Now in the country surrounding that place were the lands belonging to the chief man of the island, by name Publius, who received us and gave [us] hospitality three days in a very friendly way.
Paul lands on Malta as a shipwrecked prisoner, and the first door open to him belongs to the leading man of the island. Who arranged that landing, and what can a prisoner in chains give the man who takes him in?
Paul had lost everything in the storm. Yet he comes ashore beside the lands of the island's leading citizen. One writer sees God standing by a servant who had brought his own chains on himself.
God honours His servant on the island where he and his companions had been cast. He works miracles, and receives no harm from the viper which fastens itself on his hand. Paul had brought captivity on himself by his appeal to Caesar, but still God was with him. It was necessary that he should bear witness before Caesar... Far from abandoning him, He displays His grace and power to him most fully.
These words are not praise for how well Publius was liked. They were his official title, and the writer below simply calls him the island's governor.
From the shore where they had gathered at first, we are next taken to the house of Publius, called the chief man of the island. This was his official designation — that is, First or Chief of the Meliteans. The islanders had been kind. The governor was kind too. He had lands near that bay, and he received them and entertained them courteously.
Luke uses one word for the kindness of the centurion Julius earlier in the voyage, and another word for Publius on Melita — the island now called Malta. Each word suits the man.
It may be worth pointing out here that "courteously" is a fitting word in both places. It is used of Julius the Roman centurion (philanthropos, better "kindly") in Acts 27:3, and of Publius the chief man of Melita (philophronos) in Acts 28:7.
Publius gives three days of lodging to a party of strangers. What he gets back is his father's health — and for Paul and his companions, three months of relief after two weeks of terror at sea.
The chief man of the island took a kindly interest in them in their need. So Paul was able to repay him by prayer and the healing of his father. We do not read of any testimony that Paul gave. Yet his praying must have shown everyone that the healing power he used was not his own but connected with God... In the providence of God, all this led to a time of comfort after two weeks of terrible testing. It even became a time of honour, and it lasted three months. The apostle has put on record, "I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound" (Phil. 4:12). These three months proved to be a time of abounding.
Paul and Luke accepted what the islanders offered, though they had asked for nothing. There are two dangers here, not one.
Paul and Luke did not refuse their attention and their kind gifts, though they sought nothing from them. Indeed it matters greatly that the Christian... should give a simple and true testimony. The gospel, the grace and truth of Christ, has everything to give. It is never there to gain what self seeks in this world. God is a Giver Himself... On the other hand, a narrow, hard and unappreciative heart, where kindness is meant, is very far from the ways of Christ.
Three months on Malta end in honours for Paul, and in silence about any convert. One writer weighs that silence:
The people honoured them with many honours. Yet despite these pleasant relationships, and despite the outward blessing of healing, there is no record of any conversions to the Lord Jesus.
Another writer turns from the healed body to the soul, and to where the responsibility now lies:
He was the chief man of the island of Malta... And He who can cure the suffering body can also save the guilty soul. "God is love." Happy is that servant of Christ, whether free of foot or bound of hand, who could speak and act for God in front of such men! These men held places of power and dignity in their day. His the honour, theirs the responsibility.
- Placed — The wreck left Paul beside the governor's own lands. Writers see God's care behind a landing that looked like chance.
- Titled — "The chief man" was Publius's official rank on Malta, not a loose description. Luke even picks a word for his welcome that suits a courteous official.
- Given — Three days of lodging opened the door to healing for Publius's father. The host who gave first received far more.
- Guarded — Paul accepted the islanders' kindness but sought nothing from them. The gospel comes to give, never to gain.
- Unanswered — The islanders paid Paul many honours, yet no conversion is recorded. Their kindness was real; the responsibility for what they saw stayed theirs.
And it happened that the father of Publius lay ill of fever and dysentery; to whom Paul entered in, and having prayed and laid his hands on him cured him.
Paul lands on Malta as a shipwrecked prisoner, and the island's leading man takes him in. Within three days the host's own father is dangerously ill — and the prisoner prays before he heals.
Two small details are easy to miss here. One writer notes the standing of Publius and the exact medical word Luke uses:
More than one ancient inscription gives good reason to treat "the first," or "chief," as a title, not a vague description. "Fever" is in the Greek plural, being a sickness of repeated attacks. No writer in either the Old or New Testament uses so much medical vocabulary as Luke.
The second illness in the verse was no small thing:
Dysentery, one of the worst diseases in the East, always attended with fever.
Paul prays before he lays a hand on the sick man. Luke records no sermon on Malta, yet the islanders still learned something:
The chief man of the island took a kindly interest in them in their need. So Paul was able to repay him by prayer and by healing his father. We do not read of any testimony that Paul gave. Yet his praying must have shown everyone that the healing power he used was not his own. It was connected with God.
