Acts 13:12

13:12 Then when the proconsul ¹  saw what had happened, he believed, ²  because he was greatly astounded ³  at the teaching about ⁴  the Lord.

Acts 8:13

8:13 Even Simon himself believed, and after he was baptized, he stayed close to ⁵  Philip constantly, and when he saw the signs and great miracles that were occurring, he was amazed. ⁶ 

Acts 18:8

18:8 Crispus, the president of the synagogue, ⁷  believed in the Lord together with his entire household, and many of the Corinthians who heard about it ⁸  believed and were baptized.

[13:12]  ¹ sn See the note on proconsul in v. 8.

[13:12]  ² sn He believed. The faith of the proconsul in the face of Jewish opposition is a theme of the rest of Acts. Paul has indeed become “a light to the Gentiles” (Acts 13:47).

[13:12]  ³ tn The translation “greatly astounded” for ἐκπλησσόμενος (ekplhssomeno") is given by L&N 25.219.

[13:12]  ⁴ tn Grk “of,” but this could give the impression the Lord himself had done the teaching (a subjective genitive) when actually the Lord was the object of the teaching (an objective genitive).

[8:13]  ⁵ tn Or “he kept close company with.”

[8:13]  ⁶ sn He was amazed. Now Simon, the one who amazed others, is himself amazed, showing the superiority of Philip’s connection to God. Christ is better than anything the culture has to offer.

[18:8]  ⁹ tn That is, “the official in charge of the synagogue”; ἀρχισυνάγωγος (arcisunagwgo") refers to the “leader/president of a synagogue” (so BDAG 139 s.v. and L&N 53.93).

[18:8]  ¹⁰ tn Or “who heard him,” or “who heard Paul.” The ambiguity here results from the tendency of Greek to omit direct objects, which must be supplied from the context. The problem is that no less than three different ones may be supplied here: (1) “him,” referring to Crispus, but this is not likely because there is no indication in the context that Crispus began to speak out about the Lord; this is certainly possible and even likely, but more than the text here affirms; (2) “Paul,” who had been speaking in the synagogue and presumably, now that he had moved to Titius Justus’ house, continued speaking to the Gentiles; or (3) “about it,” that is, the Corinthians who heard about Crispus’ conversion became believers. In the immediate context this last is most probable, since the two incidents are juxtaposed. Other, less obvious direct objects could also be supplied, such as “heard the word of God,” “heard the word of the Lord,” etc., but none of these are obvious in the immediate context.