Acts 8

Acts 8 (New International Version)


1 And Saul approved of their killing him.
The Church Persecuted and Scattered
On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. 2 Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. 3 But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison.
Philip in Samaria
4 Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went. 5 Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah there. 6 When the crowds heard Philip and saw the signs he performed, they all paid close attention to what he said. 7 For with shrieks, impure spirits came out of many, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. 8 So there was great joy in that city.
Simon the Sorcerer
9 Now for some time a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great, 10 and all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, “This man is rightly called the Great Power of God.” 11 They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his sorcery. 12 But when they believed Philip as he proclaimed the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. 13 Simon himself believed and was baptized. And he followed Philip everywhere, astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw.

14 When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to Samaria. 15 When they arrived, they prayed for the new believers there that they might receive the Holy Spirit, 16 because the Holy Spirit had not yet come on any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

18 When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money 19 and said, “Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.”

20 Peter answered: “May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! 21 You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God. 22 Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord in the hope that he may forgive you for having such a thought in your heart. 23 For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin.”

24 Then Simon answered, “Pray to the Lord for me so that nothing you have said may happen to me.”

25 After they had further proclaimed the word of the Lord and testified about Jesus, Peter and John returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many Samaritan villages.
Philip and the Ethiopian
26 Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” 27 So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of the Kandake (which means “queen of the Ethiopians”). This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, 28 and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the Book of Isaiah the prophet. 29 The Spirit told Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.”

30 Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked.

31 “How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.

32 This is the passage of Scripture the eunuch was reading:

“He was led like a sheep to the slaughter,
and as a lamb before its shearer is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
33 In his humiliation he was deprived of justice.
Who can speak of his descendants?
For his life was taken from the earth.”

34 The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?” 35 Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.

36 As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptized?” [37] 38 And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him. 39 When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing. 40 Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and traveled about, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea.




Commentary/Significant points of discussion:

• [See v.1] 'giving approval to his death'- Saul, who we later come to know as Paul, had no hesitation in persecuting Stephen or any other Christian
  
• 'a great persecution broke out'- Stephen's death as a martyr was just the beginning of the persecution of the early Christians; a much greater persecution was coming now
  
• 'all...were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria'- except for the apostles who stay behind, all the Christians in Jerusalem are forced to flee
  
• [See v.2] 'Godly men...mourned deeply for him'- not all the Israelites had been opposed to Stephen and because of his death some of them are repenting now
  
• [See v.3] 'Saul began to destroy the church'- Saul was the ringleader in the persecution of the church, mercilessly attacking Christians
  
• [See v.4] 'Those who had been scattered preached the word'- remember that Jesus had told his followers earlier to spread the word not just in Jerusalem but 'in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth' [Acts 1:8]; they are following his command now but not without a wake-up call from God
  
• As Christians do we often get too comfortable in our situations that God has to literally wake us up by turning up the heat of the situation (persecution) and making us aware of what needs to be done?
  
• One could look at Stephen's act of martyrdom and see that it had little effect but to increase opposition against the church; yet it was his very act of courageousness and bravery that woke up the church to spread the gospel
  
• God is a Sovereign God who does not need the obedience of man to accomplish His purposes; He can use both those who oppose Him and the faithful, to His glory
  
• [See v.5] 'Philip went down to a city in Samaria'- Philip had been one of the seven men appointed to serve the church and its widows back in Acts 6; he was one of those forced to flee Jerusalem in the face of persecution
  
• [See v.6] 'the crowds...paid close attention to what he said'- the hand of God was clearly evident in Philip's preaching of the gospel as 'miraculous signs' such as the casting out of demons and healing of paralytics were performed by God's power
  
• After the Israelites had rejected God's offer of salvation through Jesus Christ, God was now extending this offer to the Samaritans; ironically, the Samaritans were despised by the Israelites who considered them to be half-breeds (intermarriage of pagans and lower class Israelites) who stained the pure worship of God
  
• It was Jesus who had broken down this wall of hostility by speaking with the Samaritan woman at the well; Jesus had sown a seed in Samaria- his offer of "living water" to the woman was a foreshadowing of Philip's nurturing of that seed through preaching of the word which would lead to a great revival of the Samaritans
  
• [See v.8] 'there was great joy'- the fruit of Philip's preaching of the word was evident in the joy of the Samaritans; Philip was now reaping the harvest of what Jesus had planted
  
• [See v.9] 'a man named Simon had practiced sorcery'- before this great revival in Samaria, a magician named Simon had deceived many people into thinking that he was literally a god to be worshipped, i.e. 'the divine power known as the Great Power' [v.10]
  
• But Simon's magic powers had nothing to do with God or being Godly; the power of magic doesn't come from God but from Satan, e.g. recall in the Old Testament when the Pharaoh's magicians performed the same miracles as those done by God until God did something they did not have the power to do
  
• Magic is an occult sin because it seeks power from somewhere else other than God
  
• [See v.12] 'But when they believed Philip as he preached...they were baptized'- the power of Simon's magic was nothing compared to the real power of God manifested through Philip in miraculous healings and exorcisms throughout Samaria
  
