L’Église primitiveNot a biblical person – Greek deity
Zeus is the supreme god in Greek mythology and is mentioned in the Bible in connection with Paul's missionary journeys. In Lystra, the inhabitants tried to worship Paul and Barnabas as Zeus and Hermes after they performed a miracle. Zeus is not a biblical figure but is referred to as an idol in contrast to the living God.
Événements clés
The crowd in Lystra calls Barnabas Zeus
After Paul healed a lame man in Lystra, the crowd believed that gods had come down to them in human form. They called Barnabas Zeus and Paul Hermes.
The priest from the temple of Zeus outside the city brought oxen and garlands to the gates and wanted to offer sacrifices to Paul and Barnabas along with the crowd.
13The priest of Zeus, whose temple stood just outside the city, brought bulls and garlands to the gates, intending to offer sacrifice along with the crowds.
Paul and Barnabas tore their clothes, ran out among the people, and shouted that they were mere men, urging them to turn away from these empty idols to the living God.
15"Men, why are you doing this? We are only human beings, with the same nature as you. We bring you good news, that you should turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them.
17yet he did not leave himself without witness: he did good, giving you rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling your hearts with food and gladness."
When Paul was in Athens, he noticed that the city was full of idols, including worship of Greek gods like Zeus. He spoke at the Areopagus about the unknown God in contrast to the idols.
23For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: 'To an unknown god.' What you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you.
Paul quotes the Cretan poet Epimenides, who originally wrote about Zeus, when he says 'For in him we live and move and have our being', using the quote in a new context about the true God.
29So then, since we are God's offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, shaped by human skill and imagination.