Commentaries:
Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown
To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light—rather, "that they may turn" (as in Acts 26:20), that is, as the effect of their eyes being opened. The whole passage leans upon Isaiah 61:1 (Luke 4:18).
and from the power of Satan—Note the connection here between being "turned from darkness" and "from the power of Satan," whose whole power over men lies in keeping them in the dark: hence he is called "the ruler of the darkness of this world." See on II Corinthians 4:4.
that they may receive forgiveness . . . and inheritance among the sanctified by faith that is in me—Note: Faith is here made the instrument of salvation at once in its first stage, forgiveness, and its last, admission to the home of the sanctified; and the faith which introduces the soul to all this is emphatically declared by the glorified Redeemer to rest upon Himself—"FAITH, even THAT WHICH IS IN ME." And who that believes this can refrain from casting his crown before Him or resist offering Him supreme worship?
But rise, etc.—Here the apostle appears to condense into one statement various sayings of his Lord to him in visions at different times, in order to present at one view the grandeur of the commission with which his Master had clothed him [ALFORD].
a minister . . . both of these things which thou hast seen—putting him on a footing with those "eye-witnesses and ministers of the word" mentioned in Luke 1:2.
and of those in which I will appear to thee—referring to visions he was thereafter to be favored with; such as Acts 18:9-10; Acts 22:17-21; Acts 23:11; II Corinthians 12:1-10, etc. (Galatians 1:12).
Other Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown entries containing Acts 26:18:
Romans 1:1
Romans 10:14-15
Galatians 1:1
Ephesians 1:11
Ephesians 2:2
Ephesians 2:3
Ephesians 4:18
Colossians 1:12
1 Timothy 1:20
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