When the crowds saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices in the Lycaonian language: “The gods have come down to us in human form!”
The people heard Paul preach Christ, yet the moment they saw the miracle they ascribed it to their idols as if they had heard nothing of Him. This bent toward vanity runs everywhere through mankind. We are so prone to corrupt the works of God with our flesh and superstition that the Lord wisely limited miracles in time and number, lest men twist them to false worship and mock His name by translating His power unto idols.
AI summary
This cripple, lame from birth and never able to walk, represents our spiritual impotency until God's grace strengthens us. He heard Paul preach and believed the apostles had divine power to heal him; that faith Paul perceived and acted upon, working a cure that testified to the gospel's power among the Gentiles.
AI summary
Commenting on Acts 14:8-18
They had a notion of deity, though entirely wrong. They supposed there were many gods dwelling in heaven who sometimes descended to earth in human shape. The cure of the lame man struck them as such a divine work that no mere creature could perform it, so they lifted up their voices in amazement, concluding the gods themselves had come down.
AI summary