And Saul was consenting to his being killed. And on that day there arose a great persecution against the assembly which was in Jerusalem, and all were scattered into the countries of Judaea and Samaria except the apostles.
Stephen's death did not silence the message in Jerusalem. It sent that message everywhere else. This one verse names the man who approved the killing and the storm that followed. It also records a strange detail: the twelve apostles stayed behind while everyone else ran.
Saul was no thug on the edge of the crowd. He stood for the religion of his day at its best. His consent showed how far the resistance to Jesus had gone.
Saul approved of Stephen's death, and Saul was the expression of Jewish feeling at its best. It was now guilty of resisting to the point of blood — not merely as their fathers had done, but resisting the heavenly testimony of Jesus. Still, the God who vindicated the honour of the crucified Jesus did not forget the martyred Stephen.
What Saul counted as his credit became the wound he carried. As Paul, he kept returning to this scene.
In the eyes of Saul of Tarsus, and in the eyes of most of his own nation, this was the highest proof of his devotion to God. But to Paul the apostle it was a grief he could never forget. His part in the murder of Stephen seems to have stayed with him all his days: "And when the blood of Stephen your witness was being shed, I myself was standing by and approving and watching over the garments of those who killed him" (Acts 22:20). Such is the heart of the most religious of men!
The regions named in the verse are not random. They are the next two steps the Lord had marked out for His witnesses. The persecution drove the believers straight into them.
Not content with killing Stephen, the religious leaders in Jerusalem now launched the first great persecution against the church. Saul stood out in it. He ravaged the church like a wolf, invading the privacy of homes to seize his victims. As a result, the disciples were scattered through the provinces of Judaea and Samaria. In the Lord's words to His disciples in Acts 1:8, these provinces come after Jerusalem. Their mission would then widen out to the ends of the earth. So again it was a case of God making man's wrath serve His purpose. Yet, remarkably enough, the apostles were the exceptions to the rule, though the commission was theirs. They still remained in Jerusalem.
Commentators differ here. Some read the exception as a failure. The men told to flee were the ones who stayed.
The whole assembly, except the apostles, is scattered. It is also questionable whether the apostles did right in remaining, and whether a simpler faith would have made them go away. That would have spared the assembly many a conflict and many a difficulty, since Jerusalem continued to be a centre of authority. The Lord had even said, with Israel in view, "When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next." … It may be said that the twelve were not persecuted. That is possible, and I say nothing decided on the point.
Others read the same fact as God's arrangement, made for a purpose that only later events made clear.
But for now, in the face of that great persecution, the apostles stay. Divine wisdom ordered everything rightly. They remain there together, unmoved by the storm that dispersed all the others, for important purposes that appear later. The spread of the good news falls under the good hand of the Lord to His scattered saints. No one beforehand could have foreseen such a result from such an outburst.
Both views agree on the result. The gospel spread without the apostles at its head.
They were all scattered abroad except the apostles, so that the preaching could not seem to come from them. And "those who were scattered went about preaching the word." Who sent them? Persecution. Who enabled them? The grace and Spirit of God. And it reached the Gentiles… The ordinary Christians went ahead of the apostles, so that the work clearly did not come from them.
The scattering also prevented something. Jerusalem never became the fixed centre of the faith.
The breaking up and scattering of the church at Jerusalem stopped a Jewish-Christian centre from forming and growing in that city. Such a centre would have been the very opposite of God's intentions.
- Consent. Saul's approval of the killing was, in his own eyes, devotion to God — and it became the grief he never forgot.
- Storm. Hatred at its fiercest was the wrath God made serve His purpose.
- Scattering. The believers landed in the very regions named in Acts 1:8 — Judea and Samaria.
- Exception. The apostles stayed. Commentators differ on whether that was failure or God's ordering. Either way, the work went on without them.
- Spread. Ordinary Christians ran ahead of the apostles. No headquarters sent them out; persecution scattered them, and the grace and Spirit of God carried them.
And pious men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him.
Stephen has just been stoned, and the church is being hunted out of Jerusalem. The men who step forward to bury him are not the ones you would expect. So who were these mourners? Why was their grief so loud? And what does a burial mean at all, once resurrection is certain?
With the church under attack, who was left to bury him? One writer traces how the funeral happened at all.
Who, then, would bury Stephen? The Christians could not come forward to give the martyr the honourable, customary funeral rites. The apostles could not do it either when the Lord was crucified. But, as in the Lord's case, God provided for this, and in a most unexpected way. If the Christians could not volunteer, devout men, godly Jews, were willing to perform the last sad duties. They buried him, and made great lamentation over him. There were pious men in Jerusalem who still professed to be Jews. Very probably they were Hellenists, or Jews from other lands. They had no part in that murder, and no sympathy with the men who stoned Stephen.
Persecution had just scattered the church. One writer sees God's care for His martyr in the funeral itself, and explains why loud weeping suited these mourners.
The God who vindicated the honour of the crucified Jesus did not forget the martyred Stephen. Persecution broke out and scattered every believer in Jerusalem, except the apostles, throughout Judea and Samaria. Even so, there was no lack of devout men to carry Stephen to his burial. Clearly they were not Christians; but God has all hearts in His keeping. And they "made great lamentation over him." This was suitable to them. Theirs was not the joy that saw into the presence of God. They felt in some measure, and rightly, the terrible deed that had been done.
