seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Acts 13:4 The two of them, sent on their way by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia and sailed from there to Cyprus. 5 When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the Jewish synagogues. John was with them as their helper.
6 They traveled through the whole island until they came to Paphos. There they met a Jewish sorcerer and false prophet named Bar-Jesus, 7 who was an attendant of the proconsul, Sergius Paulus. The proconsul, an intelligent man, sent for Barnabas and Saul because he wanted to hear the word of God. 8 But Elymas the sorcerer (for that is what his name means) opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul from the faith. 9 Then Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked straight at Elymas and said, 10 “You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right! You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord? 11 Now the hand of the Lord is against you. You are going to be blind for a time, not even able to see the light of the sun.”
Immediately mist and darkness came over him, and he groped about, seeking someone to lead him by the hand. 12 When the proconsul saw what had happened, he believed, for he was amazed at the teaching about the Lord.
So, Barnabas, John Mark and Saul [now called Paul in verse 9] sailed to Cyprus. I think this is the first time the Gospel has been sailing. Now Barnabas was from Cyprus. He's the one who sold all his land to put the money into the mission of the church.
John Mark was with them. He's the one who wrote the Gospel of Mark. John Mark was an evangelist. He was also someone who spent a lot of time in Jerusalem, so he had firsthand testimony.
And Saul of Tarsus [now known as Paul] was probably leading the expedition. He was really good at finding Christians to murder, now's he's trying to find people to help them become Christians.
Here's what I found out about the character in this story.
The proconsul, Sergius Paulus: This was an important man. A Roman proconsul was responsible for an entire province and answered to the Roman Senate.
i. “All Roman provinces were divided into two classes, those that required troops and those that did not. The latter were administered by the Senate and ruled by proconsuls; the former were under the administration of the emperor.” (Williams)
And now we have another bad guy.
Elymas the sorcerer (for so his name is translated): Paul was opposed by a man named Elymas. His real name was Bar-Jesus which means “son of Jesus,” and Luke couldn’t bear to call him that. This Elymas (who was some kind of advisor to the proconsul) attempted to frustrate the missionary efforts of Barnabas and Saul.
So according to the commentary:Filled with the Holy Spirit… Said, “O full of all deceit and all fraud”: Paul, using spiritual discernment and operating in the gift of faith, rebuked and pronounced the judgment of God upon Elymas (you shall be blind).
i. As Elymas was struck with blindness, we can’t help but think Paul would remember his own experience with God. Paul was struck blind at his conversion on the road to Damascus. Certainly, those who resist God are blind spiritually, so God just gave Elymas a physical blindness that matched his spiritual blindness. Sadly, we never hear of Elymas repenting, as Paul did.
When the Proconsul heard the Word and then saw the blinding of Elymas, the sorcerer, The Proconsul became a Christian. I think I read his whole family was converted as well. Oh... let me interject here.... the town where this happened was full of "other god" worshipers. They worshipped, principally, the God Venus. There was a whole lot of free love and handsy salutations in that place. So, they were converted from free love to Christian Love.
These verses are about Spiritual Blindness and Physical Blindness.... but they are also about Free Love and Christian Love.
