the supposed unintelligible shouts?—Tr.].—It is no longer possible to determine to which family of languages the Lycaonian belonged. The conjectures that it was a corrupt Greek, or, that it had grown out of the ancient Assyrian, etc., are entirely destitute of foundation. Although the attempt has been recently made, to represent the present notice respecting the language, as involving a fiction (Zeller), the circumstance is, in reality, very natural, since both experience and psychological investigations show, that in moments of excitement the individual’s mother-tongue usually supersedes a language that had been acquired at a later period of life.—The priest of Zeus, whose temple and statue were before the city, now brought before the gates (of the city) the animals which were intended for sacrifice, as well as wreaths, which were to serve as decorations of the victims and the altar, and, with the multitude, was on the point of offering solemn sacrifices and adoration to the supposed gods who had blessed the city with their appearance. At this moment the apostles ascertained the circumstance; in the grief and indignation which were awakened in them by the sin of idolatry that was about to be committed, they rent their clothes, ran out with the utmost haste before the gate (ἐξεπήδησαν) among the people who were assembled in order to perform the sacrificial act, and, deeply moved and full of zeal, cried to them to desist. [But a different conclusion, with respect to the precise spot, is reached by Conyb. and Howson, (Life, etc. of St. Paul, I. 206. n. 4.): “ΙΙυλῶνες does not mean the gate of the city (which would be πύλη), but the vestibule or gate which gave admission from the public street into the court of the Atrium (the procession moved to the residence of the Apostles.). So the word is used, Mat_26:71, for the vestibule of the high priest’s palace; Luk_16:20, for that of Dives; Act_10:17, of the house where Peter lodged at Joppa; Act_12:13, of the house of Mary. … It is nowhere used for the gate of a city except in the Apocalypse. Moreover, it seems obvious that if the priest had only brought the victims to sacrifice them at the city gates, it would have been no offering to Paul and Barnabas.”—Tr.]

Act_14:15-18. a. Sirs [Ye men], why do ye these things?—The loud and impassioned exclamations of the apostles are immediately followed by an address (λέγοντες).—Ὁμοιοπαθεῖς ὑμῖν ἀνθρ., that is: ‘We are human beings, subject, like yourselves, to all manner of sufferings, disease, and even to death.’ The pagans regarded the gods as ἀπαθεῖς, blessed; immortal, incapable of suffering want.—The words εὐαγγελιζόμενοι ὑμᾶς indicate the object of the coming of the missionaries, thus: ‘We come, not to receive divine honor, but to convey the good tidings to you that ye should turn from these unreal gods to the living God.’ (Τούτων, suggesting that the speaker pointed to the temple of Zeus with his statue, is masculine, and not neuter; [comp. 1Th_1:9; 1Co_8:4]). This language grants a certain permission, and gives a gracious invitation, thus cheering and elevating the soul; hence εὐαγγελ. The living God, as contradistinguished from the lifeless images and the imaginary forms of the gods, is also the Creator of heaven, of the earth, and of the sea—the three divisions of the universe, to each of which the pagans assigned particular gods.

b. The demand that the people should turn (ἐπιοτρέφειν) to the living God, assumed that the ways in which they had hitherto walked, were wrong ways. What is the sense? Paul says, with great forbearance: ‘God has hitherto permitted all nations [πάντα τὰ ἔθνη, i.e., all the Gentiles.—Tr.] to walk in their own ways.’ He does not expressly declare that these were wrong ways, but this truth is indicated with sufficient distinctness for those who are willing to understand. Nevertheless, God did not leave himself unattested during this period. [De Wette thus explains the force of καίτοι, (for which see note 6, appended to the text): ‘Although (the nations were, at the same time, not guiltless, since) he left, etc.’—Tr.]. The testimonies which God gave of himself consisted altogether in benefits (ἀλαθοποιῶν) in the natural world and in the sphere of physical life (ὑετον́ς, καιρ. καρπ.); but he gave all these οὐρανόθεν, in order to draw men towards heaven, which is, indeed, the habitation of God. Man’s gladness, expressed in the language of gratitude, was intended to draw his heart heavenward. The statement that God had filled men’s hearts with nourishment, assumes that the corporeal and spiritual are interwoven with each other; the heart, as the seat of all the perceptions and movements peculiar to man’s psychical life, is unquestionably filled with gladness, in consequence of the contentment which an adequate supply of nourishment affords. [“Hearts…(that is) minds or souls, as the only real seat of all enjoyment, even when afforded by the body.” (Alex.).—Tr.]

Act_14:19-20. And there came thither.—The arrival of certain Jews from the Pisidian Antioch and Iconium, (ἐπῆλθον, they came to the inhabitants of the city) was, undoubtedly, not an accidental circumstance, but was occasioned by the tidings which they had received of the success that attended the labors of the apostles in Lystra; here, too, they fully intended to cross the path of the missionaries. And it is a striking proof of the fickleness of the multitude (οἱ ὄχλοι both in Act_14:18 and Act_14:19), that they allowed the insinuations and representations (πείθειν) of the Jews, to produce such an amazing change in their sentiments. [“The Lycaonians were proverbially fickle and faithless. (The Schol. on Il. IV. 88, 92, says: Ἄπιστοι γὰρ Λυκάονες, ὡς καὶ Ἀριστοτέλης μαρτυρεῖ).” Conyb. and Hows. I. 208.—Tr.]. They now hurl stones with a murderous purpose at those to whom they had so recently intended to offer divine honors and sacrifices. That the project of stoning the two men was devised by the Jews, may be readily conjectured, and the grammatical construction leads to this interpretation, although it is obviously the sense of the passage, that the people of Lystra, had been excited by these Jews, and had coöperated with them. The disciples, Act_14:20, that is, the recently converted inhabitants of Lystra, surrounded Paul, who was supposed to be dead, probably not for the purpose of burying him (Bengel), or, of protecting him (Ewald), but in order to ascertain whether he still lived, and was capable of receiving aid. Then Paul arose, and returned to the city, but left it on the following, day, and proceeded to Derbe. (For Derbe, see Exeg. note on Act_14:4-7). [“We have now reached the eastern limit of the present expedition.” (Hackett).—Tr.].

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. When Paul gazed on the lame man, it became apparent to him that the latter believed that he would obtain relief. The whole occurrence hinges on this peculiar frame of mind of the cripple. Faith comes by the hearing of the word; and as faith, or the confident expectation of obtaining aid and deliverance, proceeded, in this instance, from the hearing of the word, so, too, faith, in every case in which it exists, is wrought by the preaching of the Gospel, Rom_10:14; Rom_10:17. Even when redemption, or that which constitutes its central point, namely, the spiritual welfare or salvation of the soul, is not the direct object of faith—when faith is fixed rather on less central objects, or even on those which belong to the material world, still, if it is founded on the Saviour [comp. cases like Mat_8:10; Mat_9:22; Mat_15:28, etc.—Tr.], it is an acceptance of salvation which meets with divine favor. For σωτηρία is not solely spiritual, as contradistinguished from that which is corporeal—it embraces the body, soul and spirit. If redemption can extend its influence from the spirit even to the body, penetrating, sanctifying, glorifying and redeeming the latter, even so this σωθῆναι, Act_14:9, may begin with the body, until, in its continual advance, it extends to the soul and the spirit.

2. The act of deifying the apostles originated in a combination of heathen superstition with truth. The latter consisted in the impression that divine omnipotence and grace interposed in the affairs of men; such was, in reality, the case at that time; the healing of the cripple was a miraculous and gracious act of God. But with this truth the people immediately combined their superstitious and polytheistic delusions respecting Zeus and Hermes, and appearances of their gods in human form (after the manner of the Docetæ). Their purpose to offer sacrifice at once to the supposed gods, was the natural result of such conceptions. In what other manner could they offer thanks, divine honor, and adoration? This occurrence enables us to form a clearer view of the mode in which paganism itself originated. We are not authorized to declare that the latter is altogether a delusion, unmixed error, and sin. Pagan errors always cling to a truth for support. A pure and genuine feeling, accurate observation, or an indistinct consciousness of the existence of that which is divine, lies at the foundation. But the pagan thence draws a hasty and false inference: that which is natural and a created object, but in which the might, the goodness, the punitive power, etc. of God are revealed, is at once deified, and thus natural religion—polytheism—or paganism in its various forms, is ushered into life.