Stephen died asking the Lord to receive his spirit. A little later, men carried him to a grave. One writer reads the two lines together and finds no conflict.
Take the case of Stephen next. After his martyrdom, devout men carried him to his burial and made great lamentation over him. Yet a little before, we hear him saying, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." Obviously it was his body that men buried. While men wept over it below, his spirit was already in the blessedness of his Master's presence above.
Luke does not write that they buried Stephen's remains. He names the man. One writer builds a case for bodily resurrection on that way of speaking.
"Devout men carried Stephen to his burial." How could they do that if Stephen was not there? But if Stephen was there, Stephen shall be raised. Anyone who says Stephen was not carried to his burial flatly contradicts Scripture. So does anyone who says that the same Stephen shall not be raised from the dead.
The older translation these writers quote reads "carried Stephen to his burial." The ESV reads, "Devout men buried Stephen." Either way, the name belongs to the man they laid in the grave.
This burial came soon after the burial of Jesus, and it looked very different. One writer explains why.
Death was overthrown. Faith now celebrates what customs and ceremonies had once only pledged and foreshadowed. And faith did learn this lesson, for the burial that followed the burial of Jesus had neither its embalming nor its magnificence. It was quickly done, reverently and lovingly. "Devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him."
- Carried by strangers. The church had scattered, so God used men outside it to bury His servant — He "has all hearts in His keeping."
- Carried with tears. Their grief was real, and loud weeping suited them. But theirs "was not the joy that saw into the presence of God."
- Carried, yet already home. Men wept over the body below while the spirit was "already in the blessedness of his Master's presence above."
- Carried by name. Luke names Stephen himself, not his remains. The person goes with the body, and that same Stephen will rise.
- Carried simply. The first burial after the burial of Jesus had no embalming and no grand tomb. It was reverent, loving and quickly done.
But Saul ravaged the assembly, entering into the houses one after another, and dragging off both men and women delivered them up to prison.
The stoning of Stephen was not an isolated outburst. It opened an organised campaign against the church, led by a man named Saul. Two questions follow: how does such violence fit into God's plan, and how far can grace reach?
This was not a mob. C. E. Stuart points to how organised it was, and how new:
Nothing like this had happened before. It was systematic persecution, with the character of an inquisition. Saul invaded private homes and filled the prisons with Christians, both men and women.
The word behind "dragged off" carries force. A Bible dictionary compares it with the gentler Greek word for drawing:
Two Greek words, helkuo and suro, are both translated 'to draw.' But suro has been noticed to carry violence or force, which helkuo does not have to carry... Saul, in his zeal, dragged (suro) men and women off to prison, Acts 8:3.
Saul was a devout man, and that is what made him dangerous. William Kelly explains why hatred with religion behind it does not burn itself out:
Religious rage is the most unrelenting of all. Fresh victims do not satisfy its cruel appetite; they sharpen it. It ignores sex and age alike.
C. E. Stuart names the danger in one line: "Religious zeal, unless grace tempers it, can make its follower the most unforgiving of people."
Saul was sure he was serving God. One writer ties this to a warning Jesus gave His disciples:
No doubt Saul thought he was serving God. In religious zeal he carried his persecuting work to other places... and so he fulfilled the words the Lord spoke to His disciples in John 16:2. How very solemn that religious zeal should persecute the servants of the very One he claimed to serve! It shows plainly that he did not know the true God, who is revealed in the Son.
Saul went from house to house, and those houses carried the marks of the church. F. A. Hughes notes two very different reactions to them:
In Acts 8:3 we see features of the church in these homes. They drew down the hatred of Saul the Pharisee, but they surely gave joy to the heart of Christ, who "loved the church."
Saul meant to crush the church in Jerusalem. Instead he scattered it, and the believers carried the message with them.
He ravaged the church like a wolf, invading the privacy of homes to seize his victims. As a result, the disciples scattered through the provinces of Judaea and Samaria. In the Lord's words to His disciples in Acts 1:8, these provinces came after Jerusalem, and before the mission widened out to the ends of the earth. So once again God made man's anger serve His purpose.
The man tearing families out of their homes did not stay that way. A. J. Pollock points to what lay behind his rage, and what lay ahead of it:
His actions were terrible, and his misguided zeal was fierce and fanatical. Yet he was sincere in his wrongdoing. Years later he could describe himself as "a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent," but he received mercy because he had acted "ignorantly in unbelief" (1 Tim. 1:13). He says he was in a raging fury against God's people, and that he persecuted them "even to foreign cities" (Acts 26:11)... The terrified believers had no idea that this very Saul would become a chosen vessel of the Lord.
Mercy did not erase the memory. G. V. Wigram puts words to what it cost Paul once he saw what the church is:
He was behind no one, either in service or in suffering for Christ. But he could not forgive himself that, before grace came, he had persecuted the church... "This beautiful thing, this church, the body of Christ — and I, a miserable thing, knowing nothing of God's bright and glorious thought, I hunted it down like a hound of Satan, hoping to crush it completely."
- Zeal — Saul was sincere and devout, and he was wrecking homes. Religious passion without grace makes the cruellest persecutor of all.
- Violence — the word for "dragged off" carries force. Saul hauled men and women alike out of their houses and into prison.
- Warning — Jesus said men would persecute His followers and think they served God (John 16:2). Saul is that warning in action.
