When they had gone through the island to Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Bar Jesus, who was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of understanding. This man summoned Barnabas and Saul, and sought to hear the word of God. But Elymas the sorcerer (for so is his name by interpretation) withstood them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith. But Saul, who is also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, fastened his eyes on him, and said, “You son of the devil, full of all deceit and all cunning, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord? Now, behold, the hand of the Lord is on you, and you will be blind, not seeing the sun for a season!” Immediately a mist and darkness fell on him. He went around seeking someone to lead him by the hand.
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Then, when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away. So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia. From there they sailed to Cyprus. When they were at Salamis, they proclaimed God’s word in the Jewish synagogues. They also had John as their attendant. When they had gone through the island to Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Bar Jesus, who was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of understanding. This man summoned Barnabas and Saul, and sought to hear the word of God. But Elymas the sorcerer (for so is his name by interpretation) withstood them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith. But Saul, who is also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, fastened his eyes on him, and said, “You son of the devil, full of all deceit and all cunning, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord? Now, behold, the hand of the Lord is on you, and you will be blind, not seeing the sun for a season!” Immediately a mist and darkness fell on him. He went around seeking someone to lead him by the hand.
Parallel Translations
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When they had gone through the island to Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Bar Jesus,
who was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of understanding. This man summoned Barnabas and Saul, and sought to hear the word of God.
But Elymas the sorcerer (for so is his name by interpretation) withstood them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith.
But Saul, who is also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, fastened his eyes on him,
and said, “You son of the devil, full of all deceit and all cunning, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord?
Now, behold, the hand of the Lord is on you, and you will be blind, not seeing the sun for a season!” Immediately a mist and darkness fell on him. He went around seeking someone to lead him by the hand.
-
When they had gone thorowout the yle vnto the cite of Paphos they foude a certayne sorserer a falce prophet
which was a Iewe named Bariesu which was with the ruler of the countre won Sergius Paulus a prudet man. The same ruler called vnto him Barnabas and Saul and desyred to heare the worde of God.
But Elemas the sorcerar (for so was his name by interpretacion) with stode them and sought to turne awaye the ruler from the fayth.
Then Saul which also is called Paul beinge full of the holy goost set his eyes on him
and sayde: O full of all sutteltie and disseytfulnes the chylde of the devyll and the enemye of all righteousnes thou ceasest not to pervert the strayght wayes of the Lorde.
And now beholde the honde of the Lorde is vpon the and thou shalt be blinde and not se the sunne for a season. And immediatly ther fell on him a myste and a darcknes and he went aboute sekinge them that shuld leade him by the honde.
Show all 3 translations
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So when they had gone throughout the yle vnto Paphus, they found a certaine sorcerer, a false prophet, being a Iewe, named Bariesus,
Which was with the Deputie Sergius Paulus, a prudent man. He called vnto him Barnabas and Saul, and desired to heare the woorde of God.
But Elymas, ye sorcerer (for so is his name by interpretation) withstoode them, and sought to turne away the Deputie from the faith.
Then Saul (which also is called Paul) being full of the holy Ghost, set his eyes on him,
And sayde, O full of all subtiltie and all mischiefe, the childe of the deuill, and enemie of all righteousnesse, wilt thou not cease to peruert the straight waies of the Lord?
Nowe therefore behold, the hand of the Lord is vpon thee, and thou shalt be blinde, and not see the sunne for a season. And immediately there fel on him a mist and a darknes; and he went about, seeking some to leade him by the hand.
Cross-references (92)
- Micah 3:8 (v9) But as for me, I am full of power by Yahweh’s Spirit, and of judgment, and of might, to declare to Jacob his disobedience, and to Israel…
- John 8:44 (v10) You are of your father, the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and doesn’t stand…
- Matthew 7:15 (v6) “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravening wolves.
- Matthew 13:38 (v10) the field is the world; and the good seed, these are the children of the Kingdom; and the darnel weeds are the children of the evil one.
- 2 Corinthians 11:3 (v10) But I am afraid that somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve in his craftiness, so your minds might be corrupted from the simplicity that is…
Show all 89 cross-references
- Hosea 14:9 (vv7, 10) Who is wise, that he may understand these things? Who is prudent, that he may know them? For the ways of Yahweh are right, and the…
- Acts 4:8 (v9) Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “You rulers of the people, and elders of Israel,
- Galatians 1:7 (v10) but there isn’t another “good news.” Only there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the Good News of Christ.
- 2 Timothy 3:8 (vv6, 8) Even as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these also oppose the truth, men corrupted in mind, who concerning the faith are rejected.
- Luke 11:52 (v10) Woe to you lawyers! For you took away the key of knowledge. You didn’t enter in yourselves, and those who were entering in, you hindered.”
- Acts 2:4 (v9) They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other languages, as the Spirit gave them the ability to speak.
- Acts 13:12 (vv7–8) Then the proconsul, when he saw what was done, believed, being astonished at the teaching of the Lord.
- Exodus 9:3 (v11) behold, Yahweh’s hand is on your livestock which are in the field, on the horses, on the donkeys, on the camels, on the herds, and on the…
- Psalms 32:4 (v11) For day and night your hand was heavy on me. My strength was sapped in the heat of summer.
- Acts 7:55 (v9) But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, looked up steadfastly into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of…
- Acts 19:38 (v7) If therefore Demetrius and the craftsmen who are with him have a matter against anyone, the courts are open, and there are proconsuls. Let…
- 1 John 3:8 (v10) He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. To this end the Son of God was revealed: that he might…
- 1 John 4:1 (v6) Beloved, don’t believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the…
- 1 Samuel 5:11 (v11) They sent therefore and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines, and they said, “Send the ark of the God of Israel away, and let…
- Proverbs 18:15 (v7) The heart of the discerning gets knowledge. The ear of the wise seeks knowledge.
- Mark 3:5 (v9) When he had looked around at them with anger, being grieved at the hardening of their hearts, he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.”…
- Acts 8:20-23 (v10) But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! You have neither…
- Acts 13:6-7 (v8) When they had gone through the island to Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Bar Jesus, who was…
- Acts 18:12 (v7) But when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews with one accord rose up against Paul and brought him before the judgment seat,
- 2 Corinthians 11:13 (v6) For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as Christ’s apostles.
- 2 Timothy 4:14-15 (v8) Alexander, the coppersmith, did much evil to me. The Lord will repay him according to his deeds, of whom you also must beware; for he…
- Hebrews 10:31 (v11) It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
- Exodus 22:18 (v6) “You shall not allow a sorceress to live.
- Deuteronomy 13:1-3 (v6) If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you, and he gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of…
- Job 19:21 (v11) “Have pity on me. Have pity on me, you my friends; for the hand of God has touched me.
- Jeremiah 23:14-15 (v6) In the prophets of Jerusalem I have also seen a horrible thing: they commit adultery and walk in lies. They strengthen the hands of…
- Ezekiel 13:10-16 (v6) “ ‘Because, even because they have seduced my people, saying, “Peace;” and there is no peace. When one builds up a wall, behold, they…
- Zechariah 13:3 (v6) It will happen that, when anyone still prophesies, then his father and his mother who bore him will tell him, ‘You must die, because you…
- Matthew 3:7 (v10) But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for his baptism, he said to them, “You offspring of vipers, who warned you to…
- Matthew 15:19 (v10) For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, sexual sins, thefts, false testimony, and blasphemies.
- Matthew 16:17 (v6) Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.
- Matthew 23:13 (v10) “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses, and as a pretense you make long prayers. Therefore you will…
- Matthew 23:25-33 (v10) “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of…
- Matthew 24:24 (v6) For there will arise false christs, and false prophets, and they will show great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even…
- Mark 10:46 (v6) They came to Jericho. As he went out from Jericho, with his disciples and a great multitude, the son of Timaeus, Bartimaeus, a blind…
- John 9:39 (v11) Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment, that those who don’t see may see; and that those who see may become blind.”
- Acts 9:36 (v8) Now there was at Joppa a certain disciple named Tabitha, which when translated, means Dorcas. This woman was full of good works and acts of…
- Acts 13:8 (v7) But Elymas the sorcerer (for so is his name by interpretation) withstood them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith.
