Acts 13:12

ἐπίστευσεν : “the blindness of Elymas opened the eyes of the proconsul” (Felten). If the verb is understood in its full sense, viz., that Sergius Paulus became a convert to the faith, Acts 13:48; Acts 2:44; Acts 4:4; Acts 11:21, baptism would be implied, Acts 8:12. ἐκπλησσ., Matthew 7:28; Mark 1:22; Mark 11:18; Luke 4:32; Luke 9:43, etc., so in classical Greek with ἐπί. The verb is also found in Ecclesiastes 7:17 (16), Wis 13:4, 2Ma 7:12, 4Ma 8:4; 4Ma 17:16. Bengel's comment is suggestive, “miraculo acuebatur attentio ad doctrinam”: the conversion is not represented 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 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 heathenism, the forger would not have contented himself with the brief Σαῦλος ὁ καὶ Π. of Acts 13:9; see Zöckler's Apostelgeschichte, p. 245, second 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.