• Even 'Simon himself believed and was baptized' [v.13] and became a follower of Philip and his ministry
  
• [See v.14] 'Samaria had accepted the word of God'- before when the people had witnessed Simon's magic, they had focused on man; now, as they witnessed the miracles which God performed through Philip, they became focused on the message , i.e. 'the word of God'
  
• 'they sent Peter and John to them'- this fulfilled what Jesus said to Peter in Matthew 16:19, '19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven'; Peter and John are now welcoming the Samaritans, who had previously been excluded from being part of God's people, into the kingdom of Heaven
  
• [See v.17] 'placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit'- the laying on of hands by Peter and John as they pray for the Samaritans seems to be of particular importance as if the actual act of touching the person who is receiving symbolizes the transfer of God's gift being the Holy Spirit (in the Old Testament the laying on of hands on the sacrificial animal symbolized the transfer of the Israelites' sins and thus was a punishment, not a gift)
  
• The empowerment and filling of the Holy Spirit is received through the laying on of hands as prayer is offered, in accordance with 2 Timothy 1:6, '6 For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands.'
  
• [See v.18] 'When Simon saw that the Spirit was given...he offered them money'- Simon wants to buy the power of God and thus have authority over the Holy Spirit; he wants to play God!
  
• This makes us wonder if Simon believed and followed Philip and his ministry with a genuine heart of faith or if he simply was trying to appear to the people as doing the "right" thing; no matter how much a person appears outwardly to be faithful, deep down in the secret place of their heart they may still not have submitted to Jesus Christ
  
• Simon clearly had not repented of his old ways of practicing magic which got him hooked on possessing powers that would give him much fame and acclaim; his entire focus was on having power for personal gain and not on serving others which would cost him
  
• A Christ-centered life is reflected by complete submission to the power of the Holy Spirit which in turn builds up gifts that benefit others
  
• Simon had followed Philip and his ministry because he was 'astonished by the great signs and miracles' [v.13]; do we as Christians follow certain ministries because we are taken back more by their power than the message they are presenting ?
  
• [See v.20] 'May your money perish with you'- Peter discerns that Simon is 'full of bitterness and captive to sin' [v.22] and tells him the equivalent of "to Hell with you and your money", implying that Simon was on his way to hell
  
• 'you thought you could buy the gift of God with money'- Peter doesn't rebuke Simon for his craving of power and prestige but rather for his faulty assumption behind it all which was that one could buy the grace of God; no man is worthy nor deserving of God's grace which is given unconditionally- it is God's gift
  
• Simon's sin is turning away from the grace of God and seeking instead to manipulate God (to give him his desires), who is sovereign; it amounted to disobedience towards God's new covenant of grace (on the scale of seriousness for sins, think of how the Israelites in the old Testament disobeyed God's commands and were cursed as a result)
  
• The purpose of Peter's rebuke was to turn Simon towards repentance, prayer and righteousness so that he may be saved
  
• [See v.24] 'Pray to the Lord for me'- instead of humbling his own heart before God, Simon asks Peter to humble his heart for him; Simon seems unwilling to go directly to God for forgiveness
  
• 'nothing you have said may happen to me'- Simon is more concerned with the consequences of his sin than the sin he has committed; apparently he thinks he didn't do much wrong!
  
• How many Christians consider themselves sinners but do not recognize their sins ? If we can't identify our sins against God then how can we repent from our sins ?
  
• [See v.26] 'an angel of the Lord said to Philip'- just as Philip and his ministry is flourishing and prospering in Samaria, God commands him to go to 'the desert road'
  
• It seems like a foolish thing to do to leave a successful ministry and to go out in the desert in the middle of nowhere but Philip obeys God's command and goes; how willing are we to obey God when it doesn't seem to make any sense ? How often do we rationalize our disobedience according to our fears ? (e.g. "I'm not sure it's right for me")
  
• [See v.27] 'he met an Ethiopian eunuch'- this Ethiopian man was accomplished and respected yet he seemed to be seeking spiritual answers and he was obviously hungry for God's word, 'reading the book of Isaiah the prophet' [v.28] for which he must have shelled out quite a bit of money
  
• 'This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship'- how strange that this man had not been saved in Jerusalem; God's timing is mysterious but there is a purpose to it all!
  
• [See v.29] 'The Spirit told Philip'- the Holy Spirit speaks to Philip and gives him specific directions to go up to the chariot
  
• [See v.30] 'heard the man reading'- at this moment Philip knows that God had arranged this meeting; God had prepared this man's heart to be open to the preaching of the gospel
  
• After reading the prophecies of Isaiah concerning the Messiah, the eunuch asks Philip 'who is the prophet talking about' [v.34] and Philip 'told him the good news about Jesus' [v.35]
  
• [See v.38] 'Philip baptized him'- the emphasis here is on baptism being an important part of being a believer
  
• [See v.39] 'Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away'- through the Holy Spirit Philip is supernaturally transported to Azotus which was about 20 miles or so away
  
• 'went on his way rejoicing'- the eunuch's great joy is evidence of his salvation; his faith was firmly rooted in God despite Philip's departure