3. The peculiar character of the apostles is well sustained on this occasion. Their conduct is precisely the opposite of that of Herod Antipas in a similar case. The latter did not utter a single word for the purpose of restraining the people, when they deified him, Act_12:22 f. The apostles instantly protested, with grief and indignation, and as energetically as possible, in order to avert the sin of idolatry alike from themselves, to whom divine honor was to be paid, and from those who designed to offer such worship. And yet, they were exposed to a temptation of no ordinary kind. They might have thus reasoned:—‘These pagan prejudices should be treated with gentleness, for a spark of truth may be discerned in them; the honor paid to us personally might subserve the cause of the Gospel; indeed, the delusion respecting the appearances of gods on earth, might render services to the doctrine concerning Christ, the incarnate Son of God.’ But they would, in that case, have really premised that the end sanctifies the means. How often such views have been carried out in practice! And, nevertheless, in place of promoting, they have always injured, the cause of truth, and impaired the honor of God. The apostles act promptly and with decision; they tear asunder the web which idolaters are weaving, in place of aiding in the construction of it, and with fidelity and success maintain the honor of God.

4. The apostles gained their object—the prevention of sin in the form of an idolatrous act—by imparting instructions of the utmost importance. As an error cannot be successfully combated, unless we oppose to it the corresponding positive truth, Paul does not confine himself to a denial of the former. (We are, probably, not in error, if we suppose that it was he especially, who expressed the thoughts here recorded by Luke). He at once proceeds to state the truths, for a distinct declaration of which, the occasion called. They are the following: (a) The conception of the living God, as contradistinguished from the μάταια; he doubtless here insisted on such characteristic features as reality, a real existence, an absolute power of life, and self-determination; the singular number, ὁ θεός, as contradistinguished from the plural, τὰ μάταια ταῦτα, bears testimony to the unity of God, or to monotheism. [But the author had said above, Exeg. notes, Act_14:15-18 a., that τούτων was masculine; hence—οἱ μάταιοι οὖτοι—Tr.]. (b) The conception of the creation of the world, as a free and independent act of God, by which all things that exist, were, without exception, called into being. This declaration, Act_14:15, also involves a protest against the deification of a creature. (c) God’s revelation of Himself, granted at all times, and to all men, namely, through the medium of benefits connected with the world of nature, Act_14:17. (d) The division of the times, in the history of the human race, into two periods, namely, the ante-Christian, and the Christian; the message of the Gospel, which commands men to turn, Act_14:15, (εὐαγγελιζ. etc.) belongs to the latter. The ante-Christian period, on the other hand, is characterized by the liberty which God had permitted all nations to enjoy, of walking in their own ways, Act_14:16.—It is obvious that the wordsεἴασε πορεύεσθαι, cannot be reconciled with the predestinarian view, that the aberrations of the pagans resulted from a divine and unconditional arrangement; they testify, on the contrary, with sufficient distinctness, to the freedom of man’s self-determination and development, which God had permitted and conceded, in order that men might learn from experience, how far they could advance by their own efforts.

5. It is evident that all these thoughts bear a Pauline impress. That view of history, especially, which distinguishes between the period that preceded the appearance of Christ and the period of Christian revelation, is peculiar to the apostle Paul. The witness which he bears to the one living God, and to the creation of all things by Him, (which was so urgently demanded by the circumstances), does not, it is true, belong to the doctrinal points which distinguish Paul’s preaching from that of the other apostles; still, the truth which he here inculcates, is one of those which he continually represents as essential and fundamental truths of the Gospel.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

Act_14:8. A cripple, etc.—Two miracles of a similar nature had been already recorded in the Acts, Acts 3, and Act_9:33 ff. The healing of precisely such sufferers is specially significant; it affords an image of the change which must take place in man’s spiritual state. When his eyes are open, when he hears the Gospel with his ears, and when his heart is touched, the whole work is not accomplished. The awakened sinner must learn to walk in the light (1Jn_1:7), to “lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees.” (Heb_12:12). (Williger).

Act_14:9. Who steadfastly beholding him … faith to be healed.—If the apostle looked so steadfastly at the feeble spark of faith in the cripple’s heart, how much more distinctly will the all-seeing eye of the Lord observe that spark in us! “O Lord, are not thine eyes upon the truth [upon faith, (Jer_5:3) as לֶאֱמוּנָה is translated by Sept. Vulg. and Luther.—Tr.]?” (Ap. Past.).—The desire that we might obtain help, and the confident expectation of obtaining it, essentially belong to genuine faith; and these features distinguish it alike from mere knowledge possessed by the mind, and from highly excited feelings of the heart, (id.).

Act_14:10. Said … Stand upright on thy feet. And he leaped and walked.—It was only necessary that the apostle should say: “Stand upright on thy feet.” The words: ‘in the name of Jesus Christ’ (Act_3:6), were no longer required. Christ was already present (in consequence of the discourse of the apostle, and the faith of the cripple), and had exhibited his power in the soul and the body of the sufferer. It was only necessary that the latter should furnish, by his movements, the evidence of all that the Lord had done for him. (Williger).

Act_14:11-13. The gods are come down to us, in the likeness of men.—If pagans recognize God as the author of universal benefits and works, what shall we think of those Christians who blaspheme that which they neither recognize nor understand? (Starke).—These heathen fables of the appearances of gods, exhibit a presentiment of the truth; they indicate an obscure remembrance of the happiness of Paradise, when God walked with men, and they point, in a manner not understood by pagans themselves, to a restoration of the fallen and miserable creature, through the incarnation of God in Christ. (Langbein).—The people observed that there was something divine in the apostles; but, in place of discerning the divine character of their doctrine and their office, they deify the apostles personally, in order to harmonize the miraculous powers of the latter with their own superstition. Such is the course of the benighted world, when it forms an opinion of divine things. (Ap. Past.). —Carnal reason might have deemed it expedient to employ this prejudice as a means of opening an avenue for the Gospel, and of establishing the doctrine of the incarnation of the Son of God upon it. But the holy mind of the apostles contemns such vain means and foolish artifices. The Gospel can extend its influence, without walking in crooked paths. The apostles preached not only with divine power, but also with divine purity, (id.).—They could have easily taken the place of the gods whom they had overthrown, but they preferred to confess that God had deposited his treasure in earthen vessels [2Co_4:7]. There is danger, even in our own day, that many may be converted to their pastor, as to a new idol. The modern world can offer its honors with more delicacy than these people, who brought oxen and garlands, but the incense of the praise which the former offers, contains a far more virulent poison. When we cannot secure honor for the Lord Jesus, we should be content to remain also ourselves without distinction and influence. (Rieger).—The deification of the creature constitutes the fundamental principle of heathenism, both in ancient and in modern times. For it is the disgrace and the curse of all who despise the incarnate Son of God, that, in their opinions, their knowledge and their labors, they slavishly follow human guides, as if these were gods who had descended from heaven; they offer to lofty minds, to heroes, and to imaginative poets, an unchristian “worship of genius,” as if these were the saviours, and the original and divine types of the human race. (Leonh. and Sp.).

Act_14:14. Which when the apostles … heard, they rent their clothes.—When the apostles suffer and are persecuted, they are tranquil, and, as sheep before their shearers, open not their mouth; but when a carnal superstition attempts to overwhelm them with undue honors, they resist these snares of Satan with all their strength. “This is the holy indignation which should be enkindled in the souls of God’s servants, whenever He is robbed of the honor which is due to Him. That man will not readily serve God with an upright heart, who is not animated by the ‘godly jealousy,’ of which Paul speaks (2Co_11:2), and who does not watch over the honor of his Lord with as much perseverance and diligence, as a husband,, watches over the fidelity of his wife.” (Calvin).—But what would these apostles do, if they should witness the honor which is now paid to their bones, the adoration of their images, and the idolatry which is at present connected with their names? Leonh. and Sp.).

