EXCURSUS. The Laying on of the Apostles' Hands in Samaria its Influence on the Practice of the Christian Church. ‘The ancient custom of the Church was, after they had baptized, to add thereunto imposition of hands with effectual prayer for the illumination of God's most Holy Spirit, to confirm and... [ Continue Reading ]
_General Persecution of the Church by Saul,_ 1-4. Acts 8:1. AND SAUL WAS CONSENTING UNTO HIS DEATH. These words were no doubt often heard by Luke from the Paul of later days, for we find them repeated by the missionary apostle himself years after (Acts 22:20). They serve here to introduce the narra... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 8:2. AND DEVOUT MEN. In spite of the terror caused by the execution of Stephen, and the persecution which immediately followed, some pious Jews for this is probably what is meant by the term ‘devout men ‘ were found reverently to bury the martyr's disfigured body: these, though not professedly... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 8:3. AS FOR SAUL, HE MADE HAVOCK OF THE CHURCH. We gather some notion respecting the extreme severity of this first persecution, from casual expressions in the Acts, and from the epistles of him who, during these terrible days, acted as chief inquisitor: ‘Thinking that he ought to do many thing... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 8:4. THEREFORE THEY THAT WERE SCATTERED ABROAD WENT EVERYWHERE PREACHING THE WORD. The immediate result of this bitter persecution was the fulfilment of the first part of the Saviour's words: ‘Ye shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria.' Tertullian's famous... [ Continue Reading ]
_The Acts of Philip the Deacon. Philip preaches in Samaria, Acts 8:5-13_. Acts 8:5. THEN PHILIP. This famous missionary is the second named in the list of the seven deacons (Acts 6:5), Stephen being the first. It may easily be assumed that the persecution would be especially directed against the dis... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 8:6. AND THE PEOPLE WITH ONE ACCORD GAVE HEED. The visit and the work of Christ in the neighbouring city of Sychar (St. John 4) help us to understand the warm welcome which Philip received among these Samaritans.... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 8:7. CRYING WITH LOUD VOICE. Not with indignation, because they were forced to abandon their unhappy victims, but testifying to the Messiahship of Jesus, whose almighty Name they were compelled to obey. The expressions used in this account of the healing of demoniacs evidently supposes the read... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 8:9. A CERTAIN MAN, CALLED SIMON, WHICH BEFORETIME IN THE SAME CITY NEED SORCERY. We have here a description of the first collision between the unreality and imposture in the outside world, and the earnestness and single-heartedness of the little community who loved the name of Jesus. The perso... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 8:10. TO WHOM THEY ALL GAVE HEED. Men in that age were peculiarly liable to be deluded by the pretensions of false prophets, as Neander well observes: ‘At that time an indefinite longing after a new voice from heaven a strange, restless feeling in men's minds, such as usually goes before mighty... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 8:11. HE HAD BEWITCHED THEM WITH SORCERIES. Professor Westcott suggests ‘that it would be interesting to inquire how far the magical arts universally attributed to Simon and his followers admit of a physical explanation. In his school, if anywhere, we should look for an advanced knowledge of na... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 8:12. BUT WHEN THEY BELIEVED PHILIP... THEY WERE BAPTIZED, BOTH MEN AND WOMEN. ‘Philip,' as Bishop Lightfoot observes _(Galatians,_ Dissertation iii.), ‘carried into practice the doctrine which Stephen preached and for which he died.' ‘Stephen was the first to look stedfastly to the end of that... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 8:13. THEN SIMON HIMSELF BELIEVED ALSO: AND WHEN HE WAS BAPTIZED. It is not necessary to assume that the unhappy man was simply moved by the persuasion that Philip was a greater magician than himself, though no doubt this thought influenced him; but he seems to have accepted the fact that Phili... [ Continue Reading ]
_The Sanction of the leaders of the Church is given to the Work of Philip among the Samaritans. The Samarian Mission of Peter and John,_ 14-25. Acts 8:14. NOW WHEN THE APOSTLES WHICH WERE AT JERUSALEM HEARD THAT SAMARIA HAD RECEIVED THE WORD OF GOD. To formally sanction this work of Philip in Samari... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 8:15-17. On the whole question of this laying on of the apostles' hands in Samaria, see the Excursus at the end of this chapter.... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 8:16. FOR AS YET HE WAS FALLEN UPON NONE OF THEM. It has been often asked whether this was owing to any defect in the faith of the Samaritans. Nothing, however, in the history would lead us to suppose that this was the case. The opinion of Chrysostom, followed by many modern commentators, suppl... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 8:18. AND WHEN SIMON SAW THAT THROUGH LAYING ON OF THE APOSTLES' HANDS THE HOLY GHOST WAS GIVEN. The gifts of the Holy Ghost were in this case plainly visible. The laying on of the apostles' hands conferred something more than the inward spiritual grace; outward miraculous gifts of some kind or... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 8:20. THY MONEY PERISH WITH THEE. This is no curse or imprecation on the part of Peter, for in Acts 8:22 we find the apostle exhorting the would-be magician to repentance. It is merely an expression of the strong abhorrence which an honest, righteous man would feel at such a miserable misconcep... