Acts 8:4-14 sits inside this longer paragraph.
1Saul was consenting to his death. A great persecution arose against the assembly which was in Jerusalem in that day. They were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except for the apostles. 2Devout men buried Stephen and lamented greatly over him. 3But Saul ravaged the assembly, entering into every house and dragged both men and women off to prison. 4Therefore those who were scattered abroad went around preaching the word. 5Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and proclaimed to them the Christ. 6The multitudes listened with one accord to the things that were spoken by Philip when they heard and saw the signs which he did. 7For unclean spirits came out of many of those who had them. They came out, crying with a loud voice. Many who had been paralyzed and lame were healed. 8There was great joy in that city.
9But there was a certain man, Simon by name, who used to practice sorcery in the city and amazed the people of Samaria, making himself out to be some great one, 10to whom they all listened, from the least to the greatest, saying, “This man is that great power of God.” 11They listened to him, because for a long time he had amazed them with his sorceries. 12But when they believed Philip preaching good news concerning God’s Kingdom and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. 13Simon himself also believed. Being baptized, he continued with Philip. Seeing signs and great miracles occurring, he was amazed.
14Now when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them, 15who, when they had come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Spirit; 16for as yet he had fallen on none of them. They had only been baptized in the name of Christ Jesus. 17Then they laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. 18Now when Simon saw that the Holy Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money, 19saying, “Give me also this power, that whomever I lay my hands on may receive the Holy Spirit.” 20But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! 21You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart isn’t right before God. 22Repent therefore of this, your wickedness, and ask God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you. 23For I see that you are in the poison of bitterness and in the bondage of iniquity.”
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv4–14 4. And they were scattered abroad. Luke declareth in…
4. And they were scattered abroad. Luke declareth in this place also, that it came to pass by the wonderful providence of God, that the scattering abroad of the faithful should bring many unto the unity of faith; thus doth the Lord use to bring light out of darkness, and life out of death. For the voice of the gospel, which was heard heretofore in one place only, doth now sound everywhere; in the mean season, we are taught by this example that we must not yield unto persecutions, but rather be encouraged unto valiantness; for, when the faithful flee from Jerusalem, they are not afterward discouraged either with exile or with their present miseries, or with any fear, that they degenerate into slothfulness; but they are as ready to preach Christ even in the midst of their calamity as if they had never suffered any trouble. Moreover, Luke seemeth to note that they led a wandering life in that they changed their lodgings often. Therefore, if we desire to be counted their brethren, let us prick forward ourselves so diligently, that no fear or bitterness of cross discourage us, but that we go forward in showing forth the profession of faith; and that we never be weary of furthering the doctrine of Christ; for it is an absurd thing that exile and flight, which are the first exercises of martyrdom, should make us dumb and fainthearted.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv5, 9, 13, 14 Philip, who was before a Deacon in Jerusalem, is…
Philip, who was before a Deacon in Jerusalem, is made of God extraordinarily an Evangelist.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv4–14 4 Therefore they that were scattered abroad went every…
4 Therefore they that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the word.
Ver. 4. {See Trapp on "Act 8:1"} Trucidabantur et multiplicabantur, saith Austin. They were never the fewer for being slain. Plures efficimur quoties metimur, saith Tertullian. Ecclesia totum mundum sanguine et oratione convertit, saith Luther; the Church converts the whole world by her sufferings and prayers.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv4–14 Now the partition wall was about to be broken…
Now the partition wall was about to be broken down, and the Gentiles to be taken into the pale of the church, God provides this strange means towards it. The disciples are forced to flee for their lives out of Jerusalem, and have an opportunity to preach Christ and the gospel wheresoever they came: thus God can make light to come out of darkness, and makes Japheth to dwell in the tents of Shem, Gen 9:27.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On vv4, 5, 9, 11, 14 The severe persecution at Jerusalem, dispersed the whole body…
The severe persecution at Jerusalem, dispersed the whole body of the church, and scattered both members and teachers thereof, except the apostles. Some went to Damascus, some to Samaria, some to Phoenice, Cyprus and Antioch. But God over-ruled this scattering for his church’s increasing: he brought good out of evil, light out of darkness, order out of confusion. It is a great and certain truth, that the Holy God would suffer no sort of evil to be, did he not know how to bring some excellent good out of that evil.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On vv4, 14 Samson's riddle is here again unriddled: Out of the…
Samson's riddle is here again unriddled: Out of the eater comes forth meat, and out of the strong sweetness. The persecution that was designed to extirpate the church was by the overruling providence of God made an occasion of the enlargement of it. Christ had said, I am come to send fire on the earth; and they thought, by scattering those who were kindled with that fire, to have put it out, but instead of this they did but help to spread it.
I. Here is a general account of what was done by them all (Act 8:4): They went every where, preaching the word. They did not go to hide themselves for fear of suffering, no, nor to show themselves as proud of their sufferings; but they went up and down to scatter the knowledge of Christ in every place where they were scattered. They went every where, into the way of the Gentiles, and the cities of the Samaritans, which before they were forbidden to go into, Mat 10:5. They did not keep together in a body, though this might have been a strength to them; but they scattered into all parts, not to take their ease, but to find out work. They went evangelizing the world, preaching the word of the gospel; it was this which filled them, and which they endeavoured to fill the country with, those of them that were preachers in their preaching, and others in their common converse. They were now in a country where they were no strangers, for Christ and his disciples had conversed much in the regions of Judea; so that they had a foundation laid there for them to build upon; and it would be requisite to let the people there know what that doctrine which Jesus had preached there some time ago was come to, and that it was not lost and forgotten, as perhaps they were made to believe.
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II. A particular account of what was done by Philip. We shall hear of the progress and success of others of them afterwards (Act 11:19), but here must attend the motions of Philip, not Philip the apostle, but Philip the deacon, who was chosen and ordained to serve tables, but having used the office of a deacon well he purchased to himself a good degree, and great boldness in the faith, Ti1 3:13. Stephen was advanced to the degree of a martyr, Philip to the degree of an evangelist, which when he entered upon, being obliged by it to give himself to the word and prayer, he was, no doubt, discharged from the office of a deacon; for how could he serve tables at Jerusalem, which by that office he was obliged to do, when he was preaching in Samaria? And it is probable that two others were chosen in the room of Stephen and Philip. Now observe,
1. What wonderful success Philip had in his preaching, and what reception he met with.
(1.) The place he chose was the city of Samaria, the head city of Samaria, the metropolis of that country, which stood where the city of Samaria had formerly stood, of the building of which we read, Kg1 16:24, now called Sebaste. Some think it was the same with Sychem or Sychar, that city of Samaria where Christ was, Joh 4:5. Many of that city then believed in Christ, though he did no miracle among them (Act 8:39, 41), and now Philip, three years after, carries on the work then begun. The Jews would have no dealings with the Samaritans; but Christ sent his gospel to slay all enmities, and particularly that between the Jews and the Samaritans, by making them one in his church.
(2.) The doctrine he preached was Christ; for he determined to know nothing else. He preached Christ to them; he proclaimed Christ to them (so the word signifies), as a king, when he comes to the crown, is proclaimed throughout his dominions. The Samaritans had an expectation of the Messiah's coming, as appears by Joh 4:25. Now Philip tells them that he is come, and that the Samaritans are welcome to him. Ministers' business is to preach Christ - Christ, and him crucified - Christ, and him glorified.
(3.) The proofs he produced for the confirmation of his doctrine were miracles, Act 8:6. To convince them that he had his commission from heaven (and therefore not only they might venture upon what he said, but they were bound to yield to it), he shows them this broad seal of heaven annexed to it, which the God of truth would never put to a lie. The miracles were undeniable; they heard and saw the miracles which he did. They heard the commanding words he spoke, and saw the amazing effects of them immediately; that he spoke, and it was done. And the nature of the miracles was such as suited the intention of his commission, and gave light and lustre to it. [1.] He was sent to break the power of Satan; and, in token of this, unclean spirits, being charged in the name of the Lord Jesus to remove, came out of many that were possessed with them, Act 8:7. As far as the gospel prevails, Satan is forced to quit his hold of men and his interest in them, and then those are restored to themselves, and to their right mind again, who, while he kept possession, were distracted. Wherever the gospel gains the admission and submission it ought to have, evil spirits are dislodged, and particularly unclean spirits, all inclinations to the lusts of the flesh, which war against the soul; for God has called us from uncleanness to holiness, Th1 4:7. This was signified by the casting of these unclean spirits out of the bodies of people, who, it is here said, came out crying with a loud voice, which signifies that they came out with great reluctancy, and sorely against their wills, but were forced to acknowledge themselves overcome by a superior power, Mar 1:26; Mar 3:11; Mar 9:26. [2.] He was sent to heal the minds of men, to cure a distempered world, and to put it into a good state of health; and, in token of this, many that were taken with palsies, and that were lame, were healed. Those distempers are specified that were most difficult to be cured by the course of nature (that the miraculous cure might be the more illustrious), and those that were most expressive of the disease of sin and that moral impotency which the souls of men labour under as to the service of God. The grace of God in the gospel is designed for the healing of those that are spiritually lame and paralytic, and cannot help themselves, Rom 5:6.
(4.) The acceptance which Philip's doctrine, thus proved, met with in Samaria (Act 8:6): The people with one accord gave heed to those things which Philip spoke, induced thereto by the miracles which served at first to gain attention, and so by degrees to gain assent. There then begin to be some hopes of people when they begin to take notice of what is said to them concerning the things of their souls and eternity - when they begin to give heed to the word of God, as those that are well pleased to hear it, desirous to understand and remember it, and that look upon themselves as concerned in it. The common people gave heed to Philip, oi ochloi - a multitude of them, not here and there one, but with one accord; they were all of a mind, that it was fit the doctrine of the gospel should be enquired into, and an impartial hearing given to it.
(5.) The satisfaction they had in attending on, and attending to, Philip's preaching, and the success it had with many of them (Act 8:8): There was great joy in that city; for (Act 8:12) they believed Philip, and were baptized into the faith of Christ, the generality of them, both men and women. Observe, [1.] Philip preached the things concerning the kingdom of God, the constitution of that kingdom, the laws and ordinances of it, the liberties and privileges of it, and the obligations we are all under to be the loyal subjects of that kingdom; and he preached the name of Jesus Christ, as king of that kingdom - his name, which is above every name. He preached it up in its commanding power and influence - all that by which he has made himself known. [2.] The people not only gave heed to what he said, but at length believed it, were fully convinced that it was of God and not of men, and gave up themselves to the direction and government of it. As to this mountain, on which they had hitherto worshipped God, and placed a great deal of religion in it, they were now as much weaned from it as every they had been wedded to it, and become the true worshippers, who worship the Father in spirit and in truth, and in the name of Christ, the true temple, Joh 4:20-23. [3.] When they believed, without scruple (though they were Samaritans) and without delay they were baptized, openly professed the Christian faith, promised to adhere to it, and then, by washing them with water, were solemnly admitted into the communion of the Christian church, and owned as brethren by the disciples. Men only were capable of being admitted into the Jewish church by circumcision; but, to show that in Jesus Christ there is neither male nor female (Gal 3:28), but both are alike welcome to him, the initiating ordinance is such as women are capable of, for they are numbered with God's spiritual Israel, though not with Israel according to the flesh, Num 1:2. And hence it is easily gathered that women are to be admitted to the Lord's supper, though it does not appear that there were any among those to whom it was first administered. [4.] This occasioned great joy; each one rejoiced for himself, as he in the parable who found the treasure hid in the field; and they all rejoiced for the benefit hereby brought to their city, and that it came without opposition, which it would scarcely have done if Samaria had been within the jurisdiction of the chief priests. Note, The bringing of the gospel to any place is just matter of joy, of great joy, to that place. Hence the spreading of the gospel in the world is often prophesied of in the Old Testament as the diffusing of joy among the nations: Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, Psa 67:4; Th1 1:6. The gospel of Christ does not make men melancholy, but fills them with joy, if it be received as it should be; for it is glad tidings of great joy to all people, Luk 2:10.
2. What there was in particular at this city of Samaria that made the success of the gospel there more than ordinarily wonderful.
(1.) That Simon Magus had been busy there, and had gained a great interest among the people, and yet they believed the things that Philip spoke. To unlearn that which is bad proves many times a harder task than to learn that which is good. These Samaritans, though they were not idolaters as the Gentiles, nor prejudiced against the gospel by traditions received from their fathers, yet had of late been drawn to follow Simon, a conjurer (For so Magus signifies) who made a mighty noise among them, and had strangely bewitched them. We are told,
[1.] How strong the delusion of Satan was by which they were brought into the interests of this great deceiver. He had been for some time, nay, for a long time, in this city, using sorceries; perhaps he came there by the instigation of the devil, soon after our Saviour had been there, to undo what he had been doing there; for it was always Satan's way to crush a good work in its bud and infancy, Co2 11:3; Th1 3:5. Now,
First, Simon assumed to himself that which was considerable: He gave out that he himself was some great one, and would have all people to believe so and to pay him respect accordingly; and then, as to every thing else, they might do as they pleased. He had no design to reform their lives, nor improve their worship and devotion, only to make them believe that he was, tis megas - some divine person. Justin Martyr says that he would be worshipped as prōton theon - the chief god. He gave out himself to be the Son of God, the Messiah, so some think; or to be an angel, or a prophet. Perhaps he was uncertain within himself what title of honour to pretend to; but he would be thought some great one. Pride, ambition, and an affectation of grandeur, have always been the cause of abundance of mischief both to the world and to the church.
