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Verse 1 of Chapter 8 says, "And Saul was consenting to Stephen's death." The Greek says much more, it intimates that Saul found pleasure in the stoning of Stephen, at least for the moment. Many scholars believe that Paul ordered Luke to put this in his account. It was to show the shame that Paul bore for this event. He later owns himself guilty of the blood of Stephen.
Some did not take pleasure in this event. In other accounts it says that devout men stood in horror and afterwards gathered up the body of Stephen and gave him a Christian burial, probably in the "field of blood", reserved to bury strangers to the Commonwealth of Israel. These devote men showed great courage in doing this. They also showed their belief in the resurrection and the life to come.
Verses 2 and 3 of Chapter 8 tells of the aftermath of the death of Stephen. In them we see several things.
Notice the persecution was raised against the "body of believers", the Church in Jerusalem. Jesus had fore warned them of this and prophesied that where ever the "Word" was preached, there would be persecution. He also prophesied that Jerusalem would soon be too hostile for the believers to stay in. It was during this persecution that many others, besides Stephen, were put to death. In Chapter 21, Paul admits that he put many believers to death and in Chapter 26 he says that he witnessed against many and because of his witness, many were put to death. So it would seem that the chief prosecutor was a young Pharisee by the name of Saul. Saul was just as ambitious and zealous as a prosecutor of Christians as he was, later, a witness for Christ. His aim was to eliminate all evidences of Christ and His followers, dispose of or kill all of its advocates. Notice how he tried to achieve this. He entered every house, breaking down doors, day or night, seeking those who named the name of Jesus. He had spies checking the meeting places or any house that might shelter believers. No one was safe in his own home. He dragged men and women, even children out into the streets without regard to age or handicap. He committed them to prison to await trial where they were charged with blasphemy and then sentenced to be stoned to death. It is believed that those who denied Christ were released, just as some did.
This persecution is looked upon by many as God's way of getting them out of Jerusalem, getting them to take the Gospel to the rest of the world. These early Christians were content to stay in their own little groups and "wait " upon the Second Coming of the Lord which they thought was imminent. Their work in Jerusalem was done, now they were to do as Jesus had commanded them, go out into Judea, Samaria and the uttermost parts of the world.
Notice all were scattered but the Apostles. Why weren't the Apostles scattered?
It is believed that they were directed by the Holy Spirit to remain in Jerusalem.
Why, then, weren't they killed like the others? It is also believed that they
received a special dispensation from God enabling them to escape death and tend to
the needs of those who remained. It would seem sense Jesus had commanded them to
go and make disciples of all men that they would have been the ones that were
scattered, But Matthew Henry suggests that the work done by those who were
scattered was "reckoned" as done by the Apostles as they had been brought to Christ
by the Apostles.
Philip Investigates
["Click here for Acts 8:5-8"]
The remainder of Chapter 8 records for us the events in the life of Philip after the dispersion. We see that the persecution by the Jewish authorities which was designed to do away with the followers of Christ, actually caused them to multiply. Jesus said, "I have come to spread fire on the earth." Have you ever scattered a fire to put it out only to spread it? Verse 4 says, "Those who were scattered, went everywhere preaching the word." They went into Judea, Samaria and Galilee.
Wasn't it strange that they went into Samaria? In Matt. 10:5, Jesus sent the Disciples out, two by two, to preach, but He said to them, do not enter any town in Samaria. No, it wasn't strange, they had gone first to the Jew and were rejected, now they must go to the Gentile, that was what they considered the Samaritans, even though they were actually part Jew. Notice they scattered in "all directions" not staying together, as one might think, for strength and support. They went out preaching the Gospel of Christ.
Our first account is about a man called Philip. This is not Philip, the Apostle, it is Philip, the Deacon, one of the seven men chosen back in Chapter 6 to aid the Apostles in the care of the congregation. Paul says this about Philip in 1st. Tim. 3:13, "He used the office of Deacon well and purchased for himself a good degree and great boldness in the faith." It appears that, at this point, he had advanced to the degree that he was now an evangelists.
Notice where Philip went. He went to the capitol city of Samaria, the city of Samaria. Many believe that this is the same city that Jesus visited in John Chapter 4, where He encountered the woman at the well, then called Sychar or Sychem. As the result of that visit, many Samaritans became believers. Thus, Jesus had already laid the foundation for Philip's visit. Three years had gone by sense Jesus was there.
