When the survivors of the shipwreck made it to shore, the people of the island of Malta came out to help them. While they were gathering wood for a fire, Paul was bit by a snake. At first the islanders thought Paul, a prisoner, must have been a murder getting justice after escaping the waves. When he did not swell up or die, they thought he might be a god instead. Was either assumption correct?
The island chief Publius received them and entertained them for three days. His father was sick with fever and dysentery, so Paul laid hands on him and prayed, and he was healed. Many of the other sick and diseased people on the island came and were cured as well. The people gave the travelers sustenance for their journey.
After three months, they sailed in an Alexandrian ship with a twin god figurehead from Malta, to Sicily to the southern tip of Italy. As they traveled to Rome, they met up with brothers and sisters, their term for other Christians, and more came as the news of their arrival spread. Paul was allowed to visit with one guard.
Paul called a group of local Jewish leaders and made his appeal to them. He wanted them to see that he was not attacking their customs or culture, but speaking of the fulfillment of their scriptures. He said even though the original recipients were rejecting his message of Jesus, the Gentiles were receiving it. They discussed and debated, and some believed while others did not. Paul stayed for two years.
When I covered this passage at college, my students brought up a tiny sect of Christianity that handles snakes as part of its weekly worship practice. This story and one other scripture mentions believers taking up serpents and not being harmed. From those two sentences in the entire Bible, a whole religious practice was birthed. From just the context of this chapter, we see that Paul did not seek out the snake, and never even address the incident. Instead his message was about Christ and his redemption for everyone, and his practice was to pray, heal and preach the gospel.
If a group overly fixates on one or two sentences and ignores hundreds of others, then they are probably a cult. It doesn’t matter if that group is obscure or popular. Right now, there are two significant, but opposing ways of thinking and acting that are both being described by their proponents as true Christianity. In order to find the truth, it is important to verify not only the individual scriptures being used to justify an attitude or action, but the context as well. What is the original intent of the body of work? It is imperative that all believers take the time read the scriptures in their entirety and seek the Holy Spirit for guidance in these testing times.
