Note 3 — Chapter XVII · The Heir of Solomon’s Godhead.

This is the genuine sense of the story in Acts xiii. There is no evidence in Paul’s writings that he ever bore the name of Saul. Bar-Jesus has a double meaning,—“Son of Jesus” and “Obstruction of Jesus.” The antithesis may have been suggested by the words of Pilate, in many ancient versions of Matt, xxvii. 16, 17: “Whether of the twain will ye that I release unto you? Jesus Bar Abbas, or Jesus that is called the Christ?” Elymas, commonly used as a proper name, means Wise Man. The word μάγοι denotes Wise Men in Matt. ii. 1, where they bring gifts to the infant Christ, but the same word is made by translators to denote a “sorcerer” when the wise man is opposing Paul! Nobody named Sergius Paulus was known before the Consul of A.D. 94, who must have been long enough dead for this legend to form before it was written.