The False Prophet Elymas Bar-Jesus
(Based on a message preached at New Hope Baptist Church near Fulton, MO on Sunday evening, 3-16-2025. This is not an exact transcription.)
(Full disclosure: Sermon Central has an outline of mine on this passage, but this is an edited sermon and not just an outline,)
Introduction: Just as in the Old Testament, there were false prophets mentioned in the New. Unlike most of the Old Testament false prophets, this man was a Jew who lived on Cyprus. He tried his best to keep a prominent man from hearing and believing the Gospel!
The Prolog
Text: Acts 13:1-3, KJV: 1 Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. 2 As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. 3 And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.
The immediate context should actually go back to chapter 11 when a spiritual awakening took place in Antioch. Luke (gladly?) relates how people who weren’t even from Jerusalem took the Gospel to Antioch, preached, and won many to faith in Christ! The apostles sent Barnabas to Antioch and he was overjoyed with what was taking place! He, then, went to Tarsus to find Saul, and brought him to Antioch, as well. Take a look at the last half of Acts 11 and you just find some words of encouragement!
Now, at a later time, Saul and Barnabas are back at Antioch along with John Mark, the nephew of Barnabas. While they and several others are there, “ministering to the Lord and fasting”, they heard the Holy Spirit tell them directly to “separate Barnabas and Saul for Me so that I may send them for the work I have for them (paraphrased)”. The group then fasted and prayed some more, finally laying their hands on them and sending them away.
They may not have known it, but this commission would be the start of Barnabas’ and Saul’s first missionary journey!
1 A Walk Across the Island
Text, Acts 13:4-5, KJV: 4 So they, being sent forth by the Holy Ghost, departed unto Seleucia; and from thence they sailed to Cyprus. 5 And when they were at Salamis, they preached the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews: and they had also John to their minister.
Cyprus is an island in the Mediterranean Sea, about 50-60 miles from Israel’s coastline. Cyprus has an area of about 3600 square miles and is the second largest island in the Mediterranean Sea (per https://bibleatlas.org/cyprus.htm). Salamis is at the eastern edge of the island, under the extension of land that looks like one of West Virginia’s panhandles!
My sister taught at one of the universities on the island some years back and loves to regale me with things she’s seen, and I haven’t! “Hey, brother, have you seen Barnabas’ house? I have! And it’s a beaut!” Well, I have to give her credit for being appointed as a lecturer or instructor in a foreign university. And, she’s my sister so I do have to love her (I then muttered kind of sotto voce, “if I have to” and the congregation laughed out loud!).
By the way, I think she would have liked Cyprus even more if they had moved enough dirt to make another panhandle so it looked more like West Virginia. That way she wouldn’t have been so homesick (she never did admit that to me, though)!
Now of course it’s anybody’s guess what Cyprus looked like when Saul, Barnabas, and John Mark arrived. We do have a hint that there was a strong Jewish presence in Salamis, as Luke tells us that there were “synagogues (plural)” at that location. I’ve heard from several teachers and guest speakers that at a minimum there had to be at least 10 practicing/observant Jewish families in order to establish a synagogue.
The Lord did give them an advantage, as Barnabas had originally come from Cyprus, and was a Levite as well (Acts 4:36). It’s possible that he may have known some of the very people who he and Saul were preaching to. Saul, being from Tarsus originally, living in Jerusalem, and returning to Tarsus, may have known only a few of these Cypriots (the term for a resident of Cyprus per https://www.dictionary.com/browse/cypriot). Then again, these two may have compared notes with men of Cyprus who had come to Antioch at an earlier time (Acts 11:19-20). At any rate, the Lord had provided them with an open door and they seemed to take advantage of that opportunity!
We’re not told how long they stayed there and shared the Gospel but we do know that eventually they did leave. These men left Salamis in the east and headed for the other, western, end of the island. I’ve never discovered how many other towns, cities, and villages were on the island in those days, but I’m sure that if there was an opportunity to share the Gospel, these men did so as they took that walk across the island.
