1st Missionary Trip - Lorin

cle took place at once in plain sight of everyone in the room. His becoming blind is described in terms of ἔπεσεν
ἐπʼ αὐτὸν ἀχλὺς καὶ σκότος, a midst and darkness fell upon him. The non-medical term ἀχλὺς is only used here in
the entire New Testament and defines something like a fog that obscures vision. 104 The expression ἔπεσεν ἐπʼ
αὐτὸν, fell upon him, stresses that this midst and darkness enveloped him so that he could not see. But he was the
only person in the room so impacted by the midst with its accompanying darkness. This is made clear by Luke’s
next statement: καὶ περιάγων ἐζήτει χειραγωγούς, and he went about groping for someone to lead him by the hand.
Blindness as a divine punishment upon an adult, even temporary blindness, was not commonly taught
in either the Old or New Testaments. Jesus’ healing ministry centered a great deal on restoring sight to individuals
who had been blind, often since birth. 105 The experience of Bar-Jesus is unique in the New Testament, and
only has some vague similarities to Paul’s experience on the road to Damascus. And most likely it is against the
backdrop of Paul’s experience that the temporary blindness was imposed on Bar-Jesus as a divine rebuke of him
for his opposition to the Gospel.
One other aspect of importance is the general similarity of Paul’s miracle of divine judgment upon this
man with the judgment miracle that Peter pronounced on Ananias and Sapphira for their deceptiveness about
their contributions to the church in Acts 5:1-11. In that episode Peter pronounced a curse, an invoking of divine
judgment, upon both these individuals and they subsequently died. Here at Paphos Paul pronounced a curse on
Bar-Jesus and he became temporarily blind. In the Lukan tendency to parallel the ministries of Paul and Peter
this is an additional incidence where both leaders were granted divine permission to invoke divine punishment
on disobedient individuals.
2) Sergius Paulus believes: τότε ἰδὼν ὁ ἀνθύπατος τὸ γεγονὸς ἐπίστευσεν ἐκπλησσόμενος ἐπὶ τῇ
διδαχῇ τοῦ κυρίου. When the proconsul saw what had happened, he believed, for he was astonished at the teaching about
the Lord. The positive impact of this divine punishment of Bar-Jesus was that it clearly caught the attention of the
Roman governor who watched all this take place. 106 Luke in typical Greek fashion alludes to this as τὸ γεγονὸς,
19:2; 20:4 codd.; 22:3. Pleonastically εὐθέως παραχρῆμα (X. et al.; PStras 35, 17 εὐθὺς καὶ παραχρῆμα) Ac 14:10 D (B-D-F §484; cp.
Rob. 1205).—DDaube, The Sudden in Scripture ’64, 38–46 (but s. Rydbeck 174–76). S. εὐθέως.—DELG s.v. χρῆμα. M-M.” [William
Arndt, Frederick W. Danker and Walter Bauer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd
ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 773.]
104 “ἀχλύς, ύος, ἡ (Hom. et al.; in prose Hippocr. et al.; Polyb. 34, 11, 15; Ezk 12:7 Aq.; Job 3:5 Sym.; Philo, Cher. 61; Jos., Ant. 9,
56)
1. lit. someth. that comes upon one like a fog and obscures vision, mist (w. σκότος as Dio Chrys. 11 [12], 36; Philo, Deus Imm.
130) of darkening of the eyes in a man who is being blinded Ac 13:11 (cp. Il. 16, 344; Od. 20, 357; κατʼ ὀφθαλμῶν δʼ ἔχυτʼ ἀχλύς ‘a
mist came over his eyes’ 22, 88; schol. on Apollon. Rhod. 2, 259b; also medic. t.t.: Galen, Medicus 16 [XIV 774 K.]; further exx. in
Hobart 44f).
2. fig. someth. that beclouds one’s understanding, mistiness, in the eyes of the mind (Heraclit. Sto. 33 p. 48, 14; Plut., Mor. 42c
διάνοια ἀχλύος γέμουσα; Himerius, Or. 35 [=Or. 34, 3] p. 146, 20 Colonna ἡ ἀχλὺς τῆς ψυχῆς) 2 Cl 1:6.—DELG.
[William Arndt, Frederick W. Danker and Walter Bauer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian
Literature, 3rd ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 160.]
105 “The widespread incidence of blindness in NT times is indicated by the importance which the restoration of sight had in Christ’s
ministry of healing (cf. Mt. 9:27; 11:5 [par Lk. 7:22]; Mt. 12:22; 15:30f; 20:30–34 [par Mk. 10:46–52; Lk. 18:35–43]; 21:14; Mk.
8:22–25; etc. In the 1st cent A.D. blindness was generally regarded, in accordance with the OT tradition (cf. Ex. 4:11; Dt. 28:28; 2 K.
6:18; Ezk. 6:9), as a divine punishment for sin without any reflection on its possible incidence from purely physical and external causes.
Jesus did not subscribe to the punitive view of blindness, however (Jn. 9:2f), but instead used the condition from time to time as a means
of manifesting divine love to an underprivileged segment of the community.” [Geoffrey W. Bromiley, vol. 1, The International Standard
Bible Encyclopedia, Revised (Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1988; 2002), 525.]
106 “We are told the proconsul believed, ‘being astonished (deeply impressed) at the teaching of the Lord.’ We might have expected
Luke to say, astonished at the miracle performed in the Lord’s name and power.
“Are we to assume, then, that the proconsul became a Christian? This is possibly Luke’s meaning, but in view of the lack of clear
explication of what the proconsul believed,
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172 the lack of any reference to the falling of the Spirit, and the lack of any reference to baptism
we cannot be certain. Astonishment was also the reaction of the crowds in Acts 3:10, but it did not mean they were all converted. Simon
Magus in 8:13 is said to have believed, 173 but it is clear from the rest of the story that Luke does not see him as truly or fully converted.
Certainly, the proconsul responded positively to the message, and apparently also to the miracle. Probably it is best to take the verb in
question as an inceptive aorist—the proconsul ‘began to believe’ at this juncture. 174 For Luke’s audience it was important to point out
that even those of high social status, even those who were governmental officials, could be favorably impressed with the gospel and not
see it as a threat. Indeed, they might even be converted.
“It is probably no accident that this subsection ends very similarly to what we find in Luke 4:32. In both conclusions we hear of
amazement at the teaching of the Lord, and in both stories teaching and the first wonder recorded as being performed by the protagonist
are clustered together. 175 Luke intends with Paul, as with Peter previously, to show how they follow closely in the footsteps of their Lord
in their teachings and actions and lives, and receive similar response. Paul, before his Damascus road experience, used to be like Elymas;
now he is like Jesus.”