Notice what Philip preached. "He preached Christ, for he was determined to know nothing else." The Greek word here translated "preached", might better have been translated "proclaimed". The Samaritans looked for the coming of the Messiah, so Philip proclaimed that Jesus was the promised Messiah. To do this, he simply recanted the life of Christ, His birth, His ministry, His death, His resurrection and His glorification.
Notice how Philip proved the calling of Christ. First, unclean spirits were cast out. This was evidence of the power of Christ over Satan, certainly a power necessary in order to provide salvation. Secondly, He healed the sick and the lame. Many were brought to Jesus, and he healed them.
So how was Philip's message received? "The multitudes gave heed to what he said."
They not only heard, but they also believed, and gave evidence of that belief by
being baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ. Philip's preaching brought great
joy into this city. Tradition has it that many men, women and children accepted
Christ. This was very different from the past, men only were allowed into the
Jewish church, but in Christ, there is neither male or female, and it brought great
joy to Samaria. Notice to, it came without opposition, which it would not have
done if Samaria had been under the jurisdiction of Jerusalem. We see the hand of
God working out His plan as we look back, in retrospect, at the dividing of Israel
into two kingdoms.
Simon the Magician Believes
["Click here for Acts 9-13"]
Verses 9 thru 13, in Chapter 8, deals further with the ministry of Philip in Samaria. Up to this point there was no opposition to the ministry of Philip in Samaria. But now, a man by the name of Simon Magus enters the picture. He was involved in "witchcraft", as his name, Magus, indicated.
Now the Samaritans were not prejudice, by tradition, against the Gospel like the Judeans were, however, they were totally taken over by the sorcery of this man Simon Magus. It is believed that he came to Samaria shortly after Jesus was there, led by Satan, to try to undo all that Jesus had done there. We can readily see this about Simon, he was not sure who he was. Luke says that Simon believed that he was something very great and because of the many wonders that he did, the people thought he had the power of God. Other authorities say that the people treated him as though he was a "divine person". Justin Martyr, speaking of this man, said that he wanted to be worshipped as though he was the Son of God.
Notice this man had no intention of reforming these people or improving their worship and relationship with God. He simply wanted their attention for that fed his pride and visions of grandeur and it worked. "They all gave heed to him from the least to the greatest." They were looking for a Messiah and it would be nice if he came from Samaria not Judea.
He obtained this position because he possessed great powers. These powers were by God's permission, for no power exists apart from God, but they were used by Satan to deceive men. In Egypt, for a time, we saw Pharaoh's magicians demonstrate similar powers to Moses. In 2nd. Thessalonians, Paul speaks of the "men of sin" who bewitched the people of Thessalonica with their magic. In Galatians, Paul says, "O foolish Galatians, who had bewitched you?"
So here in Samaria we find Satan using one Simon Magus and his limited powers of witchcraft, to confuse the people. Notice Satan had two jobs for Simon. First, he was to destroy the seed that Jesus had planted at the well at Sychar. Secondly, he was to make the spread of the Gospel very difficult with the coming of Philip.
What about Simon, was he really a bad person? Apparently not, for when the Holy Spirit moved in the heart of Simon, he heard the preaching of Philip and he believed and was baptized. Simon was led of the Spirit to accept Christ as His Lord and Savior and at the time, seemed sincere on his beliefs, but then he observed the powers of Philip and greed and ambition took over.
The people of Samaria were quick to see the difference between Simon and Philip.
They compared the two and could see that one was real and the other false. Even
Simon knew that his powers were the powers of deception and Stephen's were the
powers of God, so he wanted them.
Peter Investigates Samaria and Meets Simon
["Click here for Acts 8:14-25"]
Verses 14 thru 25 of Chapter 8 record what happened when the Apostles at Jerusalem heard of the way that the Lord had used Philip in Samaria. This is confusing to those of us who believe that the Holy Spirit comes into a person's life at his conversion, but here it appears that these believers had been convinced by the words of Stephen and had not, as yet, received the Holy Spirit. This appeared to be the job of the Apostles.
Matthew Henry, in his commentary, says this about these verses. "God had wonderfully owned Philip as an Evangelist, but he could do no more than an evangelist." "There were particular powers reserved for the Apostles." "Peter and John were sent to encourage Philip and to pray for the believers that they might receive the Holy Spirit." "None of the Samaritans had received any of the gifts that appeared at the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost." "We who have accepted Christ and have received the sanctifying Grace of the Spirit should be thankful and have no reason to complain, though we may not have the gifts that are ornamentation (divinely different) and make us bright."