Again, how many times they were able to share the Good News about Jesus is unknown, but they were about to speak with two people with very different interests, indeed!
2 A Witness to an official
Text, Acts 13:6-7, KJV: 6 And when they had gone through the isle unto Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Barjesus: 7 Which was with the deputy of the country, Sergius Paulus, a prudent man; who called for Barnabas and Saul, and desired to hear the word of God.
Barnabas and Saul had landed at Salamis, on the east coast of Cyprus, and then they headed west across the island. Paphos was at the west coast and according to the biblehub.org article mentioned earlier, had a temple dedicated to Aphrodite/Venus. There were probably other pagan temples, as well,
Now after walking across the island, they met two very different people. The first was a Jewish false prophet, who was also a sorcerer, named Bar-Jesus (son of Jesus or Joshua).
This man seemed to have a good bit of control over the people, even though the Old Testament definitely condemned false prophets (see Deuteronomy 13:1-3 and 18:20 plus some of the words of the LORD to Jeremiah 14:13-16 and all of chapter 23). How Bar-Jesus was able to hold and keep control is a mystery to me but—that’s how it was before Barnabas and Saul showed up.
And perhaps even worse than being a false prophet, Bar-Jesus was also a “sorcerer” as translated in the KJV. The literal word is “magos” (https://biblehub.com/greek/3097.htm), used also of the “wise men” who came from the East to visit the Christ-child (Matthew 2). Whether or not Bar-Jesus actually used magic or the black arts to influence people isn’t stated—after all, the same word is used of Simon of Samaria, also a “magos”, who had control over the people where he lived (Acts 8).
What is definitely certain is that he, Bar-Jesus, was doing his best to keep the gospel hidden from a man who was interested, as Luke relates in the next passage. That man, named Sergius Paulus, was the “deputy (KJV)” or proconsul (https://biblehub.com/text/acts/13-7.htm), of Cyprus; to say the least, a man of high rank.
Luke adds that Sergius Paulus was a “prudent” man. Prudent was another word for intelligent when the KJV was translated (https://biblehub.com/greek/4908.htm) so he had both high rank and high intelligence. Very few people in the Bible were called intelligent making this another point in his favor—humanly speaking.
This “intelligence” could of course be used for good or for evil and it seems Sergius Paulus was doing his best to govern Cyprus in an intelligent, honest, manner. Luke does not mention any troubles that Barnabas and Saul encountered while on the island. Even so, intelligence is not enough to qualify any person for Heaven.
What is required for entry into Heaven is faith in the work of Christ! The early chapters of Acts show how the Apostles and, later, others, used the Bible of their day, the Old Testament of our day, to prove Jesus was exactly Who He said He was. And many believed!
We may never know how or why Sergius Paulus asked to hear Barnabas and Saul. Clearly, they were proclaiming a message that was vastly different from the Greek of Roman religions of the day (i.e., worshiping idols) and which was different from the message of Judaism. Even so, I’m sure that he, they, and many other believers were glad that he did want to hear the Word of God!
Remember the Ethiopian eunuch was won to faith in Christ as Philip preached the Word, starting in Isaiah 53 (Acts 8). Saul, later Paul, would later write that “faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God (Romans 10:17).”
What happened next is something nobody suspected!
3 A Warning to those who interfere with hearing the Gospel
Text. Acts 13:8-12, KJV: 8 But Elymas the sorcerer (for so is his name by interpretation) withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith. 9 Then Saul, (who also is called Paul,) filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him, 10 And said, O full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord? 11 And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season. And immediately there fell on him a mist and a darkness; and he went about seeking some to lead him by the hand. 12 Then the deputy, when he saw what was done, believed, being astonished at the doctrine of the Lord.
Luke adds that the sorcerer/false prophet Bar-Jesus was also named “Elymas”. Dr. Barnes noted that “Elymas is the interpretation, not of the name Bar-jesus, but of the word rendered ‘the sorcerer.’ It is an Arabic word, and means the same as Magus. It seems that he was better known by this foreign name than by his own https://biblehub.com/commentaries/barnes/acts/13.htm).”
