Chapter 8
1 Now Saul was consenting to his execution.
Persecution of the Church. On that day, there broke out a
severe persecution[a] of the church in Jerusalem, and all were scattered
throughout the countryside of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.[b] 2
Devout men buried Stephen and made a loud lament over him. 3 Saul, meanwhile,
was trying to destroy the church;[c] entering house after house and dragging
out men and women, he handed them over for imprisonment.
III. The Mission in Judea and Samaria
Philip in Samaria. 4 Now those who had been scattered went
about preaching the word. 5 Thus Philip went down to [the] city of Samaria and
proclaimed the Messiah to them. 6 With one accord, the crowds paid attention to
what was said by Philip when they heard it and saw the signs he was doing. 7
For unclean spirits, crying out in a loud voice, came out of many possessed
people, and many paralyzed and crippled people were cured. 8 There was great
joy in that city.
Simon the Magician. 9 A man named Simon used to practice
magic[d] in the city and astounded the people of Samaria, claiming to be
someone great. 10 All of them, from the least to the greatest, paid attention
to him, saying, “This man is the ‘Power of God’ that is called ‘Great.’” 11
They paid attention to him because he had astounded them by his magic for a
long time, 12 but once they began to believe Philip as he preached the good
news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, men, and women alike
were baptized. 13 Even Simon himself believed and, after being baptized, became
devoted to Philip, and when he saw the signs and mighty deeds that were
occurring, he was astounded.
14 Now when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had
accepted the word of God, they sent them Peter and John, 15 who went down and
prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Spirit, 16 for it had not yet
fallen upon any of them; they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord
Jesus.[e] 17 Then they laid hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit.
18 [f]When Simon saw that the Spirit was conferred by the
laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money 19 and said, “Give me
this power too, so that anyone upon whom I lay my hands may receive the holy
Spirit.” 20 But Peter said to him, “May your money perish with you because you
thought that you could buy the gift of God with money. 21 You have no share or
lot in this matter, for your heart, is not upright before God. 22 Repent of this, the wickedness of yours and pray to the Lord that, if possible, your intention may
be forgiven. 23 For I see that you are filled with bitter gall and are in the
bonds of iniquity.” 24 Simon said in reply, “Pray for me to the Lord, that
nothing of what you have said may come upon me.” 25 So when they had testified
and proclaimed the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem and preached
the good news to many Samaritan villages.
Philip and the Ethiopian.[g] 26 Then the angel of the Lord
spoke to Philip, “Get up and head south on the road that goes down from
Jerusalem to Gaza, the desert route.” 27 So he got up and set out. Now there
was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Candace,[h] that is, the queen
of the Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury, who had come to Jerusalem
to worship, 28 and was returning home. Seated in his chariot, he was reading the
prophet, Isaiah. 29 The Spirit said to Philip, “Go and join up with that
chariot.” 30 [i]Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and
said, “Do you understand what you are reading?” 31 He replied, “How can I unless someone instructs me?” So he invited Philip to get in and sit with him.
32 This was the scripture passage he was reading:
“Like a sheep, he was led to the slaughter, and as a lamb
before its shearer is silent, so he opened not his mouth.
33 In (his) humiliation justice was denied him. Who will
tell of his posterity? For his life is taken from the earth.”
34 Then the eunuch said to Philip in reply, “I beg you,
about whom is the prophet saying this? About himself, or about someone else?”
35 Then Philip opened his mouth and, beginning with this scripture passage, he
proclaimed Jesus to him. 36 As they traveled along the road they came to some
water, and the eunuch said, “Look, there is water. What is to prevent my being
baptized?” [37 ][j] 38 Then he ordered the chariot to stop, and Philip and the
eunuch both went down into the water, and he baptized him. 39 When they came
out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away, and the eunuch
saw him no more, but continued on his way rejoicing. 40 Philip came to Azotus and went about proclaiming the good news to all the towns until he reached
Caesarea.
Footnotes
8:1–40 Some idea of the severity of the persecution that now
breaks out against the Jerusalem community can be gathered from Acts 22:4 and
Acts 26:9–11. Luke, however, concentrates on the fortunes of the word of God
among people, indicating how the dispersal of the Jewish community resulted in
the conversion of the Samaritans (Acts 8:4–17, 25). His narrative is further
expanded to include the account of Philip’s acceptance of an Ethiopian (Acts
8:26–39).
8:1 All were scattered…except the apostles: this observation
leads some modern scholars to conclude that the persecution was limited to the
Hellenist Christians and that the Hebrew Christians were not molested, perhaps
because their attitude toward the law and temple was still more in line with
that of their fellow Jews (see the charge leveled against the Hellenist, Stephen
in Acts 6:13–14). Whatever the facts, it appears that the Twelve took no public
stand regarding Stephen’s position, choosing, instead, to await the development
of events.
8:3 Saul…was trying to destroy the church: like Stephen,
Saul was able to perceive that the Christian movement contained the seeds of
doctrinal divergence from Judaism. A pupil of Gamaliel, according to Acts 22:3,
and totally dedicated to the law as the way of salvation (Gal 1:13–14), Saul
accepted the task of crushing the Christian movement, at least insofar as it
detracted from the importance of the temple and the law. His vehement
opposition to Christianity reveals how difficult it was for a Jew of his time
to accept a messianism that differed so greatly from the general expectation.
8:9–13, 18–24 Sorcerers were well known in the ancient
world. Probably the incident involving Simon and his altercation with Peter is
introduced to show that the miraculous charisms possessed by members of the
Christian community (Acts 8:6–7) were not to be confused with the magic of
sorcerers.
8:16 Here and in Acts 10:44–48 and Acts 19:1–6, Luke
distinguishes between baptism in the name of the Lord Jesus and the reception
of the Spirit. In each case, the Spirit is conferred through members of the
Twelve (Peter and John) or their representative (Paul). This may be Luke’s way
of describing the role of the church in the bestowal of the Spirit. Elsewhere
in Acts, baptism and the Spirit are more closely related (Acts 1:5; 11:16).
8:18–20 Simon attempts to buy the gift of God (Acts 8:20)
with money. Peter’s cursing of Simon’s attempt so to use his money expresses a
typically Lucan attitude toward material wealth (cf. Lk 6:24; 12:16–21; 16:13).
8:26–40 In the account of the conversion of the Ethiopian
eunuch, Luke adduces additional evidence to show that the spread of
Christianity outside the confines of Judaism itself was in accord with the plan
of God. He does not make clear whether the Ethiopian was originally a convert
to Judaism or, as is more probable, a “God-fearer” (Acts 10:1), i.e., one who
accepted Jewish monotheism and ethic and attended the synagogue but did not
consider himself bound by other regulations such as circumcision and observance
of the dietary laws. The story of his conversion to Christianity is given a
strong supernatural cast by the introduction of an angel (Acts 8:26),
instruction from the Holy Spirit (Acts 8:29), and the strange removal of Philip
from the scene (8:39).
8:27 The Candace: Candace is not a proper name here but the
title of a Nubian queen.
8:30–34 Philip is brought alongside the carriage at the very
moment when the Ethiopian is pondering the meaning of Is 53:7–8, a passage that
Christianity, from its earliest origins, has applied to Jesus; cf. note on Acts
3:13.
8:37 The oldest and best manuscripts of Acts omit this
verse, which is a Western text reading: “And Philip said, ‘If you believe with
all your heart, you may.’ And he said in reply, ‘I believe that Jesus Christ is
the Son of God.’”
Source Catholic Bible: New American Bible Revised Edition (NABRE)
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