Secondly, The people ascribed to him what he pleased. 1. They all gave heed to him, from the least to the greatest, both young and old, both poor and rich, both governors and governed. To him they had regard (Act 8:10, Act 8:11), and perhaps the more because the time fixed for the coming of the Messiah had now expired, which had raised a general expectation of the appearing of some great one about this time. Probably he was a native of their country, and therefore they embraced him the more cheerfully, that by giving honour to him they might reflect it upon themselves. 2. They said of him, This man is the great power of God - the power of God, that great power (so it might be read), that power which made the world. See how ignorant inconsiderate people mistake that which is done by the power of Satan, as if it were done by the power of God. Thus, in the Gentile world, devils pass for deities; and in the antichristian kingdom all the world wonders after a beast, to whom the dragon gives his power, and who opens his mouth in blasphemy against God, Rev 13:2-5. 3. They were brought to it by his sorceries: He bewitched the people of Samaria (Act 8:9), bewitched them with sorceries (Act 8:11), that is, either, (1.) By his magic arts he bewitched the minds of the people, at least some of them, who drew in others. Satan, by God's permission, filled their hearts to follow Simon. O foolish Galatians, saith Paul, who hath bewitched you? Gal 3:1. These people are said to be bewitched by Simon, because they were so strangely infatuated to believe a lie. Or, (2.) By his magic arts he did many signs and lying wonders, which seemed to be miracles, but really were not so: like those of the magicians of Egypt, and those of the man of sin, Th2 2:9. When they knew no better, they were influenced by his sorceries; but, when they were acquainted with Philip's real miracles, they saw plainly that the one was real and the other a sham, and that there was as much difference as between Aaron's rod and those of the magicians. What is the chaff to the wheat? Jer 23:28.
Thus, notwithstanding the influence Simon Magus had had upon them, and the unwillingness there generally is in people to own themselves in an error, and to retract it, yet, when they saw the difference between Simon and Philip, they quitted Simon, gave heed no longer to him, but to Philip: and thus you see,
[2.] How strong the power of Divine grace is, by which they were brought to Christ, who is truth itself, and was, as I may say, the great undeceiver. By that grace working with the word those that had been led captive by Satan were brought into obedience to Christ. Where Satan, as a strong man armed, kept possession of the palace, and thought himself safe, Christ, as a stronger than he, dispossessed him, and divided the spoil; led captivity captive, and made those the trophies of his victory whom the devil had triumphed over. Let us not despair of the worst, when even those whom Simon Magus had bewitched were brought to believe.
(2.) Here is another thing yet more wonderful, that Simon Magus himself became a convert to the faith of Christ, in show and profession, for a time. Is Saul also among the prophets? Yes (Act 8:13), Simon himself believed also. He was convinced that Philip preached a true doctrine, because he saw it confirmed by real miracles, of which he was the better able to judge because he was conscious to himself of the trick of his own pretended ones. [1.] The present conviction went so far that he was baptized, was admitted, as other believers were, into the church by baptism; and we have no reason to think that Philip did amiss in baptizing him, no, nor in baptizing him quickly. Though he had been a very wicked man, a sorcerer, a pretender to divine honours, yet, upon his solemn profession of repentance for his sin and faith in Jesus Christ, he was baptized. For, as great wickedness before conversion keeps not true penitents from the benefits of God's grace, so neither should it keep professing ones from church-fellowship. Prodigals, when they return, must be joyfully welcomed home, though we cannot be sure but that they will play the prodigal again. Nay, though he was now but a hypocrite, and really in the gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity all this while, and would soon have been found to be so if he had been tried awhile, yet Philip baptized him; for it is God's prerogative to know the heart. The church and its ministers must go by a judgment of charity, as far as there is room for it. It is a maxim in the law, Donec contrarium patet, semper praesumitur meliori parti - We must hope the best as long as we can. And it is a maxim in the discipline of the church, De secretis non judicat ecclesia - The secrets of the heart God only judges. [2.] The present conviction lasted so long that he continued with Philip. Though afterwards he apostatized from Christianity, yet not quickly. He courted Philip's acquaintance, and now he that had given out himself to be some great one is content to sit at the feet of a preacher of the gospel. Even bad men, very bad, may sometimes be in a good frame, very good; and those whose hearts still go after their covetousness may possibly not only come before God as his people come, but continue with them. [3.] The present conviction was wrought and kept up by the miracles; he wondered to see himself so far outdone in signs and miracles. Many wonder at the proofs of divine truths who never experience the power of them.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv4–14 Therefore they that were scattered abroad,.... By reason of…
Therefore they that were scattered abroad,.... By reason of the persecution in Jerusalem: the seventy disciples, and other ministers of the word; or the hundred and twenty, excepting the apostles,
went every where; or
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went through the countries of Judea and Samaria, as far as Phenice, Cyrus, and Antioch:
preaching the word; the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Ethiopic versions add, "of God", and so some copies; the Gospel, which is the word of God, and not man; which was not of men, nor received from men, but came from God, and by the revelation of Christ; and which was good news and glad tidings, of peace, pardon, righteousness and salvation, by Jesus Christ.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv4, 5, 9, 12, 13, 14 Therefore they that were dispersed went everywhere - These…
Therefore they that were dispersed went everywhere - These very words are reassumed, after as it were a long parenthesis, chap. xi, 19, and the thread of the story continued.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14 Verse 4. They that were scattered - went every…
Verse 4. They that were scattered - went every where preaching] Thus the very means devised by Satan to destroy the Church became the very instruments of its diffusion and establishment. What are counsel, or might, or cunning, or rage, or malice, against the Lord, whether they are excited by men or devils!
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv5, 9, 12, 14 Act 8:5-7. Then Philip, &c. — The sacred historian…
Act 8:5-7. Then Philip, &c. — The sacred historian here proceeds to record one particular instance of the success of the preaching of the persons dispersed by the above-mentioned persecution. The Philip here spoken of was not the apostle of that name, for all the apostles continued at Jerusalem, (Act 8:1,) and this Philip, as appears from Act 8:14-17, had not the power of communicating the miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit, by laying on of hands. He was, therefore, Philip the deacon, mentioned Act 6:5; no other of that name, besides the apostle, having been mentioned in this history. Went down to the city of Samaria — Or, as some read it, to a city of Samaria; as it is not specified what city of that country it was. The mode of expression, however, seems to point out the capital of Samaria, which was Sychar, or Sichem, where Christ had preached in the beginning of his ministry: and preached Christ unto them — It is certain that the Samaritans were better prepared to receive the gospel than most of the Gentile nations, as they worshipped the true God, and acknowledged the authority of the pentateuch. Nay, indeed, in some respects they were better prepared than the body of the Jewish nation, as we do not find that they had either such notions of the Messiah’s temporal reign as the Jews had, or had received the Sadducean principles, which were both very strong prejudices against the Christian doctrine. And the people — Who inhabited that city, notwithstanding their natural prejudices against the Jews; with one accord — Ομοθυμαδον, unanimously; gave heed unto those things which Philip spake — Of the truth and importance of which, upon their attending to them, they were soon persuaded; hearing — The rational and convincing arguments which he used; and seeing the miracles — Which he performed, in confirmation of his doctrine. For unclean spirits — At Philip’s command, came out of many persons that had been possessed by them, crying with a loud voice — Which showed that they came out with great reluctance, and much against their wills, but were forced to acknowledge themselves overcome by a superior power. And there was great joy in that city — Both on account of those benevolent miracles which were performed by Philip in it, and of that excellent doctrine which he preached among them, containing such welcome tidings of pardon and eternal salvation.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 13, 14 Went everywhere - That is, they traveled through the…
Went everywhere - That is, they traveled through the various regions where they were scattered. In all places to which they came, they preached the Word.
Preaching the word - Greek: “evangelizing,” or announcing the good news of the message of mercy, or the Word of God. This is not the usual word which is rendered “preach,” but it means simply announcing the good news of salvation. There is no evidence, nor is there any probability, that all these persons were “ordained” to preach. They were manifestly common Christians who were scattered by the persecution; and the meaning is, that they communicated to their fellow-men in conversation wherever they met them, and probably in the synagogues, where all Jews had a right to speak, the glad tidings that the Messiah had come. It is not said that they set themselves up for public teachers, or that they administered baptism, or that they founded churches, but they proclaimed everywhere the news that a Saviour had come. Their hearts were full of it. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks; and they made the truth known to “all” whom they met. We may learn from this:
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That persecution tends to promote the very thing which it would destroy.
(2)That one of the best means to make Christians active and zealous is to persecute them.
(3)That it is right for all Christians to make known the truths of the gospel. When the heart is full the lips will speak, and there is no more impropriety in their speaking of redemption than of anything else.
(4)It should be the great object of all Christians to make the Saviour known “everywhere.” By their lives, their conversation, and their pious exhortations and entreaties, they should beseech dying sinners to be reconciled to God. And especially should this be done when they “are traveling.” Christians when away from home seem almost to imagine that they lay aside the obligations of religion. But the example of Christ and his early disciples has taught us that this is the very time to attempt to do good.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv10, 11, 13 This man is the power of God, which is…
This man is the power of God, which is called (that is, which is truly) great. Simon pretended to be God, and the great God. See St. Irenæus, lib. i. chap. 20.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On vv5, 14 § II Philip Preaches the Gospel in Samaria with…
§ II Philip Preaches the Gospel in Samaria with Success, and Simon, the Sorcerer, himself is Baptized
Act_8:5-13
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5 Then Philip went down to the3 [a] city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them. 6And the people [the multitudes, οἱ ὄχλοι] with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing [when they heard and saw] the miracles [signs] which he did. 7For unclean spirits, crying with loud voice, came out of many4 that were possessed with them [For from many who had unclean spirits, these came out with a loud cry]: and many taken with palsies [many that were paralytic], and that were lame, were healed.8And there was great joy in that city. 9But there was [previously] a certain man, called Simon, which beforetime [om. which beforetime] in the same city [who] used sorcery, and bewitched [astonished] the people of Samaria, giving out that himself [professing (λέγων) that he] was some great one: 10To whom they all5 [om. all] gave heed, from the least to the greatest [small and great], saying, This man is the great power of God [the power of God which is called great].6 11And [But] to him they had regard [gave heed, (as in Act_8:10)], because that of long time he had bewitched them with [time they had been astonished at his] sorceries. 12But when they believed Philip preaching [who preached] the things7 [the gospel (om. the things, εὐαγγελ.)] concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus. Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. 13Then [But] Simon himself believed also: and when he was baptized, he continued with [adhered to] Philip, and wondered [was astonished (as in Act_8:9; Act_8:11)], beholding the miracles and signs8 which were done.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Act_8:5. a. Then Philip went down.—Luke had briefly stated above, that the members of the church, after being dispersed by the persecution, had carried the Gospel to other regions. He now describes a single case as an illustration. This Philip, who, as the connection shows, had been driven from Jerusalem by the same violent persecution, cannot possibly have been the apostle who bore the same name, as, according to Act_8:1, the company of the apostles remained in the holy city. The interpretation that the narrative here refers to a later period, and that it was really the apostle Philip who visited Samaria, cannot, for several reasons, be admitted. For the connection, in the first place, between Act_8:4 and Act_8:5, is so intimate, that the journey of Philip, must be regarded, both chronologically, and in accordance with the natural sequence of events, as a direct result of that persecution. And, in the second place, the journey of John and Peter, who were sent to Samaria, as the commissioners of the apostles, Act_8:14, would be perfectly inexplicable, if Philip himself were one of the apostles. It is, therefore, not the apostle Philip who is here meant, but another person of the same name; he is, beyond all doubt, the one who is mentioned in Act_6:5, as the second of the chosen Seven. It is, indeed, precisely this position of the name in that list, which renders it probable that the Philip here mentioned, was not only one of the Seven, but also the same who is described in Act_21:8 as ὁ εὐαγγελιστής, ὁ ὢν ἐκ τῶν ἑπτά. For the name of Stephen is, without doubt, placed first in that list for the reason that his labors and sufferings had given unusual prominence to him, and invested his name with a special interest. Philip seems to have been mentioned in the second place for similar reasons, since he was identified with events of the highest moment in the history of the Church. It may be easily imagined that the colleagues of Stephen were the first persons on whom the hostility of the Jews prepared to inflict its blows. The opinion, that this Philip was one of the twelve, was entertained already by Polycrates in the second century (as quoted by Eusebius, Hist. Eccl. iii. 31; v. 24), by the authors of the Apostolical Constitutions (vi. 7. 1), in the third century, and by others; it was suggested not only by the sameness of the name, but probably also by the special character of the labors of Philip, since these appear to have been such as the apostles exclusively performed. This latter view seems, indeed, to be sustained by the expression: ἐκήρυσσε τὸν Χρ., inasmuch as it was originally applied to the proclamation of a herald, and denotes, therefore, here, that a public declaration was made in a more than ordinarily solemn manner, and by special authority, while in the case of others, merely the terms εὐαγγελίζσθαι (Act_8:4; Act_11:20) and λαλεῖν τὸν λόγον were employed. The evangelizing labors of Philip, therefore, undoubtedly seem to be of a different kind from those of the latter. But they do not on this account assume a decidedly apostolical character, in which case διδάσκειν or διδαχὴ would have been the term employed, as in Act_4:2; Act_4:18; Act_5:25; Act_5:28; Act_5:42; comp. Act_2:42. The word κηρύσσειν, in the present verse, constitutes, as it were, an intermediate grade, or occupies a position between the specifically apostolical διδάσκειν, and the general Christian εὐαγγελίζεσθαι; or, λαλεῖν τὸν λόγον. This view is in the strictest accordance with the opinion that Philip was one of the Seven, as these men really did occupy an intermediate position in their respective relations to the apostles, and to the disciples in general.
b. The name of the city in Samaria, in which Philip labored so successfully, cannot by any means be determined with certainty; from the text we merely learn that it was one of the numerous cities of the district of Samaria. The language in Act_8:8-9, conveys the impression that Luke himself was not acquainted with the precise name, and that he purposely expressed himself in indefinite terms. It is not probable that the capital city is meant (Kuinoel); it also bore the name of Samaria, and received that of Sebaste from Herod the Great, but it cannot be here intended, as the same name in Act_8:9; Act_8:14 plainly designates the whole region [as in Act_1:8].