In addition to all this, Elymas Bar-Jesus tried to “turn away the deputy from the faith”. The literal is even stronger, meaning Elymas was trying to corrupt or distort the faith according to https://biblehub.com/greek/1294.htm. Dr. A. T. Robertson observed that Elymas “withstood” Saul and Barnabas face-to-face (see https://godrules.net/library/robert/robertact13.htm). This is another way in which the Devil uses people to disrupt the works of the Lord,
Saul, though, had had enough. Ordinarily he was a more or less patient man, but there were times when he applied some righteous indignation and just plain got involved. Here is one such case, when the soul of a man was in the balance, and it was not certain whether or not Sergius Paulus would believe or not believe the Gospel. Just as Elymas was determined to keep Paulus under his control, Saul wanted him to yield to the Holy Spirit and believe the Gospel.
And notice the four accusations by Saul against Elymas. First, Saul said Elymas was “full of all subtilty”, meaning “deceit, guile, or treachery (https://biblehub.com/greek/1388.htm)” Elymas had very likely engaged in all of these over the years—including that very moment in time when he stood face to face with Barnabas and Saul!
Saul didn’t stop there. His next charge against Elymas was that Elymas was also full of all mischief! These days, we sometimes think of mischief as a prank, or something that causes “petty annoyance (per https://www.dictionary.com/browse/mischief).
Elymas, though, was doing something a lot worse that pranks or vexing people—he was being unscrupulous (see Robertson’s notes mentioned above). “Slick” might be a contemporary word. He was apparently a man not to be trusted, yet there were a number of people who did!
Then Saul made a play on his Hebrew name, showing “Bar-Jesus” was really the son of the devil! “Jesus” is the Greek form of “Joshua” which means “salvation, deliverance, “Jehovah is Salvation”, etc. per https://biblehub.com/greek/919.htm. Now Saul calls him “huie (a form of huios, Greek word for ‘son’) diabolou”, the Greek word for accuser or slanderer, found online at (https://biblehub.com/greek/1228.htm).
That wasn’t all. Saul—and I can see him, nose to nose with Elymas, pointing a finger at Elymas’ nose, being full of righteous indignation—wrapping up his accusations with this final blast, “You enemy of all righteousness! Will you not cease from perverting the right ways of the Lord?” I wonder if Saul, later Paul, had some of this in mind when he wrote Romans 1? Some of it looks very familiar to me!
Now that Saul had “lowered the boom” or laid out exactly what Elymas was guilty of being and doing, he pronounced a curse on Elymas. “Behold,” Saul exclaimed, “the hand of the Lord is upon you! You will be blind, not seeing the sun for a season!”
No doubt Saul remembered when something very similar occurred to him! Remember Acts 9? That’s the passage where Saul had set out for Damascus, determined to find every believer and follower of Jesus, then take them back to Jerusalem Later, he would admit to doing this, and worse, when he gave his testimony before King Agrippa (Acts 26).
So what happened then? Saul was struck blind (Acts 9:8, 18)! And he stayed blind for several days, until Ananias of Damascus came and laid his hands on Saul. That encounter of being so blind with rage, then to be struck blind and receive sight later, is something I doubt Saul ever forgot even to the end of his days.
But he wasn’t about to let a tool of the Devil have unlimited opportunity to interfere with blocking access to the Gospel. Elymas was struck blind immediately! And even as Saul had sought for someone to lead him by the hand into Damascus, so Elymas looked for people to help him as he was blind. Sadly, Luke doesn’t say that anyone did. At the very least, Elymas Bar-Jesus had time to think and, I hope, repent of what he had done.
In conclusion, we as believers are going to deal with people like Bar-Jesus, who do what they can to keep people away from the Gospel. All we can do is pray, witness, be patient, and trust the Lord to give victory. Remember, Saul only did this once so there’s probably a lesson for us today. I pray all of us will do as the LORD leads to share the Gospel with as many as we can.
Scripture quotations taken from the King James Version of the Bible (KJV)