- Acts 18:25-26 (v10) This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning…
- Acts 20:30 (v10) Men will arise from among your own selves, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.
- 2 Peter 2:15 (v10) forsaking the right way, they went astray, having followed the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of wrongdoing;
- 2 Peter 2:17 (v11) These are wells without water, clouds driven by a storm; for whom the blackness of darkness has been reserved forever.
- Genesis 3:15 (v10) I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will bruise your head, and you will bruise…
- Genesis 18:19 (v10) For I have known him, to the end that he may command his children and his household after him, that they may keep the way of Yahweh, to do…
- Genesis 19:11 (v11) They struck the men who were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they wearied themselves to find the…
- Exodus 7:11-13 (v8) Then Pharaoh also called for the wise men and the sorcerers. They also, the magicians of Egypt, did the same thing with their enchantments.…
- Leviticus 20:6 (v6) “ ‘The person that turns to those who are mediums and wizards, to play the prostitute after them, I will even set my face against that…
- Deuteronomy 18:10-12 (v6) There shall not be found with you anyone who makes his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who tells…
- 1 Samuel 5:6-7 (v11) But Yahweh’s hand was heavy on the people of Ashdod, and he destroyed them and struck them with tumors, even Ashdod and its borders. When…
- 1 Samuel 5:9 (v11) It was so, that after they had carried it there, Yahweh’s hand was against the city with a very great confusion; and he struck the men of…
- 1 Kings 22:22 (v6) Yahweh said to him, ‘How?’ He said, ‘I will go out and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ He said, ‘You will entice…
- 1 Kings 22:24 (v8) Then Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah came near, and struck Micaiah on the cheek, and said, “Which way did Yahweh’s Spirit go from me to speak…
- 2 Kings 6:8 (v11) Now the king of Syria was at war against Israel; and he took counsel with his servants, saying, “My camp will be in such and such a place.”
- 1 Chronicles 10:13 (v6) So Saul died for his trespass which he committed against Yahweh, because of Yahweh’s word, which he didn’t keep; and also because he asked…
- 2 Chronicles 17:6 (v10) His heart was lifted up in the ways of Yahweh. Furthermore, he took away the high places and the Asherah poles out of Judah.
- Psalms 38:2 (v11) For your arrows have pierced me, your hand presses hard on me.
- Psalms 39:10-11 (v11) Remove your scourge away from me. I am overcome by the blow of your hand. When you rebuke and correct man for iniquity, you consume his…
- Proverbs 14:8 (v7) The wisdom of the prudent is to think about his way, but the folly of fools is deceit.
- Proverbs 14:15 (v7) A simple man believes everything, but the prudent man carefully considers his ways.
- Proverbs 14:18 (v7) The simple inherit folly, but the prudent are crowned with knowledge.
- Ecclesiastes 9:3 (v10) This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that there is one event to all: yes also, the heart of the sons of men is full of evil,…
- Isaiah 8:19-20 (v6) When they tell you, “Consult with those who have familiar spirits and with the wizards, who chirp and who mutter,” shouldn’t a people…
- Isaiah 29:10 (v11) For Yahweh has poured out on you a spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your eyes, the prophets; and he has covered your heads, the seers.
- Jeremiah 23:36 (v10) You will mention the message from Yahweh no more: for every man’s own word has become his message; for you have perverted the words of the…
- Jeremiah 28:1 (v8) That same year, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fourth year, in the fifth month, Hananiah the son of Azzur,…
- Jeremiah 28:10-11 (v8) Then Hananiah the prophet took the bar from off the prophet Jeremiah’s neck, and broke it. Hananiah spoke in the presence of all the…
- Jeremiah 29:24-32 (v8) Concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite you shall speak, saying, “Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says, ‘Because you have sent letters in…
- Luke 11:39 (v10) The Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the platter, but your inward part is full of extortion and…
- John 1:23 (v10) He said, “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as Isaiah the prophet said.”
- John 1:41 (v8) He first found his own brother, Simon, and said to him, “We have found the Messiah!” (which is, being interpreted, Christ).
- John 21:15-17 (v6) So when they had eaten their breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me more than these?” He said to him,…
- Acts 6:7 (v8) The word of God increased and the number of the disciples greatly multiplied in Jerusalem. A great company of the priests were obedient to…
- Acts 8:9 (v8) But there was a certain man, Simon by name, who used to practice sorcery in the city and amazed the people of Samaria, making himself out…
- Acts 8:9-11 (v6) But there was a certain man, Simon by name, who used to practice sorcery in the city and amazed the people of Samaria, making himself out…
- Acts 9:8-9 (v11) Saul arose from the ground, and when his eyes were opened, he saw no one. They led him by the hand, and brought him into Damascus. He was…
- Acts 9:17 (v11) Ananias departed and entered into the house. Laying his hands on him, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord, who appeared to you on the road by…
- Acts 17:11-12 (v7) Now these were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, examining the Scriptures…
- Acts 19:18-19 (v6) Many also of those who had believed came, confessing, and declaring their deeds. Many of those who practiced magical arts brought their…
- Romans 11:7-10 (v11) What then? That which Israel seeks for, that he didn’t obtain, but the chosen ones obtained it, and the rest were hardened. According as it…
- Romans 11:25 (v11) For I don’t desire you to be ignorant, brothers, of this mystery, so that you won’t be wise in your own conceits, that a partial hardening…
- 1 Thessalonians 5:21 (v7) Test all things, and hold firmly that which is good.
- 2 Peter 2:1-3 (v6) But false prophets also arose among the people, as false teachers will also be among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies,…
- Revelation 19:20 (v6) The beast was taken, and with him the false prophet who worked the signs in his sight, with which he deceived those who had received the…
- Acts 4:31 (v9) When they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were gathered together. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the…
89 distinct cross-references across this passage (92 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (24 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv6–11 6. When they had passed over. It is to…
6. When they had passed over. It is to be thought that this their passage was not altogether without fruit; and, assuredly, Luke would never have passed over with silence a general repulse; but it was sufficient for him to say that they were not idle in the office of teaching in their journey, seeing that he maketh haste unto a famous history, which he will set down immediately. And forasmuch as Salamis, situated upon the east coast, did look toward Syria, it was requisite that Paul and Barnabas should pass through the midst of the island unto the other side, that they might come to Paphos; for Paphos was a city situated upon the sea-coast toward the south. Furthermore though all the island was dedicated to Venus, yet Paphos was the principal seat of the idol. For which cause the goodness of God is more wonderful, in that he would have the light of his gospel to pierce into such a filthy and cruel [dire] den. For we may thereby gather what manner of integrity and chastity, and honesty and temperance, was in that city, in that religion did grant liberty to the inhabitants to commit all manner of shameful and heinous offenses.
They found a certain fake prophet. Seeing that religion was quite corrupt among the Jews, it is no marvel if they fell away unto many wicked superstitions. And forasmuch as they had hitherto professed that they worshipped a certain peculiar god, this was a fair color to deceive withal, seeing that they might pretend the name of the unknown God at their pleasure; but this is a wonder how it was possible for Elymas, with his juggling, to cozen a grave and wise man. For we know that the Jews were at that time hated of all the world, and especially of the Romans, and with hatred was coupled extreme contempt of them.
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Now Luke doth not without cause expressly commend Sergius’s wisdom, lest any man should think that his foolishness and lightness was subject to the seducings of the sorcerer. His meaning was, indeed, to show in a clear mirror how frivolous and vain man’s wisdom is, which cannot beware of such gross subtlety of Satan.