- Overruled — the scattering Saul caused carried the message into Judaea and Samaria, in the order Acts 1:8 had set out.
- Mercy — Saul received mercy because he had acted ignorantly in unbelief. The persecutor became the Lord's chosen vessel, and he never forgave himself for what he had done.
Those then that had been scattered went through [the countries] announcing the glad tidings of the word.
Stephen's death set off the first wave of violence against believers in Jerusalem, and everyone except the apostles fled. What looks like the collapse of the young church is the moment the message breaks out of the city, and it raises a sharp question: who may preach?
Nobody planned the first spread of the gospel beyond Jerusalem. One writer names what drove it out of the city.
Here we find the first general persecution. But in the hands of God it served to scatter the seed of the gospel. This also is a proof of the free activity of the Holy Spirit to make use of whomever He sees fit to select... It was not the settled plan of man. It was not the spiritual zeal of the apostles. It was the fury of the enemy that, by the wisdom of God, first spread the gospel outside the gates of Jerusalem.
The apostles alone stayed in the city. One writer weighs whether they should have stayed.
It is strange that the twelve apostles were allowed to remain. They stood at the front of the testimony, and so were special targets of the enemy's spite. It is a fair question, too, whether they ought to have gone elsewhere with the gospel... The enemy overreached himself, as he has often done before and since. It only led to the spread of the truth. Satan never meant this. His aim was to stop the testimony, not to spread it.
The English word "preaching" makes modern readers picture a pulpit and a sermon. The word behind it is simpler than that.
This is often used in the New Testament for "announcing, or making known," without the idea of preaching in a formal way, as the word is now understood. When persecution came on the church at Jerusalem, all were scattered except the apostles. They went everywhere "preaching the word."
Some readers have resisted the plain sense of the verse. One writer answers them from the Greek word behind "preaching."
All the Christians preached. "Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word" (Acts 8:4) — and those scattered were everyone except the apostles. Some critics have tried to get around this plain passage. They say it means only talking, which a man who holds no office may do. But a look at the original at once disproves the claim. It is "evangelising the word": and we read elsewhere that "the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned to the Lord," Acts 11:19-21.
Another writer asks what sort of preachers these were.
Look at the devoted company scattered by the persecution that broke out over Stephen. They are a fair sample of the Church at large in her true testimony... Can we suppose that they were all evangelists with a special gift? Impossible!
So what makes a person fit to preach? One writer answers, and warns anyone who would silence a preacher.
Power makes itself felt; and gifted men should be the last to silence any Christian who can evangelise. The question is divine qualification, not human permission. Human permission is really a restraint on the Holy Spirit, an insult to Christ's grace, and a hindrance to sinners' salvation, so far as man can hinder it. How blessed is the grace of God! No apostle planned it, and no one even suggested it, yet God turned the world's scattering of the church into the sowing of gospel seed far and wide.
One of the scattered believers was Philip. The scattering had just ended his appointed job in Jerusalem.
He was one of the seven chosen by the saints and appointed by the apostles to do the work of a deacon in Jerusalem. But the ascended Lord had given him as an evangelist, as Acts 21:8 plainly shows. Here in Samaria we find him doing the work for which he had the gift, not the office to which the apostles had appointed him. The scattering of the saints from Jerusalem had put an end to the duties of that office. Gift belongs to the unity of Christ's body, so its use rises above passing circumstances and has plenty of room, even where a local charge would be out of place.
- Scattered. The believers did not choose to leave Jerusalem. The enemy's fury drove them out, and God used that fury to carry the seed of the gospel past the city walls.
- Scattered — and speaking. "Preaching" here is not a formal sermon but announcing and making known. It was something refugees did on the move.
- Scattered — and all of them. Everyone fled except the apostles, so ordinary believers did the preaching. They were not all evangelists with a special gift.
- Scattered — with no permit. The question is God's qualification, not man's permission. Silencing a Christian who can evangelise restrains the Spirit and hinders people's salvation.
- Scattered — and blessed. The hand of the Lord was with them and a great number believed. Philip's appointed work in Jerusalem ended, but the gift Christ had given him went with him into Samaria.
And Philip, going down to a city of Samaria, preached the Christ to them;
Persecution had just driven the believers out of Jerusalem, and Philip — appointed earlier to hand out money to the poor — arrives in a city of Samaria. Who gave him the right to preach, and why did he announce Christ to these hearers in particular?
The scattering that emptied Jerusalem was meant to crush the young church. One writer reads the outcome as a defeat for the enemy who caused it:
Satan often outwits himself. No wonder: whatever his power, he is only a creature, and so he cannot see the end from the beginning. He brought about the murder of Stephen, and a general persecution of Christians followed. He no doubt imagined he had scored a great triumph. But an all-wise God ordered it otherwise. Among those who fled Jerusalem at that crisis was Philip. He was one of the seven whom the assembly had set apart to look after its poor. Going down to Samaria, he at once preached Christ to the people.
Philip held no office as a preacher. His right to preach came from somewhere other than the church that had appointed him to handle its funds:
Philip had earlier been appointed to the work of a deacon in Jerusalem (see Acts 6:1-6)... but as soon as the assembly was broken up, his duties ended. He then started out to preach, using the spiritual gift the Lord (not the apostles) gave him... No apostle appointed him to that spiritual gift. No laying on of hands gave it, and no one else's intervention gave it. He got the office of deacon in that way. He received his gift as an evangelist from the ascended Head of the Church, the Lord Jesus. He went out and used it, and preached in Samaria — a city ripe for blessing.
