Acts 28:1-10 | It's Always New to SomeoneNäide

Assumptions: A New Conclusion

While Paul is helping the islanders with the fire, a viper hidden in the pile of wood bites him on the arm and fastens on.

When the islanders saw the snake hanging from his hand, they said to each other, “This man must be a murderer; for though he escaped from the sea, the goddess Justice has not allowed him to live” (Acts 28:4, NIV).

Talk about jumping to conclusions. But were they? Paul was once a murderer, after all, maybe not by his own hands, but complicitly. As he shared in Acts 22, he once persecuted Christians to their death.

What they didn’t understand was that Paul had an encounter with Jesus that changed his life. He was a murderer, but he was forgiven. Jesus took the justice Paul deserved and nailed it to the cross. Paul was washed clean by the shed blood of Christ. He was no longer a murderer; his new identity was Christ. After he met Jesus on the road to Damascus, Paul underwent a profound transformation. It was a transformation that eventually brought him to Malta and to these people with the gospel.

Their pagan traditions concluded it was justice by the gods. Because even pagans sense that the gods should punish wickedness. But God is supreme, and saw Paul in a new way. All because of Jesus, as the islanders would soon find out.

Prayer

When you look in the mirror, who do you see staring back at you? A person who isn’t forgiven? Or a person forgiven and new in Christ? If that viper is still clinging to your arm, embrace his forgiveness and pray to see your new identity in Christ in your life.