Act_8:6-8. And the people with one accord.—Philip proclaimed the Messiah to them, and, at the same time, performed many miracles of healing, as well in the case of persons that were possessed, from whom the unclean spirits (demons) came out with loud cries, as also in the case of those who were lame and paralytic. The inhabitants, who had a personal knowledge of these wonderful works, were thus induced to listen with devout attention to the words of Philip (προςεῖχον—ἐν τῷ ἀκούειν αὐτοιὺς καὶ βλέπειν τὰ σημεῖα). Not merely a few individuals, or the adherents of any particular party, but the whole mass of the population (οἱ ὄχλοι) listened in a confiding and respectful manner, and with entire unanimity (ὁμοθυμαδόν) to the addresses of Philip (although προςεῖχον is not yet equivalent to ἐπίστευον in the higher sense of the latter word). The joy which pervaded the city, and which was already occasioned by the healing of many sick persons, and by Philip’s joyful tidings concerning the Saviour and redemption, became so great, (χαρὰ μεγάλη), when the people perceived that they were all acting with one accord.
Act_8:9-11. But there was a certain man called Simon.—The logical connection is the following:—A man, named Simon, had been in the place before Philip’s arrival, whose magic arts had created a great sensation, and secured a number of adherents for him. [The word here and in Act_8:11 translated bewitched (ἐξίστημι, see Wahl and Robinson), but never so rendered where it occurs in the New Test. elsewhere, signifies amazed, astonished, as in Act_2:7; Act_2:12; Act_9:21 (J. A. Alex.); thus, below, in Act_8:13, it is translated wondered.—Tr.]. Luke furnishes us with no information respecting the origin of this man, e.g., whether he was a native of this city, or, indeed, whether he was a Samaritan at all. So far, therefore, no facts are presented that are adverse to the conjecture of Neander, Gieseler and others (which Meyer combats on insufficient grounds). Those writers identify Simon with an individual of the same name, whom Josephus thus describes: Σίμων ’Ιουδαῖος, Κύπριος δὲ γένος, μάγος εἶναι σκηπτόμενος. Antiq. xx. 7, 2); the Roman procurator Felix had employed him, about A. D. 60, as a pander. The statement of Justin Martyr that Simon was a native of Gitta in Samaria [see K. v. Raumer: Palæstina, p. 156] is the less worthy of confidence, not only as more than a century intervenes between him and Simon, but also because he connects other and later legends, as it can be demonstrated, with the name of this sorcerer; and the penitential petition of Simon in Act_8:24, affords no evidence per se, that he did not subsequently resume the practice of his deceptive arts.—Simon was, unquestionably, according to the text before us, one of the men who, in “that solstitial period of religion”, travelled through the country (as Greek and Roman writers also testify), in the capacity of fortune-tellers, astrologers, and interpreters of dreams, or who attracted attention, and acquired influence as jugglers, or as men professedly endowed with miraculous powers to heal. He had practised his magical arts during a considerable period (Act_8:11), and his frauds had been so successful that the entire population of Samaria (and not merely the inhabitants of the city to which Philip came), were filled with wonder and amazement. They placed the utmost confidence in him, and entertained the most exalted opinion of his personal character and abilities (Act_8:10). He alleged that he possessed peculiar attributes, and was a personage of an extraordinary character (εἶναί τινα ἑαυτὸν μέγαν). He found credence among people of every age and every station in life—[from the least to the greatest]—and these gradually adopted the opinion that he was himselfἡ δύναμις τοῦ θεοῦ ἡ μεγάλη. This expression doubtless means that they discerned, as they thought, a species of theophany in the person of Simon, and that they supposed that the great power of God, the most exalted divine power, was revealed in him. It is here an important circumstance, which should be carefully noticed, that Luke himself distinguishes between the personal statements of the magus, on the one hand, and the delusion, on the other, of the people who were prepossessed in his favor. The latter deified him, according to a popular opinion which seems to have assumed a distinct shape; but this was only the opinion of his adherents, and was not founded on any direct statements of Simon himself. Perhaps he deemed it to be the most prudent and advantageous course, to employ a species of chiaroscuro, or to resort to mysterious terms, when he spoke of himself personally.—In view of the legends to which later writers have given currency, in connection with Simon the Magus, Baur and Zeller arrive at the conclusion that the actual historical existence of the Simon who is mentioned in the text before us, is very doubtful. We live, however, in a perverse world, and, when we judge dispassionately, we must perceive that it is a violation of the principles of sound criticism to cast a shade of doubt on the present narrative, simply because certain fables connected with this Magus originated at a later period; these obtained currency from the days of Justin Martyr, particularly through the Clementine Homilies, and the Apostolical Constitutions. Luke furnishes a plain statement, the truth of which is fully sustained by accounts derived from other sources respecting the magians of that age, and that statement by no means belongs to the category of certain legends which originated more than a century afterwards.
Act_8:12. But when they believed Philip.—The faith with which the Samaritans listened to the preaching of Philip, who bore witness, not like Simon, of himself, but of Jesus Christ and the kingdom of God, was the more honorable and blessed, as it took the place of a superstition which had already begun to prevail; it demonstrated, moreover, that it possessed the character of a willing obedience, since it induced the Samaritans to receive baptism.
Act_8:13. Then Simon himself believed also.—The circumstance that even this magus received the Gospel, was baptized, and attached himself to Philip as a disciple (προςκαρτερῶν), was in itself a very striking proof of the superior power, and, indeed, the divinity of the Gospel concerning Christ. The influence which, psychologically speaking, first of all affected Simon, proceeded from the deeds, i.e., the miracles of healing which Philip performed, and of which he was an eye-witness, and, it may be added, an attentive observer (θεωρῶν). These facts amazed him, as much as his own magic arts had hitherto amazed the people, and this thought Luke evidently intends to suggest by employing the same word (ἐξίστατο, Mid.), which he had previously employed in connection with Simon, transitively, in Act_8:9, and intransitively in Act_8:11. Simon had hitherto astonished others, but he now, in his turn, passes from one degree of astonishment to another. Yet it does not thence follow that this magus (as Grotius conjectured, and more recent interpreters have assumed) did not believe that Jesus was the Messiah, but merely regarded him as a magus and worker of miracles, who possessed a power superior to his own.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. Philip combined miracles with the preaching of the word, like the apostles, and like Stephen, who also wrought miracles, (Act_6:8). But while these contributed to the efficacy of his preaching (comp. Mar_16:20), the word of the Gospel was the great object to which his labors were dedicated. His miracles of healing doubtless attracted attention to him, and opened an avenue to the hearts of men; still, the conversion of the latter was the fruit of the preaching of the word. And whenever the word, the pure truth of the Gospel, is proclaimed with freedom and fidelity, and received with attention and diligence, it always will continue to bring forth fruit.
2. The joy of the converted Samaritans resembled the heart-felt joy of the Israelitic Christians of Jerusalem, Act_2:46-47. “Righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost” [Rom_14:17], prevail in the kingdom of God. It is a source of joy, to know that we are reconciled unto God—that we have found a Saviour—that, in Jesus, we are “of one heart, and of one soul” [ch. Act_4:32] with those who love him. We might, perhaps, say that the joy and rapture of a believing soul proceed from the conviction that it has at length found its true home, that it is at home, and that it feels at home in God.
3. Even demoniacs [Act_8:7] were delivered from the unclean spirits by Philip, through the power of Christ. These works, which no apostle had hitherto performed, as far as the narrative before us is concerned, were wrought by this man, who was not invested with the apostolical office. Bengel observes here, with much acuteness, that Luke never introduces the word δαιμόνια in the Acts, when he speaks of demoniacs [it occurs in a different sense in Act_17:18], while, in his Gospel, he employs it more frequently than any one of the other evangelists. Hence he concludes that the power of [the unclean spirits to take] possession [of men, “obsessionis vim”] had been impaired after the death of Christ. We are, however, the less inclined to adopt this latter opinion, as it is said precisely in the passage before us, that many were at this time possessed with unclean spirits. Still, it is worthy of notice, that no case of bodily possession, of which an Israelite was the subject, is described in the book of the Acts; those that are mentioned, occurred either in a heathen territory (Act_19:12 ff., in Ephesus), or near the boundaries which divided Judaism from heathenism; and the territory of the Samaritans was of this character.
4. Any doctrines which Simon, the sorcerer, may have taught, referred to his own person, and were intended to exalt him in the eyes of the people. How different was the course which Philip pursued! He never alludes to himself personally, but speaks of Jesus Christ alone, whose name (Act_8:12) he commends to his hearers as very holy and precious, and whose kingdom he proclaims as the kingdom of life and salvation. “We preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord” (2Co_4:5); this language describes the preaching of every apostle and evangelist mentioned in the Acts, and, indeed, constitutes a law which all their successors are solemnly bound to obey. As soon as a pastor or any one who is employed in the service of the church, begins to speak of himself, and to establish faith in his person as a part of the creed of others, and, as soon as a congregation or church complies, they are all guilty of a grievous departure from the path of duty, and commit a sin which ultimately conducts to a paganizing deification of the creature.
5. The narrative which now follows, demonstrates that although Simon believed (Act_8:13), he did not adopt the true faith. There is, however, no foundation for the opinion, that, the error of this sorcerer consisted in believing that Jesus himself was merely a sorcerer, but possessed of great powers; at least, such a delusion could have derived no support whatever from the doctrine of Philip concerning Jesus as the Messiah, or concerning his kingdom. The narrative does not intimate that the error of Simon was connected with the substance of his faith, but rather implies that the kind or manner of his faith was unsound. It is quite possible that he professedly received the pure doctrine without gainsaying, but he certainly was not “sound in the faith” [Tit_1:9; Tit_1:13]. His faith, like that which is often found in Christendom, was merely a faith of his understanding, a transient conviction, but not one that touched, much less resided in his heart; it was not a fides plena, justificans, cor purificans, salvans. Nothing that fails to move the heart and call forth a prompt and full response, can be more than a superficial impression; it effects no favorable change in the individual, or, at the most, converts him into a hypocrite.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
Act_8:1. And Saul was consenting unto his death.—Comp. 1Ti_1:13 : “I did it ignorantly.” Thus men may remain blind, with all their human wisdom and the light of reason, and be irrational persecutors, with all their supposed zeal for God. Not even the edifying end of Stephen, could make an impression on Saul’s imbittered heart.—And yet, we prefer an avowed enemy like Saul, to a false friend like Simon. The former made havoc of the church, the latter continued with Philip, and received baptism; the former was sincere, even in his madness, for he acted in ignorance; the heart of the latter was full of bitterness and deceit; the former was converted, the latter, cast off; Act_8:20-21. (From Ap. Past.).—Except the apostles.—In seasons of violent persecution, all should not flee, neither should all alike remain. (Starke).—The apostles demonstrated, by remaining in the city, I. Their manly courage, which made no concession to the enemy; II. Their childlike obedience to the command of Jesus, who had directed them to proclaim his name in Jerusalem, before they went out into the world. (Ap. Past.).—The apostles remained behind as monuments, testifying that the Lord Jesus could not be expelled from that soil. So the two witnesses (Rev_11:8-11) will, at last, stand up in the city in which their Lord was crucified. (K. H. Rieger).—The solitary witnesses of God in the midst of a perverse nation: (comp. Noah, before the deluge; Lot in Sodom; Abraham among the idolaters; Moses in Egypt; Elijah among the priests of Baal; Daniel in Babylon; the apostles in Jerusalem; Paul among the Gentiles; the harbingers of the Reformation in the darkness of popery). They are, I. Majestic remains of a ruined temple of God; II. Bright beacons amid the darkness of an evil age; III. Massive foundation-stones of a future building of God.
Act_8:2. And made great lamentation over him.—It is natural that we should mourn when those are taken away who have rendered great services to the church and congregation; for while their death is a gain to themselves, the bereavement is painfully felt by the church. (Starke).—The different sentiments with which the death of the servants of Jesus is surveyed: I. The world rejoices, Act_8:1; II. The devout mourn, Act_8:2. The witnesses of Christ are able to move the hearts of men even after their death. When one servant is called to his home, another, whom the Lord has trained, is ready to take his place. No sooner has Stephen passed away, than Philip appears. (Ap. Past.).