What Philip announced was not a system of ideas but someone alive:
CHRIST Himself is the good news. Philip preached Christ in Samaria (Acts 8:5), and there was great joy in that city (v. 8). He told the Ethiopian eunuch "the good news about Jesus" (Acts 8:35), and the eunuch went on his way rejoicing (v. 39). May God help us to remember that our business is to "announce Him as good news."... It is not a doctrine we preach. It is Christ Himself. He is the living, loving Saviour.
Another writer draws out the order: what came first in the preaching, and what came after:
Christ is preached first. "Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Christ." (Acts 8:5.) And what wonderful effects that preaching produced!... Philip did the same with the eunuch. He "opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus." He did not begin by preaching repentance as the price of salvation. So in Paul's conversion, Christ reveals Himself to him; repentance followed, no doubt.
The wording shifts later in the same chapter, and that shift is deliberate:
Note, he preached Christ to them. Compare verse 35, where the same Philip deals with the eunuch: he "told him the good news about Jesus." Why the difference? Simply this. The Samaritans, though a foreign race, had for centuries taken Jewish ground. They had their own temple on Mount Gerizim. They had the Jewish scriptures. They spoke of "our father Jacob," and claimed the Jewish hope — the coming of the Messiah (John 4:12, 25). Philip therefore took them on their own ground, and announced the Christ to them.
Philip was not the first to speak of Christ in that region:
He went to the city of Samaria and preached. The power of God was with him, and wonderful blessing followed. That is always what happens when a servant of God moves in the direct line of God's purpose. The Lord Himself had done the sowing among the Samaritans, as John 4 records. Then many had said not only that this might be the Christ, but that He truly was the Christ. Now Philip came to them and preached Christ as the One who had died, is risen, and is now in glory. And so a great time of reaping took place.
Commentators do not settle which city this was, but they agree on the contrast with Jerusalem:
To what city in that province he went is not clearly stated. Some have supposed it was the capital. Others have suggested Sychar, the town of John 4. It is enough for us to know of the work that went on... What Jews refused, Samaritans gladly received. Malice filled hearts at Jerusalem. Much joy spread through the people of that city in Samaria. For Philip preached Christ to them.
- Scattered. The persecution meant to end the testimony only spread it. The enemy's win became God's advance.
- Sent. Philip's job of caring for the poor ended. His gift as an evangelist came straight from the ascended Lord, not from human appointment.
- Subject. He preached a Person, not a doctrine: Christ died, risen and in glory. Repentance followed that message; it did not come first.
- Suited. He said "the Christ" because the Samaritans were already waiting for the Messiah. He met them on their own ground.
- Sown and reaped. The Lord had sown at the well in John 4. Philip reaped the harvest: joy filled that city, while malice filled Jerusalem.
and the crowds with one accord gave heed to the things spoken by Philip, when they heard [him] and saw the signs which he wrought.
Persecution scattered the believers out of Jerusalem, and one of them, Philip, went to Samaria and preached Christ. A whole city stopped to listen — but was that attention the same as faith?
Samaria was not neutral ground. It had a long history of religious rivalry with Jerusalem, and that is exactly where the message now landed.
A great work resulted in Samaria (Acts 8:1-13). This place had long been the religious rival of Jerusalem. Now the power of that grace which Jerusalem was driving away had won it over. "There was great joy in the city."
An enemy power already held the city. Commentators read Philip's preaching as God's answer to it.
The enemy seemed now in possession like a flood. But the Spirit of the Lord raises His banner against him in the preaching of Philip, confirmed by the signs which he worked before their eyes... So the Spirit worked with power in Samaria through a free messenger of the gospel. Jerusalem had refused the testimony with hostility to the point of death.
The wording of Philip's message was fitted to his hearers. Later, with the Ethiopian official, the same man preached differently.
Note, he preached Christ to them. Compare verse 34, where the same Philip deals with the eunuch: "he preached to him Jesus." Why the difference? Simply this. The Samaritans, though a foreign race, had for centuries taken Jewish ground. They had their temple on Mount Gerizim. They had the Jewish scriptures. They spoke of "our father Jacob," and claimed the Jewish hope — the coming of the Messiah (John 4:12, 25). Philip therefore took them on their own ground, and announced the Christ to them.
The readiness of these crowds did not begin with Philip. Someone had worked this ground before him.
The Lord Himself had done the sowing among the Samaritans, as recorded in John 4... Now Philip came to them and "preached Christ," as the One who had died, had risen again, and was now in glory. As a consequence, a great time of reaping took place. There was great joy in that city.
The verse names two things the crowds took in — what they heard and what they saw. The order matters.
How he attracted the interest of the people we are not told, except that he preached Christ to them. God had prepared hearts to respond to this blessed message. God also bore witness to his preaching with the miracles of casting out demons and healing the sick. Notice, it was not that Philip held a healing meeting; rather his speaking is first emphasized, then the miracles added.
Paying attention with one accord sounds like the best possible outcome. But one man in the city was gripped by the display of power, not by the word. Commentators read a warning in this verse.
