Acts 8:10

10 All of them, from the least to the greatest, listened to him eagerly, saying, "This man is the power of God that is called Great."

Acts 8:10 Meaning and Commentary

Acts 8:10

To whom they all gave heed
Were not only attentive to the strange things he did, and to the wonderful things he gave out concerning himself; but they believed what he said and did as real things, and were obedient to him: and that

from the least to the greatest;
which does not so much respect age, though the Ethiopic version renders it, "from the younger of them to the eldest of them", as state and condition; persons of every rank and quality, high and low, rich and poor, magistrates and subjects, from the meanest to the greatest of them; and so the Syriac version renders it, "both great", or "noble, and mean"; he drew the attention, and commanded the regard, both of princes and peasants, of the learned and unlearned, of the great men, and of the common people, who one and all wondered at him, and applauded him:

saying, this man is the great power of God;
or as the Alexandrian copy and some others, and the Vulgate Latin version read, "this is the power of God which is called great"; they took him for the supreme Deity, or as Justin Martyr F8 expresses it, they accounted him the first, or chief God, or they looked upon him to be the Messiah, "the great power of God": as the Syriac version renders it; and who should be great, and called the Son of the Highest, ( Luke 1:32 ) .


FOOTNOTES:

F8 Ut supra. (Apolg. 2. p. 69.)

Acts 8:10 In-Context

8 So there was great joy in that city.
9 Now a certain man named Simon had previously practiced magic in the city and amazed the people of Samaria, saying that he was someone great.
10 All of them, from the least to the greatest, listened to him eagerly, saying, "This man is the power of God that is called Great."
11 And they listened eagerly to him because for a long time he had amazed them with his magic.
12 But when they believed Philip, who was proclaiming the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.