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J. Vernon McGee · Citado em PreceptAustin
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Vernon McGee points out why God did these miracles through the missionaries - Paul and Barnabas had the gifts of an apostle, the sign gifts. They came into these places without any New Testament with the message of the gospel. What were their credentials? How could they prove their message was from God? The sign gifts were their credentials-they needed them. Today we have the entire Bible, and what people need today is to study this Bible and to learn what it has to say [cf. Acts 17:11]." Jack Arnold - These apostles had the sign gifts as their credentials and they did miracles to prove that there message was from God. As far as I know, there is no one today with any sign gifts. This kind of healing does not take place today; therefore, there are no sign gifts. If men have the sign gifts today, why don’t they use them in the hospitals? God heals today in a sovereign way through faith and prayer but it is questionable whether the sign gift of miracles is still in existence. Here. too, is another pattern. When the Gospel is preached. sometimes it is accompanied by other supernatural phenomena which is from God. This does not always involve physical miracles of healing. In fact, physical miracles are rare, but things happen that we can not always explain in human terms. Men and women experience the freedom that is in Christ Jesus. They are able to rid themselves of habits, thoughts and attitudes that were harmful and injurious to them before conversion and which enslaved their personalities. With this release, there is sometimes supernatural phenomena surrounding it. (Acts 14:1-20 Patterns in Evangelism) Acts 14:11 When the crowds saw what Paul had done, they raised their voice, saying in the Lycaonian language, "The gods have become like men and have come down to us. KJV Acts 14:11 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. The gods Acts 8:10; 12:22; 28:6 PAGAN PRAISE FOR PAUL AND BARNABAS The man in Lystra in whom God worked a miracle, resulted in mayhem in Lystra. It seemed innocent enough at the outside, but because the words were unknown to the missionaries, the intention of the crowd was hidden from them. When the crowds saw what Paul had done, they raised their voice, saying in the Lycaonian language - Luke's mention of this language is significant as Paul and Barnabas did not speak it and thus would have been unaware of the pagan praise being lavished on them. As Gangel points out "In Lystra we see a significant contrast with Acts 3, where Peter could immediately discern that the Aramaic speakers around him intended to give him and John credit for the healing. None of Paul's Hebrew, Greek, Aramaic, or Latin was useful on this unusual occasion." (See Holman New Testament Commentary - Acts - Page 233) What the Bible Teaches - Note how the heathen religions copy the truth. The Lord Jesus was God manifest in flesh; He came down and took upon Himself flesh and blood; these heathen claimed, "The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men". In other words, they considered that they were having a visit from the Greek gods Jupiter (or Zeus) and Mercury (or Hermes). (Consider a similar idolatrous statement by the people of Ephesus in Acts 19:35.) (What the Bible teaches – Acts and James) The gods have become like men and have come down to us - The pagan response to the miracle is not to respond to the Gospel but in fact cause them to revert to their idolatrous beliefs which were firmly entrenched. Idols do not come off the throne of one's heart easily, especially if they have been bowed down to and served for many years! The pagans believed in mythological tales which are a counterfeit and say that the gods became men. Satan always counterfeits that which is true and gives glory to God, because he desires the glory due only to God. And so these pagans in Lystra believed Satan's lie of "counterfeit incarnation" and failed to believe the truth that Jesus Christ "although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men (COMPARE the "counterfeit" statues of the Greek "gods" who were made in "the likeness of men!"). Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.(Php 2:6-8)
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Vernon McGee - The people at Lystra were looking to Paul and Barnabas. - The other day I played golf with a very affable, generous, bighearted man. He is an unsaved man, and he told me very candidly that he was chasing around. Mutual friends had asked me to play with him. I attempted to talk with him about the gospel. He knew the facts of the gospel as well as I do. And you know something else? He believed them. He said he believed that Jesus died and rose again, and he believed that if he put his trust in Jesus, He would save him. So I asked him why he didn’t do that. Then he began to mention names, names of certain men whose lives just didn’t measure up to their profession of faith. So I said to him, “For goodness sake get your eyes off men. In the first century the apostles performed miracles and men got their eyes on the apostles. So it was necessary to get their eyes off the apostles and turn them to the Book which presents the Lord Jesus Christ. You need to get your eyes on the Word of God and learn what God says today. He tells us that the important thing is our personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ. All those other men you mention will not even enter into the picture when you stand before the Lord Jesus someday. The only question will be your personal relationship to Jesus Christ as it is revealed in the Word of God. Go to the Word of God.” I’ll be very frank with you, I didn’t really get very far with this man. He did say that I had given him a new approach; he had never heard it that way before. He thought maybe he would try it. I encouraged him again to get his eyes off other Christians, because we all have feet of clay. Acts 14:13 The priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates, and wanted to offer sacrifice with the crowds KJV Acts 14:13 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. wanted to offer sacrifice with the crowds Acts 10:25; Daniel 2:46 A COUNTERFEIT SACRIFICE The priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city - Temple is added by the translators and seem to be a logical, reasonable interpretation. This temple must have been visible to Paul and Barnabas as they came into Lystra, so they knew their reception and presentation would likely be very different than in the synagogue settings with which they were familiar. Brought oxen and garlands to the gates and wanted to offer sacrifice with the crowds - Man is inherently religious and must worship something. This worship includes the lie of sacrifice to appease or please whatever is worshipped. Again we see Satan's lie seeking (and sadly successfully) to counterfeit the once for all time sacrifice of the Lamb of God (Heb 10:12+, Jn 1:29), the only sacrifice that pleases God (1 Jn 2:2+, Ro 3:25, 26+, cf Eph 5:2+ "a fragrant aroma") and the only sacrifice that takes away a man's sin (1 Jn 3:5+, 1 Jn 1:7+ where "cleanses" = present tense = continually) and gives eternal inner peace to one's restless soul (Ro 5:1+). As Augustine of Hippo (354–430) famously wrote in his Confessions “Our hearts are restless, until they can find rest in You." John Phillips agrees writing that “Man is incurably religious. He must worship something. The deluded but sincere pagans of Lystra represent countless millions of people held enthralled by the chains of false religion. They are zealous, devout, willing to sacrifice, eager to do their religious duty—but lost.” (Exploring Acts) Even in America we make Jesus into a God that fits our desires and wishes, a God who allows us to live the way we desire to live, which is exactly what the false gods do for the heathen! These so-called vain gods established no boundaries and were just as perverted as the people who worshipped them! This is not even "logical" but when men refuse to follow God, they will fall for anything! May the Lord Jesus make us see idolatry for what it is and turn away from all idols! I love the psalmist's prayer (which should frequently be our prayer) in Psalm 119:37 Turn away my eyes from looking at vanity (worthless) and revive me in Your ways. Lloyd Ogilvie wrote, “When Jesus was born there was no room at the inn. But today we not only have room at our inn, but a penthouse suite away from reality. Jesus is V.I.P. to be honored but not believed or followed. In America, He is a custom but not the true Christ; a captured hero of a casual civil religion, but not Lord of our lives.” Offer sacrifice (kill, butcher)(2380) see note below thuo Arnold makes an interesting point that "Satan could not destroy the Gospel through persecution so he tried to destroy the apostles through an ego trip. The most subtle Satanic attack on any Christian worker is when men want to worship the worker rather than the Lord, to put the worker on the pedestal rather than Christ. This really feeds the ego, but Christian workers must never accept this kind of adulation and must resist it with all their might." (Acts 14:1-20 Patterns in Evangelism) As R. Kent