But the testimony of miracles is apt to act upon the flesh. They are, indeed, a sign to unbelievers, and the Spirit of God shows us that very result in the chapter before us. The Lord gives them in grace, as a token to attract the careless minds of men. But they are dangerous when the mind rests on them and makes them its object. That was the fatal mistake made then — and not only there, but by many millions of souls from that day to this. Faith never rests on any other ground than God's word... It was the outward display of power, then so richly shown, that acted on the fleshly mind of Simon, who himself had the reputation of being someone great.
Philip did not start out as a preacher. He took a practical job first, and grew into the work this verse describes.
He is elsewhere called "Philip the evangelist" (Acts 21:8), but he was not an evangelist to begin with. His was a case of a man faithful to his trust, and then developing the gift God gave him. Philip was one of seven men set apart to look after the treasury and the poor (see Acts 6:1-6). That is what you would call a deacon.
- Refused — Jerusalem drove the message out with deadly hostility. Grace carried it to Jerusalem's old rival.
- Sown — Christ Himself had already sown in Samaria (John 4). Philip came to reap a field prepared before him.
- Preached — he announced "the Christ." He met the Samaritans on the ground of the Messiah they already hoped for.
- Heeded — the speaking came first, and the signs confirmed it. This was not a healing meeting but a city listening.
- Tested — attention drawn by miracles can stop at amazement, as Simon shows. Faith rests on God's word alone.
For from many who had unclean spirits they went out, crying with a loud voice; and many that were paralysed and lame were healed.
Persecution had just scattered the believers out of Jerusalem. Philip went down to a city in Samaria, where sorcery held the ground. This verse records what happened when he preached Christ there. Unclean spirits screamed as they came out of their victims, and God healed people who could not walk.
Samaria was not neutral territory. One writer describes a contest already under way. He also compares this moment with the Lord's own visit to that place.
The enemy seemed to hold the ground like a flood. But the Spirit of the Lord lifts up a standard against him in the preaching of Philip, confirmed by the signs Philip worked in front of their eyes. No miracle was needed there when the Lord visited the place and worked as the great and acknowledged Prophet... But now Satan had sought to wipe out the truth and set up a rival in sorcery. Sorcery is always ready to seduce, interest and alarm those who do not know the true God. And the time had also come for God to bear witness through men, the servants of Christ on earth. They were to witness to His victory over Satan and to His glory on high.
The order matters. Philip did not advertise healings and then add a sermon.
God also bore witness to his preaching with miracles: casting out demons and healing the sick. Notice, Philip did not hold a healing meeting. The account puts his speaking first and adds the miracles after.
The word "paralyzed" is worth a closer look. Its root has a simple meaning, and the condition itself carries a picture.
The Greek word, παραλύω, means to loosen. It shows that the disease was paralysis. People with this illness came to the Lord carried on beds or couches. Matt. 9:2-6; Mark 2:3-10; Luke 5:18, 24; Acts 8:7; Acts 9:33. The paralysed were a picture of complete human helplessness. God alone can relieve it and raise it up.
Philip was an evangelist, not an apostle, yet demons obeyed him. One writer draws a wider conclusion about who may hold such power.
Here, as at other times, the apostles clearly stood out above all others in doing many signs and wonders. But Acts 6:8 and Acts 8:6-7, 13 show plainly that the power was in no way limited to those whom God set first in the church. The martyr Stephen and the evangelist Philip were both remarkable in that way. Any believer who reads 1 Cor. 12 can have no real doubt about it. God might give such sign-gifts widely, and apart from all public office. Our Lord indicated the same in Mark 16:17-20: they were for "those that believed," not only for certain prominent officials.
The spirits here did not leave in silence. They shouted. One writer turns that detail into a warning: a loud voice proves nothing about its source.
Satan would not only use such deceiving spirits in the streets. He would also try to bring them into the very middle of the gathering of the saints... When the saints know what is being said, they can test the words by the word of God. Every spirit that does not confess Jesus Christ come in the flesh is not of God (1 John 4:1-3)... Let us not be deceived. Satan can send a lying spirit into the mouth of a man now, as he did long ago (1 Kings 22:22-23). And unclean spirits can cry out with a loud voice now as they did in Samaria (Acts 8:7).
One man in the crowd, Simon, believed and was baptised. One writer notes what gripped him, and what did not.
Many believed Philip's testimony and were baptised, Simon among them. He was astonished at the miracles and signs. Sadly, it was these that struck him, not the word of God... Faith founded on miracles is worth little. The Lord, when He was here, would not trust Himself to such people (John 2:23-25). Miracles may arrest and convince the mind. They can confirm faith where it already exists. But the word of God alone can lay bare the heart and conscience. This the unhappy Simon never knew.
- Word. Philip preached Christ first. The miracles followed his speaking.
- Witness. The enemy had held that ground through sorcery. The signs were God's witness, through a man, to Christ's victory over Satan and His glory on high.
- Weakness. Paralysis pictures total human helplessness. God alone can relieve it and raise it up.
- Wideness. Philip held no apostolic office. God never limited such power to those He set first in the church.
- Warning. Loud spirits still cry out. Faith resting on miracles is worth little. Only God's word reaches the conscience, as Simon shows.
And there was great joy in that city.
Persecution had just scattered the believers out of Jerusalem. One of them, Philip, went down to a city in Samaria and preached Christ. This verse gives the result: a city full of joy. What made that joy, and how far did it reach?
The joy started with a loss. Jerusalem drove grace away, and that grace went on to win Jerusalem's old rival.
