_BY OCCASION OF THE PERSECUTION IN JERUSALEM, THE CHURCH WAS PLANTED IN SAMARIA BY PHILIP THE DEACON, WHO PREACHED, DID MIRACLES, AND BAPTIZED MANY, AND AMONG THE REST SIMON THE SORCERER, A GREAT SEDUCER OF THE PEOPLE. PETER AND JOHN, CAME TO CONFIRM AND ENLARGE THE CHURCH, WHERE, BY PRAYER AND IMPO... [ Continue Reading ]
AND SAUL WAS CONSENTING UNTO HIS DEATH— Dr. Heylin renders this, _And Saul was accessary to his death;_ and he joins it to the last verse of the foregoing chapter. The circumstances relative to St. Paul, recorded by his most intimate and familiar friend, not only shew the fidelity of the historian,... [ Continue Reading ]
AND DEVOUT MEN— _Yet devout men._ Some learned writers have been of opinion that these were proselytes; of which, however, there does not appear to be any proof. See on ch. Acts 2:5. Such a token of respect, to one who had been publicly executed as a blasphemer, was an expression of zeal and piety w... [ Continue Reading ]
HE MADE HAVOCK OF THE CHURCH— He _ravaged_ it, like some furious beast of prey. This is the proper signification of the word ελυμσινετο, which is often applied to the ravages of the desert.... [ Continue Reading ]
WENT EVERY WHERE PREACHING THE WORD— As the apostles were natives of Judea, and had no notion of the conversion of the Gentiles, but would have confined theirministry within the narrow bounds of their own country; this dispersion was nicely ordered by Divine Providence, to render the design of Chris... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN PHILIP WENT DOWN— We are sure that it was not Philip the _apostle,_ both as he continued at Jerusalem, and as this Philip had not the power of communicating the miraculous gifts of the holy Spirit by laying on of hands. Comp. Acts 8:14; Acts 15:17. It must therefore have been the _deacon;_ no o... [ Continue Reading ]
USED SORCERY, &C.— _Had practised magical arts, and astonished the people._ Heylin and Doddridge. Some think the word Μαγευων to be entirely of the same signification with the word Μαγος, and intended to inform us, that this Simon was one of the sect of the _Magi._ He might possibly profess himself... [ Continue Reading ]
THIS MAN IS THE GREAT POWER OF GOD— "The long expected Messiah, and, if we may so speak, Omnipotence itself incarnate, or he could never do such wonderful things." Doddridge. If we believe Justin Martyr, almost all the Samaritans, and not a few other nations, adored him; acknowledged him to be as it... [ Continue Reading ]
HE HAD BEWITCHED THEM— _Had astonished them._ Doddridge.... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN SIMON HIMSELF BELIEVED ALSO:— _that this Jesus who enabled Philip to do these things, was some Power superior to any he conversed with._ Perhaps as L'Enfant and Limborch conjecture, he might think Philip an abler magician than himself, and hoped, by pretending to be his disciple, that he might... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY SENT UNTO THEM PETER AND JOHN:— John was one of the two who were for calling down fire from heaven upon the Samaritans when they refused to entertain Christ. To sucha length did his zeal then carry him; but it was a _zeal without knowledge._ After the Spirit was poured out upon him, however, hi... [ Continue Reading ]
WHO, WHEN THEY WERE COME DOWN,— Hence it appears very probable, that the Spirit, in some or other of his miraculous powers, had been conferred upon all the Christian converts hitherto; and it was highly proper that the Samaritans should have that divine gift, both as a confirmation of the truth of t... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHEN SIMON SAW, &C.— "Now when Simon saw with astonishment, that the Holy spirit in his extraordinary operations was thus apparently given by the imposition of the apostles' hands,—as he imagined with himself, that if he could perform the like, it might turn considerably to his own honour and ad... [ Continue Reading ]
THY MONEY PERISH WITH THEE, &C.— The fathers look upon the first clause of this verse as a prophetical prediction rather than an imprecation. And as for the sin of Simon, it not only consisted in his ambition and avarice, that he would be advanced to the higher dignity, and have those gifts, by the... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU HAST NEITHER PART NOR LOT, &C.— "Assure yourself, that you have no claim to the least share or inheritance in the privileges and blessings of this dispensation of the Spirit, and in Christ and heavenly glory: for how specious soever your professions of faith may be, it hereby appears, with unde... [ Continue Reading ]
