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The opposition of Elymas:
v. 8. But Elymas, the sorcerer, (for so is his name by interpretation,) withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith.
v. 9. Then Saul, (who also is called Paul,) filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him
v. 10. and said, O full of all subtlety and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord?
v. 11. And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season. And immediately there fell on him a mist and a darkness; and he went about seeking some to lead him by the hand.
v. 12. Then the deputy, when he saw what was done, believed, being astonished at the doctrine of the Lord.
Barnabas and Saul were making some progress with the proconsul, when they met with opposition from a very dangerous adversary. For this counselor of the proconsul, who had cleverly insinuated himself into the intimacy of his master, bearing the name Elymas, "the sage," as a sort of surname, used all his influence to foil the attempts of the missionaries for the conversion of Sergius Paulus, his purpose being to divert him from the faith. The governor probably showed a strong inclination to accept the truth of the Gospel, and the sorcerer knew that such an event spelled the ruin of himself, the loss of his position. In this emergency, Saul assumed the leadership, which till now he had yielded to Barnabas, and from this time forth Saul was the more prominent of the two. This Luke indicates by inserting here the name by which Saul was henceforth known, which marked his apostleship to the Gentile world. Paul here became subject to an extraordinary manifestation of the Holy Spirit's influence, in whose power he attacked the magician in the very presence of the proconsul. Fixing his eyes upon the hypocritical Jew, he said to him: Thou son of the devil, full of deceit, guile, craft, and all wickedness. The sorcerer's present opposition showed him to be the natural enemy of the messengers of God, and of all righteousness, which they were trying to spread. Would he not cease, Paul asked, would he not give up acting as one that perverted, that made it his habit to mix up and turn aside, the straight and correct ways of the Lord? And the punishment of the Lord followed. At the words of Paul the hand of the Lord was laid heavily upon Elymas, causing him to become stone-blind and unable even to distinguish the light of the sun for some time, until such a time as it would please God to restore his sight. And there was no delay in the coming of the curse. At once, at the same moment, a dark mist fell upon him; he groped about, calling on one and another of the frightened bystanders to lead him by the hand and show him the way out of the presence of Paul; he was obliged to have such assistance since his blindness was absolute. This exhibition of the power of God convinced the proconsul; he was astounded at the doctrine, overwhelmed by the teaching of the. Lord and about the Lord; he believed, faith in Jesus, the Savior, was engendered in his heart. Certain inscriptions which have been found in the last decades tend to show that Sergius Paulus was henceforth a firm believer in Christ, that he was enrolled with the Christians. Note: Even today it is the guile and craft of the devil that tends to hinder the conversion and salvation of men, the efficacy of the divine Word, by sending false prophets and errorists. These are full of guile and fraud and enemies of true righteousness. But Christ, the Lord of His Church, is stronger than Satan, and carries out His work for the salvation of souls. But the apostles of darkness are finally condemned to spiritual blindness and darkness, making it impossible for them to find the right way.