Act_8:3. Saul made havoc of the church.—Observe his increasing violence and fury: I. He takes’ charge of the clothes of Stephen’s murderers; II. He consents to the death of this witness; III. He persecutes the fugitives; IV. He searches for those who are concealed: V. He drags them forth, sparing neither sex; VI. He commits them to prison. (Starke).—The passion-week of the primitive church: I. The members are dispersed, Act_8:1; II. They bury their first martyr, Act_8:2; III. They are persecuted by Saul, Act_8:3. (Lisco.).
Act_8:4. They that were scattered abroad, went everywhere preaching the word.—Sanguis martyrum semen Christianorum (Tertullian).—The storms of persecution are only winds that, I. Fan the fire of faith in the church; II. Carry the spark of truth to a distance. Compare [the following stanzas of] Luther’s Hymn on the two martyrs of Christ, who were burnt in Brussels [July 1, 1523, named Henry Voes and John Esch. The original consists of 12 stanzas, each containing nine lines, and begins: Ein neues Lied wir heben an].
“Flung to the heedless winds,
Or on the waters cast,
Their ashes shall be watch’d,
And gather’d at the last:
And from that scatter’d dust,
Around us and abroad,
Shall spring a plenteous seed
Of witnesses for God.
“Jesus has now receiv’d
Their latest living breath:
Yet vain is Satan’s boast
Of vict’ry in their death;
Still, still, though dead, they speak,
And, trumpet-tongued, proclaim
To many a wak’ning land
The one availing Name.”
—Scattered … preaching.—How often Christ sends his ambassadors in the guise of persecuted fugitives! (K. H. Rieger).—God usually bestows a spiritual blessing on those who shelter devout exiles. (Quesn.).—The wonderful ways of the Lord in extending his kingdom: I. Stephen, the martyr, moistens the field of the church with his blood; II. The raging Saul, even as a persecutor, already serves, unconsciously, as an instrument in extending the kingdom of Christ; III. The fugitive Christians labor in distant regions as the first missionaries of the Gospel.
Act_8:5. Then Philip went down … and preached.—The true servants of Christ may be compelled to change their place of abode, but they do not change their minds. (Apost. Past.).—Faithful laborers always find work, and are always engaged in fulfilling the duties of their vocation, whether it be in Jerusalem or Samaria. Rom_15:19. (Starke).
Act_8:6. The people … gave heed … seeing the miracles.—By hearing and seeing we are conducted to faith. Joh_1:47-50. (Starke).—“One soweth, and another reapeth.” The seed had been sown by Jesus a few years previously, (John, Acts 4), and now the harvest is gathered in. (Starke).
Act_8:7-8. Unclean spirits … came out … many … were healed … and there was great joy.—Behold here an image of the spiritual miracles of the Gospel: I. The unclean are cleansed; II. The feeble are made strong; III. The sorrowing begin to rejoice.—Even if the pathway to the kingdom of God leads through much tribulation, it terminates in joy—joy, pro-seeding from the remission of sins, the grace of God, and the hope of eternal salvation.
Act_8:9 Simon … bewitched [astonished] the people.—Mundus vult decipi. When people desire to see a great display, they are easily bewitched by pretenders who are ready to gratify them. Comp. Rev_13:3-4, “saying, Who is like unto the beast?” Simon was neither the first nor the last of that class of persons who are now called original characters, and whom others weakly take a pride in imitating. They are sometimes able to propagate infidelity with great success, and communicate ungodly tastes to a whole people or race. Such men, who erect barriers in the way that leads to heaven, often fascinate others by their wealth, or their intellect, or their vain words. (K. H. Rieger).
Act_8:12. But when they believed Philip preaching, etc.—So, too, the apostolical-simplicity of the dove will always triumph in the end over the fascinating influence and the cunning of the serpent.—Where God’s truth arises, the kingdom of lies must wane.
Act_8:13. Then Simon himself believed also.—To be touched by the truth, to assent to it, to commend it—all this is insufficient, unless the heart and mind be renewed, and abide in the ways of truth.—Even upright pastors may be deceived by hypocrites, and holy things may be taken from them by fraud. (Starke).
Act_8:9-13. Simon the sorcerer, viewed as the image of a false teacher: I. He gave out that himself was some great one, Act_8:9; false teachers do not seek after the honor of God, but after their own; II. He bewitched the people, Act_8:9; false teachers endeavor to fascinate and dazzle by vain arts, but not to enlighten and convert men; III. He believed, was baptized, and continued with Philip, Act_8:13. Thus, too, unbelievers often speak the language of Canaan [Isa_19:18, i.e., utter devout phrases.—Tr.], when they hope to derive advantage from it; they hypocritically connect themselves with the servants of God, in order to conceal their plague-spots under the mantle of borrowed sanctity.—Saul, (Act_8:1-3), Simon, (Act_8:9-11; Act_8:13), Philip (Act_8:5-8; Act_8:12),—the open enemy, the false friend, and the upright servant of the Lord—each considered with reference to the state of his heart, his course of action, and his lot on earth.—The first persecution of the Christians, and its blessings: illustrated in the case, I. Of Saul; II. Of Philip; III. Of Simon—each, in a peculiar mode, contributing to the glory of the Gospel.—[Lessons taught by the first persecution of the Church: respecting, I. The moral state of man by nature: (a) his spiritual blindness; (b) alienation of his heart from God; (c) the state of degradation to which sin reduces him; II: The ways of divine providence: (a) sometimes mysterious (the power of Stephen’s enemies); (b) often apparently discouraging (the dispersion); (c) always wise and good; III. The vitality of the Church: in resisting, as then, (a) enmity in every form; (b) perpetually; (c) victoriously—by the power of the divine Founder.—Tr.]
Footnotes:
[3]Act_8:5.—The article before πόλιν, which Lachm., in accordance with A. B. and two later [minuscule] mss., has adopted, la certainly a later addition; it is wanting in the great majority of the minuscule mss., and also in Chrysostom, and was probably inserted in order to designate the capital city. [Meyer and de Wette concur with Lechler, and Alf. omits it.—It is found in Cod. Sin., τήν.—Tr.]
[4]Act_8:7.—Πολλῶν [of text. rec.] is supported only by H. among the uncial MSS., but also by various minuscule mss., and several oriental versions and fathers. However, it would not have been substituted for πολλοί of A. B. C. E. [and Cod. Sin.] if the latter had been the original reading, while, on the other hand, in view of the latter half of the verse, πολλοί could easily have been substituted as a correction of πολλῶν. But ἐξήρχοντο is much more fully attested [by A. B. C. E. and Cod. Sin.] than the singular number ἐξήρχετο [of text. rec. and H.—Lach. and Alf. read πολλοί… ἐξήρχοντο. “πολλοίis a nominativus pendens; comp. Act_7:40; Rev_3:12. Winer, § 28. 3 (and § 63. 2. 6.)” (Alford); but de Wette calls this “correction” an “unmeaning” reading, prefers that of the text. rec., and remarks that the “genitive πολλῶν is governed by ἐξηρχ., as in Act_16:39; Mat_10:14.”—Vulg. multi. – – exibant.—Tr.]
[5]Act_8:10. a.—πάντες [of text. rec.] before ἀπὸ, is omitted by Tisch. [and Alf.], in accordance with H., some versions and fathers, as a later addition, although it is found in the great majority of MSS. [A. B. C. D. E. Cod. Sin., and retained by Lach.]. But the different positions which it occupies in several MSS., respectively, render it suspicious; it could easily have been inserted by a later hand. [Tisch. refers to Heb_8:11 as its source.—Tr.]
[6]Act_8:10. b.—καλουμένη [inserted before μεγάλη] is wanting in only a few MSS. [G. H.]; it may have been dropped by copyists as, apparently, an incongruity. But it is so well supported [by A. B. C. D.E. Cod. Sin., Syr. Vulg., etc.], that the most recent editors have all adopted it, although it is wanting in the textus receptus. [But it is, perhaps, like another reading, λεγομένη, found in some minuscules, only a marginal gloss. (de Wette).—Tr.]
[7]Act_8:12—τά [of text. rec.] before περί, is found only in G. H. and is wanting in all the other uncial MSS. [including Cod. Sin.]; hence it is omitted by Lach. and Tisch. [but retained by Alf.]. Meyer considers its presence to be indispensable, as εὐαγγελίζεσθαι is not found elsewhere in combination with περί; but that circumstance does not prove that here, too, it must be combined with the accusative.
[8]Act_8:13.—The reading δυνάμεις καὶ σημεῖα, without μεγάλα or μεγάλας (the latter, in either form, being certainly a later addition suggested by ἐξίστατο), is adopted by Tischendorf and Meyer, and should be preferred to the usual σημ. κ. δυν. [Great variations occur in the ancient MSS., and in the printed text of editors. The text. rec. and Lach. read: σημ. κ. δυν. μεγάλας γινομένας with A. B. C. D. Cod. Sin., except that C. omits γιν. Alford reads: δυν. κ. σημ. γινομένα with E. G. H. Syr. and fathers; G. H. omit μεγ. The text of the Engl. version (which follows Tynd. and Cranmer) changes the order of the text. rec., and omits μεγ., which it recognizes in the margin, where we read: signs and great miracles.—Tr.]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14 they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching--Though solemnly…
they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching--Though solemnly enjoined to do this (Luk 24:47; Act 1:8), they would probably have lingered at Jerusalem, but for this besom of persecution which swept them out. How often has the rage of Christ's enemies thus "turned out rather unto the furtherance of the Gospel" (see Phi 1:12-13).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On v5 THE CHURCH IN TRANSITION FROM JEWS TO GENTILES, Act_8:5…
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THE CHURCH IN TRANSITION FROM JEWS TO GENTILES, Act_8:5 to Act_12:25.
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Through this Second Part of his history Luke traces in perfectly regular progress the successive steps by which Christianity emerges from her Jewish trammels into a free and universal Church. The Samaritans are first evangelized, and the eunuch is the first apostle to Africa. The Gentile apostle is next converted and put in preparation for his work. Peter, emerging from Jerusalem, is taught by the case of Cornelius the lesson of the direct convertibility of Gentiles to Christianity. The refugee Christians, driven from Jerusalem by the Stephanic dispersion, gather a Gentile Church in ANTIOCH, the capital and sallying point of Gentile Christianity. A second check is given to the Jerusalem Church by the Herodian persecution. Thenceforth old Jerusalem, abandoned by the twelve, wanes to her final destruction, and we are prepared to behold in chapter thirteen the Third Part of Luke’s history, opening with Gentile missions issuing forth from Gentile Antioch.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 4. Therefore they that were scattered abroad went every…
4. Therefore they that were scattered abroad went every where [went about] preaching the word] In these words we have the general effect of the persecution. One particular history of such preaching is given immediately.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 (4) They that were scattered abroad.—These. As has been…
(4) They that were scattered abroad.—These. As has been said above, would in all probability be Stephen’s Hellenistic fellow-workers and followers. As in later ages, the axiom that “the blood of martyrs is the seed of the Church,” held true from the beginning. The attempt to stamp out the new faith did but give it a wider scope of action, and urged it on to pass the limits within which it might otherwise have been confined for a much longer period.
Preaching the word.—Better, preaching the glad tidings of the word.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv4–14 They therefore for therefore they, A.V.; about for everywhere,…
They therefore for therefore they, A.V.; about for everywhere, A.V. Went about; i.e. from place to place, and wherever they went they preached the Word. Diercomai here is used in the same sense as in ver. 40, and in Act_10:38 Act_17:23 Act_20:25, and elsewhere.
The first flight of the Word.
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they that were scattered abroad," etc. It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save the world. Providence and grace work hand-in-hand. The Church needed to be taught by discipline. Jerusalem a natural center of religious life. But a center of radiation, not concentration.
I PREACHING THE WORD the greatest function of the Christian Church.
1. The Word preached was the Word given. Apostles gave it. It was preeminently Christ"s Word. It was given by the Holy Ghost with special gifts and wisdom unto us.
2. The Word preached was the Word tried. Conversion proved it. Church life illustrated it. The attitude of the corrupt Jewish Church showed that it was a new Word that was required for the world. 3. Preaching preceded writing. Individual testimony. The baptism of persecution followed the baptism of inspiration. The world wants not speculative truth, but practical the Word of life. "Taste and see," etc.
II UNIVERSAL RESPONSIBILITY for the spread of truth.
1. The true conception of the Church a body of believers. They believe and therefore speak. Possession of the Word is responsibility.
2. The state of the world demands activity in every believer.
3. The pastoral office quite consistent with the fulfillment of this universal duty. The primi inter pares should stimulate all to work.
III THE LEADINGS OF PROVIDENCE are the true guidance of spiritual activity. Scattered abroad" against their will. Doors opened. Opportunity enlarged. Trouble sanctified.
1. It is dangerous to anticipate Divine preparation.
2. Watch in the night, for the darkest hour precedes the dawn.
3. Keep a true and firm center from which to go and to which to return. Jerusalem still remains the seat of apostolic wisdom and authority. God is not the author of confusion. The greatest activity need not break up orderly religious life. Revivals and evangelistic aggression should always maintain a rallying-point. Seek out not "quiet resting-places," but spheres of labor. Let God appoint the peace. R.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv4, 5, 9, 14 Therefore they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching…
Act_8:4
Therefore they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the Word.
