1. Acts 14:15 (ESV)
  2. Exposition

When did Paul and Barnabas tell the people to turn from worshipping idols to serve the living God?

Acts 14:15 (ESV)

15 “Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men, of like nature with you, and we bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them.

Paul is summarising the message which he has been preaching in the public square, the good news of what Jesus has done with a call to turn from idols. He wants people to stop bringing the kind of vain sacrifices with which they are busy, and he does not want them to continue worshipping Zeus (1 Thessalonians 1:9).1 They must let go of their idols and turn to serve God whom he is proclaiming to them (see Exodus 20:11; Psalm 146:6).2 If they want to honour God who has worked a miracle then they must not bring sacrifices to idols.