Acts 9:18

Scales. Gr. lepides, used by Hippocrates as a technical term for a disease of the eye. Inasmuch as Saul’s blindness was the result of a supernatural manifestation, it is fruitless to attempt to identify his affliction precisely in modern medical terminology. However, it is understandable that Luke would use a medical term to describe Saul’s condition.

He received sight. Literally, “he looked up,” meaning, he recovered his sight.

Forthwith. Textual evidence attests (cf. p. 10) the omission of this word. That the cure was instantaneous, however, is clear from the word “immediately.”

Baptized. The fuller account in ch. 22:16 shows that Ananias exhorted Saul to engage in the rite. It is clear that baptism was regarded as a condition for admission into the church (see on Matt. 3:6; Acts 22:16). No visions and revelations of the Lord, no intensity of personal conviction, exempted Saul from it. The baptism would probably be conducted in either the Abana or the Pharpar river, mentioned in the narrative of Naaman (2 Kings 5:8-14). The rite was administered by Ananias, as Christ’s representative (AA 122).