Act_14:15. We also are men of like passions [condition] with you.—A very salutary influence is exerted by pastors who minister about holy things [1Co_9:13], when they class themselves with the chief of sinners, and testify that they are poor, miserable creatures, even as others, and are sustained solely by the grace of the Lord. Thus they awaken the desire and the hope of deliverance in unconverted men, and prevent the awakened, who may observe human infirmities in them, from being offended. (Ap. Past.).—The Christian is never benefited by receiving the tribute of praise; Paul was even pained when a certain damsel followed him, exclaiming aloud: ‘These men are the servants, etc. [Act_16:17]. The Christian never forgets that he is a mere flower of the field, a shadow—in truth, nothing at all without the grace of God. When others extol him—his good qualities, his alms, his deeds, his merits—he says: ‘I, too, am a dying creature!’ (Leupold).—And preach unto you, that ye should turn, etc.—When the apostles proclaimed such doctrines, they engaged in a direct conflict with paganism; its idols are simply the powers of nature, the adoration of which can produce no other result than that of a still wider and more mournful departure from the truth. But the Gospel, even within the pale of Christendom, is not yet delivered from its early contests with the worship of nature. The deification of it is sometimes veiled; at other times, unrestrained and bold. Nature, creation, and heaven, are lauded a thousand times, while the personal, thrice holy God, is scarcely named. The second article [of the Apostle’s Creed] is first of all set aside; the first article [“I believe in God the Father, Almighty, etc.”] can then no longer be retained; for he that honoreth not the Son, honoreth not the Father which hath sent him [Joh_5:23]. (Langbein).

Act_14:16-17. Who … suffered all nations to walk in their own ways. Nevertheless he left not himself without witness.—When God suffered the Gentiles to walk in their own ways—the ways of pride and disobedience, and, consequently, the ways of death and destruction—his punitive justice was primarily revealed; but his love and his compassion, which, although veiled, were not less active, sought by this course, which compelled men to taste the bitter fruits of sin, to awaken in their hearts an earnest desire after salvation, and to open an avenue for his grace. And even this course of ‘suffering them to walk in their own ways’, by no means implies that God ceased to observe these ways. While the Jews were appointed to make the effort to obey the will of God consciously and with success, the task was assigned to the Gentiles of endeavoring, by their own wisdom, to know God in his wisdom. And even as God often aided the Israelites in their feeble efforts, both by chastisements and by benefits, so, too, he permitted some rays of light to penetrate the gloom of heathenism. The blessings which God bestowed in the sphere of nature, were voices that spoke with sufficient loudness to awaken the slumbering thoughts of men; and direct their attention to the One true God, at least in the case of reflecting pagans. [Rom_1:20.] (Williger).—Filling our hearts with food and gladness.—God gives us rain and fruitful seasons, not merely in order that the wants of our bodies might be supplied, but also that our hearts might be cheered by such temporal blessings, and that we might gratefully praise the Lord and confide in his goodness. (Leonh. and Sp.).

Act_14:18. And with these sayings scarce restrained, etc—To what severe labors and pains men submit in the service of false gods, while they do not willingly dedicate even one hour in the week to the true and living God! And how difficult it is to free them from the obvious folly of their superstition, while the senseless words of a deceiver can often shake, and even destroy their faith! The reason is plain: our natural heart loves darkness rather than light. (Leonh. and Sp.).

Act_14:19. Having stoned Paul.—How fickle the world is! They first bring garlands—then, stones! (Starke).—Every generation ultimately stones its own gods; the only difference is found in the manner in which the stones are cast. (Ahlfeld).—Those who are the most courageous in assailing the kingdom of darkness, are surrounded by the most numerous foes; it is Paul, not Barnabas, who is stoned. (id.).—The retributive justice of God extends even to His children. Paul was pleased with the stoning of Stephen—he is now stoned himself. (id.).—God had, unquestionably, wise reasons for preserving Paul from being stoned in Iconium, while he suffered that affliction to overwhelm him here in Lystra. May it not have been one of his purposes to condemn the more emphatically the divine worship which the people had intended to offer to the apostles? Thus, too, when pastors have attained undue influence, and have been inordinately honored, the afflictions with which they are visited, are often the more severe and humiliating. For the Lord does not intend to train his servants to be idols, but to be bearers of his cross. (Ap. Past.).

Act_14:20. As the disciples stood round about him, he rose up.—When the world passes its sentence on the kingdom of Jesus, and on the sad lot of his people, it often deceives itself. Enemies rejoice, and exclaim: “Rase it, rase it [Hebr. Make bare, make bare (margin)], even to the foundation thereof [Psa_137:7]; let him never arise; let his remembrance perish from the earth [Job_18:17].” But the oppressed rejoice, and say: “Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise. (Mic_7:8). For they that wait upon the Lord, etc. [Isa_40:31].”—The Lord delivered the martyr Numidicus in Carthage, in the time of Cyprian, in a similar manner [during the Decian persecution, A. D. 249, and subsequently; Cypr. Ep. 18.—Tr.]. He had been severely burned, and then overwhelmed by a shower of stones, so that he was supposed to be dead. But when his daughter came to bury him, he arose and went with her to the city.—And came into the city.—Did he then return to the city in which he had nearly been killed? Was not such a step too hazardous to be taken? The apostles had indeed fled once before, Act_14:5-6; but such a course is not expedient at all times. Circumstances may occur, which require us to return to a spot whence we had been ignominiously expelled. It was necessary to show the discouraged heathen converts, that Paul was still alive. (Gossner).

ON THE WHOLE SECTION.

Act_14:8-20. How does the Christian deal with those who offer him honors that belong to God alone? I. He testifies that their blindness grieves and pains him; II. He humbly confesses his own infirmities; III. He boldly proclaims the majesty of God. (Leupold).—The idolatry practised in our day: I. Its objects; II. Its source; III. Its fruits. (Leonh. and Sp.).—Our God, demonstrated as the living God: I. By the creation and preservation of the world, Act_14:15-16; II. By the redemption of the world in Christ Jesus, Act_14:15 [εὐαγγελ.]; III. By his judgments, in the case of entire nations, as well as of individuals, Act_14:16. (ib.).—The sinfulness of the adoration of the saints in the Romish church: I. The mode in which it is offered; II. Its sinfulness. (Lisco).—The conflict between Christianity and Heathenism: I. Christianity contends against the deification of men, while it proclaims the incarnation of God; II. It contends against the worship of nature, while it proclaims the living God as the Lord of creation; III. It contends against man’s inclination to walk in his own ways, while it commands him to walk in the way of God’s commandments. (Langbein).

