ACC ~ Acts 13 v6 - 12

OVERVIEW:

Luke’s sudden attention to Saul/Paul’s Semitic and Greek names probably reflects the “Europeanizing” of Paul’s center of attention from now on. Jerome’s mention that Sergius Paulus was Paul’s first convert, and so Paul changed his own name from Saul to Paul, is not as fanciful as Augustine’s connection of Paulus with small (parvulus). Even though their readings are not without influence in later ages, today neither holds favor. Modern and ancient commentators disagree on why Sergius Paulus converted, and no one of the latter comments directly on the proconsul’s wonder at the gospel message. Clear, however, is their understanding of what Paul, or rather God through Paul, was doing in this miracle. Overcoming evil is elsewhere as here referred to as “teaching.” The topos of a change of name is very familiar in biblical literature (Abram to Abraham, Jacob to Israel, Simon to Cephas). The connection of the name, however, is only the beginning, as we see Paul doing to Bar-Jesus what Jesus had done to Paul (CHRYSOSTOM) so that Sergius Paulus and others, as well as the magician himself, might not be hindered from coming to the faith (ISIDORE OF PELUSIUM). Chrysostom is once again sensitive to Luke’s accent on the divine action.

13:7 | A Man of Intelligence

A BADGE OF HONOR. JEROME: As Sergius Paulus, proconsul of Cyprus, was the first to believe in his preaching, he took his name from him because he had subdued him to faith in Christ. ON ILLUSTRIOUS MEN 5.4.

13:9 | Paul Filled with the Spirit

THE LEAST OF THE APOSTLES. AUGUSTINE: The apostle Paul, who was previously called Saul, had no other reason, it seems to me, for choosing this name but to point out his own smallness as the least of the apostles. Hence, in order to praise this grace of God, he frequently fought courageously and vigorously against the proud and the arrogant and those who relied on their own works. After all, the grace of God was really seen more clearly and more obviously in him. ON THE SPIRIT AND THE LETTER 7.12.

13:10 | Making Crooked the Straight Paths

REPROOF, BUT NOT VENGEANCE. CHRYSOSTOM: Why didn’t Paul perform another miracle? Because there was none equal to this—the capture of the enemy. And notice how he first makes his indictment and shows that the man suffers justly by saying, “O full of all deceit.” Nothing [Paul] said was lacking, and he said it well. “Of all deceit,” because the man was playing the part of a hypocrite. “Son of the devil,” because he was doing his work. “Enemy of righteousness,” because this [which they preached] was the whole of righteousness. It seems to me that he is also reproving his manner of life. It was not out of anger that he spoke, and to show this, the writer begins with, “filled with the Holy Spirit,” that is, with his operation.

“And now behold the hand of the Lord is upon you.” It was not vengeance, then, but healing. For it is as though he had said, “It is not I but the hand of God.” Look how unassuming it is! No “light,” as in the case of Paul, “shone round about him.” “Thou shall be blind,” he says, “not seeing the sun for a season,” so that he may give him a chance for repentance. Never did they wish to become conspicuous by their sternness, even in the case of enemies. But in respect to their own people, they were stern; in the case of others, no, lest [the obedience of faith] be thought a matter of compulsion and fear. HOMILIES ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 28.

13:11 | Blinded

BLINDNESS MEANT FOR HIS CONVERSION. CHRYSOSTOM: “And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you shall be blind.” It was the sign by which [Paul] was himself converted, and by this he wished to convert this man. And the words “for a season” were spoken by one who seeks not to punish but to convert. For if he had wanted to punish, he would have made him blind forever. This is not what happens here, but only “for a season,” so that he may gain the proconsul. For the man was prepossessed by sorcery, and he had to teach him a lesson by this punishment, just as the magicians [in Egypt] were taught by the boils. HOMILIES ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 28.

BLINDED SO THAT HE MIGHT SEE. ISIDORE OF PELUSIUM: Be reasonable now. What happened to the magician through the intervention of the apostle is not contrary to the divine commandment that commands us to love our enemies. But since that man distorted the ways of preaching and drove the proconsul away from the faith through which the entire multitude could easily have been admitted to salvation, Paul punished that blasphemer on the basis of his own way of working things out. After he was warned by being blinded he was then led to knowledge. Indeed he was taught through Paul to cure his infidelity with a remedy, just as Paul cured the contradictions of the law. After he set the limit “until the right time” for judgment so that it might cause in itself the recuperation of the man, he changed his ways for the better. CATENA ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 13.10.