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The aggressive power of Christianity
That it is pre-eminently by aggressive movements that the Church is to prosper. By this means she is to maintain spiritual life in her own soul--cause religion to flourish at home, and extend its triumphs abroad.
1. The truth of this doctrine is suggested by the first impulses of the religious principle--the spirit of love in every Christians bosom. False religionists, both among Pagans and nominal Christians, have, I know, taught that piety was a kind of dormant, contemplative spirit; that its power was to be manifested in patient endurance rather than holy action; in a voluntary withdrawment from the world to avoid its contaminations, rather than in resolute efforts to make the world better. The unsophisticated promptings of the new-born soul are always to active effort for God. This is strikingly exhibited in young converts. It is illustrated with great beauty in the conduct of Christs earliest disciples. It conceives plans, it demands efforts, for the worlds conversion. Every real Christian that lives in the spirit of religion may consult his own Consciousness on this subject. See the lives also of eminently holy men in later times--Baxter, Brainerd, Martyn, Payson, etc.
2. The doctrine I have stated further appears from the fact that truth is the grand instrument which God employs to overthrow the kingdom of Satan, and advance and establish the kingdom of His Son. The Word of God must not only be translated into all the languages of the earth, but it must be carried to every, mans door; nay, its great truths must be pressed home upon every mans conscience. What a mighty work here opens for Christians of every name! It is, moreover, eminently an aggressive work, a missionary movement. How are they to accomplish it by shutting themselves up in cloisters?
3. Both the necessity and the vital importance of the aggressive movements of the Church appears from the very attitude of a fallen world towards God. It is one of hostility to His character and opposition to His truth. The world will not come to the Church and crave instruction at her lips. As her Saviour sought her, so He requires her to seek sinners. In other words, she must make external and aggressive movements. She must not study so much her own comfort as her enlargement.
4. The whole current of Scripture precept and representation is in perfect accordance with this view of the subject. The Bible never instructs the Church that she is to conquer the world by her passive virtues--Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
5. The entire history of the gospel confirms this view of the subject. When has any signal advance been made in the work of human salvation, except by a movement similar to that described in the text? The Mosaic institution was peculiar. It was conservative rather than aggressive. Turn to a still later page in the history of the Church. How was it at the Reformation? How was it at the period when Whitefield and Wesley appeared? And just in proportion as any branch of the Christian Church, in the spirit of Christ, attempts spiritual aggression, in the same proportion its interests are prospered. It is seen fulfilling its high destiny.
Remarks:
1. We see why the Church is organised.
2. This subject also indicates the grand object of all preaching to the Church.
3. This discussion throws light upon the providences of God towards the Church. Now, as in former days, He allows heresies, persecutions, schisms, and various forms of affliction, from time to time, to invade the Church. Missionary efforts formed no part of their original plan; they were the plan of Providence.
4. This subject throws light upon the melancholy fact, known and read of all men, that many Churches which have numbers, and wealth, and much secular influence, have no corresponding moral power. Woe to Churches and to ministers who are thus at ease in Zion. (J. H. Tinsley, D. D.)
The gospel--its propagation and effects
I. It is the will of God to propagate His Sons gospel; and in all ways, through circumstances adverse or prosperous, He gives it free course. Sometimes it is by opening the commerce of nations, so that the messengers may occupy new fields; sometimes by some spark from a martyrs pile kindling a tire in a land or in a heart. Great as has been the effect of the patronage of kings, it has been as nothing in comparison with that constancy of faith even unto death, of which Stephen was its first instance, followed by those of whom our text speaks. This was all that remained of the effects of the first Christian persecution; an added testimony, a wider circulation, and a more decided devotion.
II. What is this gospel?
1. It is called the Word. A word is the utterance of a mind, reason communicating itself. Do we believe that the gospel is the expression of Gods mind, the communication of His will? It is a glorious view which is thus opened. God has spoken concerning us, and to us. That mystery which for ages and generations had enveloped the ulterior designs of the Almighty Creator touching His rebellious creatures is at last revealed. God has announced to us the forgiveness of sins through a Mediator and a Sacrifice; the sanctification of sinners, their recreation in His own lost image, by means of an indwelling Holy Spirit; that prayer is the one connecting link between us and these two unspeakable gifts; that it is His intention to raise the dead to an immortal existence, the character of which, for happiness or misery, will depend upon the life here led by us. These things are amongst the disclosures embodied in that Word which these dispersed disciples preached, and which we, if we be faithful to our commission, are preaching still and still hearing.
2. But, as they preached the Word, so Philip preached Christ (Act_8:5). There was no difference between the two. Christ is the Word, and is so designated because He is the Revealer of God: The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him. To preach Christ, in His person, in His character, in His work, is to proclaim Gods Word, in its simplicity, fulness, and strength.
III. The credentials of this gospel. When we preach the Word, or Christ, how do we establish it? No doubt we go back to the evidences: we speak of Gods triple seal, of goodness, wisdom, and power, as set to the words and works of Christ: These arguments are never worn out; nor can it ever be safe to disuse them. But when our Lord said, These signs shall follow them that believe, He taught us to look for more than a mere historical proof. When Philip preached, certain results followed (Act_8:7). Thus he could appeal to effects, and say, Judge ye whether a doctrine which brings with it these infallible signs be of man or of God. These visible tokens do not now attend our preaching, and we ought not to want them; and if we hear not Moses and the prophets, if we refuse the doctrine of Christ and the apostles, neither should we be influenced by any outward sign. But a changed life, an altered spirit, the formation of Christian habits, and the diligent use of Christs ordinances these are the true proofs of the gospel Word in our days; by these things other men take knowledge of its power and of its virtue.
IV. The effect of the proclamation of the Word (Act_8:8). It is long, we may fear, since in any whole place there was joy on account of the gospel. Let me ask then as to the individual soul, Which of you knows what joy is in things spiritual? Who, in days of health and prosperity, finds his happiness simply in Christ? Who, in days of sickness and disappointment, does not find to his consternation that the light of heaven is gone out too? Joy is the overflowing of happiness, the exuberance of a comfort and a tranquillity habitually felt within. Oh where is such joy as that of which our Lord spoke, These things have I spoken unto you, that My joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full? Levity there may be, and too much of it; cheerful spirits in some, domestic happiness in some, contentment and even thankfulness in a few; but where amongst us is that grace of Christian joy which seemed to flow so naturally, in other days, out of the very first reception of the tidings of a Saviour? And yet such joy lies nearer than we imagine: sin forgiven, the atonement believed in, the Holy Spirit cherished--it is the natural effect of these things to inspire joy. Ask of God the power to grasp them as realities, and joy will enter with them; a joy not of this world, a joy the very foretaste of heaven. (Dean Vaughan.)
The liberty of prophesying
The great majority of the dispersed Christians held no ecclesiastical office whatever. Yet they preached wherever they came, without being called to do so by official duty or express commission, but entirely from the internal pressure of faith, which cannot but speak of that which affects the heart, from the impulse of the Spirit by whom they were appointed, and from love to the Saviour to whom they were indebted for the forgiveness, of their sins and for their blessed hopes. According to human ideas of Church government and office, it ought not to have been so. But the Lord of the Church does not so confine Himself even to the office of the apostolate established by Himself, as that everything must take place entirely through it in order to be lawful, pleasing to God, blessed, and full of promise. Christ thus shows that no man and no finite office is indispensable and absolutely necessary; only He Himself is ever and everywhere indispensable. (G. V. Lechler, D. D.)
The aggressive character of Christianity
A Christian is one who knows and receives as true what Christ has revealed in His Word, whose inward state (religious consciousness) is determined by that knowledge, and whose life is devoted to the obedience and service of Christ. Christianity is therefore a system of doctrine, an inward life, a rule of action. When, therefore, we speak of the aggressive character of Christianity, we may mean the antagonism of truth to error, the expansive power of the principles of spiritual life, or the opposition of good to evil in the outward life; or, as the Scriptures call it, the kingdom of God. We may mean by the aggressive character of Christianity, its inherent force, by which it tends to gain more and more the complete control of the individual man and of human society; by controlling all the forms of human thought, the inward character of men, and their outward conduct.
I. Christianity is thus aggressive. It does tend and strive to subdue.
1. This is variously taught in the Scriptures. It is compared to a stone, cut out of a mountain, which gradually fills the whole earth; to a tree whose branches extend over all lands; to leaven; to a temple in the process of erection; to the sun in its course through the heavens.
2. It is deducible from its nature. Truth is necessarily antagonistic to error, and holiness to sin. The one must strive to overcome the other, both in the individual and the world. Besides being a religion suited to the necessities of all men, and absolutely essential to their well-being here and hereafter, it cannot be embraced by the individual without the consciousness on his part of the obligation to uphold and extend it. A Christian, from the nature of the case, is fired with zeal for the glory of Christ and with love for his fellow-men.
3. It is illustrated in the history of the Church. The original promise that the seed of the woman should bruise the serpents head has expanded into the whole system of Christian doctrine. The hundred and twenty disciples in Jerusalem occupied Syria, Egypt, Greece, Italy; and since then Christianity has gained the civilised world. It has banished idolatry, elevated man, and moulded human society.
4. It is proved in the experience of every Christian. His inward life is a progress. He passes from infancy to maturity. The truth becomes better known and more firmly believed. Indwelling sin becomes weaker, and grace stronger. Where this is not true, there is no true life.
II. To what is this aggressive power due?
1. Not to anything in itself as a system of truth. If revealed to the lost in the other world it would be powerless. If revealed to fallen men, sent in books or by living teachers to the heathen, it would, if left to itself, be universally rejected. The opposition of Satan and the evil heart would be too much for it.
2. Not to the subjective effect on the hearts of those who are led to embrace it. If nothing were done ab extra to induce the reception of the gospel, the inward effect and the outward agency would fade away.
3. But to the purpose of God and the co-operation of the Spirit. When a woman puts leaven into a measure of meal, she is sure that the whole will be leavened, because the effect is due to the operation of invariable physical laws. But when the gospel is introduced into a community, whether it will take root and extend, or not, depends on an ab extra sovereign working of Divine power. Hence a sense of dependence is to be acknowledged and cultivated. It is because Christianity is the life of God (i.e., of a present Christ)
that it must prevail.
4. Although the gospel is thus dependent on supernatural agency for its preservation and extension, yet human co-operation is ordained as the means. Faith and love are the powers which we are to wield, depending on the Spirit of God. (C. Hodge, D. D.)
The service of persecution to She Church
The dispersed preached the gospel. Thus by the storm the seeds hitherto collected in one place are scattered hither and thither, and carried to a distance, where they germinate and bear fruit. Thus the Redeemer knows how to convert that into good which was intended only for evil; i.e., not only to hinder the contemplated wicked designs, but by means of them to obtain an unexpected furtherance of His kingdom. (G. V. Lechler, D. D.)
Sparks carried by the wind
The storms of persecution are only winds which fan the fire of faith in the Church, and carry the sparks of truth to a distance. (K. Gerok.)
Wider growth of the Church
We spring up the thicker the oftener we are mowed down. The blood of the martyrs is their harvest-seed. (Tertullian.)
The zeal of the apostles
As a tree on fire kindles a whole forest into a flame, so the apostles, burning with the fire of heaven, have set in a blaze the whole world, and have filled it with the light of truth and the warmth of charity. (St. Augustine.)
Useful incendiaries
The apostles were as burning coals, scattered throughout the nations, blest incendiaries of the world! (Archbishop Leighton.)
What true preaching is
I do not suppose that these good men stood up in pulpits and gave sermons. This also is good; but for this there would often be no time; the men must make haste--their enemies were close upon them--they must flee into the next village! But, before they went, Just listen, they would say. You ask why we are here, why we are in trouble and danger, what is the matter? We will tell you. Then would come the sad tale of Stephen. And the Name that Stephen had loved would again be spoken; with the glad tidings that Jesus who had died was risen again, and was at the right hand of God, to save from their sins those who repented and believed in Him. And He has saved us! those preachers would say; and He is ready to save you! They might not be, all of them, very wise, but they could tell as much as this. And to tell this truly and earnestly is to preach the gospel. May not even a child, then, sometimes preach? (S. G. Green, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On vv5, 14 Chapter 17
Chapter 17
SIMON MAGUS AND THE CONVERSION OF SAMARIA.