Act_14:21. The gods are come down, etc.—I. These words, when pronounced by heathens, proceed from folly and self-delusion: (a) they express, indeed, the indistinct longing of the heart of man, who seeks a condescending and compassionate God; but (b) they also betray man’s ignorance of the unapproachable majesty of Him who alone is holy, and who is invisible; nevertheless, these words, II. Involve a precious truth relating to the kingdom of Christ: (a) they direct attention to the mystery of the incarnation of God in Christ; (b) illustrate the blessedness of the human race, when it is reconciled to God.—Turn from these vanities unto the living God.—These words, considered as a solemn warning addressed to idolaters among us: I. What are your gods? Mammon? The belly [Php_3:19]? Mortals? Your own self? Nature? Art? etc. II. What aid can these afford? Can they secure your happiness in this world, or in the world to come? Therefore, III. While it is said, To-day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts [Heb_3:15]; turn from these vanities unto the living God! He exhibits in the visible and fleeting world a reflection of his glory, through the medium of his gifts, Act_14:15-17; but it is in the Gospel of Jesus Christ that his divine majesty and his condescending grace are fully revealed.—God revealed in nature (Act_14:15-17): I. As the almighty Creator, Act_14:15; II. As the gracious Preserver, Act_14:17; III. As the holy Ruler of the world, Act_14:16.—The book of the world (nature and history), viewed as an introduction to the Book of books: I. By its revelations, all of which conduct to the living God of the Bible; II. By its mysteries (sin and death), the solution of which is found in the Gospel alone.—The sacrifices with which God is well pleased [Heb_13:16], Act_14:14-18 : I. Offered, not to dumb idols, or to mortal men, but to the living God, the Giver of every good gift; II. Consisting, not of the fruits of the field, or of animals adorned with garlands, that is, not of any external gifts or works, but of penitent, believing, and obedient hearts.—Paul in Lystra, or, The steady progress of a servant of God through this fickle and perverse world: I. Its garlands do not deceive him (worldly prosperity, and popular favor do not fill him with pride; he always ascribes, with an humble spirit, all the glory to God alone, Act_14:8 ff.); II. Its stones do not crush him (the hatred of men, and insults offered by the world, cannot cast him down; he walks with a firm step amid all his afflictions, sustained by the power of his Lord, Act_14:19 ff.).

Footnotes:

[3]Act_14:8. a. [ὑπάρχων, after αὑτοῦ, in text. rec., from G. H. etc., is omitted in A. B. C. D. E., Cod. Sin., and by Lach., Tisch., and Alf. The latter, with de Wette and Meyer, regards the word as an interpolation from Act_3:2.—Tr.]

[4]Act_14:8. b. In place of the pluperfect περιπεπατήκει [found in D. E. G. H., without the augment (Winer: Gr. § 12. 9), while the text. rec. exhibits it, περιεπ], Lach. and Tisch. [and Alf.] have adopted the aorist περιεπάτησεν [from A. B. C.; found also in Cod. Sin.]. The aorist conforms to the usual mode of expression in constructions with the relative, and was therefore substituted by copyists for the [original] pluperfect. [This is also the opinion of de Wette and Meyer.—Tr.]

[5]Act_14:9. ἤκουε occurs, indeed, only in B [e sil]. and C. [adopted by text. rec.]., and Lach. and Tisch. therefore prefer the aorist ἤκουσε, which is found in most of the manuscripts [A. D. E. G. H. Cod. Sin.]. As the aorist, however, is constantly employed elsewhere in the narrative, the imperfect, if original, could have more easily been converted into an aorist by copyists than vice versâ; the imperfect may, therefore, be assumed to be the genuine reading. [Alford, with de Wette and Meyer, concurs, and translates in the imperfect: he was listening: see Exeg. note, Act_8:15-17. ult.—Tr.]

[6]Act_14:10. [The text. rec. reads ἥλλετο, with G. H., but Lach. Tisch. and Alf. adopt ἥλατο, which is found in A. B. C. Cod. Sin. The aorist was changed into the imperfect to suit περιεπάτει (Mey.), See Winer: Gr. § 15.—Tr.]

[7]Act_14:14. ἐξεπήδησαν [found in A. B. C (original). D. E., Cod. Sin. Syr. Vulg., (exilierunt) and adopted by recent editors.—Tr.], is, unquestionably, preferable to the reading ἐιςεπ. [of text. rec.]. The latter is found only in a few of the later manuscripts [in C (corrected). G. H.—Tr.]

[8]Act_14:17. a. καίτοιγε [of text. rec. from C (second correction). G. H.] must be regarded as the genuine reading; those that deviate from it drop either τοι orγε [καίτοι in A. B. C.; adopted by Lach. and Tisch., but not by Alf.; καίγε in D. E.—Cod. Sin. (original) had καιτοίγε; a later hand attempted to erase γε.—Tr.]

[9]Act_14:17. b. [For ἀγαθοποιῶν, (of text. rec. from D. E. G. H.) Lach., Tisch., and Alf. substitute ἀγαθουργῶν (from A. B. C. Cod. Sin.,) as the less usual word.—For ἡμῶν after καρίας, of text. rec., from A. B (e sil). G. H. Vulg. (nostra), Lach. Tisch. and Alf. substitute ὑμῶν from C. D. E., fathers. The Cod. Amiatinus of the Vulg. reads vestra; the reading in ed. Sixtina was eorum, indicating αὐτῶν,which conforms to the Syr. version. ’Ημῖν after ον̓ρανόθεν, is omitted by Tisch. and Alf.; C. D. E. G. H. read ὑμῖν, which is adopted by Lach. The pronoun appears to have been altered in Cod. Sin. to the second person.—Tr.]

[10]Act_14:19. a. νομίζοντες, part. pres. is more strongly supported [by A. B. D. Cod. Sin., and adopted by Lach. and Tisch.] than νομίσαντες [of text. rec., from C. E. G. H.; Alf. prefers the latter, and regards the former as a correction by a later hand.—Tr.]

[11]Act_14:19. b. [Lach. Tisch. and Alf. read τεθνηκέναι, in accordance with A. B. C. Cod. Sin., instead of τεθνάναι of text. rec. from D. E. G. H., the latter being the more usual form, and hence more readily adopted by copyists than the other.—Tr.]

Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

14:8-20 Paul’s healing of a man with crippled feet recalls a similar incident in 3:1-12. In Acts, the work of Paul parallels the work of Peter, and the many miraculous signs and wonders performed among the Jews were also performed among the Gentiles.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Act_14:8-10.[16] Ἐκάθητο] he sat, because he was lame. Perhaps he begged (comp. Joh_9:8), like the lame man in chap. 3.

περιπεπ.] Pluperfect without augment. See on Mat_7:25, and Valckenaer, p. 504 f. Bornemann, ad Xen. Cyr. vi. 2. 9. Observe, moreover, the earnest circumstantiality of the narrative.

ἤκουε] The imperfect denotes his persevering listening.

ἰδών] Paul saw in the whole bearing of the man closely scanned by him (in his look, gestures, play of features) his confidence of being saved, i.e. healed. This confidence was excited by listening to the discourse of the apostle; by which Paul appeared to him as a holy man of superior powers. Bengel aptly says: dum claudus verbum audit, vim sentit in anima, unde intus movetur, ut ad corpus concludat.

τοῦ σωθῆναι] This genitive of the object depends directly on πίστιν. See Buttmanns neut. Gr. p. 229 f.[E. T. 266].

μεγάλῃ τῇ φωνῇ] thus, with the μεγ. predicatively prefixed only here and in Act_26:24. See, generally, Kühner, § 493. 1, and especially Schaefer, ad Dionys. Comp. p. 359.

ὀρθός] ita ut erectus stes. See on Mat_12:13, and Bornemann, Schol. in Luc. p. 39 f.

ἥλατο κ. περιεπάτει] Observe the exchange of the aorist and imperfect: he sprang up, made a leap, and walked. Otherwise in Act_3:8.

