<p>7:35 <em>And his ears were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was loosed, and he spoke plainly</em>- Again, the language of the day is used; the idea that dumb people were literally tongue-tied is alluded to. The more essential idea is that the Lord through His word, His saliva, His spirit, had broken the ties that bind, that seem unmoveable. &quot;Plainly&quot;, <em>orthos</em>, literally means 'correctly, rightly'. The miracle worked upon the man's mind by the Lord's spirit and word was to result in right speaking and action from then onwards in the man's life. We are reminded of 2 Cor. 3:12: &quot;Seeing then that we have such hope, we have great plainness of speech&quot;. The bold, plain speaking of the disciples in the early chapters of Acts is an example of how this works out in practice in human life.</p>