NOVEMBER 5, 2024
“Which when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of, they rent their clothes, and ran in among the people, crying out, And saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein:” (Acts 14:14-15)
In this part of Acts chapter 14, Paul and Barnabas have entered Lystra, a city in the province of Galatia. This city’s reaction is the opposite of what happened in Pisidian Antioch and Iconium, where they were threatened with stoning.
In Lystra, they are initially worshiped as gods. The two Christian missionaries are horrified by this reaction and do their best to stop it. Paul and Barnabas, upon their working one miracle, were treated as gods. This reaction is misguided. They determine Barnabas must be the Greek god, Zeus, and Paul must be Hermes. It’s unclear if the two evangelists realize what is happening. Paul is preaching to the Lycaonians, but he may speak in tongues and does not know the language. As soon as he and Barnabas realize the priest of Zeus is leading the people to offer sacrifices to them, they respond with actions associated with mourning and horror.
We do not learn that they rented their clothes when people went to stone them, but when they started worshipping them, they refused to stand for it. The men were more concerned for God’s honor than their own. “Renting one’s clothes” was a dramatic way of expressing horror or panic. It was hardly ever used except in deprecation of spoken or acted blasphemy. How far it would be fully understood by the heathen population of Lystra may be a question, but its very strangeness would unnerve and arrest them. In short, the missionaries needed everyone to pay attention to the disgust and anger they felt through this action.
Paul and Barnabas react strongly to the crowd’s sacrifices for at least two reasons. The first is that as devout Jews and Jesus followers, they know only God is worthy of such honor. The idea of people offering worship sacrifices to them is horrifying. The second reason, possibly, is they know the last person to accept such accolades suffered a gruesome death, eaten from the inside by worms. They have no desire to share Herod Agrippa I’s fate.
They cannot fathom the utter stupidity of the people’s conduct in worshipping those who were only human. When an offer was made to worship Paul and Barnabas, they shrank from it with strong expressions of aversion and anger. Still, when Thomas offered similar worship to the Lord Jesus in John 20:28, he provided no reproof. He approved it and expressed that others would join. Instead, they say, “We are human beings just like you”. They have no claim to anything more. God is not subject to things of men, like pain, sickness, and death, and is the only one deserving of worship. These are but men, subject to the same passions as everyone else.
If we worship people as idols or vanities, as they were called, we must turn to the only living and true God. A pastor, celebrity, or politician has no power to save your soul; thus, confidence in them to do so is in vain. The living God is the only proper object of worship, the one God who has made all things.
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