And assuredly where the truth of God doth not appear, the more men seem to be wise, the more filthily foolish are they. We see what filthy monsters of superstition did reign amongst the most witty Gentiles, and such as were furnished with all manner of learning. Therefore, there is neither judgment nor wisdom, save only from the Spirit of God. And this is the just vengeance of God upon all idolaters, that being delivered up to a reprobate sense they can discern nothing, (Romans 1:28.) Though it may be that Sergius Paulus, being weary of superstitions, did then begin to desire a more pure worship of God, at such time as he [did] light upon that sorcerer. Which if we receive, it was surely a wonderful judgment of God, that he suffered a man godly-affected to throw himself headlong into the [deadly] snares of Satan. But God doth sometimes so exercise his elect, that he causeth them to wander many ways, before they be directed into the right way.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv8, 10, 11 The devil maketh the conquest of Christ more glorious,…
The devil maketh the conquest of Christ more glorious, in that that he setteth himself against him.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv6–11 6 And when they had gone through the isle…
6 And when they had gone through the isle unto Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Barjesus:
Ver. 6. Whose name was Barjesus] The son of Jesus; so he had called himself, as if of nearest alliance to our Saviour. The Syriac hath it Barshuma, the son of name or renown.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv6–11 Unto Paphos; this city was on the west end…
Unto Paphos; this city was on the west end of Cyprus, so that going from Salamis they went through the island: this place was famous for the worshipping of Venus.
A certain sorcerer; there were many magicians about this time amongst the Jews, who by their false miracles endeavoured to bring the real miracles of our Saviour into contempt. As the magicians and sorcerers of Egypt, by their enchantments, for a while did seem to do such wonders as Moses had wrought by the finger of God, Exo 7:11.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv6–11 And when they had gone through the isle unto…
And when they had gone through the isle unto Paphos,.... The Alexandrian copy, and the Vulgate Latin and Syriac versions read, "the whole isle"; for through the midst of the whole island they must go, to go from Salarnis to Paphos; for Salamis was on the east, and Paphos on the west of the islands (q): it had its name from the Phoenician word, , "peathpaoth", "the corner of corners"; because both old and new Paphos were situated in the extreme part of the island; and not from Paphus, the son of Pygmalion, by any ivory statue which he had made, whom Venus, at his request, according to the fables of the Heathens, turned into a woman: some say (r), that Cinyras, a king of the Assyrians, coming into Cyprus, built Paphos; but Pausanias (s) affirms, that Agapenor, who came hither after the Trojan war, was the builder of this place, and also of the temple of Venus in it, for which it was famous (t); and in a certain area of which, Pliny (u) says it never rained; and from this place, Venus was called Paphia: according to Chrysostom, it was the metropolis of Cyprus; and it is indeed mentioned by Pliny (w), first of the fifteen cities that were in it; and seems at this time to have been the seat of the Roman deputy Paulus Sergius, afterwards spoken of: concerning this place Jerom says (x),
"Paphus, a city on the sea coast, in the island of Cyprus, formerly famous for the sacred rites of Venus, and the verses of the poets; which fell by frequent earthquakes, and now only shows, by its ruins, what it formerly was:''
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so Seneca (y) says, "quotiens in se Paphus corruit?", "how often has Paphus fell within itself?" that is, by earthquakes: the ruins of many goodly churches and buildings are to be seen in it; and the walls of a strong, and almost impregnable tower, situated upon a hill in the middle of the city, supposed to be the habitation of Sergius Paulus; there is also shown, under a certain church, a prison divided into seven rooms, where they say Paul and Barnabas were imprisoned, for preaching the Gospel; what remains of it, is now called Bapho: here
they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Barjesus, or the son of Jesus; Jesus was a name frequent among the Jews, and is the same with Joshua, and was in use long before our Saviour's time; there was Jesus the son of Sirach, the author of Ecclesiasticus, and who had a grandfather of the same name, the Syriac version here calls him "Barsuma", which some render "the son of a name"; that is, a man of note, a famous person, of great renown; others, "the son of a swelling", or "the son of ulcers"; he professing to be a physician, and to cure them, with which they make the name of Barjesus to agree, deriving it from a root, which signifies to heal: Jerom (z) pronounces this name Barieu, and observes, that some corruptly read it Barjesu; and he makes it to signify an evil man, or one in evil; and Drusius says, he found the name "Barjeou", in some papers of his; and a very learned man (a) of later years says, it is the same with Bar-Jehu, the son of Jehu; and affirms, that the Greek word is "Barjeus", which others wrongly turn into "Bar-jesus"; the Magdeburgensian Centuriators call him, "Elymas Barjehu"; the reason Beda gives, why it should be so read, and not Bar-jesus, is because that a magician was unworthy to be called the son of Jesus, the Saviour, when he was a child of the devil; but the Greek copies agree in Barjesus; his name shows him to be a Jew, as he is here called: and he was one of those false prophets our Lord said should arise, and deceive many; he pretended to foretell things to come, and practised sorcery, and was given to magic arts.
(q) Ptolom. Geograph. l. 5. c. 14. (r) Apollodorus de deorum orig. l. 3. p. 193. (s) Arcadica, sive l. 8. p. 461. (t) Philostrat. Vita Apollonii, l. 3. c. 16. (u) Nat. Hist. l. 2. c. 96. (w) Ib. l. 5. c. 31. (x) De locis Hebraicis, fol. 96. F. & Vita Hilarion, fol. 86. C. (y) Ep. 91. (z) De nominibus Hebraicis, fol 105. 1. (a) Hileri Onomasticum Sacrum, p. 760.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv6, 7, 9, 10, 11 Paphos was on the western, Salamis on the eastern…
Paphos was on the western, Salamis on the eastern part of the island.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv6–11 Verse 6. Gone through the isle] ολην, The WHOLE…
Verse 6. Gone through the isle] ολην, The WHOLE isle, is added here by ABCDE, several others, both the Syrian, Coptic, AEthiopic, Armenian, Vulgate, and Itala; and also by several of the Greek fathers; and this must be the true reading, for it is evident they ran through the whole island from east to west.
Unto Paphos] This town, next in importance to Salamis, was situated on the western part of the isle; and having gone from Salamis to this place is a proof that they had gone through the whole island from east to west, according to the reading noticed above. There was probably no town in the universe more dissolute than Papas. Here Venus had a superb temple: here she was worshipped with all her rites; and from this place she was named the Paphian Venus, the queen of Paphos, c. This temple and whole city were destroyed by an earthquake so that a vestige of either does not now remain. There are two islands which go by this name, both adjoining, and on the west side of the island of Cyprus. One is called Old Paphos, the other New Paphos; the latter is probably the island here mentioned, though they are often confounded. On this island there is a Christian Church, dedicated to St. George, in which service is performed by the Greek ministers. It is a bishop's see, suffragan to the Abp. of Nicosia.
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A certain sorcerer] τινα μαγον, A magician, one who used magical arts, and pretended to have commerce with supernatural agents. A person who dealt in sleight of hand, or leger-de-main. Such as I have supposed Simon Magus to be. See Clarke on Ac 8:9.
A false prophet]. A deceiver, one who pretended to have a Divine commission, a fortune teller.
Bar-Jesus] That is, the son of Jesus or Joshua; as Bar-jona is the son of Jonah; Bar-tholomew, the son of Thalmi, &c.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv6, 9 Act 13:6-8. When they had gone through the isle…
Act 13:6-8. When they had gone through the isle unto Paphos — Which lay on its western coast; they found a certain sorcerer — Or magician; a false prophet — Who falsely pretended to foretel future events; a Jew, whose name was Bar-jesus — Or the son of one Jesus, or Joshua. “There were many instances of real or pretended sorcery among the Jews in those days, which seems to have been designed by Satan and wicked men to bring into disrepute the miracles of Christ and his apostles. But by comparing them, in several instances, the Christian cause was magnified yet more than it would otherwise have been. Nevertheless, it is to be feared they wrought on many, who were not wise and candid enough to examine, so as to introduce a general contempt of all pretences to supernatural powers as false or inconclusive.” — Doddridge. Which was with the deputy — Which Jew was with the Roman proconsul there, as ανθυπατος, the word here rendered deputy, properly signifies; Sergius Paulus, a prudent man — A man of a steady conduct and thoughtful temper; and therefore not overswayed by the sorcerer, but desirous to inquire further; who called for Barnabas and Saul — Having received some general information of their character and doctrine; and desired to hear the word of God — That he might know what was the purport of their preaching, and what regard was due to it. But Elymas the sorcerer (for so is his name by interpretation — That is, the word, Elymas, of Arabic or Hebrew derivation, signifies sorcerer, or magician) withstood them — Being sensible that he should be no more regarded if their doctrine was received, and therefore setting himself with all his might to hinder the effect of it. Seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith — To prevent his embracing it, by a variety of crafty and false insinuations.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv6–11 And when they had gone through the isle -…
And when they had gone through the isle - The length of the island, according to Strabo, was 1,400 stadia, or nearly 170 miles.
