to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those sanctified by faith in Me.’
18. That thou mayest open their eyes. Paul, in taking to himself that which is proper to God, doth seem to exalt himself too high. For we know that it is the Holy Ghost alone which doth lighten the eyes. We know that Christ is the only Redeemer which doth deliver us from the tyranny of Satan.
Paul was stopped dead in his tracks by a power from heaven that no earthly authority could match, even one armed with the full weight of the chief priests behind it. A vision and a voice together seized him, not by force of men, but by divine energy, and turned the persecutor into a preacher. What resistance can stand against God?
AI summary
Commenting on Acts 26:12-23
To open their eyes,.... The eyes of their understanding, which were shut, and darkened, and blind: one copy reads, "the eyes of the blind"; and the Ethiopic version renders it, "the eyes of their heart"; and to have them opened, is to have them enlightened, to see their lost state and condition by nature, the exceeding sinfulness of sin, the plague of their own hearts...