AND PRAY GOD, IF PERHAPS, &C.— The dubious manner in which St. Peter speaks of Simon's being forgiven, intimates, not that his sincere repentance, accompanied with evangelical faith, might possibly fail of acceptance, for that is contrary to the whole tenor of the gospel; but that, after the commiss... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THE GALL OF BITTERNESS,— That is, _the bitterest gall._ The whole sentence expresses, in St. Peter's strong manner of speaking, how odious and wretched a creature Simon now appeared to him. How much more odious in the sight of a holy God must such a sinner be! De Dieu would render it, _I see thee... [ Continue Reading ]
PRAY YE TO THE LORD FOR ME,— It is greatly to be feared, that this pretence of conviction and humiliation was only to prevent Peter and John from disgracing him among the body ofChristians; for it is reasonable to suppose this conversation passed in private between them; and perhaps Simon might have... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN THEY HAD TESTIFIED, &C.— _When they had borne their testimony,_ &c. that is, to the truth of the gospel. See on Luke 24:48.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE ANGEL OF THE LORD SPAKE UNTO PHILIP,— It gives us a very high idea of the gospel, to see the ministers of it receiving immediate direction from celestial spirits, in the particular discharge of their office. The construction of the Greek leaves it dubious whether the clause _which is desart,... [ Continue Reading ]
A MAN OF ETHIOPIA, AN EUNUCH, &C.— A certain _Ethiopian eunuch, a grandee of Candace,_ &c. See the note on Genesis 37:36. It appears that _Candace_ was a name common to several of the queens who reigned in Meroe, a part of Ethiopia to the south of Egypt. Perhaps the eunuch had been lately brought ov... [ Continue Reading ]
IN HIS HUMILIATION, &C.— This is the translation of the LXX. and, if it be admitted, seems to mean, that Jesus appeared in so humble a form, that though Pilate was convinced of his innocence, he seemed a person of so little importance, that it would not be worth while to hazard any thing to preserve... [ Continue Reading ]
AND PREACHED UNTO HIM JESUS.— Limborch very largely shews, in his commentary on this passage, how shamefully the Jews pervert the whole 53rd of Isaiah, in expounding it of _the afflictions of Israel,_ where, as we have shewn in our notes on that chapter, it can refer only to Christ.... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY CAME UNTO A CERTAIN WATER:— Τι υδωρ, _a certain water,_ seems to be of _diminutive_ signification, and to intimate, that it was not water of any depth: and Jerome, Sandys, and other travellers, speak of it as a certain spring or fountain, that rises at the foot of a mountain in the tribe of Jud... [ Continue Reading ]
I BELIEVE THAT JESUS CHRIST IS THE SON OF GOD.— This passage fully proves that Philip had opened to the eunuch the doctrine of Christ's Divinity; and indeed if he had not done it, he must have given him a very imperfect account of the gospel. See ch. Acts 13:33.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THEY WENT DOWN BOTH INTO THE WATER,— The prepositions εις and εκ, here, and in the next verse, rendered _into_ and _out of_ the water, frequently signify _unto_ and _from,_ as every one must allow who understands the Greek language; and thus they are often used in the stile of the New Testament,... [ Continue Reading ]
THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD CAUGHT AWAY PHILIP,— The Alexandrian manuscript, and several other ancient copies, read, _The Holy Spirit fell upon the eunuch; but the angel of the Lord caught away Philip,_ &c. See Acts 8:26. This, I doubt not, was the case; and hence we learn, that as soon as they were come... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT PHILIP WAS FOUND AT AZOTUS:— Or, _Ashdod,_ a city that was more than thirty miles from Gaza, in the southern part of the country which had been formerly one of the five governments belonging tothe Philistines, 1 Samuel 6:17. Thence Philip passed through the towns nigh or upon the sea-coast, as J... [ Continue Reading ]