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Act_8:5; Act_8:9-10
THE object of the earlier part of this book of the Acts is to trace the steady, gradual development of the Church among the Jews, the evolution, never ceasing for a moment, of that principle of true catholic and universal life which the Master implanted within her, and which never ceased working till the narrow, prejudiced, illiberal little company of Galileans, who originally composed the Church, became the emancipated Church of all nations. This process of development was carried on, as we have already pointed out, through the agency of the Hellenistic Jews, and specially of the deacons who were so intimately connected with that class. We have in the last few chapters surveyed the history of one deacon, St. Stephen; we are now led to the story of another, St. Philip. His activity, as described in the eighth chapter, runs upon exactly the same lines. St. Stephen proclaims the universal principles of the gospel; St. Philip acts upon these principles, going down to the city of Samaria, and preaching Christ there. The prominent position which the deacons had for the time taken is revealed to us by two notices. Philip leaves Jerusalem and goes to Samaria, where the power of the high priest and of the Sanhedrin does not extend, but would rather be violently resisted. Here he is safe for the time, till the violence of the persecution should blow over. And yet, though Philip has to leave Jerusalem, the Apostles remain hidden by the obscurity into which they had for a little fallen, owing to the supreme brilliancy of St. Stephen: "They were all scattered abroad except the Apostles." The deacons were obliged to fly, the Apostles could remain: facts which sufficiently show the relative positions the two classes occupied in the public estimation, and illustrate that law of the Divine working which we so often see manifesting it self in the course of the Churchs chequered career, the last shall be first and the first last. God, on this occasion, as evermore, chooses His own instruments, and works by them as and how He pleases.
I. This reticence and obscurity of the Apostles may seem to us now somewhat strange, as it certainly does seem most strange how the Apostles could have remained safe at Jerusalem when all others had to fly. The Apostles naturally now appear to us the most prominent members of the Jerusalem, nay, farther, of the Christian Church throughout the world. But then, as we have already observed, one of the great difficulties in historical study is to get at the right point of view, and to keep ourselves at that point under very varying combinations of circumstances. We are apt to fling ourselves back, or, if the expression be allowed, to project ourselves backwards into the past, and to think that men must always have attributed the same importance to particular persons or particular circumstances as we do. We now see the whole course of events, and can estimate them, not according to any mere temporary importance or publicity they may have attained, but according to their real and abiding influence. Viewing the matter in this light, we now can see that the Apostles were much more important persons than the deacons. But the question is, not how we regard the Apostles and the deacons, but how did the Sanhedrin and the Jews of Jerusalem in Stephens and Philips time view these two classes. They knew nothing of the Apostles as such. They knew of them simply as unlearned and ignorant men, who had been once or twice brought before the Council. They knew of Stephen, and perhaps, too, of Philip, as cultured Grecian Jews, whose wisdom and eloquence and persuasive power they were not able to resist; and it is no wonder that in the eyes of the Sadducean majority, who then ruled the Jewish senate, the deacons should be specially sought out and driven away.
The action of the Apostles themselves may have conduced to this. Here let us recur to a thought we have already touched upon. We are inclined to view the Apostles as if the Spirit which guided them totally destroyed their human personality and their human feelings. We are apt to cherish towards the Apostles the same reverential but misleading feeling which the believers of the early church cherished towards the prophets, and against which St. James clearly protested when he said, "Elijah was a man of like passions with ourselves." We are inclined to think of them as if there was nothing weak or human or mistaken about them, and yet there was plenty of all these qualities in their character and conduct. The Apostles were older than the deacons, and they were men of much narrower ideas, of a more restricted education. They had less of that facility of temper, that power of adaptation, which learning and travel combined always confer. They may have been somewhat suspicious too of the headlong course pursued by Stephen and his fellows. Their Galilean minds did not work out logical results so rapidly as their Hellenistic friends and allies. They had been slow of heart to believe with the Master. They were slow of heart and mind to work out principles and to grasp conclusions when taught by His servants and followers. The Apostles were, after all, only men, and they had their treasure in earthen vessels. Their inspiration, and the presence of the Spirit within their hearts, were quite consistent with intellectual slowness, and with mental inability to recognise at once the leadings of Divine Providence. It was just then the same as it has ever been in Church history. The older generation is always somewhat suspicious of the younger. It is slow to appreciate its ideas, hopes, aspirations, and it is well perhaps that the older generation is suspicious, because it thus puts on a drag which gives time for prudence, forethought, and patience to come into play. These may appear very human motives to attribute to the Apostles, but then we lose a great deal of Divine instruction if we invest the Apostles with an infallibility higher even than that which Roman Catholics attribute to the Pope. For them the Pope is infallible only when speaking as universal doctor and teacher, a position which some among them go so far as to assert he has never taken since the Church was founded, so that in their opinion the Pope has never yet spoken infallibly. But with many sincere Christians the Apostles were infallible, not only when teaching, but when thinking, acting, writing on the most trivial topics, or discoursing on the most ordinary subjects.
II. Let us now turn our attention to Philip and his work, and its bearing on the future history and development of the Church. Here, before we go any farther, it may be well to note how St. Luke gained his knowledge of the events which happened at Samaria. We do not pretend indeed, like some critics, to point out all the sources whence the sacred writers gathered their information. Any one who has ever attempted to write history of any kind must be aware how impossible it often is for the writer himself to trace the sources of his information after the lapse of some time. How much more impossible then must it be for others to trace the original sources whence the sacred or any other ancient writers derived their knowledge, when hundreds and even thousands of years have elapsed. Our own ignorance of the past is a very unsafe ground indeed on which to base our rejection of any ancient document whatsoever.
It is well, however, to note, where and when we can, the sources whence information may have been gained, and fortunately this book of the Acts supplies us with instruction on this very point. A quarter of a century later the same Saul who, doubtless, helped to make St. Philip fly on this occasion from Jerusalem, was dwelling for several days beneath his roof at Caesarea. He was then Paul the Apostle of the Gentiles, who bore in his own person many marks and proofs of his devotion to the cause which Philip had proclaimed and supported while Paul was still a persecutor. The story of the meeting is told us in the twenty-first chapter of this book. St. Paul was on his way to Jerusalem to pay that famous visit which led to his arrest, and, in the long run, to his visit to Rome and trial before Caesar. He was travelling up to Jerusalem by the coast road which led from Tyre, where he landed, through Caesarea, and thence to the Holy City. St. Luke was with him, and when they came to Caesarea they entered into the house of Philip the Evangelist, with whom they abode several days. What hallowed conversations St. Luke must there have listened to! How these two saints, Paul and Philip, would go over the days and scenes long since past and gone! How they would compare experiences and interchange ideas; and there it was that St. Luke must have had abundant opportunities for learning the history of the rise of Christianity in Samaria which here he exhibits to us.
Let us now look a little closer at the circumstances of the case. The place where Philip preached has raised a question. Some have maintained that it was Samaria itself, the capital city, which Philip visited and evangelised. Others have thought that it was a city, - some indefinite city of the district Samaria, probably Sychar, the town where our Lord had taught the Samaritan woman. Some have held one view, some the other, but the Revised Version would seem to incline to the view that it was the capital city which St. Philip visited on this occasion, and not that city which our Lord Himself evangelised. It may to some appear an additional difficulty in the way of accepting Sychar as the scene of St. Philips ministry, that our Lords work and teaching some five years previously would, in that case, seem to have utterly vanished. Philip goes down and preaches Christ to a city which knew nothing of Him. How, some may think, could this have possibly been true, and how could such an impostor as Simon have carried all the people captive, had Christ Himself preached there but a few short years before, and converted the mass of the people to belief in Himself? Now I maintain that it was Samaria, the capital, and not Sychar, some miles distant, that Philip evangelised, but I am not compelled to accept this view by any considerations about Christs own ministry and its results. Our Lord might have taught in the same city where Philip taught, and in the course of five years the effect of His personal ministry might have entirely vanished.
There is no lesson more plainly enforced by the gospel story than this: Christs own personal ministry was a comparatively fruitless one. He taught the Samaritan woman, indeed, and the people of the city were converted, as they said, not so much by her witness as by the power of Christs own words and influence. But then the Holy Ghost was not yet given, the Church was not yet founded, the Divine society which Christ, as the risen Saviour, was to establish, had not yet come into existence; and therefore work like that done at Samaria was a transient thing, passing away like the morning cloud or the early dew, and leaving not a trace behind. Christ came not to teach men a Divine doctrine, so much as to establish a Divine society, and, till this society was established, the work done even by Christ Himself was a fleeting and evanescent thing. The foundation of the Church as a society was absolutely necessary if the doctrine and teaching of Christ were to be preserved. The article of the creed, "I believe in the Holy Catholic Church," has been neglected, slighted, and undervalued by Protestants. I have heard even of avowed expositors of the Apostles Creed who, when they came to this article, have passed it over with a hasty notice because it did not fit into their narrow systems. And yet here again the Supreme wisdom of the Divine plan has been amply vindicated, and the experience of the New Testament has shown that if there had not been a Church instituted by Christ, and established with Himself as its foundation, rock, and chief corner-stone, the wholesome doctrine and the supernatural teaching of Christ would soon have vanished. I am here indeed reminded of the words and experience of one of the greatest evangelists who have lived since apostolic times. John Wesley, when dealing with a cognate subject, wrote to one of his earliest preachers about the importance of establishing Methodist societies wherever Methodist preachers found access, and he proceeds to urge the necessity for doing so on precisely the same grounds as those on which we explain the failure of our Lords personal ministry, so far at least as present results were concerned. Wesley tells his correspondent that wherever Methodist teaching alone has been imparted, and Methodist societies have not been founded as well, the work has been an utter failure, and has vanished away.
So it was with the Master, Christ Jesus. He bestowed His Divine instruction and imparted His Divine doctrine, but as the time for the outpouring of the Spirit and the foundation of the Church had not yet come, the total result of the personal work and labours of the Incarnate God was simply one hundred and twenty, or at most five hundred souls. It constitutes, then, to our mind no difficulty in the way of regarding Sychar as the scene of Philips teaching, that Christ Himself may have laboured there a few years before, and yet that there should not have been a trace of His labours when St. Philip arrived. The Master might Himself have taught in a town, and yet His disciple s preaching a few years later might have been most necessary, because the Spirit was not yet given. The plain meaning, however, of the words of the Acts is that it was to the city of Samaria, the capital city, that Philip went: and it is most likely that to the capital city a character like Simon would have resorted, and not to any smaller town, as affording him the largest field for the exercise of his peculiar talents, just as afterwards we shall find, in the course of his history, that he resorted to the capital of the world, Rome itself, as the scene most effectual for his purposes.
III. St. Philip went down, then, to Samaria and preached Christ there, and in Samaria he came across the first of those subtle opponents with whom the gospel has ever had to struggle, -men who did not directly oppose the truth, but who corrupted its pure morality and its simple faith by a human admixture, which turned its salutary doctrines into a deadly poison. Philip came to Samaria, and there he found the Samaritans carried away with the teaching and actions of Simon. The preaching of the pure gospel of Jesus Christ, and the exercise of true miraculous power, converted the Samaritans, and were sufficient to work intellectual conviction even in the case of the Magician. All the Samaritans, Simon included, believed and were baptised. This is the introduction upon the stage of history of Simon Magus, whom the earliest Church writers, such as Hegesippus, the father of Church history, who was born close upon the time of St. John, and flourished about the middle of the second century, and his contemporary Justin Martyr, describe as the first of those Gnostic heretics who did so much in the second and third centuries to corrupt the gospel both in faith and practice. The writings of the second and third centuries are full of the achievements and evil deeds of this man Simon, which indeed are related by some writers with so much detail as to form a very considerable romance. Here, then, we find a corroborative piece of evidence as to the early date of the composition of the Acts of the Apostles. Had the Acts been written in the second century, it would have given us some traces of the second-century tradition about Simon Magus; but having been written at a very early period, upon the termination of St. Pauls first imprisonment, it gives us simply the statement about Simon Magus as St. Luke and St. Paul had heard it from the mouth of Philip the Evangelist. St. Luke tells us nothing more, simply because he had no more to tell about this first to the celebrated heretics. When we come to the second century Simons story is told with much more embellishment. The main outlines are, however, doubtless correct. All Christian writers agree in setting forth that after the reproof which, as we shall see, Simon Peter the Apostle bestowed upon the magician, he became a determined opponent of the Apostles, especially of St. Peter, whose work he endeavoured everywhere to oppose and defeat. With this end in view he went to Rome, as Justin Martyr says, in the reign of Claudius Caesar, and as other writers say, in the time of Nero.
