v. 1-12
1. Context:
After Peter preached the Gospel to the gentiles and accepted by the circumcised Jewish believers in Jerusalem they sent Barnabas to Antioch. Later on, they even sent a prophet to Antioch and that ended up with donation back to Jerusalem when he prophesied for future feminine there.
Note, the function of speaking in tongues was clearly to convince the Jews that the gentile and them are equal in the church (10:45-46, 11:15-18).
2. R.W.-The Lord, the word of the Lord/God and the Holy Spirit work side by side or even interchange
v.2 While they were serving the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”
V. 4-5 So Barnabas and Saul, sent out by the Holy Spirit, ...When they arrived in Salamis, they began to proclaim the word of God
While they were serving the Lord, the Holy Spirit spoke to them. Note how the personal pronouns of "me and I" were used here to emphasize on the person commission by the Triune God Himself. And when they went out they preach the word of God.
9 But Saul (also known as Paul), filled with the Holy Spirit, stared straight at him 10 and said, “...you enemy of all righteousness—will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord?
Paul's scolding of Elymas was not due to his personal feelings by his remark of Elymas being the enemy of all righteous came from God Himself, because Paul was under the control of the Holy Spirit.
3. What did God want Barnabas and Paul do?
v.5....began to proclaim the word of God in the Jewish synagogues.
v.7 ...The proconsul summoned Barnabas and Saul and wanted to hear the word of God.
v.11 Now look, the hand of the Lord is against you, and you will be blind, unable to see the sun for a time!” Immediately mistiness and darkness came over him, and he went around seeking people to lead him by the hand.
12 Then when the proconsul saw what had happened, he believed, because he was greatly astounded at the teaching about the Lord.
Summary: 1. God sent them out to preach the word of God to both the Jews and those who like the proconsul who wanted to hear. 2. God sent them to perform miracle just like what Jesus had done to vindicate that the power of Jesus was still alive and given to them.
(AA-SRC) The parallels with the experience of Saul himself are striking: (1) both strongly opposed God’s word, (2) both were struck blind for a time, (3) both were said to need being led by the hand thereafter
Peter also mirrored Jesus' miracle when he called Tabitha to get up ad presented her alive in Acts 9:40-41 (NET) This event is told much like Luke 8:49–56 and Mark 5:35–43. Peter’s ministry mirrored that of Jesus.
Again, when the hand of the Lord struck the Elymas he realized that what he taught was not from the Lord. He wanted to hear the word of God in v.7 and he was greatly astounded at the teaching about the Lord v.12. Now the confusion was gone and therefore he believed.
Therefore, the miracle served some specific purpose: to authenticate the apostle and to clear out the confusion when the opposer try to turn people from the faith.
4. Reflection:
Sign gift and miracle are highly intentional. We pray for miracle so that our sickness is healed or our difficulties will go away. Have we considered why God want to do that? What is God's intention when He perform miracles on us?
God opposed His enemies. Sometimes we see the judgment right the way like the Elymas, Bar-Jesus who tried to turn an interested hearer of the word of God away. God the Father and God the Holy Spirit would guard those who wants to believe God, the Son. There is no way that person could escape, just that sometimes it wont happen until the future Judgment.
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