Unto Paphos - Paphos was a city at the western extremity of the island. It was the residence of the proconsul, and was distinguished for a splendid temple erected to Venus, who was worshipped throughout the island. Cyprus was fabled to be the place of the birth of this goddess. It had, besides Paphos and Salamis, several towns of note Citium, the birthplace of Zeno, Areathus, sacred to Venus, etc. Its present capital is Nicosia. Whether Paul preached at any of these places is not recorded. The island is formerly supposed to have had one million inhabitants.
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A certain sorcerer - Greek: magus, or magician. See the notes on Act 8:9.
A false prophet - Pretending to be endowed with the gift of prophecy; or a man, probably, who pretended to be inspired.
Bar-jesus - The word “Bar” is Syriac, and means “son.” Jesus (Joshua) was not an uncommon name among the Jews. The name was given from his father - son of Jesus, or Joshua; as Bar-Jonas, son of Jonas.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv6, 9, 10 A magician ... whose name was Bar-jesu, son of…
A magician ... whose name was Bar-jesu, son of Jesus, or Josue. In Arabic, Elymas is the same as magician. This man did all he could to dissuade the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, from embracing the Christian faith. (Witham) --- Salamina was the capital of the island of Cyprus, and at the eastern extremity, as Paphos was at the western. A. D. 45. [the year A.D. 45.]
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv6–11 when they had gone through the isle unto Paphos--on…
when they had gone through the isle unto Paphos--on the opposite or west side of the island, about one hundred miles by land, along the south coast; the Roman capital, where the governor resided.
they found a . . . sorcerer--one of a numerous class of impostors who, at this time of general unbelief, were encouraged even by cultivated Romans.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv6–11 6. Paphos—This city would be reached by an easy…
6. Paphos—This city would be reached by an easy journey over a Roman road of a hundred miles. Paphos was celebrated for its temple of Venus, and for the corresponding dissoluteness of its inhabitants. Here, too, resided Sergius Paulus, the Roman governor of the island.
Sorcerer—According to the Greek, a magus or magian. (See note on Act_8:9; Mat_2:1.)
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False… prophet—Who falsely professed to be a prophet of the true God; for, as a Jew, he would be a professor of the doctrine of one God, and his monotheistic discourse formed his doctrinal attraction to Sergius Paulus. The prefix Bar in Hebrew (like the prefix Mac in the Celtic) signifies son of; and Bar-jesus signifies son of Jesus or Joshua; Jesus being the Greek form of the Hebrew Joshua. It was singular that this opponent of Jesus should bear his sacred name.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv6–11 6. And when they had gone through the isle…
6. And when they had gone through the isle unto Paphos] Probably teaching at other places in the same way as they had done in Salamis. Paphos was the capital of Cyprus, and therefore the residence of the Roman governor. It was the more modern city, not the old city of Paphos, to which Paul and Barnabas came. See Dictionary of Bible.
they found a certain sorcerer [magician], a false prophet, a Jew] That there were living among the Jews persons well known as pretenders to magic powers we can see from a story told T. B. Berakhoth 59 a, of a certain Rab Katina who, in his walk, as he was passing the door of one who was known as a professor of witchcraft and magic arts, felt a slight shock of an earthquake. He thereupon called out and asked “Does this wizard diviner know what that shock is?” Upon this the man cried with a sanctimonious promptness worthy of his profession, “In the hour when the Holy One, blessed be He, remembers His children who dwell in sorrow among the nations of the world, He lets fall two tears into the great sea, and that is the cause of the tremor of the earth.” Chaldæan astrologers and impostors are mentioned by Juvenal (vi. 562; xiv. 248) and Horace (Sat. i. 2. 1) and by many other Latin writers, and these were probably Babylonian Jews. See Lucian, Necyomantia, where a wonderful story is told of a magician named Mithrobarzanes. Also Lucian, Philopseudes, where one of the wonder-workers is described as “a Syrian from Palestine.”
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Bar-jesus] This was his Jewish name. The Arabic name or title Elymas = wise, was a self-assumed designation; and for that reason he is called “Magus” = the magician, a name originally applied to the Persian priests, who were deemed the wise men of the realm both in policy and religion, though their title in after times was degraded to baser arts and persons.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv6–11 (6) When they had gone through the isle.—The better…
(6) When they had gone through the isle.—The better MSS. give, through the whole island. Paphos lay at its western extremity, and appears to have been the head-quarters of the Roman governor. A local tradition, reported by M. de Cesnola (Cyprus, pp. 29, 223), points out a marble column to which St. Paul was bound and scourged by the citizens of Paphos, who are represented as having been among the most wicked of mankind.
They found a certain sorcerer.—The word so rendered, Magos, is the same as that used for the “wise men” of Mat_2:1 (where see Note), but it is obviously used here in the bad sense which had begun to attach to it even in the days of Sophocles, who makes Œdipus revile Tiresias under this name, as practising magic arts (Œd. Rex. 387), and which we have found in the case of Simon the sorcerer. (See Note on Act_8:9.) The man bore two names, one, Bar-jesus, in its form a patronymic, the other Elymas (an Aramaic word, probably connected with the Arabic Ulema, or sage), a title describing his claims to wisdom and supernatural powers. We have already met with a character of this type in the sorcerer of Samaria. (See Note on Act_8:9.) The lower class of Jews here, as in Act_19:14, seem to have been specially addicted to such practices. They traded on the religious prestige of their race, and boasted, in addition to their sacred books, of spells and charms that had come down to them from Solomon.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv6–11 The whole island for the isle, A.V. and T.R.…
The whole island for the isle, A.V. and T.R. Paphos; on the south coast at the further extremity of the island, now Baffa. It had once a convenient harbor, which is now choked up from neglect. The chief temple of the Cyprian Venus was here. A certain sorcerer. The Greek word magov, whence magic and magician, is the same as in Mat_2:1 is rendered "wise men." But here, as in Act_8:9, it has a bad sense. It is a Persian word, and in its original use designated a Persian religious caste, famous for their knowledge, wisdom, and purity of religious faith. They were attached to the court of the Babylonian monarchs, and were deemed to have great skill in astrology, in interpretation of dreams, and the like (Dan_1:20 Dan_4:7 4 in the LXX) in Jer_39:3, Jer_39:13, the name Rab-mag seems to mean "the chief of the magi." But in process of time the word "magus" came to mean a sorcerer, a magician, a practicer of dark arts, as e.g. Simon Magus (see the chapter on magic in Pliny, "Nat. Hist.,"lib. 30. cap. 1.).
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v9 Then Saul (who also is called Paul).
Act_13:9-11
Then Saul (who also is called Paul).
