Acts 8:13

καὶ αὐτὸς : characteristic of St. Luke, see Friedrich, Das Lucasevangelium, p. 37. βαπτισθεὶς ἐβαπτίσθη ἀλλʼ οὐκ ἐφωτίσθη (St. Cyril). ἦν προσκαρτερῶν : on ἦν with a participle as characteristic of St. Luke see on Acts 1:10, and Friedrich, u. s., p. 12; on προσκαρτ. see on Acts 1:14. Here with dative of the person (cf. Acts 10:7); the whole expression shows how assiduously Simon attached himself to Philip. θεωρῶν : the faith of Simon rested on the outward miracles and signs, a faith which ended in amazement, ἐξίστατο but it was no permanent abiding faith, just as the amazement which he had himself inspired in others gave way before a higher and more convincing belief. The expression δυνάμεις μεγάλας may have been purposely chosen; hitherto men had seen in Simon, and he himself had claimed to be, ἡ δύν. ἡ μεγάλη (Weiss). ἐξίστατο : “Simon qui alios obstupefaciebat, jam ipse obstupescit,” Wetstein. ἐξίσταμαι, intransitive, Blass, Grammatik, p. 49. Irenæus speaks of him as one who pretended faith, Acts 1:23 (so too St. Cyril, St. Chrysostom, St. Jerome, St. Ambrose): he may have believed in the Messianic dignity of Christ, and in His Death and Resurrection, constrained by the miracles which Philip wrought in attestation of his preaching, but it was a belief about the facts, and not a belief in Him whom the facts made known, a belief in the power of the new faith, but not an acceptance of its holiness, Acts 8:18 (see further, Rendall's note in loco, and on the Baptism of Simon, “Baptism,” in Hastings' B.D.).