[16] Although two cures of the same kind of infirmity and in a similar miraculous manner naturally enough produce two similar narratives, yet it cannot surprise us that, according to the criticism of Schneckenburger, Baur, and Zeller, the whole of this narrative is assumed to originate from an imitation of the narrative of the earlier Petrine miracle in chap. 3. But with the miracle is withdrawn also the foundation of the attempted worship of the two apostles; this, therefore, cannot be regarded as historical, and so much the less, as it also is exposed to the suspicion of having arisen from an exaggerated repetition of a trait from the history of Peter, Zeller, p. 214. Comp. Baur, I. p. 112 ff. ed. 2. In a corresponding manner have the miracles of Paul generally been placed in parallelism with those of Peter, to the prejudice of their historical truth. Comp., in opposition to this view, Trip, Paulus nach d. Apostelgesch. p. 161 ff.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Act 14:8 . ἐν Λύστροις : here neuter plural, and not as in Act 14:6 ; Act 14:21 ; feminine. Clemen, p. 115, and Jüngst, p. 131, see a proof in this that 8 18, or 21 a , was interpolated by a redactor. But Hilgenfeld points out that the same interchange of feminine singular and neuter plural recurs in Act 16:1-2 ; cf. also 2Ti 3:11 . The miracle which follows has often been compared with those narrated in Act 3:1 ff., and it has been alleged that this second miracle is a mere imitation of the first, to keep up the parallel between Peter and Paul. But whilst there are, no doubt, features in common in the two narratives no great matter for surprise in similar healings, where a similarity of expressions would fitly recur, especially in the literary usage of a medical writer (see Zöckler, p. 240) the differences are also marked: e.g. , in the Petrine miracle the man is a beggar, and asks only for alms; in the Pauline nothing is said of all this, even if the first fact is implied in the Petrine miracle nothing is said of the man’s faith, although it is implied (see notes, in loco ); here it is distinctly stated in the earlier miracle Peter is represented as taking the man and raising him up; here nothing of the kind is mentioned (see further on the two miracles, and the different motive in their performance, Nösgen, Apostelgeschichte , p. 267). On St. Paul’s own claim to work miracles see 2Co 12:12 , Rom 15:19 , Gal 3:5 . If the latter passage occurs in an Epistle addressed amongst other Churches to Christians in Lystra, in accordance with the South Galatian theory, the assertion of miraculous powers is the more notable; see also McGiffert, Apostolic Age , p. 189. ἀδύν . τοῖς π .: adjective only here in N.T. in this sense, cf. LXX, . Tob 2:10 ; Tob 5:9 , ἀδύν . τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς . It is used frequently in a similar sense by medical writers, Hobart, p. 46. ἐκάθητο ; not “dwelt” Hebraistic; but simply “used to sit,” cf. Luk 18:35 , Joh 9:8 ; probably in the forum, cf. Act 14:11 (Blass). ἐκ κοιλ . μητρὸς α .; “no mendicant pretender, but one whose history from infancy was well known”. See Ramsay on the “triple beat,” St. Paul , p. 115.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

It is an old subtlety of the devil, either to cause the faithful servants of God to be banished at once, or to be worshipped for idols: and that chiefly taking occasion by miracles wrought by them.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 8. Impotent in his feet] αδυνατος τοις ποσιν, He had no muscular power, and probably his ancle bones were dislocated; or he had what is commonly termed club feet; this is the more likely, as he is said to have been lame from his mother's womb, and to have never walked.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

8. A certain man at Lystra. Luke reciteth one miracle which we may think was one of many; but there was mention made of it alone by reason of the famous event. For we shall see by and by what happened. Luke reckoneth up the circumstances, which do more plainly set forth the power of God, when he saith that the man did never walk, and that he was a cripple even from his mother’s womb, and that he was suddenly healed by the voice of Paul alone before the eyes of all men, and that his legs, which were dead, were made nimble, so that he leapt up without making any stop.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(8) Being a cripple from his mother’s womb.—We note, as in Act_3:2; Act_9:33, the characteristic care to record the duration of the infirmity which was supernaturally cured.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

8–18. Cure of a Cripple at Lystra. The heathen people regard the Apostles as gods

8. And there sat a certain man] Perhaps this cripple, like that other in Jerusalem (Act_3:2), was brought by his friends to some much-frequented place that he might ask alms of them that passed by. There is no mention of a synagogue in Lystra, and it is very improbable that there was one. The Apostles therefore would seek out some place of public resort where they might proclaim their message, and such a position would also be most adapted for the purposes of a begging cripple.

at Lystra] This place lay almost south from Iconium, if the site generally assigned to it, at the foot of the Kara-dagh, be the correct one. See Dict. of the Bible. It is most probable that this was the home of Timothy. We cannot conclude this absolutely from Act_16:1, because both Derbe and Lystra are there mentioned, but in Act_20:4 we have an enumeration in which are the words “Gaius of Derbe and Timotheus,” where the form of the expression makes it almost certain that the latter was not of Derbe. Further, when St Paul recalls to Timothy his sufferings undergone at this period (2Ti_3:10-11), he says “Thou hast fully known … the persecutions and afflictions which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra,” words which seem to connect Timothy with the last-named place, and when taken in connection with the other passages to be conclusive that Timothy did not live at Derbe.

That Timothy was made a convert to Christianity at this first visit of St Paul is plain from Act_16:1, where on the Apostle’s second visit he is called “a disciple.” It is also clear from the same passage (Act_16:3) that there could have been but few Jews at Lystra at this time, or else the son of a religious Jewess would hardly have remained uncircumcised till he had reached man’s estate. Some, however, have thought that this may have come to pass through the influence of the Greek father of Timothy.

impotent in his feet, &c.] It is worth while to notice once again how minutely Luke, the physician, describes the nature of this and other maladies throughout the history.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And there sat a certain man at Lystra,.... Where the apostle was preaching; and perhaps he sat there to beg, where there was a great concourse of people, and which might be in the open street: this man was

impotent in his feet; so weak, as not to be able to walk, and even to stand on them, and therefore is said to sit:

being a cripple from his mother's womb; he was born lame, as was the man cured by Peter, Act 3:2

who never had walked; these circumstances are mentioned, to show that his case was incurable by any human art, and to illustrate the following miracle.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

8 And there sat a certain man at Lystra, impotent in his feet, being a cripple from his mother’s womb, who never had walked:

Ver. 8. And there sat a certain man] This was (likely) one of those many miracles done at Lystra; a signal one, and therefore instanced.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And there sat - There dwelt, Mat 9:16; Act 18:11 (margin). The word “sat,” however, indicates his usual posture, his helpless condition. Such persons commonly sat by the wayside, or in some public place, to ask for alms, Mar 10:46.

Impotent in his feet - ἀδύνατος adunatos. Without any power. Entirely deprived of the use of his feet.

Being a cripple - Lame.

Who never had walked - The miracle, therefore, would be more remarkable, as the man would be well known. As they were persecuted from place to place, and opposed in every manner, it was desirable that a signal miracle should be performed to carry forward and establish the work of the gospel.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Perceiving that he had. It does not appear that St. Paul had any previous conversation with the man he healed on this occasion, or demanded from him any testimony of his faith. But he saw that he had faith, perhaps by inspiration, or by the confidence and eagerness the lame man may have shewn in his countenance and actions. (Calmet, &c.)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Such defects as are from nature, are incurable by art, and only to be helped immediately by the God of nature.

Who never had walked; this is observed and enlarged upon, to make the miracle the more appear to be the only work of God: Act 3:2.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

8. Lystra—The apostles still persevere in their southeastern course, as if rather gravitating homeward than the reverse. Lystra is supposed to be a little to the east of south from Iconium, yet geographers and travellers are still uncertain as to its precise position.

Sat a certain man—The word sat, according to the Greek imperfect, implies continual, perhaps repeatedly habitual, action. The man was sitting, or was in the habit of sitting.

Never had walked—The fact of his well-known paralysis of feet rendered the change notorious to his fellow villagers.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

At Lystra there sat, etc., for there sat at Lystra, A.V.; a cripple for being a cripple, A.V. and T.R.

Vers. 8-20. Healing of the lame man at Lystra.

The event is chiefly remarkable for the effect it produced upon the minds of the people of the country and the illustration of the apostolic temper and spirit thereby called forth.

I THE SUFFERER AND HIS FAITH.

1. His complaint was congenital, and, according to ordinary ways of thinking, incurable. This brings all the more his faith into relief. It is the very power and property of faith to conquer what seems to reason unconquerable. It is impossible to show that any diseases are in themselves incurable; they may baffle human skill, but not the healing energy of God.

2. "Faith comes by hearing, and bearing by the Word of God." The sufferer seizes on the truth that God is a Savior, and that in him is to he found full, present, immediate salvation from passing ills. Faith realizes the unseen as if it were the seen.