A great work resulted in Samaria (Acts 8:1-13). This place had long been the religious rival of Jerusalem. Now the very grace Jerusalem was driving away had subdued it. "There was great joy in the city."
What Philip preached explains the result. He preached a Person: the One the Jews had refused, now exalted at God's right hand.
The evangelist came down and preached Christ. Why Christ?... Because He was the ascended One. The Samaritans were to know that the One whom the Jew had refused was now the exalted One at the right hand of God. This was the Jesus they had once had among them. Philip preached Christ, and what was the result? "There was great joy in that city."
The joy stands out against what the city had been. Sorcery held Samaria, and unclean spirits held many of its people. Philip's preaching and the healings broke that grip.
The enemy seemed now to be in possession like a flood. But the Spirit of the Lord lifts up a standard against him in the preaching of Philip, confirmed by the signs which he worked before their eyes... Satan had sought to wipe out the truth and set up a rival in sorcery. Sorcery is always ready to seduce, interest, and alarm those who do not know the true God... On the one hand, the crowds listened with one accord to what Philip said. On the other, unclean spirits cried out with a loud voice and came out of many people. Many who were paralysed or lame were healed. Can we wonder that "there was much joy in the city"?
The oldest manuscripts read "much joy," which is why the ESV has "much" where the writers quoted here say "great." That changes what the word measures.
The critical reading is polle chara ("much joy"), not megale ("great joy"). It seems to refer to the extent of the joy rather than its quality.
Samaria was not a special case. One writer treats gladness as the natural effect of believing that your sins are forgiven.
The "glad tidings" of salvation must gladden the believing soul. They cannot do anything else. There was great joy in Samaria when Philip preached Christ to them. The Ethiopian official went on his way rejoicing when he learned that Jesus had died for his sins. How could it be otherwise? How could anyone believe in the forgiveness of sins and not be made happy by the belief? Impossible.
Another writer notes the order. The gospel first makes a person wretched, then glad.
I do not say that the first effect of the gospel is to make a man happy, but rather to make him wretched. And why? Because the gospel tells me what God is... and it tells me that I am a guilty, ruined, lost sinner... If I may put it this way, when the sinner gets miserable heaven gets happy.
Commentators differ on this. One of them will not make joy an automatic proof of faith, since this chapter itself supplies a warning case.
With Luke 8:13 in view, I could not say as absolutely as Calvin that the joy must be the fruit of faith. At least the "faith" may not be of God, as we see in the glaring case which the Holy Spirit brings before us here.
The joy was real, but something was still missing.
This earnest man — not an apostle, but a simple evangelist — is empowered by the Holy Spirit to do what we read of here. But the Spirit of God had not taken up His home in that city as yet. So far He was only in the person of that one servant. There was "great joy in that city" because they received Christ, but as yet the Holy Spirit had fallen on none of them.
- Scattered → joy. Persecution pushed the believers out of Jerusalem and pushed the gospel into its rival city. Grace won there what Jerusalem refused.
- Christ → joy. Philip preached a Person — the rejected Jesus, now exalted — and joy was the result, not the method.
- Freed → joy. Preaching freed a city held by sorcery and unclean spirits. The size of the joy shows the size of the rescue.
- Joy → reach. The older reading says "much," not "great": the joy filled the whole city, not a few hearts.
- Joy → proof. One writer calls it impossible to believe your sins are forgiven and stay joyless. Another warns that joy alone does not prove faith, and in Samaria the Spirit had not yet come.
But a certain man, by name Simon, had been before in the city, using magic arts, and astonishing the nation of Samaria, saying that himself was some great one.
Acts 8 brings the gospel to Samaria, and there it meets a rival: a man who had held the city under his influence for a long time. Two questions follow — what power was Simon using, and what happens to it when the good news about Christ arrives?
The verse names Simon's trade before anything else. One writer sums up who he was and how he built his hold on the people.
Who was that sorcerer? His name was Simon, and people usually call him Magus. That title points to his profession — a magician or sorcerer. By his magical arts he had bewitched the people, and had established himself in their eyes as a marvel. He gave himself out for some great one.
He was not the only one. The New Testament names others who practiced the same arts.
In the New Testament, besides the slave girl who had a spirit of divination, we read of others. Simon used sorcery and bewitched the people of Samaria for a long time (Acts 8:9-11). Elymas the sorcerer, a Jew met in Cyprus, perverted the right ways of the Lord (Acts 13:6, 8). Sorcery ranks with the grossest of sins.
The wording is careful. He said he was somebody great, but he never said what made him great. The vagueness did his work for him.
He had dazzled them with wonder-working. He was content to drop a mysterious hint about its source: some greatness in himself beyond nature. That left their imaginations to go further than his cautious claim. For them he came to be "the power of God which is called great"; but before the true power of God all this collapsed.
Commentators do not treat Simon's hold as mere showmanship. They see him as an agent, and the city as ground the enemy already held.
The power over unclean spirits stands out here. In this and in other ways, Samaria appears to be largely under the power of the enemy, despite its professed worship of the true God. The truth had begun to work among them. That may well have stirred up special resistance from one who knew its power. Simon the sorcerer had been his special agent, sent to distract the Samaritans and turn their minds away from the truth.
Philip also worked wonders in that city. The difference between the two men lay in who they put forward.