There he successfully deceived the people for some time. We have early notices of his success in the Imperial city. Justin Martyr is a writer who came close upon the apostolic age. He wrote an Apology for the Christians, which we may safely assign to some year about 150 A.D. At that time he was a man in middle life, whose elder contemporaries must have been well acquainted with the history and traditions of the previous century. In that first Apology Justin gives us many particulars about Christianity and the early Church, and he tells us, concerning Simon Magus, that his teaching at Rome was so successful in leading the Roman people astray that they erected a statue in his honour, between the two bridges. It is a curious fact, and one, too, which confirms the accuracy of Justin, that in the year 1574 there was dug up on the very spot indicated by Justin, the island in the Tiber, a statue bearing the inscription described by Justin, "Semoni Sanco Deo Fidio." Critics, indeed, are now pretty generally agreed that this statue was the one seen by Justin, but that it was originally erected in honour of a Sabine deity, and not of the arch-heretic as the Apologist supposed; though there are some who think that the appeal of Justin to a statue placed before mens eyes, and about which many at Rome must have known all the facts, could not have been made on such mistaken grounds. It is not altogether safe to build theories or offer explanations based on our ignorance, and opposed to the plain, distinct statements of a writer like Justin, who was a contemporary with the events of which he speaks. It seems indeed a plausible explanation to say that Justin Martyr mistook the name of a Sabine deity for that of an Eastern heretic. But there may have been two statues and two inscriptions on the island, one to the heretic, another to the ancient Sabine god. Later writers of the second and third centuries improved upon Justins story, and entered into great details of the struggles between Simon and the two Apostles, St. Peter and St. Paul, terminating in the death of the magician when attempting to fly up to heaven in the presence of the Emperor Nero. His death did not, however, put an end to his influence. The evil which he did and taught lived long afterwards. His followers continued his teaching and proved themselves active opponents of the truth, seducing many proselytes by the apparent depth and subtlety of their views. Such is the history of Simon Magus as it is told in Church history, but we are now concerned simply with the statements put forward in the passage before us. There Simon appears as a teacher who led the Samaritans captive by his sorcery, which he used as the basis of his claim to be recognised as "that power of God which is called Great." Magic and sorcery have always more or less prevailed, and do still prevail, in the Eastern world, and have ever been used in opposition to the gospel of Christ, just as the same practices, under the name of Spiritualism, have shown themselves hostile to Christianity in Western Europe and in America. The tales of modern travellers in India and the East, respecting the wondrous performances of Indian jugglers, remind us strongly of the deeds of Jannes and Jambres who withstood Moses, and illustrate the sorcery which Simon Magus used for the deception of the Samaritans. The Jews, indeed, were everywhere celebrated at this period for their skill in magical incantations-a. well-known fact, of which we find corroborative evidence in the Acts. Bar-Jesus, the sorcerer who strove to turn the proconsul of Cyprus from the faith, was a Jew. {Act_13:6-12} In the nineteenth chapter we find the seven sons of Sceva, the Jewish priest, exercising the same trade of sorcery; while, as is well known from references in the classical writers, the Jews at Rome were famous for the same practices.
These statements of writers sacred and secular alike have been confirmed in the present age. There has been a marvellous discovery of ancient documents in Egypt within the last twelve or fifteen years, which were purchased by the Austrian government and duly transferred to Vienna, where they have been investigated. They are usually called the Fayum Manuscripts. They contain some of the oldest documents now existing, and embrace among them large quantities of magical writings, with the Hebrew formulae used by the Jewish sorcerers when working their pretended miracles. So wondrously does modern discovery confirm the statements and details of the New Testament!
It is not necessary now to discuss the question whether the achievements of sorcery and magic, either ancient or modern, have any reality about them, or are a mere clever development of sleight of hand, though we incline to the view which admits a certain amount of reality about the wonders performed, else how shall we account for the doings of the Egyptian magicians, the denunciations of sorcery and witchcraft contained in the Bible, as well as in many statements in the New Testament? A dry and cold age of materialism, without life and fire and enthusiasm, like the last century, was inclined to explain away such statements of the Scriptures. But man has now learned to be more distrustful of himself and the extent of his discoveries. We know so little of the spirit world, and have seen of late such strange psychological manifestations in connection with hypnotism, that the wise man will hold his judgment in suspense, and not hastily conclude, with the men of the eighteenth century, that possession with devils was only another name for insanity, and that the deeds of sorcerers were displays of mere unassisted human skill and subtlety. As it was with the Jews, so was it with the Samaritans. They were indeed bitterly separated the one from the other, but their hopes, ideas, and faith were fundamentally alike. The relations between the Samaritans and the Jews were at the period of which we treat very like those which exist between Protestants and Roman Catholics in Ulster, -professing different forms of the same faith, yet regarding, one another with bitterer feelings than if far more widely separated. So it was with the Jews and Samaritans; but the existing hostility did not change nature and its essential tendencies, and therefore as the Jews practised sorcery, so did Simon, who was a native of Samaria; and with his sorcery he ministered to the Messianic expectation which flourished among the Samaritans equally as among the Jews. The Samaritan woman testified to this in her conversation with our Lord, and as she was a woman of a low position and of a sinful character, her language proves that her ideas must have had a wide currency among the Samaritan people. "The woman saith unto Him, I know that Messiah cometh, which is called Christ: when He is come, He will declare unto us all things." Simon took advantage of this expectation, and gave himself out to be "that power of God which is called Great"; testifying by his assertion to the craving which existed all through the Jewish world for the appearance of the long-expected deliverer, a craving which we again find manifesting itself in the many political pretenders who sprang up in the regions of more orthodox Judaism, as Josephus amply shows. The world, in fact, and specially the world which had been affected with Jewish ideas and Jewish thought, was longing for a deeper teaching and for a profounder spiritual life than it had as yet known. It was athirst for God, yea, even for the living God; and when it could find nothing better, it turned aside and strove to quench the souls desires at the impure fountains which magic and sorcery supplied.
IV. Philip the Evangelist came with his teaching into a society which acknowledged Simon as its guide, and his miracles at once struck the minds of the beholders. They were miracles worked, like the Masters, without any secret preparations, without the incense, the incantations, the muttered formulae which accompanied the lying wonders of the magician.
They formed a contrast in another direction too, -no money was demanded, no personal aims or low objects were served; the thorough unselfishness of the evangelist was manifest. Then, too, the teaching which accompanied the miracles was their best evidence. It was a teaching-of righteousness, of holy living, of charity, of humility; it was transparently unworldly. It was. not like Simons, which gave out that he himself was some great one, and treated of himself alone; but it dealt with "the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ"; and the teaching and the miracles, testifying the one to the other, came home to the hearts of the people, leading them captive to the foot of the Cross. It has often been a debated question whether miracles alone are a sufficient evidence of the truth of a doctrine, or whether the doctrine needs to be compared with the miracles to see if its character be worthy of the Deity. The teaching of the New Testament seems to, be plainly this, that miracles, in themselves, are not a sufficient evidence. Our Lord warns His disciples that deceivers shall one day come working mighty signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if it be possible, even the very elect; and He exhorts His disciples to be on their guard against them. But while miracles alone are no sufficient evidence of the truth of a doctrine, they were a very needful assistance to the doctrines of the gospel in the age and country when and where Christianity took its rise. Whether the sorcery and magic and wonders of Simon, and the other false teachers against whom the Apostles had to contend, were true or false, genuine or mere tricks, still they would have given the false teachers a great advantage over the preachers of the gospel, had the latter not been armed with real divine supernatural power which enabled them, as occasion required, to fling the magical performances completely into the shade. The miraculous operations of the Apostles seem to have been restricted in the same way as Christ restricted the working of His own supernatural power. The Apostles never worked miracles for the relief of themselves or of their friends and associates. St. Paul was detained through infirmity of the flesh in Galatia, and that infirmity led him to preach the gospel to the Galatian Celts. He did not, perhaps he could not, employ his. miraculous power to cure himself, just as our Lord refused to use His miraculous power to turn stones into bread. St. Paul depended upon human skill and love for his cure, using probably for that purpose the medical knowledge and. assistance of St. Luke, whom we find shortly afterwards in his company. Miraculous power was bestowed upon the first Christian teachers, not for the purposes of display or of selfish gratification, but simply for the sake of Gods kingdom and mans salvation.
And as it was with St. Paul so was it with his companions. Timothy was exhorted to betake himself to human remedies to cure his physical weakness, while when another apostolic man, Trophimus, was sick, he was left behind. by the Apostle at Miletus till he should get well. {2Ti_4:20} Miracles were for the sake of unbelievers, not of believers, and for this purpose we cannot see how they could have been done without, under the circumstances in which the gospel was launched into the world. Mans nature had been so thoroughly corrupted, the whole moral atmosphere had been so permeated with wickedness, the whole moral tone of society had been so terribly lowered, that the Apostles might have come preaching the purest morality, the most Divine wisdom, and it would have fallen on ears so deaf, and eyes so blind, and hearts so seared and hardened, that it would have had no effect unless they had possessed miraculous power which, as occasion demanded, served to call attention to their teaching. But when the preliminary barriers had been broken down, and the miracles had fulfilled their purpose, then the preaching of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ did their work. Here again a thought comes forward on which we have already said a little. The subject matter of Philips preaching is described in the fifth verse as Christ, "Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and proclaimed unto them the Christ," and then in the twelfth verse it is expanded for us into "the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ." These two subjects are united. The kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ. The Apostles taught no diluted form of Christianity. They preached the name of Jesus Christ, and they also taught a Divine society which He had established and which was to be the means of completing the work of Christ in the world. Our Lord Jesus Christ and His Apostles recognised the great truth, that a mere preaching of a philosophical or religious doctrine would have been of very little use in reforming the world. They therefore preached a Church which should be the pillar and ground of the truth, which should gather up, safeguard, and teach the truth whose principles the Apostles set forth. To put it in plain language, the Evangelist St. Philip must have taught the doctrine of a Church of Jesus Christ as well as of a doctrine of Jesus Christ. Had the doctrine of Jesus Christ been taught without and separate from the doctrine of a Church, the doctrine of Christs person and character might have vanished, just as the doctrine of Plato or Aristotle or that of any of the great ancient teachers vanished. But Jesus Christ had come into the world to establish a Divine society, with ranks, gradations, and orderly arrangements; He had come to establish a kingdom, and they all knew then what a kingdom meant. For the Greek, Roman, or Jewish mind, a kingdom meant more even than it does for us. It meant in their conceptions a despotism where the king ordered and did just what he liked. The Romans, in fact, abominated the name king, and invented the term emperor instead, because for them the word king connoted what it does not connote for us, the possession and exercise of absolute power. Yet, for all this, the Apostles preached Christ as a King and His society as a kingdom, because in that new society which He had called into existence, the graces, the gifts, the offices of the society are totally dependent upon and entirely subservient to Jesus Christ alone.
How wondrously the life, the activity, the fervour and power of the Church would have been changed had this truth been always recognised. The Church of Jesus Christ, as regards its hidden secret life, is a despotism. It depends upon Christ alone. It depends not upon the State, not upon man, not upon wealth or position or earthly influences of any kind: it depends upon Christ alone. The Church has often forgot this secret of its strength. It has trusted in the arm of flesh, and has relied upon human patronage and power, and then it has grown, perhaps, m grandeur and importance as far as the world is concerned; but, as it has grown in one direction, it has lost in the other, and that the only direction worthy a Churchs attention. The temptation to rely on the help of the world alone has assailed the Church in various ways. It assails individual Christians, it assails congregations, it assails the Church at large. All of them, whether individuals, congregations, or churches, are apt to imagine that power and prosperity consist in wealth, or worldly position, or the number of adherents, forgetting that Christ alone is the source of power to the Church or to individual souls, and that where He is wanting, no matter what may be the outward appearance, or the numerical increase, or the political influence, there indeed all true life has departed.
V. The results of Philips teaching and work in Samaria were threefold.
(1) The Samaritans believed Philip, and among the believers was Simon. There are some people who teach faith and nothing else, and imagine that if they lead men to exercise belief then the whole work of Christianity is done. This incident at the very outset of the Churchs history supplies a warning against any such one-sided teaching. The Samaritans believed, and so did Simon the Magician, who had for long deceived them. The very same word is used here for the faith exercised by the Samaritans and by Simon, as we find used to describe the belief of the three thousand on the day of Pentecost, or of the Philippian jailer who accepted St. Pauls teaching amid all the terror. of the earthquake and the opened prison. They were all intellectually convinced and had all accepted the Christian faith as a great reality. Intellectual faith in Christ is the basis on which a true living faith which works by love is grounded. A faith of the heart which is not based on a faith of the head is very much akin to a superstition. Of course we know that there are people whose faith is deep-rooted and fruitful who cannot state the grounds of their belief, but they are well aware that others can thus state it, that their faith is capable of being put into words and defended in argument. Intellectual faith in Christianity must ever be regarded as a gift of the Holy Ghost, according to that profound word of the Apostle, "No man can say, Jesus is Lord, but in the Holy Ghost." But intellectual faith in the truth and reality of Christs mission may exist in a heart where there is no sense of sin and of spiritual want, and then belief in Christ avails nothing. There were cravings after righteousness and peace in Samaritan bosoms, but there was none in one heart, at least, and that heart was therefore unblessed. The results of St. Philips work teaches us that faith is not everything in the Christian life.
(2) Again, we find that another result was that the Samaritans were all baptised, including their arch-deceiver Simon. Philip, then, in the course of his preaching of Christ, must have told them of Christs law of baptism. The preaching of the name of Jesus Christ and of the kingdom of God must have included a due setting forth of His laws and ordinances. We do no honour to Christ when we neglect any part of His revelation. If God has revealed any doctrine or any practice or any sacrament, it must be of the very greatest importance. The mere fact of its revelation by Him makes it of importance, no matter how we, in our shortsighted wisdom, may think otherwise. Philip set forth therefore the whole counsel of God, and as the result all the Samaritans were baptised, including Simon; but then again, as Simons case taught that faith by itself availed not to change the heart, so Simons ease teaches that baptism, neither alone nor in conjunction with intellectual faith, avails to convert the soul and purify the character. God offers His graces and His blessings, faith and baptism, but unless there be receptivity, unless there be consent of the will, and a thirst of the soul and a longing of the heart after spiritual things, the graces and gifts of the Spirit will be offered in vain.
(3) And then, lastly, the final and abiding result of Philips work was, there was great joy in that city. They rejoiced because their souls had found the truth, which alone, can satisfy the cravings of the human heart and minister a joy which leaves no sting behind, but is a joy pure and exhaustless. The joys of earth are always mixed, and the more mixed the more unsatisfying.
