“They traveled through the whole island until they came to Paphos. There they met a Jewish sorcerer and false prophet named Bar-Jesus, who was an attendant of the proconsul, Sergius Paulus. The proconsul, an intelligent man, sent for Barnabas and Saul because he wanted to hear the word of God. But Elymas the sorcerer (for that is what his name means) opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul from the faith. Then Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked straight at Elymas and said, “You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right! You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord? Now the hand of the Lord is against you. You are going to be blind for a time, not even able to see the light of the sun.” Immediately mist and darkness came over him, and he groped about, seeking someone to lead him by the hand. When the proconsul saw what had happened, he believed, for he was amazed at the teaching about the Lord.”
Paphos is on the island of Cyprus in the Mediterranean Sea. This island was Paul and Barnabas’ first stop on their first missionary journey after being sent out from the church at Antioch. Right away, they encounter a person, Bar-Jesus (aka Elymas), who is under the influence of darkness. He’s a sorcerer. Yet, we recall that such persons are among those whom God desires to experience His saving grace (1 Timothy 2:4,5; 2 Peter 3:9 and Ezekiel 33:11). This person, an attendant to the Proconsul (governmental official), shows no receptivity to the Gospel and instead does his best to keep Sergius Paulus, the Proconsul, from hearing God’s Word of redemption.
In the midst of this, Paul experiences a fresh infilling of the Spirit. The original language suggests that Paul experienced a spontaneous infilling and the implication is that Paul declared a prophetic word of judgment over Bar-Jesus as a result of that experience, resulting in Bar-Jesus’ temporary blindness.
So, we see that the God of unconditional, impartial and inexhaustible love sometimes expresses this love in judgment, presumably, to awaken the recipient of this judgment (and others) to the might and mercy found in the Gospel.
Make sense?
Next week we’ll consider another New Testament Text.