Acts 8:5

And Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and proclaimed unto them the Christ.

'PHILIP'-This is Philip, one of the seven, for all the apostles stayed in Jerusalem (Acts 8:1). In addition, if this had been Philip the apostle, the Holy Spirit could have been imparted by his hands, instead of having Peter and John come down to Samaria for that purpose (Acts 8:14-18).

'TO THE CITY OF SAMARIA'-The presence of the definite article establishes that Philip preached not just in Samaria, but in the city known as Samaria in the O.T., the former capital of the northern kingdom of Israel. Herod the Great had made many improvements to this city and renamed it Sebaste--the Greek term for Augustus in honor of the emperor. Jesus had preached in the region known as Samaria (John 4:5 ff).

Point to Note:

'It is hard for us to conceive the boldness of the step Philip took in preaching the gospel to Samaritans. For the hostility between Jews and Samaritans had lasted. thousand years. It began with the break-up of the monarchy in the tenth century B.C. when ten tribes defected, making Samaria their capital, and only two tribes remained loyal to Jerusalem. It became steadily worse when Samaria was captured by Assyria in 722 B.C., thousands of its inhabitants were deported, and the country was re-populated by foreigners. In the sixth century B.C., when the Jews returned to their land, they refused the help of the Samaritans in the rebuilding of the temple...The Samaritans were despised by the Jews as hybrids in both race and religion, as both heretics and schismatics.' (Stott p. 147)

See 2 Kings 2:24; Ezra 4:1; Nehemiah 2:10; Nehemiah 3:1; Nehemiah 4:1; Nehemiah 5:1; Nehemiah 6:1.

'The Samaritans trace their beginnings to the time of Eli, who established the sanctuary for worship of God in Shiloh. They also believe their religion is distinctive because they base their beliefs and practices on the Torah, or the Law--the first five books of the Old Testament. They recognize no other Hebrew scriptures as authoritative..The final break between the two groups (Jews and Samaritans) occurred when the Samaritans built. rival temple on Mount Gerizim, claiming Shechem rather than Zion (Jerusalem) as the true "Bethel" (house of God).' (Nelsons p. 943,942)

'They did..share with the Jews the hope of. coming Messiah.' (Bruce p. 177)

'PROCLAIMED UNTO THEM THE CHRIST'-Note that preaching Christ in this chapter included preaching baptism (Acts 8:12; 36-38). Therefore, we can never accept the popular theory, 'preach the man, not the plan'. According to Jesus Himself, you cannot separate Him from what He taught (John 12:48). Thus preaching Jesus, will also involve preaching the doctrines that He taught and those He revealed through His apostles (1 Corinthians 14:37).