3. Faith recognized by the minister of God. Paul sees that the lame man has faith to be healed. There is sympathy between souls in God. The minister of God"s mercy, of Christ"s saving energy, is directed to his object, and the object is directed to him. If God has entrusted us with a good to dispense, it will not be long before we find the soul who needs it. So Paul bids the sufferer arise; the word of authority is echoed by the consciousness of new power in the sufferer"s breast: he rises, he walks, he bounds with joy. It is a representation of what ever will take place and does take place when true words are spoken to the souls of men. Oh, let us believe in the energies of the soul, by which we may lay hold on Divine power in our own weakness, both that we may receive good and impart it to others!

II THE EFFECT ON THE MULTITUDE.

1. They thought that they were receiving a visit from the gods. The air of the ancient world was full of such stories. Doubtless the story of Zeus visiting Philemon and Baucis was well known to them. These so-called "myths contain a deep meaning; they are prophecies of the human heart, of that intercourse between God and man which the gospel declares to be the fact of facts in religion.

2. They were mistaken in the mode of the truth. Paul was not Zeus, nor was Barnabas Hermes. But they were not mistaken as to the substance of the truth. They were mistaken in offering worship to men like themselves, but not mistaken in the heart-instinct by which they recognized behind the healing power put forth the energy of God. The understanding may be in error when the heart speaks true. When this is the case, instruction, missionary effort, has always hopeful ground to work upon. The error and unbelief of the heart alone is invincible and fatal.

III THE CONDUCT OF THE APOSTLES.

1. Their horror and indignation. They rend their garments, and rush into the crowd with exclamations of astonishment and anger. We must be capable of a holy anger if we are capable of a holy love. Worship belongs to the Divine alone. What would the apostles say now to the worship of their bones or other relics, real or pretended?

2. Their clear protest. "We too are men of like passions." Suffering, sorrowing humanity is no object of such honors. To accept them is to dishonor the Divine majesty, and to do injustice at the same time to ordinary humanity. The true teacher will never magnify himself, and will ask for nothing more than serious attention to his arguments and teachings. If the teacher shows that he considers himself on a level with ordinary humanity, the unconverted and self-humiliated will look up with hope of their own deliverance from misery; and the awakened are warned not to confound the imperfections of the teacher with the substance of his message. The treasure is in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.

3. True views of God set forth.

(1) He is the living God; and all in the world not derived from him and resting on him is of no value. All worship directed to finite objects misses its supreme mark, and is a vanity, a "nothing." The idol itself is" nothing in the world." "All love is lost save upon God alone.

(2) He is the Creator. This is a thought brought into emphasis in the preaching and teaching of St. Paul, as in his Epistle to the Romans and his discourse on Mars" Hill. Having made all things, he contains all things in himself. Man is his creature; and if man offers even his whole self upon the altar to God, God but receives his own.

(3) He respects the freedom of man. The nations were suffered to walk in their own ways and to work out their own course of life. And in their aberrations they justified the truth and ways of God. Our freedom is our solemn heritage for weal or for woe. No explanation can be found for the dark facts of human sin, except that which goes back to the freedom of the soul to decide between good and evil.

(4) The unfailing goodness of God. The seasons fail not; food and enjoyment are provided out of the abundance of the earth. In every happy and healthy mood of mind the heart breaks into song, and thanks God for the boon of existence. In every sunny scene, every glimpse of pure and healthy happiness and domestic joy, there is the reflection of the "joy of God to see a happy world." "God is wisdom, God is love; this is the refrain of the heart true to itself; nor can the occasional discords of bodily pain or mental perplexity mar the sweetness of the music or obscure the clearness of the evidence. J.

Vers. 8-18. The light shining in darkness Lystra.

The heathenish state of the population. So much the brighter seemed the light. The effect of the miracle on the cripple. A warning against making a superstitious use of men"s credulity as the Romish Church has done.

I A REAL TRIAL OF THE APOSTLES.

1. Of their faithfulness to the truth. Had they been willing, as the Church afterwards was, to mingle heathenism with Christianity, they might have accomplished more in captivating the minds of the people.

2. Of their humility and self-sacrificing zeal. They put aside men"s worship that they might be free to serve God. What an example to their successors!

3. Of their inspired wisdom and discretion. They knew how to restrain an excited people whose homage might easily be turned into fury. They made the occasion an opportunity for preaching a gospel of love and purity.

II AN EXAMPLE OF THE WORLD"S WANT OF THE TRUTH AS IT IS IN JESUS.

1. Gaping after wonders. Led by priests; worshipping men of like passions with themselves. Ignorant of the true character of God. Ungrateful in the midst of his abundant mercies. Unobservant of the witness which he bears to himself in nature and in the course of providence.

2. The glad tidings brought into the midst of such a world. At first not understood; but the preachers must follow the example of the apostles, and, beginning at the testimony which surrounds men in their own life, lead them to the higher truth of revelation. Missionaries should study the field in which they labor. R.

Vers. 8-18. Three instances of faith.

The contents of these verses are very diversified and very full. Yet a certain unity attaches to them, and from this point of view they will be now regarded. Paul and Barnabas have now reached a people who arc almost exclusively Gentiles, and Gentiles of the Gentiles. The miracle with which this paragraph opens may be supposed to find its place here by the mind of the Spirit, less for its own particulars, interesting and instructive as they are, than for the sequel, which shows the effect of miracle upon heathen, and the way in which the apostles dealt with that effect. We may regard the passage as exemplifying three various faiths, various because they were different in their degree, and different in yet more essential respect, in their intelligence.

I THE FAITH OF THE CRIPPLE. It is to be assumed that he was not a Jew, but a heathen. He hears Paul, presumably therein for the first time hearing pure truth, whether Paul is speaking of the things of revealed religion or of natural religion. The incident may have helped Paul to his subsequent language: "So then faith cometh by heating, and hearing by the Word of God". (Rom_10:17) Paul speaks. The lame man listens. He listens more and yet more keenly. The "seed of the Word" is falling "into good ground." Paul"s eye falls on him. Afterwards it is riveted by him. The interested, eager, imploring eye of the lame man is met by the divinely enlightened, divinely discerning, and divinely giving eye of Paul. Paul is led, as the consequence, to see that he has "faith to be healed." The question of a miracle lies with the omnipotence of God, but the question of when that omnipotence shall be exercised may lie (beyond what we think, and beyond what we can at present track) with the individual man. For this is in the deepest sense the mystery of human life and human accountability; nor can we even say where the line runs that distinguishes between the agency of God"s Spirit, in the greatest miracles of all, the conversion of the heart, and the freedom of man"s will. The language we have here may mean either

(1) distinctly that Paul saw that the lame man had the faith upon which the omnipotent Word would take effect, not by bare right of its omnipotence alone, but also by the more hidden harmony and sympathy of a sensitive, a quickened, a trusting, and an obedient heart; or

(2) that Paul saw that the lame man had already received the divinest gift of all the Word of God, and that he was therefore a fitter vessel to be "chosen" both to receive himself the lesser grace, and also to set forth to others the abundant grace of God. Meantime the less enlightened the nature and the less informed the actual mind of the lame man, the more are we conducted to some discrimination of faith"s purest essence its trustingness, its self-surrender, its clinging confessed dependence.

II THE FAITH OF THE PEOPLE WHO BEHELD.

1. Their faith was of those who did believe, and did not either shut their eyes, or quibble, or blaspheme.

2. Their faith was of those who attributed the work of a miracle to powers distinctly higher. They were not of those who once said of Jesus himself, "He casteth out devils through Beelzebub the chief of the devils." Nor were they of those who set it down to sorcery and witchcraft, What highest they knew de facto, to that they gave or desired to give glory.

3. But their faith was of those who, believing, believed "ignorantly," believed absolutely wrongly, and believed far more wrongly (now by Scripture"s most emphatic assertion) than could be justified in any way.

