Acts 22:12

And one Ananias, a devout man according to the law, having a good report of all the Jews which dwelt there,

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(12) A devout man according to the law.—In Acts 9:10, Ananias is simply described as “a disciple.” The special description here was obviously given with a view to conciliate those who were listening to the speech. One, such as Ananias was, was not likely to have connected himself with a profane blasphemer, nor to have received the converted persecutor except on evidence that the change had come from God. St. Paul naturally confines himself to what came within his own experience, and does not dwell on the vision which had been seen by Ananias.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

22:12-21 The apostle goes on to relate how he was confirmed in the change he had made. The Lord having chosen the sinner, that he should know his will, he is humbled, enlightened, and brought to the knowledge of Christ and his blessed gospel. Christ is here called that Just One; for he is Jesus Christ the righteous. Those whom God has chosen to know his will, must look to Jesus, for by him God has made known his good-will to us. The great gospel privilege, sealed to us by baptism, is the pardon of sins. Be baptized, and wash away thy sins; that is, receive the comfort of the pardon of thy sins in and through Jesus Christ, and lay hold on his righteousness for that purpose; and receive power against sin, for the mortifying of thy corruptions. Be baptized, and rest not in the sign, but make sure of the thing signified, the putting away of the filth of sin. The great gospel duty, to which by our baptism we are bound, is, to seek for the pardon of our sins in Christ's name, and in dependence on him and his righteousness. God appoints his labourers their day and their place, and it is fit they should follow his appointment, though it may cross their own will. Providence contrives better for us than we do for ourselves; we must refer ourselves to God's guidance. If Christ send any one, his Spirit shall go along with him, and give him to see the fruit of his labours. But nothing can reconcile man's heart to the gospel, except the special grace of God.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

See the notes on Acts 9:17-18.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

12. Ananias, a devout man, according to the law, having a good report of all the Jews which dwelt there—One would not know from this description of Ananias that he was a Christian at all, the apostles object being to hold him up as unexceptionable, even to the most rigid Jews.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

According to the law; this is added to distinguish him from a proselyte, and to let them know that he had received the gospel, not from a convert out of Gentilism, (who though they admitted, yet they had a greater jealousy over, and less kindness for), but from one like unto themselves in all things.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And one Ananias, a devout man according to the law,.... The Alexandrian copy, and Vulgate Latin version, read only, "a man according to the law"; one whose walk, life, and conversation, were agreeable to it: a strict observer of the law of Moses, both moral and ceremonial: he not only lived a holy life and conversation, according to the moral law, but he religiously and devoutly attended to the rituals of the ceremonial law; and this part of his character the apostle chose to mention, as what would recommend him to the notice of the Jews he now addressed: for though he was a disciple, a believer in Christ, yet as many of the believing Jews did, so he strictly observed the rituals of the law. The Ethiopic version adds, "who was of the apostles"; one of that number, and in that office, which is nowhere said that he was; and had he, it would not have been agreeable to the apostle's design to have mentioned it; and he is said to be one of the seventy disciples, and bishop or pastor of the church at Damascus; See Gill on Luke 10:1. Of this Ananias, his name and character; see Gill on Acts 9:10.

Having a good report of all the Jews that dwelt there: that is, at Damascus, as the Ethiopic version reads; and so do the Complutensian edition, the Alexandrian copy, and several other copies; for though he was a Christian, yet being not only a man of an unblemished life and conversation, but zealous and devout in the observance of the ceremonial law, was very much interested in the affections and esteem of the Jews.

Geneva Study Bible

And one Ananias, a devout man according to the law, having a good report of all the Jews which dwelt there,

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

Acts 22:12-15. But Ananias, a religious man according to the law, attested (praised, comp. Acts 10:22, Acts 6:3) by all the Jews resident (in Damascus), thus a mediator, neither hostile to the law nor unknown!

ἀνάβλεψον … ἀνέβλεψα εἰς αὐτόν] ἀναβλέπειν, which may signify as well to look up, as also visum recuperare (see on John 9:11, and Fritzsche, ad Marc. p. 328), has here (it is otherwise in Acts 9:17-18) the former meaning, which is evident from εἰς αὐτόν: look up! and at the same hour I looked up to him. We are to conceive the apostle as sitting there blind with closed eyelids, and Ananias standing before him.

προεχειρ.] has appointed thee thereto. See on Acts 3:20; comp. Acts 26:16.

τὸν δίκαιον] Jesus, on whom, as the righteous (2 Corinthians 5:21), the divine will to save (τὸ θέλημα αὐτοῦ) was based. Comp. Acts 3:14, Acts 7:52.

πρὸς πάντ. ἀνθρ.] Direction of the ἔσῃ μάρτ., as in Acts 13:31 : to all men[135]

[135] That is, according to the popular expression: before all the world. Frequently so in Isocrates. See Bremi, ad Panegyr. 23, p. 28. But the universal destination of the apostle is implied therein. Comp. ver. 21.

Expositor's Greek Testament

Acts 22:12. Ἀναν., Acts 9:10. The description is added, ἀνὴρ εὐ. Ἰ., manifestly fitting before a Jewish audience, and a proof that the brother who came to Saul was no law-breaker, Lewin, St. Paul, ii., 146. On the reading εὐλαβής, cf. Acts 2:5.—τῶν κατοικ.: seems to imply that Ananias had dwelt for some time in Damascus, 9.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

12. Ananias, a devout man according to the law, &c.] The Apostle neglects nothing in his address which can conciliate his audience, and so he tells them that the messenger whom God sent to him was “well reported of by all the Jews that dwelt in Damascus.” (For Ananias see note on Acts 9:10.) The hostility towards Christians, which was so strong in Jerusalem, had not at the time of St Paul’s conversion manifested itself so greatly in Damascus, since Ananias “a disciple” was still in good repute with the Jews there.

Bengel's Gnomen

Acts 22:12. Κατοικούντων, who dwelt) Understand there, as in ch. Acts 13:1, τὴν οὖσαν ἐκκλησίαν, “the church which was there.” They knew Ananias well. These Jews that dwelt (there) may seem to be put in opposition to the Jews οἱ περιερχόμενοι, who wandered about, “vagabond,” ch. Acts 19:13.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 12. - Well reported of by for having a good report of, A.V.; that for which, A.V. Well reported of (μαρτυρούμενος); see Acts 6:3, note. Acts 22:12

Vincent's Word Studies

A devout man, etc

In Acts 9:10, he is called a disciple. Paul here "affirms that he was not introduced to Christianity by an opponent of Judaism, but by a strict Jew" (Gloag).