Ver. 12. ἐπίστευσεν: “ the blindness- of Elymas opened the eyes of the pro- consul” (Felten). If the verb is under- stood in its full sense, vz., that Sergius Paulus became a convert to the faith, ver. 48, ii. 44, iv. 4, xi. 21, baptism would be implied, viii. 12.--ἐκπλησσ., Matt. vii. 28, Mark i. 22, xi. 18, Luke iv. 32, ix. 43, etc., so in classical Greek with ἐπί. The verb is also found in Eccl. vil. 17 (16), Wisdom xiii. 4, 2 Macc. vii. 12, 4 Macc. viii. 4, xvii. 16. Bengel’s comment is suggestive, ‘‘ miraculo acuebatur attentio. ad doctrinam”’: the conversion is not re- presented as the result of the miracle alone. The conversion of a Roman proconsul is regarded as absolutely incredible by Renan (so more recent critics). But if
ατα.
289
13. ᾿Αναχθέντες δὲ ἀπὸ τῆς Πάφου οἱ περὶ τὸν Παῦλον ἦλθον
eis Πέργην τῆς Παμφυλίας. ὑπέστρεψεν εἰς “Ἱεροσόλυμα.
Ιωάννης δὲ
ἀποχωρήσας dm αὐτῶν
14. αὐτοὶ δέ, διελθόντες ἀπὸ τῆς
Πέργης, παρεγένοντο εἰς ᾽Αντιόχειαν τῆς Πισιδίας,' καὶ εἰσελθόντες
1 της Πισιδιας, DEHLP but acc. in ΝΑΒΟ, so Tisch., W Η., Weiss, Wendt. Blass (so Hilg.) retains gen, on the ground that the adj. Πισίδιος “non exstat,” but see Ramsay, and Wendt (1899), p. 231 ; also Grimm-Thayer, sub υ. and sub ᾽Αντιόχεια, 2.
the narrative had been a mere fiction to magnify Paul’s powers in converting such an important personage in his first encounter with the powers of hea- thenism, the forger would not have contented himself with the brief Σαῦλος 6 καὶ Π. of ver. 9; see Zéckler’s A postel- geschichte, p. 245, seccnd edition, on this and other objections against the narrative. See Introd. for the favourable light in which St. Luke describes the relations between the Roman government and Christianity.
Ver. 13. ᾿Αναχθέντες, “δεί sail,” Κ.Υ. So in classical use, here in its technical nautical sense—so too, in opposite sense, κατάγεσθαι. In this sense thirteen times in Acts, and once in Luke’s Gospel, viii. 22, but not in the other Gospels at all; it is only used once, in another sense, by St. Matthew among the Evangelists, cf. iv.I. ἄγειν and its compounds with ava, κατά, eis, are characteristic of Luke’s writings, Friedrich, p. 7.— ot περὶ τὸν Π.: Paul now taking the first place as the leader of the company, see Ramsay, St. Paul, p. 84, the order henceforth is Paul and Barnabas, with two significant excep- tions, xv. 12, 25, and xiv. 12, see in loco. —1.82 . . . ὑπέστρεψεν: Ramsay refers St. Mark’s withdrawal to the above cir- cumstances, inasmuch as he disapproved of St. Paul’s change of place, which he re- garded as an abandonment of the work. But the withdrawal on the part of Mark is still more difficult to understand, if we are to suppose that he withdrew be- cause Paul and Barnabas made, as it were, a trip to Antioch for the recovery of the former; and xv. 38 seems to imply something different from this. Various reasons may have contributed to the de- settion of Mark, perhaps the fact that his cousin Barnabas was πο longer the leader, or Paul’s preaching to the Gentiles may have been too liberal for him, or lack of courage to face the dangers of the mountain passes and missionary work inland, or affection for his home at Jerusalem and anxiety for the coming famine (he withdrew, says Holtzmann,