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Act_8:20-21. Thy money be along with thee unto destruction; i.e. let perdition, Messianic penal destruction, come upon thy money and thyself! The sin-money, in the lofty strain of the language, is set forth as something personal, capable of ἀπώλεια .
εἴη εἰς ἀπώλ .] a usual attraction: fall into destruction and be in it. See Winer, p. 386 f. [E. T. 516 f.]. Comp. Act_8:23.
τὴν δωρεὰν τοῦ Θεοῦ ] τὴν ἐξουσίαν ταύτην , ἵνα κ . τ . λ ., Act_8:19. Observe the antithetically chosen designation.
ἐνόμισας ] thou wast minded, namely, in the proposal made.
μερὶς οὐδὲ κλῆρος ] synonyms, of which the second expresses the idea figuratively: part nor lot. Comp. Deu_12:12; Deu_14:27; Deu_14:29; Isa_57:6. The utterance is earnest.
ἐν τῷ λόγῳ τούτῳ ] in this word, i.e. in the ἐξουσία to be the medium of the Spirit, which was in question. Lange gratuitously imports the idea: in this word, which flows from the hearts of believers moved by the Spirit. λόγος of the “ipsa causa, de qua disceptatur,” is very current also in classical writers, Ast, Lex. Plat. II. p. 256; Brunck, ad Soph. Aj. 1268; Wolf, ad Dem. Lept. p. 277; Nägelsb. on the Iliad, p. 41 f. ed. 3. Others, as Olshausen and Neander after Grotius, explain λόγος of the gospel, all share in whose blessings is cut off from Simon. But then this reference must have been suggested by the context, in which, however, there is no mention at all of doctrine.
εὐθεῖα , straight, i.e. upright (comp. Wis_9:3; Sir_7:6), for Simon thought to acquire ( κτᾶσθαι ) an ἐξουσία not destined for him, from immoral motives, and by an unrighteous means. Herein lies the immoral nature of simony, whose source is selfishness. Comp. the ethical σκολιός (Luk_3:5), Act_2:40; Php_2:15. “Cor arx boni et mali,” Bengel; Delitzsch, Psychol. p. 250.