Then Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem:
Then Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man. Instead of the perfect tense, "I have heard" х akeekoa (G191)], the aorist х eekousa (G191)], "I heard," appears to us to have decidedly the best support. This gives definiteness to the reports which Ananias had "heard by many" of this dread inquisitor, the terror of whose name had, it seems, gone before him to Damascus.
How much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem. This relation of the disciples to Christ, as "His saints," is noticed by Bengel as evidence of His proper divinity; and certainly, in connection with Ananias' familiar yet reverential way of addressing the glorified Redeemer, and his authoritative style in directing Ananias, this cannot be deemed a strained inference. Accordingly, in the next verse, Ananias describes the disciples as those "that called on Christ's name." See the notes at Acts 7:59-60; and compare 1 Corinthians 1:2. 'If Christ (says Lechler) has "His saints" - an expression which in the Old Covenant could only refer to Yahweh-then by this expression divine honour is ascribed to Him.'