Acts 8


Acts 8 is the eighth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It records the burial of Stephen, the beginnings of Christian persecution, the spread of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the people of Samaria and the conversion of an Ethiopian official. The book containing this chapter is anonymous, but early Christian tradition uniformly affirmed that Luke composed this book as well as the Gospel of Luke. Parts of this chapter may have been drawn from an earlier "Philip cycle of stories" used by Luke in assembling his material.

Text

The original text was written in Koine Greek. This chapter is divided into 40 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are:
;In Greek
;In Latin

Old Testament references

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New Testament references

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Locations

This chapter mentions the following places:

Saul's approval of Stephen's death (8:1a)

The writer of Acts introduces Saul, later the Apostle Paul, as an active witness of Stephen's death in Acts 7:58, and confirmed his approval in Acts 8:1a. Reuben Torrey, in his Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, suggests that this clause "evidently belongs to the conclusion of the previous chapter".

Verse 1

The church scattered (8:1b–4)

The narrative here is focused around two geographical poles: Jerusalem, where the apostles stay and the "countryside of Judea and Samaria", where the rest of the church is "scattered", with unnamed disciples continuing the apostles' task of preaching the gospel, as the church history moves on to the middle stage of the apostolic commission in Acts 1:8 The story of church's expansion is interwoven with the record of Stephen's burial and the hint of Saul future as a zealous instigator of the persecution, indicating that the community most affected by the wave of persecution to follow was the one to which both Stephen and Saul belonged, the 'synagogues of diaspora origin', because by the time of a group of 'disciples' is still in Jerusalem alongside the apostles.

Verse 2

Heinrich Meyer observes a "double contrast": firstly, that "in spite of the outbreak of persecution which took place on that day, the dead body of the martyr was nevertheless honoured by pious Jews"; and secondly, in verse 3, Saul's persecuting zeal is contrasted with this piety. In the Greek word συγκομίζειν, the prefix syn- generally means "with", or "together", suggesting that the men carried Stephen's body away together, but Meyer also emphasises that his body was placed with other dead bodies at a burial-place.

Verse 4

While the apostles remain in Jerusalem, "unnamed disciples exploit their scattered condition to spread the gospel".

Philip's mission in Samaria (8:4-13)

The story of Philip's preaching serves as an example of 'a highly successful work of evangelism, accompanied by miraculous healings which impress the population'. The work brings about wonders, 'belief and baptism, i.e. intellectual conviction and entry into a new community', which even impresses a competitor, Simon (Magus), who used to 'bewitch' the Samaritans with sorceries.

Verse 5

The coming of the Spirit in Samaria (8:14–25)

This section highlights 'two related issues of church order':
  1. The role of the apostles: in a supervisory role to keep an eye on new developments and to perform 'apostolic visitation'.
  2. Baptism and the Spirit: The sequence of events seems to imply that 'baptism in the name of Jesus' and the reception of the Spirit were 'two distinct events for the Samaritans' and that the Spirit could only come with the laying on of hands by the apostles, but this should not be treated as a universal formula, because elsewhere in the book, the Spirit comes before baptism, or is not recorded at all.

Verse 16

  • "Fallen": from Greek: ἐπιπεπτωκός, , a verb characteristic of Luke, used both in Gospel of Luke and in Acts of 'the occurrence of extraordinary conditions, e.g., the sudden influence of the Spirit', cf., ; ;, cf., with similar usage in Septuagint,,,, Judith 2:28; Judith 11:11, etc.

Philip and the Ethiopian (8:26–40)

Philip's other significant evangelistic task is to meet an Ethiopian on the way to Gaza, following the divine guidance, both angel
and Spirit. In this part, Luke shows the exact geography of Philip's route: due south from Samaria intersects at Eleutheropolis with the Jerusalem–Gaza road, Philip's path crosses the route of the Ethiopian pilgrim, heading west to strike the coast road towards Egypt.

Verse 26

The Greek κατὰ μεσημβρίαν may mean "towards the south" or "at noon". A marginal note in the Revised Version, the text of the Jerusalem Bible, and the Ethiopic text all state "at noon". The paraphrase in the Living Bible suggests that the directive given to Philip was to arrive "about noon".

Verse 37

This verse is absent from the majority of the Greek manuscripts, but it is present in some, including E. It is cited by Irenaeus and by Cyprian, and is found in the Old Latin and the Vulgate translations. In his notes Erasmus says that he took this reading from the margin of 4ap and incorporated it into the Textus Receptus. J. A. Alexander suggested that this verse, though genuine, was omitted by many scribes, "as unfriendly to the practice of delaying baptism, which had become common, if not prevalent, before the end of the 3rd century."

Verse 40

  • "Philip was found" — that is, "found himself," "made his appearance": an expression confirming the miraculous manner of his transportation.
  • "Azotus": the ancient Ashdod.
  • "till he came to Cæsarea" — fifty-five miles northwest of Jerusalem, on the Mediterranean, just south of Mount Carmel; and so named by Herod, who rebuilt it, in honor of Cæsar Augustus.