4. Their faith exhibited that leading mark of the lowest kind of faith which must link on the wonder done to the nearest manifest doer. It gets to a god, but it is its own god peculiarly. It gets to a god, but not to the Spirit and the Invisible, much less to the one invisible Spirit; nay, its way of getting to a god is by bringing its gods to itself" in the likeness of men." It has not reached to the conception of the great power, the great goodness, the great Being before all, who "giveth to all life and breath and all things," and, among those all things, knowledge of his own will, and power to execute it, betimes in the fullness of its majesty.

5. But when all has been justly said to the disparagement of the faith of these heathen men of Lystra, it may be put to their credit, that, even in nature"s darkness, they did not believe in a faith barren of works; in which respect, at least, they may often be taken as rising up in judgment against the children of the light and of the day.

III THE FAITH OF THE APOSTLES.

1. It was in the first place without doubt the pure faith that was wrought in them by the Holy Spirit. It was by this that Paul recognized the opportunity, and discerned in the cripple the real thing that was also in himself, and taught him to speak that word "with a loud voice, Stand upright on thy feet.

2. The "faith that dwelt in" the apostle was one that made the ignorance of the really Divine, now illustrated before their very eyes, and now taking advantage of their very persons, so harrowingly painful. Their impetuous rushing among the people, and rending of their clothes, and mingled expostulation and instruction addressed to the people, all prove the intensely exercised state of their own mind, almost to agony of anguish. And the anguish was the reflection of just this an enlightened, a pure, a high faith. Many dark outer deeds had Barnabas and Paul too often seen, from which, nevertheless, their inmost soul took less wound than from this, when the enthusiastic heathen of Lystra would fain have sacrificed to them.

3. The faith of the apostles was that which struck horror into them at the very thought, if haply they should "rob God of his own" or seem to share his undivided honor. May they not be considered in this light as holding out an example to all their spiritual successors, to fear, as much as they would fear anything, lest they should be found at any time to "sacrifice unto their net, and to burn incense unto their drag", (Hab_1:16) or lest they should accept the offerings of flattery to themselves which should be only offerings of praise to Christ. What a wonderful guide for the noblest life earth can know comes of the enlarged, developed, mature faith of an experienced Christian! B.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

A miracle and its effect upon the people:

v. 8. And there sat a certain man at Lystra, impotent in his feet, being a cripple from his mother’s womb, who never had walked.

v. 9. The same heard Paul speak; who, steadfastly beholding him, and perceiving that he had faith to be healed,

v. 10. said with a loud voice, Stand upright on thy feet. And he leaped and walked.

v. 11. And when the people saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in the speech of Lycaonia, The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men.

v. 12. And they called Barnabas, Jupiter; and Paul, Mercurius, because he was the chief speaker.

v. 13. Then the priest of Jupiter, which was before their city, brought oxen and garlands unto the gates and would have done sacrifice with the people.

Since there was apparently no synagogue at Lystra, Paul and Barnabas very likely preached in the open space near the gates or in the market-place. Now a certain man of Lystra had been lame ever since his birth and had no strength in his feet to hold him up. He had never been able to take a step, but usually is at on the ground near the places where people assembled or passed. So his history from infancy was well known in the city. This man listened carefully and earnestly as Paul was speaking and addressing the crowds that would assemble from time to time, and, the attention of Paul being directed to the cripple, he fixed his eyes upon him to determine by this scrutiny whether the unfortunate man had learned and understood enough of the power of the Savior to believe that he could be healed. Having satisfied himself on this point, Paul cried out to the cripple with a loud voice: Stand up straight on thy feet. And without any assistance the man jumped to his feet and began to walk about. The power of the exalted Christ, through the mouth of Paul, had performed this miracle. The crowds present saw what Paul had done, and after the shock of the first surprise had only one explanation to offer, the one which was immediately suggested to their heathen minds, namely, that some of their gods: having assumed the likeness of men, had come down to them. in accordance with this idea, which they expressed in their native tongue, that of Lycaonia, although they knew and understood Greek very well, they suggested that Barnabas be called Zeus (Jupiter), who was considered the chief God of the Greeks and Romans, and Paul Hermes (Mercury), since he was supposed by them to be the messenger of the gods to men, and Paul had usually led the discussions. An inscription found a few years ago in some ruins near ancient Lystra shows that these two gods were classed together by the inhabitants of that region. Now there was a temple or a place of sacrifice to Jupiter before the city, and the heathen priest attached to this place of worship immediately had the servants bring oxen and wreaths of flowers to the gates of the city, near the vaulted entrance arches where the people were assembled. His intention was to bring sacrifice to the two missionaries together with the people. This scene shows the darkness and blindness of heathenism. Not only do the heathen serve dead idols, but they even take men for gods and offer them sacrifices and worship. And it surely is a sign of the times that it is becoming customary to extol up to heaven the merits of such as have done the country an extraordinary service, literally, to idolize them and to worship before them. This is not only revolting from the standpoint of human reason, but indicates that the fashionable world of our days is rapidly sinking back to the level of the heathen.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Here we have an account of the fifth journey which the apostles Barnabas and Paul undertook in their travels to plant and propagate the Christian faith; and that was at Lystra and Derbe. Here their first work was to preach the gospel; which done, God honoured Paul to work a glorious miracle for the confirmation of what they had preached.

Where note, 1. The subject which this miraculous cure was wrought upon: a man that was a cripple, not by accident, but by nature, from his mother’s womb, and consequently never had walked. They that are lame by causalty, may possibly be relieved by art and industry: but to cure one that is born lame, nothing less is required than a divine power: such defects as are from nature, can only be relieved by the God of nature.

Note, 2. What an extraordinary spirit of discerning was at some times, and upon certain occasions, found with the apostles: St. Paul perceived that this poor cripple had faith to be healed; that is, by that extraordinary gift of discerning spirits, which at this time the apostle had. The like had St. Peter also upon a special occasion; (for this gift of discerning spirits, was not at all times found with the apostles,) he discerned the hypocrisy and falsehood of Ananias and Simon Magus.

The gift of discerning spirits, were for a time conferred upon the apostles, for confirming their testimony, but are long since ceased in the church; the reason of their ceasing is, the gospel being sufficiently established and confirmed.

Note, 3. The reality of this miracle: it was not a lying wonder, but a real miracle: the man not only walked, but leaped for joy, to show that he was perfectly cured, and thoroughly recovered. All the works of God, especially his miraculous words, are perfect. Whom God cures, he cures effectually.

Note, 4. What influence the sight of this miracle had upon the minds of the people of Lystra: they ascribe the honour of this glorious miracle to their dunghill deities, not to the true God; they pay their rent to a wrong landlord. Such was the blind superstition of these poor Pagans, that believing their gods were come down to them in the likeness of men, they called Barnabas, Jupiter, who was their chief god; and Paul, Mercurius, whom they accounted the messenger and interpreter of the gods.

Lord! how blind are the principles of corrupt reason in fallen mankind! And how forcible is an evil custom and a vain conversation received by tradition from their forefathers! And how hard a matter it is to rectify such mistakes in religion, as time and general consent have rooted and riveted in the minds of men!

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

HEALING OF THE CRIPPLE AT LYSTRA

8-10. The imperfect tense here shows that they had been preaching some time at Lystra. Meanwhile this poor cripple, who, the Greek says, had no power to use his feet, and consequently had never walked, though now quite up in mature manhood, fortunately had friends to carry him every day to the preaching places, where he sat unnoticed by the multitude, who all knew him well; but at the same time he was a most appreciative auditor. Doubtless he was a pious Jew, already enjoying the saving grace of God in his heart, felicitously fortified against the vulgar vices all his life by his physical decrepitude. Day by day he listens to the apostles spell-bound, delectably drinking in the sweet messages of gospel grace and rejoicing in the glorious fulfillment of the Messianic promises in the advent of Jesus the Christ, whom the apostles preached. Witnessing the miracles of physical healing ever and anon wrought through the Apostolic ministry, ere long faith enters into his heart and he begins actually to take hold of Jesus, whom they were constantly preaching as the Omnipotent Healer of the body as well as the soul. Meanwhile the attention of Paul is directed to the cripple. He sees his countenance radiant with a supernatural glow and his eyes sparkling and flashing out the victories of faith wrought in his heart by the Holy Spirit through the truth to which he had listened day after day.