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The crisis in Sauls history and his change of name
From this point Paul appears as the great figure in every picture, and Barnabas falls into the background. The great apostle now enters on his work as preacher to the Gentiles; and simultaneously his name is changed. As Abram was changed into Abraham when God promised that he should be the father of many nations; as Simon was changed into Peter when it was said, On this rock I will build My Church; so Saul is changed into Paul at the moment of his victory among the heathen. What the plains of Mamre were to the patriarch, what Caesarea Philippi was to the fisherman of Galilee, that was Paphos to the tent maker of Tarsus. Are we to suppose that the name was now given for the first time--that he adopted it as significant of his own feelings--or that Sergius Paulus conferred it on him in grateful commemoration of the benefits he had received, or that Paul, having been a Gentile form of the apostles name in early life conjointly with the Hebrew Saul, was now used to the exclusion of the other to indicate that he had receded from his position as a Jewish Christian, to become the friend and teacher of the Gentiles? We are inclined to the opinion that the Cilician apostle had this Roman name before he was a Christian. This adoption of a Gentile name is so far from being alien to the spirit of a Jewish family, that a similar practice may be traced through all the periods of Hebrew history. Beginning with the Persian epoch (B.C. 550-350), we find such names as Nehemiah, Sehammai, Betteshazzar, which betray an oriental origin, and show that Jewish appellatives followed the growth of the living language. In the Greek period we encounter the names of Philip, and his son Alexander, and of Alexanders successors--Antiochus, Lysimachus, Ptolemy, Antipater; the names of Greek philosophers, such as Zeus and Epicurus; even Greek mythological names, as Jason and Menelaus. When we mention the Roman names adopted by the Jews the coincidence is still more striking--Crispus, Justus, Niger, Drusilla and Priscilla might have been Roman matrons. The Aquila of St. Paul is the counterpart of the Apella of Horace. Again, in the earlier part of the Middle Ages we find Jews calling themselves Basil, Leo, Theodosius, Sophia, and in the latter part Albert, Benedict, Crispin, Denys. It is indeed remarkable that the separated nation should bear in the very names recorded in its annals the trace of every nation with whom it has come in contact and never united. It is important to our present purpose to remark that double names often occur in combination, the one national, the other foreign. The earliest instances are Belteshazzar-Daniel and Esther-Hadasa. Frequently there was no resemblance or natural connection between the two words, as in Herod-Agrippa, Salome-Alexandra, Inda-Aristobulus, Simon Peter. Sometimes the meaning was reproduced, as in Malich-Kleodemus. At other times an alliterating resemblance of sound seems to have dictated the choice, as in Jose-Jason, Hillel-Julus, Saul-Paulus. Thus satisfactory reasons can be adduced for the apostles double name without having recourse to the hypothesis of Jerome, who suggests that as Scipio was called Africanus from the conquest of Africa, and Metellus Creticus from the conquest of Crete, so Saul carried away his new name as a trophy of his victory over the heathenism of the proconsul Paulus, or to the notion of Augustine when he alludes to the literal meaning of the word Paulus, and contrasts Saul the unbridled king, the proud, self-confident persecutor of David, with Paul, the lowly, the penitent, who deliberately wished to indicate by his very name that he was the least of the apostles and less than the least of all saints. Yet we must not neglect the coincident occurrence of these two names just here. We need not hesitate to dwell on the associations which are connected with the name of Paulus, or on the thoughts which are naturally called up when we notice the critical passage where it is first given to Saul. It is surely not unworthy of notice that as Peters first Gentile convert was a member of the Cornelian house, so the surname of the noblest family of the Cornelian house was the link between the Apostle of the Gentiles and his convert at Paphos. Nor can we find a nobler Christian version of any line of a heathen poet than by comparing what Horace says of him who fell at Canute, Animae magnae prodigum Paulum, with the words of him who said at Miletus, I count not my life dear unto myself, etc. And though Saul most probably had the name of Paul at an earlier period, and that it came from some connection of his ancestors (perhaps as manumitted slaves) with some member of the AEmilian Pauli; yet we cannot believe it accidental that it occurs at this point of the inspired narrative. The heathen name rises to the surface at the moment Paul enters on his office as apostle to the heathen. The Roman name is stereotyped at the moment when he converts the Roman governor; and the place where this occurs is the very spot which was notorious for what the gospel forbids and destroys. Here, having achieved his victory, the apostle erected his trophy, as Moses, when Amalek was discomfited, built an altar, and called the name of it Jehovah-nissi--the Lord my banner. (J. S. Howson, D. D.)
Filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him, and said, O full of all subtlety and mischief.--
Sin and its punishment
Pauls rebuke, of course, applies to the specific iniquity of Elymas, but with a master hand the apostle at the same time delineates the characteristics of sin in general. The punishment of Elymas is also typical.
I. Sin.
1. Its subtle methods. There is nothing straightforward about sin; nor can there be: for were its nature and consequences clear, it would be universally shunned and abhorred. Its methods, therefore, must needs be crooked and insinuating. Evil is dressed up in the guise of good. The fruit of the tree was made pleasant to the eyes of Eve. So is it all through time.
2. Its mischievous effects. It debases the body, degrades the mind, debilitates the will, and damns the soul.
3. Its Satanic paternity. The serpent was more subtle than all the beasts of the field. The devil injects the sinful thought, guides the sinful resolution, helps the sinful action, and enjoys the sinful effect.
4. Its enmity to righteousness. Right and wrong are not coordinate powers which, like adjacent states, can flourish side by side and enter into peaceful alliances with each other. They are ever in irreconcilable antagonism, and the prosperity of the one is absolutely dependent on the destruction of the other.
5. Its perversion of the right ways of the Lord. This is the essence of sin. It is not simply negation, but perversion; and its highest achievement is to secure the acceptance of evil under the guise of good. Elymas, as a Jewish prophet, armed with the authority of a Divine dispensation, threw a spell over the mind of the proconsul, and endeavoured to use his usurped authority for selfish and villainous purposes. Wherein does he differ from the modern hypocrite?
II. Its punishment.
1. Its subtlety is detected.
(1) Sometimes sin overreaches itself; it is not sufficiently comprehensive in its views. Ahab calculated on getting Naboths vineyard, but did not calculate on Elijah. So here Elymas overlooked the possibility of the advent of a Paul.
(2) Sometimes its detection is the result of some extraordinary Divine agency--Saul, filled with the Holy Ghost. The common saying, Murder will out. How often, by a trivial oversight on the part of the criminal, or by some trifling coincidence, has a great crime been revealed.
2. Its mischievous effects are turned upon the sinner. He who sought to blind the intellect of Sergius Paulus is himself made blind. Be sure your sin will find you out.
3. The son inherits the fathers punishment. Satan is the prince of darkness, and his children are doomed to walk in darkness. The dark ways in which the devil leads his victims leads to outer darkness.
4. Its enmity to righteousness is met by the righteous God. Though hand join in hand the wicked shall not go unpunished.
5. Its perversion is met by perversion. He went about, etc. (verse 11). (J. W. Burn.)
Reproof: how a true servant of God uses his office of
1. Not in carnal passion, but in the Holy Ghost (verse 9).
2. Not with worldly weapons, but with the sword of the Word, by which he discloses the evil state of the heart (verse 10), and announces the judgment of God (verse 11).
3. Not for death or condemnation, but for warning and for the salvation of souls. (K. Gerok.)
The punishment of Elymas was
I. In correspondence with the transgression. He who blinded others is himself blinded.
II. Striking and convincing for the spectators.
III. With all its severity conducive to amendment by an intimation of the Divine mercy. Paul himself, at his conversion, had been blind for a season, and knew from his experience how profitable this darkness was for internal collection and composure of mind. (Apostolic Pastor.)
The exceptional character of the miracle
The miracles of the New Testament are generally distinguished from the Old by being worthy works of mercy. Two only of our Lords were inflictions of severity, and those were attended with no harm to the bodies of men. The same law pervades the miracles of the apostles. One miracle of wrath was worked by Peter and Paul; and we can see sufficient reasons why liars and hypocrites like Ananias and Sapphira, and impostors like Elymas, should be publicly punished, and made examples of. A passage in the life of Peter presents a parallel which is closer in some respects with this interview of Paul with Bar-Jesus. As Simon Magus, who had long time bewitched the Samaritans with his sorceries, was denounced by Peter as still in the gall of bitterness, etc., and solemnly told that his heart was not right in the sight of God; so Paul, conscious of his apostolic power, and under the power of immediate inspiration, rebuked Elymas as a child of that devil who is the father of lies, as a worker of deceit and mischief, etc. He proceeded to denounce an instantaneous judgment, and according to his prophetic word, the hand of the Lord struck the sorcerer, as it had once struck the apostle himself--the sight of the magician began to waver, and presently a darkness settled on it so thick that he ceased to behold the suns light. This blindness of the false prophet opened the eyes of the deputy. That which had been intended as an opposition to the gospel proved the means of its extension. We are ignorant of the degree of this extension in Cyprus. But we cannot doubt that when the proconsul was converted, his influence would make Christianity reputable; and that from this moment the Gentiles of the island as well as the Jews had the news of salvation brought home to them. (J. S. Howson, D. D.)
