Acts 13:12 Then the deputy, when he saw what was done, believed, being astonished at the doctrine of the Lord. I. HE SAW. Probably no special stress is laid upon the seeing, yet the fact that opportunity was given him to see is worthy of emphasis. Had the Church of Antioch loved their own better than the things of Christ, the missionaries had been kept at home. If we turn over the opportunity of Sergius and examine its obverse side, we shall find written thereon a duty and a privilege. Paul, who felt it and obeyed it thus early in his career, later states it (Romans 10:13-15). The great salvation is provided for all; let it be carried to all. No violence is done human thought or the spirit of the gospel by discerning, in the proconsul's opportunity to see, the Church's opportunity to send. Paul came and preached, therefore Paulus saw and heard. II. HE WAS ASTONISHED. The transition from sight to faith is explained in the astonishment produced by the matter and manner of the doctrine of the Lord. Two teachers, each professing to possess the oracles of the Highest, had confronted each other with contradictory doctrine. The mind of the heathen deputy, unrestful and discontented with the fables of Roman mythology, must have been perplexed with these rival claimants for his faith and devotion. But the purer doctrine had the prevailing power, and Paulus wondered at the doctrine of the Lord, and admired it. Then came the proof that the story of Divine love was no bright fiction nor sweet poem, but a genuine fact and power in the world among men by the method of the teaching — persuasively to him who was ready to hear — judicially to him who was determined to resist. It could sue or subdue. III. HE BELIEVED. The simplicity and freshness of youth adorned and invigorated the gospel of that early day. The deputy's mind was not perplexed by half a dozen kinds of faith, each with a technical name requiring special instruction to understand. The story of the living, personal Christ, what He had said and done, and what He wanted and waited to do, was the simple and unformulated theology of that earliest day. Sergius Paulus, in believing, was conscious of no such abstract process as that of accepting a theory or adopting a system. This might come afterwards; but when he believed he simply trusted himself into the care of God, he took Him at His word. The Roman proconsul became the Christian disciple; faith gave him a higher rank and a sublimer title. He had before represented the emperor of the world. He then represented the One "seated on the right hand of God." The name "Roman proconsul" pales before the title Heir of God. (J. R. Danforth.) Parallel Verses KJV: Then the deputy, when he saw what was done, believed, being astonished at the doctrine of the Lord. |
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