Paul, enjoying “the discernment of spirits” (1Co 12:10), perceives that the cripple has faith to be healed, at the same time adding inspiration and intensification to his faith by exclaiming to the top of his voice: “Stand upright on thy feet.” “He leaped and continued to walk round and round.” The poor fellow, sitting squat like a toad, having never stood on his feet nor walked a step, under the inspiration of Paul’s stentorian voice leaps out of his nest like a frog, lighting upright on his feet, discovers at once that he is healed and all right; beginning to run round and round, he does not know when to quit. It was very inspiring to me to see the stacks of crutches and staffs in Brother Simpson’s Berachah Home in New York, and the cripples who had come there on them leaping, skipping and praising the Omnipotent Healer. I am glad the days of miracles are not past. All do not get healed, neither did they in the Apostolic age. Paul himself left Trophimus at Miletum sick; yet many were healed through his ministry on the island of Malta. Perhaps quite as large a proportion who receive the ministry of healing get actually healed as get saved under the preaching of the glorious gospel, which offers salvation free and full to every soul.

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

8-12. The district of Lycaonia, into which the apostles had fled, was an interior district of Asia Minor, lying north of the Taurus Mountains, but of very indefinite boundaries. The exact situation of the two towns, Lystra and Derbe, is not now known. With the character of the people, however, which is the important consideration in a narrative like this, we are made sufficiently acquainted by the narrative itself. It was one of those retired districts, remote from the great marts of trade and the routes of travel, where the people retained their primitive habits, spoke their primitive dialect, and knew little of either the civilization of the Greeks, or the religion of the Jews. This rude state of society will account for some of the peculiarities of the following narrative.

Finding no Jewish synagogues, to afford them an assembly of devout hearers, the missionaries took advantage of such other opportunities as offered, to get the ears of the people. Having succeeded in collecting a crowd in Lystra, they met with the following incident: (8) " A certain man in Lystra was sitting, impotent in his feet, a cripple from his birth, who had never walked. (9) The same was listening to Paul speaking, who, looking intently upon him, and seeing that he had faith to be healed, (10) and said with a loud voice, Stand upright on your feet; and he leaped and walked about. (11) The multitude, seeing what Paul did, lifted up their voice in the speech of Lycaonia, and said, The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men. (12) And they called Barnabas Jupiter, and Paul, because he was the chief speaker, Mercury. "

Although Paul had been speaking to them of the true God, and of his Son Jesus Christ, until the cripple, at least, believed; yet, when the miracle was wrought before them, all their heathenish ideas rushed back upon their minds, and they at once supposed that they stood in the presence of gods. Such was the natural conclusion of men who had been educated from childhood to believe the strange inventions of heathen mythology. It was an honest mistake, committed through ignorance.

Their conclusion as to which of the gods had appeared, was as natural and as instantaneous as their conviction that they were gods. They had a temple, or a statue, or perhaps both, in front of their city, as we learn below, to the honor of Jupiter; hence any god who might appear to them would be naturally taken for him. But when two gods appeared together, the one who acts as chief speaker could be no other than Mercury, the god of Eloquence, and the constant attendant of Jupiter in his terrestrial visits. The remark of Luke that Paul was called Mercury "because he was the chief speaker," shows that he was familiar with Greek mythology.

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

8–10. There sat a certain man at Lystra. The account of the healing of this cripple is related, not as an unusual occurrence, but because it led to the attempt to deify Paul and Barnabas. As to the frequency of the miracles, see verse 3 above.

The same heard Paul speak. He might have been carried by his friends to the place of speaking, some open square or thoroughfare, to gratify his curiosity, or even to ask alms. He had faith to be healed. Wrought by hearing the word. As faith is a gospel requisite that we should be healed of our sins, so it was required as a condition of miraculous healing of bodily diseases. Note that this miracle, like those of Christ, is a parable of redemption. There is (1) Hearing of the Word; (2) faith which comes by hearing (Rom. 10:17); (3) the command that calls for an exercise of faith; (4) the effort to obey in faith; (5) salvation from the infirmity by obedience. As Christ so often said, so might Paul, “Thy faith hath saved thee.”

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

Connecting Statement:

Paul and Barnabas are now in Lystra.

General Information:

The first word "he" refers to the crippled man; the second word "he" refers to Paul. The word "him" refers to the crippled man.

a certain man sat

This introduces a new person in the story. (See: Introduction of New and Old Participants)

powerless in his feet

"unable to move his legs" or "unable to walk on his feet"

a cripple from his mother's womb

"having been born as a cripple"

cripple

person who cannot walk

Paul fixed his eyes on him

"Paul looked straight at him"

had faith to be made well

The abstract noun "faith" can be translated with the verb "believe." AT: "believed that Jesus could heal him" or "believed that Jesus could make him well" (See: Abstract Nouns and Active or Passive)

jumped up

"leaped in the air." This implies that his legs were completely healed.

translationWords

Lystra

faith

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

8–18. CURE OF A CRIPPLE AT LYSTRA. THE HEATHEN PEOPLE REGARD THE APOSTLES AS GODS.

8. ὑπάρχων omitted with אABCDE. Unrepresented in Vulg.

8. ἐν Λύστροις, at Lystra. This place lay almost south from Iconium, if the site generally assigned to it, at the foot of the Karadagh, be the correct one. See Dict. of the Bible. It is most probable that this was the home of Timothy. We cannot conclude this absolutely from Act 16:1, because both Derbe and Lystra are there mentioned, but in Act 20:4 we have an enumeration in which are the words ‘Gaius of Derbe and Timotheus,’ where the form of the expression makes it almost certain that the latter was not of Derbe. Further, when St Paul recalls to Timothy his sufferings undergone at this period (2Ti 3:10-11), he says ‘Thou hast fully known … the persecutions and afflictions which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra,’ words which seem to connect Timothy with the last-named place, and when taken in connexion with the other passages to be conclusive that Timothy did not live at Derbe.

That Timothy was made a convert to Christianity at this first visit of St Paul is plain from Act 16:1, where on the Apostle’s second visit he is called ‘a disciple.’ It is also clear from the same passage (Act 16:3) that there could have been but few Jews at Lystra at this time, or else the son of a religious Jewess would hardly have remained uncircumcised till he had reached man’s estate. Some, however, have thought that this may have come to pass through the influence of the Greek father of Timothy.

ἀδύνατος τοῖς ποσὶν ἐκάθητο, there sat a certain man impotent in his feet. Perhaps this cripple, like that other in Jerusalem (Act 3:2), was brought by his friends to some much frequented place that he might ask alms of them that passed by. There is no mention of a synagogue in Lystra, and it is very improbable that there was one. The Apostles therefore would seek out some place of public resort where they might proclaim their message, and such a position would also be most adapted for the purposes of a begging cripple.

It is worth while to notice once again in what precise and peculiar terms Luke, the physician, describes the nature of this and other maladies which claim mention in the history.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

8. ἐκάθητο] Not ‘dwelt,’ as Kuin., but sat, probably in the forum or some place of resort.

περιεπάτησεν is the historic past: who never walked. The pluperfect seeming more apt, it has been altered in the later mss. accordingly. Meyer supposes the alteration to have been the other way, from “the constant preference which the Greeks gave in narration to the aorist over the plusq. perf.:” but qu.?

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Impotent [αδυνατος] . The almost universal meaning of the word in the New Testament is impossible (see Mt 19:26; Heb 6:4, etc.). The sense of weak or impotent occurs only here and Rom 14:1.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.