07.07.2014 New Testament: Acts 14.11–13

To read the Bible in a year, read Acts 14 on July 7, In the year of our Lord 2014

By Don Ruhl

Paul healed a man who had never walked, having been born crippled. However, when the people of the town saw what Paul did, they went beyond amazement, and concluded something that they should not have, and started to do something they should not have done,

Now when the people saw what Paul had done, they raised their voices, saying in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!” And Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, because he was the chief speaker. Then the priest of Zeus, whose temple was in front of their city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates, intending to sacrifice with the multitudes (Acts 14.11–13). 

If you do not know the true God, or if your knowledge of Him is deficient, then you might do something such as attributing godhood to the wrong ones. Truly, the God of heaven did come down and take the form of a man, but not Paul and Barnabas, rather Jesus of Nazareth.

Paul and Barnabas knew the truth. Although they could have used this to bring great honor and wealth to themselves, they refused it, and sought to turn the multitudes to the one and true living God.