Matthew Henry

When Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money.

“He does not desire them to lay their hands on him, that he might receive the Holy Ghost himself (for he did not foresee that any thing was to be got by that), but that they would convey to him a power to bestow the…”

But Peter replied, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money!

“All the buying and selling of pardons and indulgences in the church of Rome is the product of this same wicked thought, that the gift of God may be purchased with money, when the offer of divine grace so expressly runs, without money and without…”

For I see that you are poisoned by bitterness and captive to iniquity.”

“It intimates likewise the pernicious consequences of sin; the end is bitter as wormwood. Secondly, They are in the bond of iniquity --bound over to the judgment of God by the guilt of sin, and bound under the dominion of Satan by the power of…”

And after Peter and John had testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many of the Samaritan villages.

“Lastly, Here is the return of the apostles to Jerusalem, when they had finished the business they came about; for as yet they were not to disperse; but, though they came hither to do that work which was peculiar to them as apostles, yet, opportunity…”

Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the disciples of the Lord. He approached the high priest

“The matter of the persecution was threatenings and slaughter. There is persecution in threatenings ( ch. iv.”

and requested letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any men or women belonging to the Way, he could bring them as prisoners to Jerusalem.

“Observe, (1.) The Christians are here said to be those of this way; those of the way, so it is in the original.”

He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?”

“He speaks to him as to one in imminent danger, at the pit's brink, and just ready to drop in: " Saul, Saul, dost thou know whither thou art going, or what thou art doing?" [2.]”

He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?”

“He is designed not only to be a Christian, but to be a minister, an apostle, a great apostle, and therefore he must thus be cast down. Note, Those whom Christ designs for the greatest honours are commonly first laid low.”

“Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

“Note, A serious desire to be instructed by Christ in the way of salvation is an evidence of a good work begun in the soul. Or, [2.] As a sincere resignation of himself to the direction and government of the Lord Jesus.”

The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless. They heard the voice but did not see anyone.

“No external means will of themselves work a change in the soul, without the Spirit and grace of God, which distinguish between some and others; among these that journeyed together, one is taken, and the others left.”

Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could not see a thing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus.

“It was not so much this glaring light that, by dazzling his eyes, had dimmed them--Nimium sensibile lædit sensum; for then those with him would have lost their sight too; but it was a sight of Christ, whom the rest saw not, that had this…”

In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord spoke to him in a vision, “Ananias!” “Here I am, Lord,” he answered.

“Note, Christ very well knows where to find out those that are his, in their distresses: when their relations, it may be, know not what is become of them, they have a friend in heaven, that knows in what street, in what house, nay, and…”

In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.”

“He had, in prayer, spread the misery of his own case before God, and God presently manifests himself and the kind intentions of his grace to him; and it is very encouraging to know God's thoughts to us-ward. [2.]”

But Ananias answered, “Lord, many people have told me about this man and all the harm he has done to Your saints in Jerusalem.

“Not, "Therefore I do not owe him so much service. Why should I do him a kindness who has done and designed us so much unkindness?"”

But Ananias answered, “Lord, many people have told me about this man and all the harm he has done to Your saints in Jerusalem.

“Note, It is to be valued as a signal token of the divine favour if God, either by the inward operations of his grace or the outward occurrences of his providence, prevent us from prosecuting and executing a sinful purpose, 1 Sam. xxv.”

“Go!” said the Lord. “This man is My chosen instrument to carry My name before the Gentiles and their kings, and before the people of Israel.

“He is designed, (1.) For eminent services: He is to bear my name before the Gentiles, is to be the apostle of the Gentiles, and to carry the gospel to heathen nations.”

I will show him how much he must suffer for My name.”

“Saul's sufferings for Christ shall redound so much to the honour of Christ and the service of the church, shall be so balanced with spiritual comforts and recompensed with eternal glories, that it is no discouragement to him to be told how great things he…”

So Ananias went to the house, and when he arrived, he placed his hands on Saul.

“At the word of Ananias, Saul was discharged from his confinement by the restoring of his sight; for Christ's commission to open the prison to those that were bound ( Isa. lxi.”

At that instant, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and his sight was restored. He got up and was baptized,

“(2.) In Saul's subjection to Christ: He was baptized, and thereby submitted to the government of Christ, and cast himself upon the grace of Christ.”

But Saul was empowered all the more, and he confounded the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Christ.

“22 But Saul increased the more in strength, and confounded the Jews which dwelt at Damascus, proving that this is very Christ.”

At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was called the Italian Regiment.

“When a Gentile must be pitched upon to receive the gospel first, it is not a Gentile philosopher, much less a Gentile priest (who are bigoted to their notions and worship, and prejudiced against the gospel of Christ), but a Gentile soldier, who is a…”

He and all his household were devout and God-fearing. He gave generously to the people and prayed to God regularly.

“It was about the ninth hour of the day, at three of the clock in the afternoon, which is with us an hour of business and conversation; but then, because it was in the temple the time of offering the evening sacrifice, it was made…”

He explained what had happened and sent them to Joppa.

“Christ had given plain intimations of it when he ordered them to teach all nations; and yet even Peter himself, who knew so much of his Master's mind, could not understand it, till it was here revealed by vision, that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs…”

He saw heaven open and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners.

“It is knit at the four corners, to receive those from all parts of the world that are willing to be added to it; and to retain and keep those safe that are taken into it, that they may not fall out; and in this…”

It contained all kinds of four-footed animals and reptiles of the earth, as well as birds of the air.

“What he did he did in that faith, and was accepted of God in it; for the Gentiles, to whom the law of Moses came, were not obliged to become circumcised Jews, as those to whom the gospel of Christ comes are to become baptized…”