Publius opened his house to a crowd of shipwrecked strangers. The healing that followed reads as an answer to that welcome:
It is wonderful, and yet not wonderful, how God cared for His servant. The chief man of the island was named Publius. He lived in the part where the shipwrecked sailors and prisoners had landed. He welcomed Paul, Luke and Aristarchus kindly, and hosted them for three days. But God will be no man's debtor.
News of the healing spread, and the sick came from all over the island. Nobody was turned away. Paul and Luke then took the gifts the islanders pressed on them, which raises a question about what a servant of Christ should want:
Here we see gracious healing power attached to the Lord's name, and no self-importance in the apostle. He prayed and laid his hands on the sick man. The healing of one so prominent caught everyone's attention. Many others on the island came with their sicknesses and were cured as well, for grace is no respecter of persons. Paul and Luke did not refuse their attentions and kind offerings, though they certainly sought nothing from them. The Christian should value even a cup of cold water given in the name of a disciple, just as our Father does. But it matters above all that he gives a simple and true testimony: the gospel, the grace and truth of Christ, has everything to give. It is never there to gain what self wants in this world.
Why heal at all? One writer reads such miracles as samples of a power still to come:
The signs of Christianity are kind by their very nature. They are samples of the power that in the age to come will banish the evil one and drive away the dreadful effects of sin. Meanwhile, in honour of the One whom men crucified and God has now exalted in heaven, that power was displayed wherever it seemed fitting — pity poured out on suffering man. So another of the signs promised to those who believe was soon added: "they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover" (Mark 16:18).
A healed man is not yet a saved man, and the cure was meant to lead somewhere:
By this fitting act of praying he brought the power and mercy of God into the presence of this "chief" man. Surely the healing touch of divine pity might well urge the healed man to seek a saving knowledge of the blessed Healer. It is the goodness of God that leads to repentance (Romans 2:4). And He who can cure the suffering body can also save the guilty soul.
The man doing the healing is himself under guard, on his way to stand before Caesar. One writer traces both how Paul got there and who stayed with him:
God honours His servant on the island where he and his companions had been cast. He works miracles, and takes no harm from the viper that fastens on his hand. Paul had brought captivity on himself by his appeal to Caesar, but God was still with him. It was necessary that he should bear witness before Caesar. Far from abandoning him, God displays His grace and power to him most fully.
- Kindness — Publius opens his home to shipwrecked strangers. God will be no man's debtor, and He repays him within three days.
- Prayer — Paul prays before he heals, and that single act tells the whole island the power is God's, not his.
- Grace — the cure reaches the chief man's father first, then everyone else who came, for grace is no respecter of persons.
- Purpose — the healing previews a coming age and points beyond itself: He who cures the suffering body can also save the guilty soul.
- Presence — Paul's own appeal to Caesar made him a prisoner, yet God stayed with him. The chain never stopped the blessing.
But this having taken place, the rest also who had sicknesses in the island came and were healed
Paul reaches Malta as a prisoner from a wrecked ship, and within days the whole island is bringing him its sick. Where did that power come from? What did it do? And why does Luke record so much healing and so little preaching?
The healing began in the home of the island's leading man and did not stay there. Because news travelled fast across a small place, everyone who needed help had time to come.
The report of this miracle soon spread, and the rest of the sick on the island came and were healed. Malta is only seventeen and a quarter miles long and nine and a quarter miles wide. Its area is about ninety-five square miles, roughly two-thirds the size of the Isle of Wight. So we can easily understand that during their stay of three months there was time for the welcome news of Paul's powers to spread across the whole island, and for people in need to benefit from them. The islanders could tell of one healing after another — not merely some relief, but the full removal of suffering.
Before Paul laid hands on anyone, he prayed. That order mattered, because it told every watcher whose power was at work.
This man's father fell seriously ill, and Paul went to heal him. But when he entered the house, he first prayed and then healed. That was a beautiful testimony to the true source of healing power, and a demonstration of it.
The islanders drew the right conclusion and acted on it.
We do not read of any testimony that Paul gave. Yet his praying must have shown everyone that the healing power he used was not his own. It was connected with God. The islanders found that the power of God was among them. They were quick to seek it for their bodies, and seeking, they found it.
The first man healed was the father of the island's chief. Those who came after him had no such standing, and it made no difference.
Here we have the gracious healing power attached to the Lord's name, with no show of self-importance in the apostle. The healing of so prominent a man caught everyone's attention. Many others on the island came with their sicknesses, and they were cured too, for grace shows no favourites.
Commentators link this scene to a promise the Lord gave at the end of Mark's Gospel.
There, too, we see how truly the power of God is with him. And Paul shows that no word of the Lord is in vain: he fulfils one of the special promises in the disputed verses at the end of Mark.
Another writer describes what those promised signs were to do:
With respect to the power of the enemy, shown in doing harm, the venom of serpents and poisons should have no effect on them, and diseases should yield to their authority. In a word, it should be the overthrow of the power of the enemy over man, and the proclamation of grace to all people.
Luke records no sermon and no converts on Malta. Commentators notice the silence and read it plainly.
