And having passed through the whole island as far as Paphos, they found a certain man a magician, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Bar-jesus,
Barnabas and Saul cross Cyprus from coast to coast and reach Paphos, where the first named opponent of their mission is waiting. Luke describes him three ways at once: a magician, a false prophet, and a Jew.
The verse ends a journey that began at Salamis on the eastern coast. One writer measures the distance and fills in what Luke leaves unsaid.
The true reading is "through the whole island": they went from east to west. The land journey from Salamis to Paphos was about one hundred miles — the same distance they had already covered by sea from Seleucia to Salamis. No doubt they visited towns and places along the way, and preached the gospel as they went.
The man carried two names. Neither of them matched what he was.
A renegade Jew called Bar-Jesus, also named Elymas (an Arabic name meaning "the wise," or "the occult"), a false prophet, was the tool Satan used. This sorcerer would feel that his own trade was in danger, so he tried to turn the governor away from the faith.
Another writer sets the name against the man's work:
But a Jewish false prophet and sorcerer named Bar-Jesus ("son of Jesus" — a name built to mislead!) was there, opposing God's word. He tried to turn Sergius Paulus against the truth that Barnabas and Saul were presenting.
The word "sorcerer" links this man to others in the New Testament. Scripture's verdict on the trade is severe.
In the New Testament, besides the girl with a spirit of Python already mentioned, we read of others. Simon used sorcery and held the people of Samaria under his spell for a long time, Acts 8:9-11. Elymas the sorcerer, a Jew whom they met in Cyprus, twisted the right ways of the Lord... Sorcery ranks with the worst of sins, and the same word describes the professing church in mystical Babylon.
The sorcerer already had the governor's ear. That is what made the clash so bitter.
But it was at its capital, Nea Paphos (not quite the spot famous as the immoral centre of Aphrodite worship), that the gospel met more than Jewish prejudice. Religious fraud and sorcery had sharpened that prejudice and made it bitter... The Roman governor's interest stirred the jealous opposition of the corrupt Jew. He had held influence over a mind sickened by degrading idolatry, yet open to displays of power that carried some appearance of revelation. What could break the Jewish impostor's hold more completely than the grace and truth which came by Jesus Christ?
This man had counterparts elsewhere in Acts.
Such evil people, special instruments of Satan, appear again and again in this book, usually when the Gospel reached new regions. In Samaria it was Simon Magus. In Macedonia it was the girl with the familiar spirit. Here it is this demon-possessed Jew.
One writer draws real encouragement from it:
When they arrived at Paphos, they were encouraged to find the chief ruler of the island ready for the Word of God. But at the same time they ran into Satanic opposition. Opposition from the powers of darkness is an encouraging sign, not a discouraging one.
One writer sees in this single opponent a picture of the whole nation.
Bar-Jesus becomes the striking picture of the Jews. They were blind themselves, and they tried to turn the blind Gentiles away from the light of life. Yet this is not for ever, but "for a season". In due time God will give them to look on Him Whom they once rejected to death — and meanwhile the loss and ruin are their own.
- Advance. The gospel crossed a hundred miles of Cyprus, town by town, before it reached Paphos. The opponent shows up at the end of the road, not at the start.
- Counterfeit. The man bore a religious name, "son of Jesus," and a title meaning "the wise." Satan's tool at Paphos was a false prophet, not an open unbeliever.
- Motive. His trade was in danger. A governor listening to Barnabas and Saul meant a sorcerer losing his hold.
- Pattern. Simon Magus in Samaria, the girl with the spirit in Macedonia, Bar-Jesus in Cyprus. Such figures appear wherever the gospel reaches new ground. Opposition marks progress, not failure.
- Picture. Bar-Jesus tried to keep the light from a Gentile. He stands for a nation blind itself — and that blindness lasts for a season, not for ever.
who was with the proconsul Sergius Paulus, an intelligent man. *He*, having called Barnabas and Saul to [him], desired to hear the word of God.
