Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Acts 9:10

ἦν δέ τις μαθητὴς … Ἀνανίας. Now there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias. Of this disciple we have no further mention in Holy Writ except in chap. Acts 22:12, where St Paul describes him as ‘a devout man according to the Law, having a good report of all the Jews which dwelt’ at Damascus. Whether he had become a Christian during the life of Jesus, or was among the Jewish converts on the Day of Pentecost or at some subsequent time, and had been forced to flee from Jerusalem by the persecution which followed on the death of Stephen, we are not told, but we can gather, from the words which he employs in expressing his reluctance to visit Saul, that he had much and trustworthy communication still with the Holy City, for he knows both of the havock which the persecutor has caused, and of the purpose of his mission to Damascus. On the name Ananias see Acts 5:1, note.

On the sending of Ananias Chrysostom asks τί δήποτε οὐδένα τῶν κορυφαίων�; and answers the question thus: ὅτι οὐκ ἐχρῆν δι' ἀνθρώπων ἐνάγεσθαι�' αὐτοῦ τοῦ χριστοῦ· ἑπεὶ καὶ οὖτος ἐδίδαξεν μὲν αὐτὸν οὐδέν ἐβάπτισε δὲ μόνον.

ἐν ὁράματι, in a vision. As Saul had been prepared for the visit by a vision, so. Ananias is by a vision instructed to go to him. Dean Howson’s remarks (Life and Epistles of St Paul, I. 101) on this preparation and its similarity to the preparation of Peter and Cornelius deserve to be dwelt on. ‘The simultaneous preparation of the hearts of Ananias and Saul, and the simultaneous preparation of those of Peter and Cornelius—the questioning and hesitation of Peter and the questioning and hesitation of Ananias—the one doubting whether he might make friendship with the Gentiles, the other doubting whether he might approach the enemy of the Church—the unhesitating obedience of each when the Divine will was made clearly known—the state of mind in which both the Pharisee and the Centurion were found—each waiting to see what the Lord would say unto them—this close analogy will not be forgotten by those who reverently read the two consecutive Chapter s, in which the baptism of Saul and the baptism of Cornelius are narrated in the Acts of the Apostles.’ When so much criticism has been expended to shew that the Acts is a work of fiction written at a late period to minimize certain differences supposed to exist between the teaching of St Paul and that of St Peter, it is well to know that others have seen, in these undoubted analogies, proofs of the working of a God who is ever the same, and who would have all men to be saved through Jesus Christ.

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Acts 9:10

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