Which was with the deputy of the country, Sergius Paulus, a prudent man; who called for Barnabas and Saul, and desired to hear the word of God.
Which was with the deputy of the country, х sun (G4862) too (G3588) anthupatoo (G446)]. It should have been rendered, 'with the proconsul,' or (retaining the original word) 'with the Anthupatos;' for this name was reserved for the governors of settled provinces, that were placed under the Roman Senate, and is never given in the New Testament to Pilate, Festus, or Felix, who were but procurators, or subordinate administrators of unsettled, imperial, military provinces. Now, since Augustus had reserved Cyprus for himself, its governor would in that case have been not a proconsul, but simply a procurator, had not the emperor afterward restored it to the senate-as a Roman historian (Dio Cassius, 53: 12; 54: 4) expressly states. 'That the title which Dion Cassius employed as well as Luke, really did belong to the Roman governors of Cyprus, appears from an inscription on a Greek coin belonging to Cyprus itself, and struck in the very age in which Sergius Paulus was governor of that island. It was struck in the reign of Claudius Caesar, whose head and name are on the face of it; and in the reign of Claudius Caesar Paul visited Cyprus. On this coin the same title х anthupatos (G446)] is given to Cominius Proclus which is given by Luke; and the coincidence which it shows is of that description that it is sufficient of itself to establish the authenticity of the work in which the coincidence is found' (Dr. Marsh's 'Lectures on the Authenticity of the New Testament,' quoted by Akerman in 'Numismatic Illustrations of the Narrative Portions of the New Testament'). Grotius and Bengel, not aware of these facts, have missed the mark here.
Sergius Paulus, a prudent man, х andri (G435) sunetoo (G4908)] - 'an intelligent man;'
Who called for Barnabas and Saul, and desired, [ epizeeteesen (G1934 ), 'earnestly desired'] to hear the word of God. Baumgarten supposes, from the manner in which this verse is expressed, that 'the apostles had fallen in with this Jew in Paphos, and informed him of their object and the message they were charged with,' and that he had 'subsequently reported this to the proconsul as a remarkable piece of news.' But this is neither required by the historian's language nor probable in itself. As an impostor like this was not likely to carry to the proconsul tidings of the arrival of other teachers at all, much less of such teachers, so the public position of the proconsul would ensure his hearing soon enough of the arrival of such men, the more especially if his thirst for truth was known to those about him; and that thirst-evinced by the eagerness with which he drank in the testimony of our missionaries-would naturally induce him to send for them.