The encounter itself is described in Acts 13:8-11. Elymas or Bar-jesus stood in open resistance to the apostles. Luke states, "that he...was opposing them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith" (v.8). One ancient text expands Luke's words saying, "Bar-jesus stood forth in opposition to them, seeking to divert the proconsul from the faith because he was listening with much pleasure to them".10
Luke leaves his readers with many unanswered questions. He clearly indicates that the opposition was an open and vociferous attack against the apostles, accompanied by outright denial of truth of their message.
Elymas contradicted Paul and Barnabas to their face, evidently in the governor's palace where, by the latter's personal request, Barnabas and Paul came to present the gospel. This helps explain the sharpness of Paul's rebuke of Bar-jesus, the sternest words Luke ever attributed to the great apostle.
Paul "filled with the Holy Spirit, fixed his gaze upon him" (v.9). The stress was on the fixed intensity of the gaze. Through the spiritual gaze Paul saw into the very center of the man's being, discovering the true source of power in Bar-jesus, Satan himself, probably represented by an evil spirit or spirits. (Eph. 6:10-12)
In dealing with demonized persons contact with demons is often made through direct, intense eye contact, through experience one can learn to detect the change that comes over a person's eyes when the demons have come to take temporary control of the victim. Demons will often cry out in fear or anger at the brightness as a Spirit-filled Christian stares intently at them.
This is what is happening in the story before us. Through Paul's gaze the authority of Christ within him was revealed. Perhaps Paul's eyes were like those of his Master, "a flame of fire" (Rev. 1:14). The demons inside Bar-jesus would have immediately recognized that authority. Filled with the Spirit, Paul spoke to Bar-jesus, "You who are full of all deceit and fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease to make crooked the straight ways of the Lord?" (V. 10).
The word "deceit" is dolos, meaning "a snare or bait," Vine says. 11 Bar-jesus was out to trap men, to snare them, to bring them under Satan's control. This is the exact description of Satan's ministry Paul gives in 1 Timothy 3:7 and 2 Timothy 2:26
The second word is "fraud" the Greek word padioirgia meaning "ease of working or easiness in doing anything, also laziness, wickedness and facility in doing wickedness." 12 Paul is accusing Bar-jesus of being so accustomed to evil that it had become natural and easy for him.
Next Paul calls him a "son of the Devil." Devil, of course, is the Greek word diabolos which means "slanderer". Bar-jesus was Satan's child, his servant. This he was slandering God, God's people, and God's truth. He was so controlled by the Devil that he was as much as a child of the Devil as Paul was a child of God. As Christ was the source of Paul's life, Satan was the source of Bar-Jesus' life. "You enemy of all unrighteousness," is Paul's next accusation against him. Bar-jesus masqueraded as "an angel of righteousness," as does his master, the devil (2 Cor. 11:13-15).
Finally, Paul describes the man's teaching as making "crooked the straight ways of the Lord." He was deliberately distorting and perverting God's truth in order to turn the governor away from God. It was not just that Bar-Jesus was deceived. He had become a deceiver. (2 Tim. 3:13). The deceptive nature of his master, Satan, had become his nature.
**The handbook for spiritual warfare by Dr. Ed Murphy**
Luke leaves his readers with many unanswered questions. He clearly indicates that the opposition was an open and vociferous attack against the apostles, accompanied by outright denial of truth of their message.
Elymas contradicted Paul and Barnabas to their face, evidently in the governor's palace where, by the latter's personal request, Barnabas and Paul came to present the gospel. This helps explain the sharpness of Paul's rebuke of Bar-jesus, the sternest words Luke ever attributed to the great apostle.
Paul "filled with the Holy Spirit, fixed his gaze upon him" (v.9). The stress was on the fixed intensity of the gaze. Through the spiritual gaze Paul saw into the very center of the man's being, discovering the true source of power in Bar-jesus, Satan himself, probably represented by an evil spirit or spirits. (Eph. 6:10-12)
In dealing with demonized persons contact with demons is often made through direct, intense eye contact, through experience one can learn to detect the change that comes over a person's eyes when the demons have come to take temporary control of the victim. Demons will often cry out in fear or anger at the brightness as a Spirit-filled Christian stares intently at them.
This is what is happening in the story before us. Through Paul's gaze the authority of Christ within him was revealed. Perhaps Paul's eyes were like those of his Master, "a flame of fire" (Rev. 1:14). The demons inside Bar-jesus would have immediately recognized that authority. Filled with the Spirit, Paul spoke to Bar-jesus, "You who are full of all deceit and fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease to make crooked the straight ways of the Lord?" (V. 10).
The word "deceit" is dolos, meaning "a snare or bait," Vine says. 11 Bar-jesus was out to trap men, to snare them, to bring them under Satan's control. This is the exact description of Satan's ministry Paul gives in 1 Timothy 3:7 and 2 Timothy 2:26
The second word is "fraud" the Greek word padioirgia meaning "ease of working or easiness in doing anything, also laziness, wickedness and facility in doing wickedness." 12 Paul is accusing Bar-jesus of being so accustomed to evil that it had become natural and easy for him.
Next Paul calls him a "son of the Devil." Devil, of course, is the Greek word diabolos which means "slanderer". Bar-jesus was Satan's child, his servant. This he was slandering God, God's people, and God's truth. He was so controlled by the Devil that he was as much as a child of the Devil as Paul was a child of God. As Christ was the source of Paul's life, Satan was the source of Bar-Jesus' life. "You enemy of all unrighteousness," is Paul's next accusation against him. Bar-jesus masqueraded as "an angel of righteousness," as does his master, the devil (2 Cor. 11:13-15).
Finally, Paul describes the man's teaching as making "crooked the straight ways of the Lord." He was deliberately distorting and perverting God's truth in order to turn the governor away from God. It was not just that Bar-Jesus was deceived. He had become a deceiver. (2 Tim. 3:13). The deceptive nature of his master, Satan, had become his nature.
**The handbook for spiritual warfare by Dr. Ed Murphy**
