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For Act 28:4-5

⁴And when the barbarians saw the venomous beast hang on his hand, they said among themselves, No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he hath escaped the sea, yet vengeance suffereth not to live.

⁵And he shook off the beast into the fire, and felt no harm.

Fallen human beings tend to suspect their neighbor of something bad, and most often of more than one thing. So it was with Paul: when a snake bit him, the first thought that came to those around him was that before them... Read more

In reality, everything turned out just the opposite. Judging by the sacred writer's testimony, this lesson did good to everyone who saw what happened to the apostle. Of course, the event described became a vivid illustration of the Savior's words that Christians will not die even if they drink deadly poison. Needless to say, this is not about testing our strength by collecting every possible poison and trying them all on ourselves. It is precisely about situations like the one in which Paul found himself.

It was a situation that, by every human expectation, should have ended in the apostle's death, but did not. And the point is not that Christians have some special immunity to poisons or diseases, or that they know some secret techniques for dealing with illness or poisoning. The point is rather what could be called the quality of a person's spiritual life, the quality of that process, both spiritual and natural, that is called life.

What matters is what predominates in that process: spirit or nature. And who determines its course: God or the person himself. Of course, in any case a person is responsible for his own life. The only question is how much he allows God to be near when he makes decisions connected with his own life. How often he lets God into the making of those decisions. For a Christian, the only normal situation is one in which God is always near, in which decisions are made with His direct participation and His voice is decisive. Then there is no room for chance in a person's life.

If Paul had died then from the snakebite, humanly speaking, it would have been an absurd and tragic accident. But for God it would have meant that His plan had been destroyed. Of course, the simplest thing would have been to arrange matters so that Paul never met the snake that bit him. Paul, of course, had to end up on that island, but the snake did not have to be where Paul was; unlike Paul, it was almost indifferent to the direction it moved within the ecological niche of which it was a part.

God evidently needed to give Paul's companions a visible lesson, and He gave it. The apostle's life was preserved in its fullness, for the natural component of his life flow was completely determined by the spiritual component of that same flow. And those around him saw a miracle, not the miracle of deliverance from death after a deadly bite, but the miracle of the Kingdom manifesting itself in the life of a particular person.

For Act 28:1-16

¹And when they were escaped, then they knew that the island was called Melita.

²And the barbarous people shewed us no little kindness: for they kindled a fire, and received us every one, because of the present rain, and because of the cold.

³And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks, and laid them on the fire, there came a viper out of the heat, and fastened on his hand.

⁵And he shook off the beast into the fire, and felt no harm.

⁶Howbeit they looked when he should have swollen, or fallen down dead suddenly: but after they had looked a great while, and saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds, and said that he was a god.

⁷In the same quarters were possessions of the chief man of the island, whose name was Publius; who received us, and lodged us three days courteously.

⁸And it came to pass, that the father of Publius lay sick of a fever and of a bloody flux: to whom Paul entered in, and prayed, and laid his hands on him, and healed him.

⁹So when this was done, others also, which had diseases in the island, came, and were healed:

¹⁰Who also honoured us with many honours; and when we departed, they laded us with such things as were necessary.

¹¹And after three months we departed in a ship of Alexandria, which had wintered in the isle, whose sign was Castor and Pollux.

¹²And landing at Syracuse, we tarried there three days.

¹³And from thence we fetched a compass, and came to Rhegium: and after one day the south wind blew, and we came the next day to Puteoli:

¹⁴Where we found brethren, and were desired to tarry with them seven days: and so we went toward Rome.

¹⁵And from thence, when the brethren heard of us, they came to meet us as far as Appiiforum, and The three taverns: whom when Paul saw, he thanked God, and took courage.

¹⁶And when we came to Rome, the centurion delivered the prisoners to the captain of the guard: but Paul was suffered to dwell by himself with a soldier that kept him.

Once again, we see Paul fulfilling Jesus’ words about the signs that accompany those who believe in Him... Read more

Once again, we see Paul fulfilling Jesus’ words about the signs that accompany those who believe in Him: “These signs will accompany those who believe: ...they will pick up snakes and... it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover” (Mark 16:17-18). But these signs are not simply some “special powers” given by God to Paul. The superstitious terror of the inhabitants of Malta has a very real basis. They rightly sensed that immunity from the bites of poisonous snakes or the gift of healing is a manifestation of divine power. Christ lives in Paul (Gal. 2:20), acts through him, heals, comforts, and gives him strength to fulfill his apostolic calling. Here it is fitting for us to remember Paul’s words that we too are called to such a life, so that the Lord may reveal Himself in us through gifts, the greatest of which is love. If we understand this, then such things as love, joy, mercy, and readiness to help our neighbor will no longer be mere “sentiments,” each person’s private affair, but will become a kind of service to God—the realization of His presence here on earth.