On Cyprus the gospel reached the island's top official, and he sent for the missionaries himself. Who was Sergius Paulus, and why does it matter that a Roman ruler asked to hear the word of God?
"Proconsul" is a precise Roman title, and Rome had not always used it for Cyprus.
Sergius Paulus was the proconsul of Cyprus. Cyprus had been under imperial authority, but later passed to the senate, and so became proconsular.
Luke gets the local titles right in city after city.
We have seen how accurate Luke was in describing Sergius Paulus as the proconsul of Cyprus. He is equally accurate in calling the magistrates at Philippi praetors and their officers lictors (16:20, 35). When writing of the authorities at Thessalonica, he calls them politarchs (17:6)... By giving each city's rulers their correct title, Luke shows that he knew well what he was about. This mark of accuracy should increase confidence in him as a faithful historian.
Luke calls him a man of intelligence. One writer links that description to the job he held.
We read that he was a prudent man, "intelligent." We may be sure, then, that he got his post because he had all the qualifications it needed.
Something deeper than intelligence was at work in him. It also explains why a sorcerer had already gained his ear.
The Roman governor's interest stirred up the jealous opposition of the corrupt Jew. That man had held influence over a mind shocked by degrading idolatry, yet open to displays of power... But the proconsul (not "deputy" or legate, as the King James Version has it) had a conscience at work and, by grace, an ear for the truth. It soon turned toward what was of God when the testimony reached his soul.
He did not send for a display of power. He sent for a message. One writer traces that desire back to an emptiness pagan religion could not fill.
There the proconsul, a prudent and thoughtful man, asks to hear the gospel. A false prophet was already around him. That man took advantage of the felt need of a soul which, while ignorant, was longing for something to fill the void it felt in the emptiness of pagan ceremonies and in its disgusting immorality. Even so, the proconsul sends for Barnabas and Saul.
Miracles can impress a man without saving him. One writer sets Sergius Paulus beside another man in Acts who was drawn by miracles.
Faith founded on miracles is worth so little that the Saviour refused to commit Himself to believers of this sort when they surrounded Him (John 2:23-25). True faith rests on the Word of God (Rom. 10:17). Miracles attracted Simon Magus, and he proved a fraud. Sergius Paulus wanted to hear the Word of God, and so became a true disciple (Acts 8:13; Acts 13:7, 12).
The next verse shows the magician fighting back. The opposition starts the moment the governor asks to hear.
The proconsul had called for Barnabas and Saul to hear the word of God from them. When the magician found that out, he not only withstood them, but tried to turn the proconsul away from the faith... One man presented the gospel; the other tried to stop it being received... God in His grace seeks our blessing — the devil our curse. Here, then, we find a man wanting to hear the word of God, and Satan using one of his children — a magician — to turn him away.
Another writer adds that the man's rank made the conflict sharper.
For a man of the Deputy's position to turn to God was too good an advertisement for the Christian faith to pass without a challenge.
In this verse the order is "Barnabas and Saul." Elsewhere the two names are reversed, and one writer sees the same pattern in the Old Testament.
Sometimes the order is "Barnabas and Paul"; elsewhere it is "Paul and Barnabas"... The reader of the Old Testament may find a similar principle in Exodus 6:13, 20, 26 and 27. In the order of nature it is "Aaron and Moses"; in sovereign grace it becomes "Moses and Aaron."
- Accuracy. Luke uses the right Roman title for Cyprus, and the right titles in city after city. That care marks him as a faithful historian.
- Appetite. Sergius Paulus was intelligent, but more was at work in him: a conscience, and an emptiness that pagan religion could not fill.
- Asking. He called for Barnabas and Saul and asked for the word of God — not for a display of power.
- Attack. The magician moved against the message the moment that desire appeared. God seeks our blessing; the devil seeks our curse.
- Answer. What settles a soul is the word, not wonders. Sergius Paulus heard it and became a true disciple.
But Elymas the magician (for so his name is by interpretation) opposed them, seeking to turn away the proconsul from the faith.