William Pettingill says about this scripture, "You are wrong in supposing that a born again person may be without the baptism of the Holy Spirit." Briefly, he goes on and sums it up this way. First, every believer becomes, at the moment of his new birth, a member of the body of Christ. Secondly, every believer, at the moment of his new birth, receives the Holy Spirit. He believes that they had received the Holy Spirit but had not received some of the gifts of the Spirit which are doled out at the Lord's discretion.
Herschel Hobbs, in his commentary, sees the work of the Spirit as being five fold.
In relation to this scripture, he believed that these Samaritans had received the revelation of the Holy Spirit, but had not been enlightened to go further. They were, as Paul called people like this, "Babes in Christ". Only as we are led of the Spirit in spiritual growth, can we achieve any kind of spiritual maturity.
Notice what happened when Simon saw what Peter could do through the power of the Spirit. He wanted that power for himself and he tried to buy it from Peter. If the Church in Samaria was going to grow it needed the gifts of the Spirit, but they were not for sale or for personal gratification, which was the sin of Simon. Simon was a very rich man and he had acquired that wealth by the works of witchcraft and he had visions of much more wealth and position if he could acquire that powers that Peter possessed.
We cannot question Simon's conversion but greed and personal advancement seemed to control everything he did. His conversion may have been motivated by the desire to have the powers that Philip had and certainly that motivation carried on over to his attempt to buy the powers that he perceived Peter to have. Simon needed to get rid of two things in his life. His money, which he believed could buy anything he wanted and his personal desire for power.
Peter told him that neither he nor his money had any part in this matter of the gifts of the Spirit. Then Peter gave him some good advice. Repent and admit his guilt in desiring power and his love for money and pray to God for pardon, and maybe, he would be forgiven.
How did this effect Simon? First, he appeared startled. He was confused by Peter's reaction to money. He had obviously never met anyone who could not be bought. Secondly, he was afraid. His carnal heart and the reality of his sin, dawned on him, and to Peter he said, "Pray for me, that none of these thing that you have said, will come upon me."
Well was Simon finally headed in the right direction? No. He did not pray for
himself as he should have done. His concern was for the judgment not for the
greed that brought him the judgment. We do not know what eventually happened to
Simon. Tradition has it that he formed a religion called "The Simonian System".
It was a mixture of distorted Christianity and an earlier Samaritan religion. It
was based on the obtaining of God's Grace by faith apart from works, for the
purpose of obtaining power not salvation. Other first century writings tell of
other encounters of Simon with the Apostles with similar consequences.
The Episode with the Eunuch
["Click here for Acts 8:26-40"]
Verses 26 thru 40 of Chapter 8, deal with the conversion of the Ethiopian Eunuch. We believe that this was the fulfillment of prophecy for in the 128th. Psalm it says, "Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God."
It would appear that the Church in Samaria was established now, the Apostles had gone back to Jerusalem, ministers had been ordained, and Philip was going to stay and continue his work there, but God had other plans for Philip. In a dream, God gave instructions to him. The first instruction was to "Rise, or get up." "Go to Jerusalem, take the south road out of Jerusalem toward Gaza." These were strange instructions. This road was not one that you would take if you looking for people to witness to. It was an old desert road, not normally traveled and void of inhabitants. Yet God told Philip to go there, and Philip went. He did not question the instructions nor ask what he was to do there. He simply "rose and went".
We are not told how far Philip went before he met up with the Ethiopian Eunuch, but verse 27 says that Philip saw the man along the road, seated in his chariot, reading the scriptures. Now, who was this man? He was a black man and judging from the direction that he was going, he was from Ethiopia in Africa not the one in Arabia. If you remember your Old Testament History, this country was established by Ham, one of the sons of Noah. The country lay south of Egypt. It would appear that this man was a practicing Jewish proselyte. He had been to Jerusalem for the ceremonial rites of the Jewish religion.
For many years there had been in Ethiopia a long line of Queens by the family name of "Candace". These Queens used eunuchs as their attendants, sometimes they were promoted to trusted positions as officials of state. This one was a high official, in charge of the Queens Treasurer. For years, eunuchs were not allowed to worship in the Temple because their maimed bodies were regarded as unfit for the Temple. Isaiah had these privileges restored to those eunuchs who strove to keep the covenants of God, even though their lack of heirs cut them off from any inheritance in Israel. Jesus referred to them as those who practiced voluntary celibacy. Strangely enough, eunuchs were allowed to marry.
Ethiopians were looked upon by all nations as the meanest and most despicable of all people. Yet we see here their inclusion in God's plan of salvation. This eunuch was a man of power and a person of quality. He was a person of great spiritual and personal character. Some accounts suggest that this man was a eunuch in name only and some believe that he was not a Jewish proselyte but rather a Gentile who worshipped in the Court of the Gentiles at the Temple. Either way, God sent Philip to witness to this man.
