Request your free, three-month trial to Tabletalk magazine. You’ll receive the print issue monthly and gain immediate digital access to decades of archives. This trial is risk-free. No credit card required.
Try Tabletalk NowAlready receive Tabletalk magazine every month?
Verify your email address to gain unlimited access.
Acts 28:1–6
“When Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and put them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened on his hand. When the native people saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, ‘No doubt this man is a murderer. Though he has escaped from the sea, Justice has not allowed him to live’” (vv. 3–4).
When the boat carrying Paul and others to Rome was about to run aground, no one on board knew exactly where they were (Acts 27:39–44). Eventually, however, they would learn that they were on Malta, some eighteen miles south of Sicily (28:1). Ancient sources tell us that the part of Malta on which they landed, traditionally regarded as its northeast coast, was not on the normal sea routes that sailors traveled. Thus, it makes sense that the men would not know where they were at first.
Thankfully, the residents of the island received the stranded men hospitably, kindling a fire to warm them and offering a hearty welcome (v. 2). Luke uses the Greek word barbaroi to refer to the native people who greeted the shipwrecked travelers. Barbaroi—translated more literally as “barbarians”—was the term applied to people in the ancient world who were not part of Greek or Latin culture. Such people were often considered “uncivilized.” Furthermore, they did not know the one true God (see v. 6).
A viper bit Paul as he added sticks to the fire, and the natives concluded that Paul must have been a murderer, believing “Justice” was not letting him get away alive even though he had survived the shipwreck (vv. 3–4). Matthew Henry comments on the natives’ response and what it says about natural revelation—those truths about God that can be discerned from the natural world and our consciences (Rom. 1:18–2:29). Henry says that the belief of the residents of Malta that justice was taking hold of Paul reveals their knowledge that divine providence directs all things (the viper’s bite was no accident), that murder is wrong (they assumed that this was Paul’s punishment for this crime), and that people will be judged for wrongdoing (they saw the viper as a punishment).
Of course, we know that Paul actually was not guilty of any crime. The residents of Malta misapplied the truths of natural revelation, which is what all men do since the fall apart from the grace of God. They wrongly thought that wickedness is always punished in this life and that all who suffer severely must be wicked. Their beliefs about how divine justice operates matched those of Job’s friends. Paul shook off the viper without suffering any harm from its bite, leading the residents of Malta to esteem the Apostle. Yet even here they erred, viewing Paul himself as a god and not seeing him, at least at first, as a messenger of the Creator (Acts 27:5–6).
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
Romans 1:18–2:29 tells us that all people have a basic knowledge of God and of right and wrong. This same text tells us that without God’s grace, people twist this truth and suppress it in unrighteousness. We need the grace of God and the Scriptures to become better readers of natural revelation, and people can be saved only through faith in the gospel, not by the knowledge they attain from the natural world and our consciences.
For further study
- Job 42:7–9
- Psalm 19
- Mark 16:14–18
- Acts 14:15–17
The bible in a year
- Hosea 11–14
- Revelation 3