The gospel had just reached Cyprus. At Paphos the Roman governor asked to hear the word of God, and a sorcerer at his side stepped in to pull him away before he could believe.
The man had two names. "Bar-Jesus" was given to him; "Elymas" was the title he traded under. At Paphos two kinds of resistance met at once.
At its capital, Nea Paphos, the gospel collided with more than Jewish prejudice. Religious fraud and sorcery had sharpened that prejudice and made it bitter. … The interest of the Roman governor stirred up the jealous opposition of the corrupt Jew. This man had held influence over a mind shocked by degrading idolatry but open to displays of power, with some show of revelation about them. What could damage the Jewish impostor's influence more than the grace and truth which came by Jesus Christ? But the proconsul had a conscience at work, and by grace an ear for the truth. It soon turned toward what was of God, when the testimony reached his soul. Bar-Jesus (meaning son of Jesus, or Joshua) called himself "Elymas", the wise man, or magician.
The name he chose for himself advertised the trade he lived by, and that trade was now under threat.
A renegade Jew, Bar-jesus, surnamed Elymas (an Arabic name, meaning "the wise," or "the occult"), a false prophet, was the tool Satan used. This sorcerer would feel that his own craft was in danger, and so he tried to turn the governor away from the faith.
A man who lives off his hold on a ruler will fight anything that loosens it.
Elymas withstands them. This was natural. He would lose his influence with the governor if the governor received the truth that Paul preached. Now Elymas was a Jew.
Sergius Paulus now had a choice to make. One speaker gave; the other only took away.
Bar-Jesus was also a Jew. The proconsul had called for Barnabas and Saul to hear the word of God from them. When he saw this, he not only withstood them; he tried to turn the proconsul away from the faith. His object was plain. Sergius Paulus was now in real difficulty. He had to decide between rival claims and find, if he could, where the truth lay. Both speakers were Jewish, and both could appeal to the Scriptures. While the one presented the gospel, the other tried to hinder its reception. The one acted positively, giving out good. The other acted negatively, working to stop anyone accepting it. This last, in some form, is always Satan's way. God in His grace seeks our blessing — the devil our curse.
Several writers read this one man as standing for something larger. He is a Jew who will not have the gospel himself and works to keep a Gentile from having it either.
All the more, then, he is the true picture of the Jew. Judaism fell through opposition to Christ into the power of the enemy, and then became the most bitter of foes. Such is this Bar Jesus, with his fair name and his practice of occult arts, a false prophet through and through. He is the worst hindrance to the Gentile inquirer, and a stubborn refuser of salvation on his own account.
Commentators read the judgment that followed in the same way, and its time limit as part of the same picture.
He was an enemy of all righteousness. He tried to keep the Word from the Roman, Sergius Paulus. In this way the Jews tried to keep the gospel from reaching the Gentiles. The judgment that fell on this wicked Jew pictures the judicial blindness that has come on the Jews. This sorcerer who opposed the gospel was not to see the sun for a season. In the same way, the blindness of the Jews is not permanent.
The real question at Paphos was which power stood behind which man.
Elymas was a Jew who had turned from his faith and sold himself to the service of the devil. He became the chief opponent of the gospel at Paphos. Satan's power came out in him. In the same way the power of the Holy Spirit energised Saul. Here was a striking and drastic proof that "he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world" (1 John 4:4).
- Name — He called himself "Elymas" — the wise man, or magician. "Bar-Jesus" was a fair name, and he practised occult arts behind it.
- Motive — His hold on the governor was at risk, so he fought the message that would end it.
- Method — He gave nothing; he only worked to keep the word from a man who wanted it. Commentators call this Satan's usual way: God seeks our blessing, the enemy our curse.
- Picture — One Jew kept the word from a Gentile. That pictures a nation refusing salvation and blocking others. The blindness that follows is for a season, not forever.
- Outcome — Satan's power worked in Elymas; the Holy Spirit's power worked in Saul. The greater power won, and the governor kept his ear for the truth.