Seeking to turn men from the faith
Unprincipled white men have often been great stumbling blocks in the way of Indian evangelisation. An Englishman made his boast that he could induce the Indians again to drink; and providing himself with ardent spirits, he moved in his canoe over to the island where the Indians were encamped. Leaving all at the shore, he went up to the camp, and, inviting the Indians down, brought forth his bottle. Come, he said, we always good friends; we once more take a good drink in friendship. No, said Captain Paudaush, we drink no more of the fire waters. Oh, but you will drink with me; we always good friends; but while this son of Belial was urging them to drink, the Indians struck up, in the tune of Walsall, the hymn they had lately learned to sing--
O for a thousand tongues to sing
The great Redeemers praise!
And while the Indians were singing, this bacchanalian, defeated in his wicked device, and looking completely crestfallen, paddled away from the island, leaving the Indians to their temperance and their religious devotions!
An enemy off righteousness
Mr. Beecher once met Colonel Ingersoll, a great American atheist, and Colonel Ingersoll began to discourse on his atheistic views. Mr. Beecher for some time was silent, but, after a time, asked to be allowed to tell a story. On being requested to do so, he said, As I was walking down town today, I saw a poor man slowly and carefully picking his way through mud, in the endeavour to cross a street. He had just reached the middle of the filth when a big, burly ruffian, himself all bespattered, rushed up to him, jerked the crutches from under the unfortunate man, and left him sprawling and helpless in the pool of liquid dirt, which almost engulfed him. What a brute he was! said the colonel. What a brute he was! they all echoed. Yes, said the old man, rising from his chair, and brushing back his long white hair, yes, Colonel Ingersoll, and you are the man. The human soul is lame, but Christianity gives it crutches to enable it to pass the highway of life. It is your teaching that knocks these crutches from under it, and leaves it a helpless and rudderless wreck in the Slough of Despond. If robbing the human soul of its only support on this earth--religion--be your profession, why, ply it to your hearts content. It requires an architect to erect a building; an incendiary may reduce it to ashes.
Seeking to turn men from the truth
A boy was impressed in one of Mr. Moodys meetings. But his mother said he was good enough without religion, and threw her influence against Mr. Moodys efforts to win him to Christ. She succeeded, and some time after Mr. Moody found him in the county jail. How came you here? Does your mother know of it? No, sir, and pray dont tell her. I came in under an assumed name, and am going to Joliet State prison for four years. She thinks I am in the army. And Mr. Moody often heard her afterwards, mourning that her boy was killed.
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On vv6–10 6. When they had gone through the isle. The…
6. When they had gone through the isle. The island was about 130 miles long by fifty wide. Salamis being at the east and Paphos at the west extremity. Paphos. This was at this time the capital. It was noted for the worship of Venus. Found a certain sorcerer. A magician. Though the law (Deut. 18:9–22; Lev. 19:31) forbade witchcraft and magic, yet contemporaneous history shows that at this period the Jewish magicians had great influence. Marius, Pompey, Crassus, Cæsar, and Tiberius were all more or less under their sway. A false prophet. Falsely professing inspiration.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain On vv6, 9, 11 6-12. Having traveled across the island of Cyprus throughout…
SATAN’S PREACHER AND THE CONVERSION OF THE PROCONSUL
6-12. Having traveled across the island of Cyprus throughout the whole length from east to west, everywhere preaching the Word, they arrive at Paphos, on the west coast, the metropolis of the West End and the residence of Sergius Paulus, the Roman proconsul, a well-disposed, intelligent man and an earnest inquirer after truth. They are soon confronted by the resident pastor, Elymas, who forbids them the privilege of preaching in his pastoral charge. He is a Jew and a prophet, i. e., a preacher in good standing, even having the confidence of the Roman governor, and wielding so potent an influence as to have the right to keep all the heresies and strange doctrines out of his bailiwick. We have him here pronounced a false prophet, because the Holy Ghost is the Author of the history. You must remember that the false prophets in the days of Elijah were the popular pastors of the influential churches, who believed themselves to be the true ministers of God and Elijah a false prophet. So Elymas is Paul’s brother in the popular church, an able preacher of the gospel, as they understood it, having the confidence of the people and enjoying the patronage of the Roman proconsul, who was looking to him for light and salvation. He forbids Paul and Barnabas to preach at Paphos, and if modern ecclesiastical law be correct he had a right to order them out of his dominion. Good Lord, help us all to profit by the clear truth here elucidated and perfectly explanatory of a thousand parallel cases at the present day. It is only a false prophet who is unwilling to have all the help he can get against the armies of hell, which are running rough-shod all over this wicked world. Every heart in sympathy and co-operation with the Savior of sinners welcomes every helping hand and covers every soul with blessings that will join in the common crusade against the powers of hell, and make an honest effort to rescue the perishing. How the present opposition to the holiness people, who preach no creed and nothing but Jesus and His pure and unadulterated truth, is fulfilling the latter-day prophecies, “Men will not endure sound doctrine.” But you say we ought to be very polite to the false prophets who forbid us to preach the Word at some place over which they claim the right to wield the scepter of ecclesiastical tyranny. Let us see how polite and courteous Paul was to this false prophet, at the same time remembering that he was his brother in the Jewish church.
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On vv9–10
Acts
TO THE REGIONS BEYOND
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WHY SAUL BECAME PAUL
Act 13:9.
Hitherto the Apostle has been known by the former of these names, henceforward he is known exclusively by the latter. Hitherto he has been second to his friend Barnabas, henceforward he is first. In an earlier verse of the chapter we read that ‘Barnabas and Saul’ were separated for their missionary work, and again, that it was ‘Barnabas and Saul’ for whom the governor of Cyprus sent, to hear the word of the Lord. But in a subsequent verse of the chapter we read that ‘Paul and his company loosed from Paphos.’
The change in the order of the names is significant, and the change in the names not less so. Why was it that at this period the Apostle took up this new designation? I think that the coincidence between his name and that of the governor of Cyprus, who believed at his preaching, Sergius Paulus, is too remarkable to be accidental. And though, no doubt, it was the custom for the Jews of that day, especially for those of them who lived in Gentile lands, to have, for convenience’ sake, two names, one Jewish and one Gentile-one for use amongst their brethren, and one for use amongst the heathen-still we have no distinct intimation that the Apostle bore a Gentile name before this moment. And the fact that the name which he bears now is the same as that of his first convert, seems to me to point the explanation.
I take it, then, that the assumption of the name of Paul instead of the name of Saul occurred at this point, stood in some relation to his missionary work, and was intended in some sense as a memorial of his first victory in the preaching of the Gospel.
I think that there are lessons to be derived from the substitution of one of these names for the other which may well occupy us for a few moments.
I. First of all, then, the new name expresses a new nature.
Jesus Christ gave the Apostle whom He called to Himself in the early days, a new name, in order to prophesy the change which, by the discipline of sorrow and the communication of the grace of God, should pass over Simon Barjona, making him into a Peter, a ‘Man of Rock.’ With characteristic independence, Saul chooses for himself a new name, which shall express the change that he feels has passed over his inmost being. True, he does not assume it at his conversion, but that is no reason why we should not believe that he assumes it because he is beginning to understand what it is that has happened to him at his conversion.
The fact that he changes his name as soon as he throws himself into public and active life, is but gathering into one picturesque symbol his great principle; ‘If any man be in Christ Jesus, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away and all things are become new.’
So, dear brethren, we may, from this incident before us, gather this one great lesson, that the central heart of Christianity is the possession of a new life, communicated to us through faith in that Son of God, Who is the Lord of the Spirit. Wheresoever there is a true faith, there is a new nature. Opinions may play upon the surface of a man’s soul, like moonbeams on the silver sea, without raising its temperature one degree or sending a single beam into its dark caverns. And that is the sort of Christianity that satisfies a great many of you-a Christianity of opinion, a Christianity of surface creed, a Christianity which at the best slightly modifies some of our outward actions, but leaves the whole inner man unchanged.
Paul’s Christianity meant a radical change in his whole nature. He went out of Jerusalem a persecutor, he came into Damascus a Christian. He rode out of Jerusalem hating, loathing, despising Jesus Christ; he groped his way into Damascus, broken, bruised, clinging contrite to His feet, and clasping His Cross as his only hope. He went out proud, self-reliant, pluming himself upon his many prerogatives, his blue blood, his pure descent, his Rabbinical knowledge, his Pharisaical training, his external religious earnestness, his rigid morality; he rode into Damascus blind in the eyes, but seeing in the soul, and discerning that all these things were, as he says in his strong, vehement way, ‘but dung’ in comparison with his winning Christ.