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 8:21. THOU HAST NEITHER PART NOR LOT IN THIS MATTER. More accurately rendered ‘in this word' that is to say, one whose heart is given up, as is yours, to covetousness and greed of gain, has no share in the word or doctrine which we teach, the doctrine which teaches the way and manner of the inw... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 8:22. IF PERHAPS THE THOUGHT OF THINE HEART MAY BE FORGIVEN THEE. The words ‘ _if perhaps ‘_ were uttered owing to the very grave character of the sin which St. Peter believed the impostor magician to have been guilty of. The apostle was ignorant whether the state of heart which prompted such a... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 8:23. FOR I PERCEIVE THAT THOU ART IN THE GALL OF BITTERNESS, AND IN THE BOND OF INIQUITY. St. Peter here gives the reason why he doubts the possibility of forgiveness. It was not that he conceived it possible that God would ever refuse pardon to any really penitent sinner, no matter now deeply... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 8:24. PRAY YE TO THE LORD FOR ME, THAT NONE OF THESE THINGS WHICH YE HAVE SPOKEN COME UPON ME. So Pharaoh entreated Moses to intercede for him with the Eternal (Exodus 8:29; Exodus 9:28; Exodus 10:17), and yet hardened his heart afterwards. Bengel observes here: ‘He confesses his fear of punish... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 8:25. AND THEY... RETURNED TO JERUSALEM. They that is, John and Peter now left Philip to pursue his work alone, and returned to the capital city. ANA PREACHED THE GOSPEL IN MANY VILLAGES OF THE SAMARITANS. On their way back to their own home, the two, deeply moved at the ready reception of the... [ Continue Reading ]
_The Acts of Philip the Deacon,Episode of the Conversion and Baptism of the Ethiopian Eunuch, the Treasurer of the Queen of Ethiopia_, 26-40. Acts 8:26. AND THE ANGEL OF THE LORD SPAKE UNTO PHILIP. The more accurate rendering, ‘But an angel of the Lord,' is more in harmony with the history of the ea... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 8:27. A MAN OF ETHIOPIA. This man was not, as some have suggested, a Jew who lived in Ethiopia, but most probably was a heathen convert to Judaism, and now was returning home from a pilgrimage to the chief shrine of his adopted religion. We know that at this time there were many Jews in Ethiopi... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 8:28. READ ESAIAS THE PROPHET. He was returning home, deeply impressed with the sanctuary, the wonders of which he had just been beholding, and whose strange, glorious history had so deeply interested him, and was reading the mystic words of one of the greatest of the Hebrew prophets. Probably... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 8:30-31. UNDERSTANDEST THOU WHAT THOU READEST? The last division of the prophecy of Isaiah contains a description of the ‘servant of the Lord.' A famous enemy of Christianity has complained that Jesus Christ brought on His own crucifixion by a series of preconcerted measures, merely to give the... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 8:32. THE PLACE OF THE SCRIPTURE WHICH HE READ WAS THIS. HE WAS LED AS A SHEEP TO THE SLAUGHTER; AND LIKE A LAMB DUMB BEFORE HIS SHEARER, SO OPENED HE NOT HIS MOUTH. The whole passage (Acts 8:32-33) is taken almost verbatim from the LXX. version of Isaiah 53:7-8; the whole of the section is min... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 8:33. IN HIS HUMILIATION HIS JUDGMENT WAS TAKEN AWAY. The Greek version of the LXX., from which the Ethiopian eunuch was reading, translates the Hebrew in this passage with very great freedom. The literal rendering of the Hebrew would be: ‘By oppression and a judicial sentence he was dragged to... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 8:35. THEN PHILIP OPENED HIS MOUTH. An oriental expression which occurs ordinarily before grave and weighty words (see Acts 10:34; Job 3:1; Job 32:20). AND BEGAN AT THE SAME SCRIPTURE, AND PREACHED UNTO HIM JESUS. Philip showed the strange and marvellous correspondence between the many descri... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 8:36. A CERTAIN WATER. Eusebius and Jerome point out as the scene of this baptism a fountain near Beth-sur, now a village, Beth-coron, not far from Hebron, some twenty miles south of Jerusalem. SEE, HERE IS WATER; WHAT DOTH HINDER ME TO BE BAPTIZED? A proof, says Wordsworth, ‘that Philip, in... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 8:37. This verse is one of the very few important doctrinal passages of the New Testament which the studies of late years on the subject of textual criticism have affected. The devout student of the word of God fearlessly accepts the con-elusions which result from a careful examination of the v... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 8:38. AND HE BAPTIZED HIM. The comment of Gregory of Nazianzen, about A.D. 370-380, on this verse, quoted by Wordsworth, is curious and interesting: ‘Let me be a Philip, and be thou a minister of Candace. Say, Here is water, what hindereth me to be baptized? Seize the opportunity. Though an Eth... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 8:39 _._ THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD CAUGHT AWAY PHILIP. These words clearly relate a supernatural disappearance of Philip. We possess instances of a similar miraculous rapture, in the history of Elijah (1 Kings 18:12; 2 Kings 2:11), in the writings of Ezekiel, where we read on several occasions tha... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 8:40. BUT PHILIP WAS FOUND AT AZOTUS. Azotus, better known as Ashdod, one of the principal Philistine cities, near to the sea-coast. The site is now marked by a mound covered with broken pottery and a few pieces of marble (see 1 Samuel 5:3; Amos 1:8). TILL HE CAME TO CÆSAREA. Cæsarea became P... [ Continue Reading ]