To those captivated by Simon, Philip preached — not himself, however, but Christ. How different he must have appeared to them all from the sorcerer. Both did wonders. Simon exalted himself, and accepted the crowd's flattery. Philip preached Another, and enlisted the converts as disciples of Christ. He sank himself, his glory, his greatness, in the excellency of the One whom he preached.
A hold built over years came to an end. Commentators point to the message itself as the thing that broke it.
Simon's sorcery and falsehoods did great damage, leading on to his own blasphemous claims. We are told here that he misled everyone around him, small and great. What use are rank or education to guard from error? Yet all of it vanished like smoke before the light of the gospel. "The kingdom of God" and "the name of Jesus" wiped out the Samaritan's empty tricks and shameless frauds.
Philip came with the gospel of Christ, and that broke this man's spell. Nothing else can deliver people from slavery to Satan, whatever form that slavery takes.
Verse 13 says Simon believed and was baptized. Commentators read that response in the light of what impressed him.
Alas! it was the miracles and signs that struck him, not the word of God. Faith founded on miracles is worth very little. The Lord, when He was here, would not entrust Himself to such faith (John 2:23-25). Miracles may arrest and convince the mind. They may confirm faith where it already exists. But the word of God alone can lay bare the heart and conscience. This the unhappy Simon never knew.
- Claim — Simon's trade was sorcery. He hinted at some greatness in himself and let the crowd's imagination supply the rest.
- Capture — The hint worked on everyone, small and great; rank and education guarded no one from the error.
- Contrast — Philip did wonders too, but he preached Another. Simon exalted himself and took the applause.
- Collapse — Years of influence vanished like smoke before the light of the gospel. Nothing else sets people free from such bondage.
- Caution — The signs amazed Simon, but the word never searched him. Faith resting on miracles alone never reaches the conscience.
To whom they had all given heed, from small to great, saying, This is the power of God which is called great.
A whole city, from the lowest to the highest, had settled on one verdict about one man: he was God's power in person. The verse shows what a crowd will believe when a show of power comes without the truth of God.
The crowd's words are more than praise. One commentator points to a single word in them, and to what the oldest manuscripts say about it:
The oldest manuscripts keep the word "called"; the less reliable copies leave it out. The copyists probably did not see why it mattered and thought someone had simply added it. The word expresses the outrageous assumption of the impostor.
Behind the crowd's verdict lay a deliberate substitute for the truth:
The enemy seemed to be in possession like a flood. But the Spirit of the Lord lifts up a standard against him in the preaching of Philip, backed by the signs Philip did in front of their eyes. … Satan had sought to blot out the truth and set up a rival in sorcery. Sorcery is always ready to seduce, interest, and alarm those who do not know the true God. … The energy of the Spirit was at work in Samaria through a free herald of the gospel. This came after Jerusalem had refused the testimony with hatred to the point of death.
Nobody was exempt — not the educated, not the leading citizens. And one thing broke the whole system:
Simon's sorcery and falsehoods did great damage, and they led to his own blasphemous claims about himself. We are told here that he misled everyone around him, small and great. What use are rank or education in guarding a person from error? Yet it all vanished like smoke before the light of the gospel. "The kingdom of God" and "the name of Jesus" destroyed the empty trickery and shameless frauds of the Samaritan.
Why would a man work to gather a title like this? One writer names two motives, and the only thing that can break such a hold:
Self-exaltation and personal gain were his objects, as with every other misleader, ancient and modern. … Philip's coming with the gospel of Christ broke this man's spell. There is indeed nothing else that can deliver people from slavery to Satan, whatever form that slavery may take.
Set the crowd's great man beside the One Philip preached, and the contrast is total:
Pride and self-exaltation have always been the marks of man. So people have become easy prey for Satan, whose thoughts and desires have always been set against God and His Christ. What a contrast we see in the blessed Man whom Philip preached! … Here was a blessed Man whose ways were exactly opposite to those of every other man.
Loud claims to power should make a reader cautious. One writer holds the crowd's cry up as a mirror for today:
The Lord hates pretension to power in a day such as the present. The display of merely human power which we see on all sides is nothing like the power of the Spirit. Those who make loud claims that the power of God is with them resemble the crowds who followed Simon Magus, saying, "This man is the power of God that is called Great." They also resemble Laodicea, which says, "I am rich," not knowing that she is "wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked."
- Claimed power. The crowd's title carried Simon's own outrageous assumption. The word "called" marks it as a claim, not a fact.
- Borrowed power. Satan set up sorcery as a rival to the truth. It seduces, interests and alarms people who do not know the true God.
- Unquestioned power. Simon misled everyone, small and great. Rank and education guard nobody from error.
- Broken power. The kingdom of God and the name of Jesus made the whole system vanish like smoke. Nothing but the gospel of Christ frees people from slavery to Satan.
- Counterfeit power. Self-exaltation was Simon's aim. It is the reverse of the Man Philip preached, whose ways were the opposite of every other man's. So loud talk about having God's power should make us cautious, not impressed.
And they gave heed to him, because that for a long time he had astonished them by his magic arts.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
But when they believed Philip announcing the glad tidings concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptised, both men and women.
Philip preaches in a Samaritan city, and the people believe him and are baptized. That raises two questions: what did Philip preach, and why does Luke record who was baptized?
Philip matched his message to the people in front of him. The Samaritans already shared part of Israel's hope.
