“And to him they had regard, because that of long time he had bewitched them with sorceries.”
They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his sorcery - the causation is clear: Simon's 'long time' (hikanos chronos) practice of sorcery has created a dependent following. They follow not out of conviction but out of wonder; the 'amazement' (existēmi) has become a spiritual prison, binding them to Simon's false authority. The contrast with Philip's sign-based proclamation is implicit: Philip's signs point to Christ; Simon's signs point to himself.
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