Summary
The Two-Fold Witness at Lystra
When Paul healed the man lame from birth in Lystra Acts 14:8-10, the crowd erupted in pagan astonishment. Steeped in Greek mythology—and especially the local legend that Zeus and Hermes had once visited the region in disguise, rewarding a poor couple who took them in and destroying those who refused them—the people concluded that the gods had come down again. They called Barnabas "Zeus" and Paul "Hermes" (the chief speaker), and the priest of Zeus rushed forward with oxen and garlands to offer sacrifice Acts 14:11-13.
The miracle itself fits the pattern of the apostolic age: God gave the early apostles the gift of healing to validate their preaching. Once the Scriptures were codified, that authenticating gift diminished, because the written Word now validates the message. God still heals, but He no longer hands out the apostolic sign-gift in the same way.
The apostles' response forms the first half of a Two Fold Witness: "We are mortals, just like you" Acts 14:15. Tearing their clothes in grief, Barnabas and Paul refused worship that belonged to God alone. This confession runs deeper than the casual phrase "I'm only human" that we use to excuse a slip-up. Biblically, our mortality means we are dust returning to dust Genesis 3:19, that none of us is righteous Romans 3:10, and that our lives are a mist that appears briefly and vanishes James 4:13-14. We are not omnipotent, not omniscient, not omnipresent. We cannot speak reality into being or undo the past. We are not God. Paul puts the same truth pastorally in Romans 12:3: think of yourself with sober judgment.
The second half of the witness follows immediately: and we mortals need God. Not the invented gods of myth, not idols fashioned by hand or imagination, but "the living God, who made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them" Acts 14:15. To Gentiles with no exposure to Scripture, Paul did not begin where he began with the Jews of Antioch in Acts 13. He began with creation itself—the rains, the fruitful seasons, the food, the joy that fill the human heart as God's standing witness to Himself Acts 14:16-17. This is instructive for our own witness: meet hearers where they are. With those familiar with Scripture, open the Scriptures; with those who do not even know who Jesus is, begin with the created order and move from there to the gospel.
That Paul and Barnabas did indeed reach the gospel is shown by the fruit. After preaching in nearby Derbe and circling back, they "strengthened the souls of the disciples" in Lystra and encouraged them to continue in the faith Acts 14:21-22. Conversions occurred—and no one is converted by creation-talk alone. Disciples are made only when the message reaches its center: Jesus Christ crucified for sinners and raised from the dead. Our mortality, rooted in sin, would separate us from God forever, but Christ has borne our sin on the cross and overcome death from within the tomb, opening heaven to those who trust Him.
This is the two-fold witness the Church still carries into the world: we are mortals, and we need God. Every neighbor, friend, and family member who comes to mind is a fellow mortal who needs to hear it—one mortal speaking to another about Jesus.
Video citations
- "Two Fold Witness" 8-11-19 — As one studies the miracles of our Lord, we see various reactions that occur. I think for example of the miracle in which Jesus comes the wind. He's walked on the sea. He's then with the disciples…