The joy of a Christian Soul which knows Christ and His preciousness, which has been delivered by Christ from deceit and impurity and vice, as these Samaritans had, and which feels and enjoys the new light thrown on life by Christs revelations, that joy is a surpassing one, ravishing the soul, satisfying the intellect, purifying the life. There was great joy in that city, and no wonder, for as the poet has well sung, contrasting the "worlds gay garish feast" with Gods sacred consolations bestowed upon holy souls, -
"Who, but a Christian, through all life That blessing may prolong? Who, through the worlds sad day of strife, Still chant his morning song?"
"Such is Thy banquet, dearest Lord; O give us grace to cast Our lot with Thine to trust Thy word, And keep our best till last."
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On vv4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14 4. Went every where preaching the word. The rage…
4. Went every where preaching the word. The rage of the persecutors only extended the reign of Christ. The scattered saints, long prepared at the feet of the apostles, went everywhere as preachers of Christ. The blood of Stephen was the seed of the church.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On vv5, 9, 14 Act_8:5. Philip.—Not the apostle, but the deacon (Act_6:4). The…
CRITICAL REMARKS
Act_8:5. Philip.—Not the apostle, but the deacon (Act_6:4). The city of Samaria—according to the best MSS.—signifies that the capital built by Omri (1Ki_16:24), and renamed Sebaste by Herod the Great (Jos., Ant., XX. Act_6:2), was the place to which Philip went; if with some MSS. the article before city be omitted, then Samaria would mean the province of that name, and the city might be Sychar, the Sichem of the Old Testament (Joh_4:5).
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Act_8:6. The people.—Better, the multitudes—i.e., of the city.
Act_8:7. For unclean spirits, etc.—Should be rendered either “For from many of those who had unclean spirits, they—i.e., the spirits—went forth crying with a loud voice,” the genitive πολλῶν being dependent on the ἐξ in the verb compare Act_16:39; Mat_10:14 (De Wette, Meyer); or “For from many of those having (sc. them—i.e., unclean spirits) unclean spirits crying with a loud voice went forth (Bengel, Kuinoel). But the best texts (א A B C) read πολλοὶ ἐξήρχοντο; in which case the verse should be translated; “for many of those who had unclean spirits crying with a loud voice went forth”; the writer having probably, when he commenced the sentence, intended to say “were healed,” instead of which he changes the construction, and sets down “went forth,” as if the “unclean spirits” were the nominative (Alford, Holtzmann). It has been remarked (Bengel) that in the Acts the term “demons” is never used of “the possessed,” although in Luke it occurs more frequently than in the other gospels; and the inference drawn that after the death of Christ the malady of possession was weaker (compare 1Jn_3:8; Col_2:15; Heb_2:14).
HOMILETICAL ANALYSIS.—Act_8:5-8
Philip in Samaria; or, The Gospel Spreading
I. The preacher.—Philip. Not the apostle, as a late Christian tradition, mentioned by Polycrates, Bishop of Ephesus, in A.D. 198 (Eusebius, III. 31:2, Act_24:1), affirms, since he remained in Jerusalem (Act_8:1), but the deacon (Act_6:5) and evangelist (Act_21:8), who by going down to Samaria—
1. Supplied the place and took up the work of Stephen, his martyred colleague. Christ’s servants dying never want successors.
2. Counteracted the evil machinations of Stephen’s murderers, and of Saul in particular, who hoped to extinguish the faith to which as yet he was a stranger and of which he knew not the vitality; and
3. Evidenced his own confidence in the indestructibility of the gospel, whose preachers and professors might be imprisoned or slain, but whose glorious tidings could not be hindered from flying abroad and one day encircling the earth.
II. The audience.—The inhabitants of the city of Samaria or of Sychar, who were—
1. Numerous, being described as a multitude.
2. Afflicted, containing many diseased and demonised persons.
3. Deluded, being at the time bewitched by or amazed at Simon’s sorceries; and still
4. Eager, with one accord giving heed to Philip, perhaps because of having, in a measure, through Christ’s preaching ten years before (Joh_4:30; Joh_4:40), been prepared for the reception of the word.
III. The message.—
1. Its subject. The Christ. Philip entertained his hearers neither with diatribes against the magician who had so long bewitched them, nor with denunciations of the Sanhedrim who had opened against the followers of the new faith the fires of persecution, nor with commiserations of themselves who had so much sickness bodily and mental, in their midst, but with what should ever be the preacher’s theme (1Co_2:2), proclamations of the Christ—viz., Jesus—who had suffered on the cross, risen from the grave, and ascended into heaven.
2. Its confirmation. The signs which he did—
(1) the works of healing which he performed on the demonised, the palsied, and the lame, attested him a teacher come from God (compare Joh_3:2); and
(2) the cries of the unclean spirits in coming forth from their victims, not shouts of indignation at being ejected from their human lodging, but vociferous declarations of the Messiahship of Jesus or of the truth of the gospel (compare Mar_3:11; Luk_4:41), were a practical endorsement of his words.
IV. The result.—Great joy. On account of—
1. The glad tidings come to the city. The introduction of the gospel with its glorious announcements of a crucified and risen Lord (Act_13:32-33), of a finished redemption work (Joh_17:4), and of a peace established between God and man on the basis of that work (Eph_2:14-18), as well as with its sublime possibilities of salvation (Rom_1:16), to a heart, to a city, to a country, a cause of rejoicing than which better can not be imagined (Psa_89:15).
2. The wonderful deliverances wrought on its inhabitants. The healings done upon the bodies of the citizens of Samaria or Sychar were emblematic of the higher healings the gospel could, and in numberless instances did, effect upon their souls. To-day, as in Philip’s time, the gospel heals all manner of spiritual disease and emancipates souls from the power of sin and Satan (Col_1:13), besides indirectly promoting the health of bodies.
Learn.—
1. The true work of a preacher—to proclaim Christ.
2. The true prosperity of a city—the prevalence in it of the Gospel.
HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
Act_8:5. The Inhabitants of Samaria.
I. What they heard. Christ proclaimed.
II. What they saw. Miracles performed.
III. What they did.
1. Listened to the word.
2. Studied the miracles.
3. Rejoiced in the work of Philip.
Act_8:8. Joy in Samaria.—Occasioned by four things.
I. The Gospel preached in its streets.
II. Healing brought to its inhabitants.
III. Delusions dispelled from their minds.
IV. Souls saved from the power of sin and death.
Act_8:5-8. Philip’s Mission to Samaria.
I. The conduct of Philip.—He—
1. Went down to Samaria.
2. Preached Christ to the people.
3. Wrought miracles in the city.
II. The attention of the Samaritans.—They:
1. Heard Philip preach. 2. Were seriously affected.
3. Gave heed to what they heard.
4. Believed what was preached.
III. The effect in the city.—Great joy. Because of:
1. Joyful tidings heard.
2. Wondrous healings experienced.
3. Numerous conversions made.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain On vv4, 5, 7, 14 4. “Therefore indeed being dispersed abroad, they went everywhere…
4. “Therefore indeed being dispersed abroad, they went everywhere preaching the word.” Oh, how the devil overshot himself in the Sauline persecutions. It was high time that Jerusalem nest was broken up and the saints dispersed to the ends of the earth to preach the gospel. Nothing could so effectually bring to pass this indispensable desideratum as a bloody persecution. Hence the devil set a trap, lost all of his bait and got caught in it himself. This awful Sauline persecution was worth more than a wagon full of gold to send the gospel to the destitute, and thus establish the church in all the earth. Meanwhile Satan’s persecution dispatched hundreds and thousands of blood-washed and fire-baptized evangelists to preach the gospel to the ends of the earth; he even lost the greatest and most successful leader of hell’s army he ever had on the earth, i. e., Saul of Tarsus, whose attitude at the very front of the popular church qualified him, invested in the livery of heaven, to serve the devil and promote the damnation of souls infinitely beyond the possibilities of the blackest incarnate reprobate, fighting overtly and devouredly under the motley banner of the bottomless pit. Therefore in the work of Saul the persecutor hell suffered signal bankruptcy.
ALL SAINTS ARE PREACHERS
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4. “Therefore indeed being dispersed abroad, they went everywhere preaching the word.” The martyrdom of Stephen lifted the flood-gate of a general and sweeping persecution against the Nazarenes, the Roman power acquiescent in the diabolical malignity, thus purchasing Jewish favor with the blood of the saints. Consequently they fled in all directions, like Samson’s foxes, scattering the fire throughout all Palestine and everywhere rolling out the revival wave into the Gentile world. Thus the devil overshot himself; thinking to exterminate Christianity from the globe, he sent out fiery platoons of missionaries to the ends of the earth. The Holy Ghost certifies that they all preached the gospel, here using that identical word, evangelidzoo, which means “preach the gospel,” and not simply to proclaim as an herald; thus evolving the fact that all the saints in the Apostolic age were divinely authorized preachers of the gospel, Satan having waited to a later date to invent license, thus obstructing the free and universal evangelization of earth’s dying millions under the leadership of the Holy Ghost. Unobstructed by ecclesiastical tyranny, neither the apostles nor their saintly contemporaries ever received any license to preach. If the church wants to give you license, accept it with gratitude; if not, go ahead and preach in the regular Apostolical succession.
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v4 The Extension of the Church to Judæa and Samaria…
The Extension of the Church to Judæa and Samaria (Act_8:4 to Act_11:18)
The Christians, scattered by persecution, preach everywhere through Judaea and Samaria. The places specially mentioned are Samaria, Azotus, Caesarea, Lydda, the Sharon valley, and Joppa.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain On vv4–14 See notes on verse 1
See notes on verse 1
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v5 city of
city of
The Jews having rejected Stephen’s witness to, and of, them, the Gospel now begins to go out to "all nations." Cf. Luk 24:47.
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On vv4, 9, 14 The missionary work of the disciples and of Philip:
The missionary work of the disciples and of Philip:
v. 4. Therefore they that were scattered abroad went everywhere, preaching the Word.
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v. 5. Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them.
v. 6. And the people with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did.
v. 7. For unclean spirits, crying with loud voice. , came out of many that were possessed with them; and many taken with palsies, and that were lame, were healed.
v. 8. And there was great joy in that city.
While the apostles remained in Jerusalem with the small remnant of the former large congregation, escaping personal injury probably only because of a superstitious fear of their power to perform miracles, the disciples that were driven from Jerusalem by the persecution were ever mindful of the command of their Lord Jesus. They journeyed everywhere; and wherever they came, they brought the joyous message of the Word, the gracious Gospel of the Savior. Note: The men that went out at this time were not members of the teaching staff of the congregation, they were so-called lay-members, and yet they brought the message of the Gospel wherever they went. Every Christian, learned or unlearned, can and should give testimony of the faith of his heart, and thus try to gain souls for the Savior. —But in all these missionary endeavors the work of one man stood out very prominently, namely, that of Philip, one of the seven officers elected by the congregation, chap. 6:5. His work as deacon having been terminated by the persecution in Jerusalem, he became an evangelist. He made the journey either to one of the cities of the region of Samaria or, more likely, to the city of Samaria, or Sebaste, the capital of the district itself. The topic of his preaching was ever the same, the one subject that can never be preached too often or too fervently: Christ, the Savior of the world. And this simple Gospel-preaching concerning the Messiah had its effect. It received a better reception than in the case of the Jews, to whose self-righteousness the Word of the cross was ever an offense. The multitudes that gathered about Philip attended carefully to the things that were spoken by Philip, and were of one mind. The combined evidence of the preaching which they heard, and of the signs which he performed as a proof of the Gospel’s divine mission, was so powerful as to convince great numbers of them. For many demoniacs were freed from the evil spirits, the unclean devils that had taken possession of them, though the spirits protested with loud cries when they were driven out, and many paralytics and lame people were healed. Note the distinction made also here between the driving out of demons and the healing of sick people. Luke’s description shows that he was well acquainted with the nature of both afflictions, and that he distinguished with a reason. The consequence of all these events was that there was great joy in that whole city. It was a time of blessing for body and soul. Philip did not belong to the tribe of the modern sensational preachers with the knack of electrifying the masses; none of their tricks were employed by him. It was the preaching of Christ that brought about the new condition, the miracles serving only for further confirmation.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv4, 6, 9, 12, 14 Connecting Statement:
Connecting Statement:
This begins the story of Philip, whom the people had chosen as a deacon. (See: Acts 6:5)
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who had been scattered
The cause for the scattering, the persecution, was stated previously. This can be stated in active form. AT: "who had fled the great persecution and had gone" (See: Active or Passive)
proclaiming the word
"Word" here is a metonym for "message." AT: "proclaiming the message from God" (See: Metonymy)
went down to the city of Samaria
The phrase "went down" is used here because Samaria is lower in elevation than Jerusalem.
the city of Samaria
Possible meanings are 1) Luke expected the readers to know which city he was writing about. AT: "the main city in Samaria" or 2) Luke did not expect his readers to know which city he was writing about. AT: "a city in Samaria"
proclaimed to them the Christ
The title "Christ" refers to Jesus, the Messiah. AT: "told them that Jesus is the Messiah" (See: Metonymy)
translationWords
believe
preach
word of God
Philip, the evangelist
Samaria
Christ
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv7, 9, 14 8:7 cast out . . . healed: Miracles often…
8:7 cast out . . . healed: Miracles often accompany evangelism in Acts (see study note on 3:1-11).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.