Despite the pleasant relationships seen here, and the outward blessing of healing, there is no record of anyone being converted to the Lord Jesus. The people did honour them with many honours, and supplied the things they needed after the shipwreck.
Still, the kindness shown to sick bodies carried an appeal beyond the body.
Surely the healing touch of divine pity might well urge those who were healed to seek a saving knowledge of the blessed Healer. For it is the goodness of God that leads to repentance (Rom. 2:4). And He who can cure the suffering body can also save the guilty soul.
Two weeks of terrible testing at sea lay just behind them. The same God who carried them through turned the island into a place of rest.
All this, in the providence of God, led to a time of comfort after two weeks of terrible testing. It even led to a time of honour, and it lasted for three months. The Apostle has put on record, "I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound" (Phil. 4:12). These three months proved to be a time of abounding.
- Storm — God's providence stood behind the wreck: two weeks of terrible testing became three months of comfort and honour.
- Prayer — Paul prayed before he laid on hands, so no one could mistake the power for his own.
- Spread — one healing in the chief man's house drew the sick from all over the island, for grace shows no favourites.
- Sign — the viper and the healings keep a promise from the end of Mark: the enemy's power over man is overthrown, and grace is proclaimed to all.
- Silence — bodies were healed and honours given, yet no conversion is recorded. God's goodness leads to repentance; here the outcome is left untold.
who also honoured us with many honours, and on our leaving they made presents to us of what should minister to our wants.
Paul's shipwrecked party spent three months on Malta. Why did the islanders load them with gifts, and why did Paul accept them?
One commentator weighs the word translated "honored" in this verse. He finds respect rather than wages, and two separate kindnesses:
There can be no fair doubt that the English translation is right: salary or pay is not the main idea here, nor even the true one — the idea is "honour."… Acts 28:10 seems to distinguish the attentions paid during the stay on Malta from the supplies given as they left.
Paul neither turned the islanders away nor angled for anything. The same writer sets two dangers side by side:
Paul and Luke did not refuse their attentions and kind gifts, though they certainly sought nothing from them. Indeed it matters above everything that the Christian should give a simple and true testimony that the gospel, the grace and truth of Christ, has everything to give. It is never there to gain what self wants in this world — and this while valuing, as our Father does, even a cup of cold water given in the name of a disciple. God is a Giver Himself, the Giver of the best and indeed of all good, and He loves His own to keep up the family character in this as in everything else. On the other hand, it is very far from the ways of Christ to hold a narrow, hard and unappreciative heart when kindness is meant.
The honours did not appear out of nowhere. One writer traces them back to a first act of hospitality:
It is wonderful, and yet not wonderful, how God cared for His servant. The chief man of the island, named Publius, lived in the part where the shipwrecked sailors and prisoners had come ashore. He welcomed Paul, Luke and Aristarchus warmly, and hosted them for three days. But God will be no man's debtor. Publius' father lay sick with a fever and dysentery. Paul went into the sick room, prayed with the sick man, laid his hands on him, and healed him. As the news spread, others on the island who were ill came and were healed. When the time came to leave the island, they honoured them in many ways and loaded them with the things they needed.
Paul prayed before he healed. One writer weighs why the order matters:
This man's father fell seriously ill, and Paul went to heal him. But when he entered the house, he first prayed and then healed. That is a beautiful testimony to the true source of healing power, and a demonstration of it.
Set against the storm that came just before it, this verse reads as relief. A prisoner who had lost everything at sea now leaves with his needs supplied:
All this, in the providence of God, led to a time of comfort after two weeks of terrible testing. It even led to a time of honour, and it lasted for three months. The Apostle has put on record, "I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound" (Philippians 4:12). These three months proved to be a time of abounding.
One writer notes what the chapter does not say:
Despite the pleasant relationships seen here, and the outward blessing of healing, there is no record of anyone turning to the Lord Jesus. The people honoured them with many honours and supplied the needs their shipwreck had caused.
Yet the healing itself made an appeal to those who received it:
Surely the healing touch of God's pity gave the healed every reason to seek a saving knowledge of the blessed Healer, for it is the goodness of God that leads to repentance (Romans 2:4). And He who can cure the suffering body can also save the guilty soul.
- Kindness starts it. Publius opened his house to shipwrecked strangers. God repaid him by healing his own father, for He "will be no man's debtor."
- Prayer names the source. Paul prayed before he laid hands on the sick, showing that the power was God's and not his own.
- Honour, not wages. Their gifts were marks of respect, not payment. The care shown during the stay and the supplies given at departure were two separate kindnesses.
- Give, never gain. Paul took the gifts but sought nothing. The gospel comes to give, and a cold heart toward kindness is as wrong as a grasping one.
- Abounding, yet unrecorded. Two weeks of terror gave way to three months of honour. Yet Luke records no one turning to Christ — kindness received still leaves the receiver to seek the Healer Himself.