And his theory of conversion, which he preaches in all his Epistles, is but the generalisation of his own personal experience, which suddenly, and in a moment, smote his old self to shivers, and raised up a new life, with new tastes, views, tendencies, aspirations, with new allegiance to a new King. Such changes, so sudden, so revolutionary, cannot be expected often to take place amongst people who, like us, have been listening to Christian teaching all our lives. But unless there be this infusion of a new life into men’s spirits which shall make them love and long and aspire after new things that once they did not care for, I know not why we should speak of them as being Christians at all. The transition is described by Paul as ‘passing from death unto life.’ That cannot be a surface thing. A change which needs a new name must be a profound change. Has our Christianity revolutionised our nature in any such fashion? It is easy to be a Christian after the superficial fashion which passes muster with so many of us. A verbal acknowledgment of belief in truths which we never think about, a purely external performance of acts of worship, a subscription or two winged by no sympathy, and a fairly respectable life beneath the cloak of which all evil may burrow undetected-make the Christianity of thousands. Paul’s Christianity transformed him; does yours transform you? If it does not, are you quite sure that it is Christianity at all?
II. Then, again, we may take this change of name as being expressive of a life’s work.
Paul is a Roman name. He strips himself of his Jewish connections and relationships. His fellow-countrymen who lived amongst the Gentiles were, as I said at the beginning of these remarks, in the habit of doing the same thing; but they carried both their names; their Jewish for use amongst their own people, their Gentile one for use amongst Gentiles. Paul seems to have altogether disused his old name of Saul. It was almost equivalent to seceding from Judaism. It is like the acts of the renegades whom one sometimes hears of, who are found by travellers, dressed in turban and flowing robes, and bearing some Turkish name, or like some English sailor, lost to home and kindred, who deserts his ship in an island of the Pacific, and drops his English name for a barbarous title, in token that he has given up his faith and his nationality.
So Paul, contemplating for his life’s work preaching amongst the Gentiles, determines at the beginning, ‘I lay down all of which I used to be proud. If my Jewish descent and privileges stand in my way I cast them aside. “Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews, as touching the law, a Pharisee,”-all these I wrap together in one bundle, and toss them behind me that I may be the better able to help some to whom they would have hindered my access.’ A man with a heart will throw off his silken robes that his arm may be bared to rescue, and his feet free to run to succour.
So we may, from the change of the Apostle’s name, gather this lesson, never out of date, that the only way to help people is to go down to their level. If you want to bless men, you must identify yourself with them. It is no use standing on an eminence above them, and patronisingly talking down to them. You cannot scold, or hector, or lecture men into the possession and acceptance of religious truth if you take a position of superiority. As our Master has taught us, if we want to make blind beggars see we must take the blind beggars by the hand.
The spirit which led the Apostle to change the name of Saul, with its memories of the royal dignity which, in the person of its great wearer, had honoured his tribe, for a Roman name is the same which he formally announces as a deliberately adopted law of his life. ‘To them that are without law I became as without law . . . that I might gain them that are without law . . . I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.’
It is the very inmost principle of the Gospel. The principle that influenced the servant in this comparatively little matter, is the principle that influenced the Master in the mightiest of all events. ‘He who was in the form of God, and thought not equality with God a thing to be eagerly snatched at, made Himself of no reputation, and was found in fashion as a man and in form as a servant, and became obedient unto death.’ ‘For as much as the children were partakers of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise took part of the same’; and the mystery of incarnation came to pass, because when the Divine would help men, the only way by which the Infinite love could reach its end was that the Divine should become man; identifying Himself with those whom He would help, and stooping to the level of the humanity that He would lift.
And as it is the very essence and heart of Christ’s work, so, my brother, it is the condition of all work that benefits our fellows. It applies all round. We must stoop if we would raise. We must put away gifts, culture, everything that distinguishes us, and come to the level of the men that we seek to help. Sympathy is the parent of all wise counsel, because it is the parent of all true understanding of our brethren’s wants. Sympathy is the only thing to which people will listen, sympathy is the only disposition correspondent to the message that we Christians are entrusted with. For a Christian man to carry the Gospel of Infinite condescension to his fellows in a spirit other than that of the Master and the Gospel which he speaks, is an anomaly and a contradiction.
And, therefore, let us all remember that a vast deal of so-called Christian work falls utterly dead and profitless, for no other reason than this, that the doers have forgotten that they must come to the level of the men whom they would help, before they can expect to bless them.
You remember the old story of the heroic missionary whose heart burned to carry the Gospel of Jesus Christ amongst captives, and as there was no other way of reaching them, let himself be sold for a slave, and put out his hands to have the manacles fastened upon them. It is the law for all Christian service; become like men if you will help them,-’To the weak as weak, all things to all men, that we might by all means save some.’
And, my brother, there was no obligation on Paul’s part to do Christian work which does not lie on you.
III. Further, this change of name is a memorial of victory.
The name is that of Paul’s first convert. He takes it, as I suppose, because it seemed to him such a blessed thing that at the very moment when he began to sow, God helped him to reap. He had gone out to his work, no doubt, with much trembling, with weakness and fear. And lo! here, at once, the fields were white already to the harvest,
Great conquerors have been named from their victories; Africanus, Germanicus, Nelson of the Nile, Napier of Magdala, and the like. Paul names himself from the first victory that God gives him to win; and so, as it were, carries ever on his breast a memorial of the wonder that through him it had been given to preach, and that not without success, amongst the Gentiles ‘the unsearchable riches of Christ.’
That is to say, this man thought of it as his highest honour, and the thing best worthy to be remembered about his life, that God had helped him to help his brethren to know the common Master. Is that your idea of the best thing about a life? What would you, a professing Christian, like to have for an epitaph on your grave? ‘He was rich; he made a big business in Manchester’; ‘He was famous, he wrote books’; ‘He was happy and fortunate’; or, ‘He turned many to righteousness’? This man flung away his literary tastes, his home joys, and his personal ambition, and chose as that for which he would live, and by which he would fain be remembered, that he should bring dark hearts to the light in which he and they together walked.
His name, in its commemoration of his first success, would act as a stimulus to service and to hope. No doubt the Apostle, like the rest of us, had his times of indolence and languor, and his times of despondency when he seemed to have laboured in vain, and spent his strength for nought. He had but to say ‘Paul’ to find the antidote to both the one and the other, and in the remembrance of the past to find a stimulus for service for the future, and a stimulus for hope for the time to come. His first convert was to him the first drop that predicts the shower, the first primrose that prophesies the wealth of yellow blossoms and downy green leaves that will fill the woods in a day or two. The first convert ‘bears in his hand a glass which showeth many more.’ Look at the workmen in the streets trying to get up a piece of the roadway. How difficult it is to lever out the first paving stone from the compacted mass! But when once it has been withdrawn, the rest is comparatively easy. We can understand Paul’s triumph and joy over the first stone which he had worked out of the strongly cemented wall and barrier of heathenism; and his conviction that having thus made a breach, if it were but wide enough to let the end of his lever in, the fall of the whole was only a question of time. I suppose that if the old alchemists had turned but one grain of base metal into gold they might have turned tons, if only they had had the retorts and the appliances with which to do it. And so, what has brought one man’s soul into harmony with God, and given one man the true life, can do the same for all men. In the first fruits we may see the fields whitening to the harvest. Let us rejoice then, in any little work that God helps us to do, and be sure that if so great be the joy of the first fruits, great beyond speech will be the joy of the ingathering.
IV. And now last of all, this change of name is an index of the spirit of a life’s work.
‘Paul’ means ‘little’; ‘Saul’ means ‘desired.’ He abandons the name that prophesied of favour and honour, to adopt a name that bears upon its very front a profession of humility. His very name is the condensation into a word of his abiding conviction: ‘I am less than the least of all saints.’ Perhaps even there may he an allusion to his low stature, which may be pointed at in the sarcasm of his enemies that his letters were strong, though his bodily presence was ‘weak.’ If he was, as Renan calls him, ‘an ugly little Jew,’ the name has a double appropriateness.