Again God sent instructions to Philip, "Go up and join this chariot." As Philip approached the chariot, he heard the man reading. He was reading from the book of Isaiah, so Philip asked, "Do you understand what you are reading?" This was Philip's way of entering into a conversation with the eunuch.
Notice how honest the eunuch was in his answer to Philip. "How can I understand unless someone guides me?" It is suggested that this man had heard this scripture while in Jerusalem, either from Jews seeking understanding of the new Christian movement or from Christian preachers seeking to teach the Christian faith. Either way, he did not understand what he had read and he did not take offence to Philip's question but rather invites Philip to come up into his chariot and sit with him.
Notice the scripture that he was reading. Isaiah chapter 53, verses 7 and 8. "As a sheep led to the slaughter, or as a lamb before it's shearer, is dumb, so He opens not His mouth. "
Continuing with the scripture that the Eunuch was reading, "In His humiliation, justice was denied Him." "Who can describe His generation?" "For His life is taken up from the earth." If you go back and read Isa. 53:7-8, you will see some difference, so it is believed that the eunuch was reading from the Greek version or Luke was quoting from the Greek version as was his custom.
Luke had witnessed the fulfillment of this scripture, but how would he explain it to the eunuch? These verses prophesied the treatment the Messiah would receive from His own people. Luke needed to relate what happened to Jesus and how it paralleled this prophecy. "As a sheep led to the slaughter.." so Christ was led to His crucifixion. He opened not His mouth nor did He protest His crucifixion. Matthew, in his Gospel, says that He suffered, with patience, the indignities and pain of His tormentors. He was humiliated and justice was denied Him. Who can describe that generation of Jews?
Notice the question from the eunuch. "About whom, is the Prophet speaking, about himself or about someone else?" The eunuch appeared to be very knowledgeable of the scriptures and about Isaiah. Notice this appears to be an occasion where Philip needed the "gift of tongues". It was not likely that the eunuch could speak Hebrew or Greek, so Philip had to speak in the Ethiopian's tongue.
So Philip, led of the Spirit, preached Christ to the eunuch. He took the scripture that the eunuch had read and showed how it was fulfilled by Christ. Did the eunuch understand? Yes, by the power of the Holy Spirit, the eunuch understood and accepted Christ as his Lord and Savior. As they traveled along they came upon some water and the eunuch asked what, if anything, would prevent him from being baptized. Notice, he did not demand baptism, but relied upon Philip's judgment and knowledge of this new religion. If there was some reason that it should not be done or even if it should be delayed, he would listen to that reason.
Notice also, he does not desire it. He had received that for which Jesus had come, and that for which baptism is a sign of, should he not now receive the sign? Philip's answer is not in the original copies of the Book of Acts, but the compilers of the King James saw fit to add that Philip must have said that nothing prevented the eunuch from being baptized and the eunuch commanded the driver of the chariot to stop and they dismounted and went "down into the water". Was the eunuch sprinkles or immersed? Matthew Henry says that there was no water of that depth available anywhere from Jerusalem to Gaza and that he believed that it was as Isaiah prophesied a few verses later, "So shall He sprinkle many nations, kings and great men alike."
The thing worth noting at this time is that Philip had just, a short time before, baptized one Simon Magus, who turned out to be a hypocrite, but it did not stop Philip from baptizing the eunuch. Admission to the body of believers is still by profession of faith and we cannot judge the sincerity of that profession.
"And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught up Philip and the eunuch saw him no more." This is a surprise ending to a beautiful story. One would have thought that the eunuch would have stayed with Philip or that Philip might have been persuaded to go on with the eunuch where he certainly would have been royally received. But this was not the will of God. Normally baptism would have been followed with a lengthily dissertation on Christian beliefs and responsibilities but this miraculous departure of Philip must have proved to the eunuch, the divine nature of his mission and doctrine. Luke says that the eunuch went away rejoicing. He was glad that he now knew the Messiah and more importantly, the Messiah now knew him. Certainly, he could hardly wait to get back home and tell others about what happened to him on the road to Gaza.
Then the Spirit of the Lord caught up Philip and took him to Azotus which was about 30 miles north, up the coast from Gaza. Gaza was a port on the Mediterranean Sea, where the eunuch probably took a boat to his own country. From Azotus, Philip worked his way up the coast to Caesarea, a distance of about 55 miles. Here at Caesarea, Philip settles down and in chapter 21 we will see that he bought a house there.
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