There is a singular parallelism in several points be- tween the history of Paul and that of Peter in the Acts. Baur presents it in a highly effective form (PiiiiL p. 91 etc.), to support his theory of the composition of this book; and this is one of the services which he has in- cidentally rendered to the full understanding of the early historj' of the Church. Thus I'aul's discomtiture of Elymas reminds us of Peter's dcniniciation of .Simon Magus. The two incidents bring strongly before us one of the great adverse elements with which the Gos- pel had to contend in that age. Everywhere there
were counterfeits of the spiritual powers which the apostles claimed and put forth. It was necessary for the preachers of Christ, not so much to prove themselves stronger than the magicians and soothsaj^ers, as to guard against being confounded with them. One distinguish- ing mark of the true servants of the Spirit would be that of 7iot tradinr/ upon their sjjiritual powers (Acts viii, 20). Another would be that of shunning every sort of concealment and artifice, and courting the day- light of open truth. Paul's language to Elymas is stu- diously directed to the reproof of the tricks of the re- ligious impostor. The apostle, full of the Holy Ghost, looked steadily on the deceiver, spoke in the name of a God of light and righteousness and straightforward ways, and put forth the pinver of that God for the vin- dication of truth against delusion. The punishment of Elymas was itself symbolical, and conveyed "teaching of the Lord." He had chosen to create a spiritual dark- ness around him ; and now there fell upon him a mist and a darkness, and he went about seeking some one to lead him by the hand. If on reading this account we refer to Peter's reproof of Simon Magus, we shall be struck by the differences as well as the resemblance which we shall observe. But we shall undoubtedly gain a stronger impression of this part of the apostolic work, viz. the conflict to be waged between the Spirit of Christ and of the Church and the evil spirits of a dark superstition to which men were surrendering them- selves as slaves. We shall feel the worth and po-\ver of that candid and open temper in which alone Paul would commend his cause; and in the conversion of Sergius Paulus we shall see an exemplars' type of many victories to be won by truth over falsehood.
This point is made a special crisis in the history of the apostle by the writer of the Acts. Saul now be- comes Paul, and begins to take precedence of Barnabas. Nothing is said to explain the change of name. No reader could resist the temptation of supposing that there must be some connection between Saul's new name and that of his distinguished Roman convert. But on reflection it does not seem probable that Paul would either have wished, or have consented, to change his own name for that of a distinguished convert. If we put Sergius Paulus aside, we know that it was ex- ceedingly common for Jews to bear, besides their own Jewish name, another borrowed from the country with which they had become connected (see Conybeare and Howson, i, 163, for full illustrations). Thus we have Simeon also named Niger, Barsabas also named Justus, John also named Marcus. There is no reason therefore why Saul should not have borne from infancy the other name of Paul. In that case he would be Saul among his own countrj-men, Paulus among the Gentiles. We must understand Luke as wishing to mark strongly the transition point between Saul's activity among his own countrymen and his new labors as the apostle of the Gentiles, by calling him Saul only during the tirst, and Paul only afterwards. (See above.)
The conversion of Sergius Paulus may be said, per- haps, to mark the beginning of the work among the Gentiles; otherwise, it was not in Cyprus that any change took place in the method hitherto followed by Barnabas and Saul in preaching the Gospel. Their pub- lic addresses were as yet confined to the synagogues; but it was soon to be otherwise. From Paphos "Paul and his company" set saU for the mainland, and arrived at Perga in Pamphylia. Here the heart of their com- panion John failed him. and he returned to Jerusalem. From Perga they travelled on to a place, obscure in sec- ular history, but most memorable in the history of the kingdom of Christ — Antioch in Pisidia (q. v.). Here " they went into the synagogue on the Sabbath-day, and sat down." Small as the place was, it contained its colony of Jews, and with them proselvtes who wor- shipped the God of the Jews. The degree to which the Jews had spread and settled themselves over the world, and the influence they had gained over the more
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respectable of their Gentile neighbors, and especially over the women of the better class, arc facts ditHcult to appreciate justly, but are proved by undoubted evidence, and are very important for us to bear in mind. This Pi- sidian Antioch may have been more Jewish than most similar towns, but it was not more so than many of mucli greater size and importance. What took place here in the synagogue and in the city is interesting to us not only on account of its bearing on the history, but also because it represents more or less exactly what after\vards occurred in many other places. It cannot be without design that we have single but detailed ex- amples given us in the Acts of the various kinds of addresses which Paid used to deliver in appealing to his different audiences. He had to address himself, in the course of his missionary labors, to Jews, knowing and receiving the Scriptures; to ignorant barbarians; to cultivated Greeks; to mobs enraged against him personally; to magistrates and kings. It is an ines- timable help in studying the apostle and his work that we have specimens of the tone and the arguments he was accustomed to use in all these situations. These will be noticed in their places. In what he said at the synagogue in Antioch we recognise the type of the ad- dresses in which he would introduce his message to his Jewish fellow-countrymen.