But, at all events, it is an expression of the spirit in which he sought to do his work. The more lofty the consciousness of his vocation the more lowly will a true man’s estimate of himself be. The higher my thought of what God has given me grace to do, the more shall I feel weighed down by the consciousness of my unfitness to do it. And the more grateful my remembrance of what He has enabled me to do, the more shall I wonder that I have been enabled, and the more profoundly shall I feel that it is not my strength but His that has won the victories.
So, dear brethren, for all hope, for all success in our work, for all growth in Christian grace and character, this disposition of lowly self-abasement and recognised unworthiness and infirmity is absolutely indispensable. The mountain-tops that lift themselves to the stars are barren, and few springs find their rise there. It is in the lowly valleys that the flowers grow and the rivers run. And it is they who are humble and lowly in heart to whom God gives strength to serve Him, and the joy of accepted service.
I beseech you, then, learn your true life’s task. Learn how to do it by identifying yourselves with the humbler brethren whom you would help. Learn the spirit in which it must be done; the spirit of lowly self-abasement. And oh! above all, learn this, that unless you have the new life, the life of God in your hearts, you have no life at all.
Have you, my brother, that faith by which we receive into our spirits Christ’s own Spirit, to be our life? If you have, then you are a new creature, with a new name, perhaps but dimly visible and faintly audible, amidst the imperfections of earth, but sure to shine out on the pages of the Lamb’s Book of Life; and to be read ‘with tumults of acclaim’ before the angels of Heaven. ‘I will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth save he that receiveth it.’
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain On vv6–11 6, 7. Luke is entirely silent in reference to…
6, 7. Luke is entirely silent in reference to the effect of the apostolic preaching in Salamis, leaving us to suppose that it was not great. After stating that they preached in the synagogues of the Jews, he follows them in their further progress through the island. (6) " And having passed through the whole island as far as Paphos, they found a certain magician, a false prophet, a Jew whose name was Bar-Jesus, (7) who was with Sergius Paulus the proconsul, a prudent man, who called for Barnabas and Saul, and desired to hear the word of God. " Every reader of ancient history has observed that statesmen and generals were in the habit of consulting oracles and auguries, and that they generally kept about them some one supposed to have the power of interpreting the signs of approaching good or evil. In this particular period, the educated Romans had become skeptical in reference to their heathen oracles, but Jewish pretenders still had access to their confidence on the credit of the ancient Jewish prophets. With a knowledge of the true God superior to that of even the greatest philosophers among the Greeks, because derived from the Jewish Scriptures, this Bar-Jesus very naturally gained the confidence of even the prudent Sergius Paulus. When, however, two other Jews appeared in Paphos, claiming to bring additional revelations from the God of Israel, the same prudence which had prompted the proconsul to reject the heathen oracles in favor of the Jewish pretender, now prompted him to send for Barnabas and Saul, that he might hear the word of God from them. Such a mind as his could not fail to hear with profit.
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv6–7 (Greek - μάγος)." See Mat 2:1, "wise men." The…
sorcerer
(Greek - μάγος)." See Mat 2:1, "wise men." The same word was used for a vulgar magician, and for a true wise man of the East.
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v8 The opposition of Elymas:
The opposition of Elymas:
v. 8. But Elymas, the sorcerer, (for so is his name by interpretation,) withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith.
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v. 9. Then Saul, (who also is called Paul,) filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him
v. 10. and said, O full of all subtlety and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord?
v. 11. And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season. And immediately there fell on him a mist and a darkness; and he went about seeking some to lead him by the hand.
v. 12. Then the deputy, when he saw what was done, believed, being astonished at the doctrine of the Lord.
Barnabas and Saul were making some progress with the proconsul, when they met with opposition from a very dangerous adversary. For this counselor of the proconsul, who had cleverly insinuated himself into the intimacy of his master, bearing the name Elymas, "the sage," as a sort of surname, used all his influence to foil the attempts of the missionaries for the conversion of Sergius Paulus, his purpose being to divert him from the faith. The governor probably showed a strong inclination to accept the truth of the Gospel, and the sorcerer knew that such an event spelled the ruin of himself, the loss of his position. In this emergency, Saul assumed the leadership, which till now he had yielded to Barnabas, and from this time forth Saul was the more prominent of the two. This Luke indicates by inserting here the name by which Saul was henceforth known, which marked his apostleship to the Gentile world. Paul here became subject to an extraordinary manifestation of the Holy Spirit’s influence, in whose power he attacked the magician in the very presence of the proconsul. Fixing his eyes upon the hypocritical Jew, he said to him: Thou son of the devil, full of deceit, guile, craft, and all wickedness. The sorcerer’s present opposition showed him to be the natural enemy of the messengers of God, and of all righteousness, which they were trying to spread. Would he not cease, Paul asked, would he not give up acting as one that perverted, that made it his habit to mix up and turn aside, the straight and correct ways of the Lord? And the punishment of the Lord followed. At the words of Paul the hand of the Lord was laid heavily upon Elymas, causing him to become stone-blind and unable even to distinguish the light of the sun for some time, until such a time as it would please God to restore his sight. And there was no delay in the coming of the curse. At once, at the same moment, a dark mist fell upon him; he groped about, calling on one and another of the frightened bystanders to lead him by the hand and show him the way out of the presence of Paul; he was obliged to have such assistance since his blindness was absolute. This exhibition of the power of God convinced the proconsul; he was astounded at the doctrine, overwhelmed by the teaching of the. Lord and about the Lord; he believed, faith in Jesus, the Savior, was engendered in his heart. Certain inscriptions which have been found in the last decades tend to show that Sergius Paulus was henceforth a firm believer in Christ, that he was enrolled with the Christians. Note: Even today it is the guile and craft of the devil that tends to hinder the conversion and salvation of men, the efficacy of the divine Word, by sending false prophets and errorists. These are full of guile and fraud and enemies of true righteousness. But Christ, the Lord of His Church, is stronger than Satan, and carries out His work for the salvation of souls. But the apostles of darkness are finally condemned to spiritual blindness and darkness, making it impossible for them to find the right way.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv6, 9, 11 General Information:
General Information:
Here the word "they" refers to Paul, Silas, and John Mark.
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General Information:
The words "This man" refer to "Sergius Paulus." The first word "he" refers to Sergius Paulus, the proconsul; the second word "he" refers to Elymas (also called Bar-Jesus), the magician.
the whole island
They crossed from one side of the island to the other and shared the gospel message in each town they passed through.
Paphos
a major city on Cyprus island where the proconsul lived
they found
Here "found" means they came upon him without looking for him. AT: "they met" or "they came upon"
a certain magician
"a particular person who practices witchcraft" or "a person who practices supernatural magic arts"
whose name was Bar Jesus
"Bar Jesus" means "Son of Jesus." There is no relation between this man and Jesus Christ. Jesus was a common name at that time. (See: How to Translate Names)
associated with
"was often with" or "was often in the company of"
proconsul
This was a governor in charge of a Roman province. AT: "governor"
who was an intelligent man
This is background information about Sergius Paulus. (See: Background Information)
he wanted to hear the word of God
"Word of God" is a synecdoche for "message of God." AT: "he wanted to hear the message from God" (See: Synecdoche)
Elymas "the magician"
This was Bar-Jesus, who was also called "the magician." (See: How to Translate Names)
that is how his name is translated
"that was what he was called in Greek"
opposed them; he tried to turn
"resisted them by trying to turn" or "attempted to stop them by trying to turn"
tried to turn the proconsul away from the faith
Here "to turn ... away from" is a metaphor for convincing someone to not do something. AT: "attempted to persuade the governor not to believe the gospel message" (See: Metaphor)
translationWords
false prophet
Barnabas
Paul
word of God
faith
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv6, 7, 9, 10 13:6-12 At Paphos there was a power struggle with…
13:6-12 At Paphos there was a power struggle with a false prophet, with the result that the power of God was manifested and the Roman governor became a believer.
13:6 Paphos was located on the southwest coast of Cyprus. As the leading city of Cyprus, it was of strategic importance. • a Jewish sorcerer . . . named Bar-Jesus: Such eastern magicians often exercised a tremendous influence in the Greco-Roman world.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.