Commentary on Acts of the Apostles · Matthew Henry

049 - Acts 134-13

·24 min·1 clip

Saul, now called Paul, confronts Elymas as “a child of the devil” and says the sorcerer will be blind.

1. Commentary on Acts of the Apostles episode 049 covers Acts 13:4-13 and Matthew Henry’s treatment of Barnabas and Saul in Cyprus. 2. Matthew Henry is the commentator here, and his role matters because he explains the chapter line by line from the text of Acts. 3. The episode asks what it means that Barnabas and Saul were “sent forth by the Holy Ghost” and how their mission unfolds in Cyprus. 4. Henry traces their route from Antioch to Seleucia, then across the sea to Cyprus, then to Salamis and onward through the isle to Paphos. 5. He notes that they preached “the word of God” in the synagogues of the Jews and that John served as their minister. 6. The reading introduces Sergius Paulus, the deputy of the country, as “a prudent man” who “desired to hear the word of God.” 7. Elymas, also called Bar-Jesus, appears as “a sorcerer” and “a false prophet” who was with Sergius Paulus at court. 8. Henry says Elymas “withstood them” and tried “to turn away the deputy from the faith.” 9. Paul, “filled with the Holy Ghost,” confronts Elymas with the charge that he is “full of all subtlety and all mischief.” 10. Henry emphasizes Paul’s line about “the right ways of the Lord” and the claim that Elymas was perverting them. 11. The sentence of blindness is framed as a “righteous hand” of God and as a punishment that matched Elymas’s resistance to the gospel. 12. Henry stresses that the blindness is “for a season,” not a final word on the man’s condition. 13. The text then says “there fell on him a mist and a darkness,” and Elymas went about seeking someone to lead him by the hand. 14. Henry treats that scene as an immediate confirmation that Elymas’s claimed skill in sorcery could not save him. 15. Sergius Paulus is said to have believed after “he saw what was done” and after he was “astonished at the doctrine of the Lord.” 16. Henry adds that the deputy remained a governor and could have used his influence to help Christianity on the island. 17. The tone is explanatory and verse-by-verse, with frequent quotations from Acts and extended doctrinal comments. 18. The pace is steady and dense, with Henry pausing for historical notes about Cyprus, Paphos, and Roman offices. 19. Listeners interested in Acts, Paul, Barnabas, and biblical exposition. 20. Skip if you want short, modern, conversational Bible discussion.

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