The Samaritans, though a foreign race, had for centuries taken Jewish ground. They had their temple on Mount Gerizim, and they had the Jewish Scriptures. They spoke of "our father Jacob." They took the Jewish hope as their own — the coming of the Messiah (John 4:12, 25). Philip therefore took them on their own ground, and announced the Christ to them.
A sorcerer named Simon had the city under his influence. Two things Philip preached broke his hold.
Simon's sorcery and lies did great damage, and they led to his own blasphemous claims. We are told here that he misled everyone around him, small and great. What use are rank or education to guard from error? All of it vanished like smoke before the light of the gospel. "The kingdom of God" and "the name of Jesus" wiped out the empty trickery and shameless frauds of the Samaritan.
One writer argued that believing "the name of Jesus Christ" is less than believing in Jesus Himself. That argument fails.
The same strange confusion runs through this writer's remarks on Acts 8:12: "What did they believe? The things concerning the kingdom and the name of Jesus Christ. They were then baptized, and so brought into the kingdom and to the name of Jesus Christ. But whether they truly believed in Him is another thing." Did he not know that "the name" is used for the person? (John 1:12; 1 John 5:13.)
The words "kingdom of God" appear less often in Acts than readers expect. Philip's preaching in Samaria stands almost alone.
Philip preached the things concerning the kingdom of God in Samaria (Acts 8:12), as Paul did at Ephesus until everyone living in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus (Acts 19:8)… Apart from Paul, in fact, the kingdom forms no part of the recorded testimony of anyone in Acts, except Philip at Samaria. This does not mean it was not established in the most real way. But the great subject of everyone's testimony, as they went from province to province and city to city, was Christ — His death, resurrection and ascension. The power of the Holy Spirit gave that testimony effect in souls and brought them to confess His name, and so the kingdom was formed and spread.
Philip did miracles. But the verse marks their believing as the turning point, and that order repeats.
When the Lord would start the work in Samaria, Philip went down and preached Christ to them (8:5). He worked miracles as well (6, 7). But we read, "when they believed Philip as he preached good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women" (8:12). So at Damascus (9); at Antioch in Syria (11:19-24)… it is the word of God, and not the display of power, that first caught the attention of both Jews and Gentiles. And it converted those who listened to it.
Baptism followed faith, and it carried a public meaning.
Verses 12 and 16 show us that the baptized person professes an entrance into the kingdom of God. He also professes to take on himself the name of the Lord Jesus, as his new Master. This is just as Israel of old were baptized to Moses — see 1 Corinthians 10:2.
The words "both men and women" mark a change from the sign God gave Israel earlier.
Only the males among the Jews were circumcised; disciples, both men and women, were baptized (Acts 8:12).
The next verse adds Simon to the baptized. His case is the warning attached to this passage.
He was amazed when he saw the great miracles. But more than that, he also believed, was baptized, and then stayed with Philip. But his faith was not through the word of God. God's word alone can produce faith in man, for faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Simon was captivated by the miracles he had seen. Philip was deceived by him, but not Peter, who uncovered his wickedness.
- Word. What broke Simon's hold on Samaria was a message believed, not a greater display of power. The word converted them, not the wonders.
- Name. "The name of Jesus Christ" is not a lesser thing to believe than the Person. The name stands for Him.
- Kingdom. Philip's preaching of the kingdom of God is one of the few such records in Acts. Elsewhere the kingdom spread as people came to confess Christ's name.
- Baptism. Believing came first, then baptism. Baptism professes entry into the kingdom and taking the Lord Jesus as new Master. Unlike circumcision, it was given to women as well as men.
- Reality. The same baptism that marked real converts also covered Simon. His faith rested on miracles. Profession is one thing; a work of God in the heart is another.
And Simon also himself believed; and, having been baptised, continued constantly with Philip; and, beholding the signs and great works of power which took place, was astonished.
Simon had held all Samaria under his spell. Now he is the one amazed. He believes, Philip baptizes him, and he stays close. But what was that belief worth? Peter later tells this same man that his heart is not right before God.
Before this verse can be weighed, the scale of what happened in Samaria has to be seen. The preaching of Christ ended the sorcerer's career as the man everyone called great.
This man's spell was broken by the coming of Philip with the gospel of Christ. There is indeed nothing else that can deliver men from the grip of Satan, whatever form that grip may take.
Verse 12 and verse 13 do not use the same words, and the difference is not flattering to Simon. The men and women simply believed and were baptized; of Simon alone we read that he stayed near Philip and was amazed at what he saw.
This was what carried him away — not the love of God, not the truth of Christ, nor the grace of the gospel even to such a guilty, deceitful wretch as himself, but the astonishing power at work before his eyes… Others had their eyes drawn to the kingdom and its holy glories; others in spirit fell down and clasped the feet of their unseen Saviour and Lord Jesus Christ, lost in wonder, love, and praise. Simon was in ecstasy as he watched the signs and great deeds of power… Not a word suggests self-judgment before God, not a word of any gracious work on his heart.
It was the miracles that had this influence over his spirit, not the seed of God, the divine word entering his heart. Believing because of miracles alone is not the faith that works by the Holy Spirit. God may indeed work miracles and signs to confirm His word. The end of John 2 shows that Jesus did not trust those who had believed in this way. When the Spirit of God works, He produces needs in the soul that Jesus alone can satisfy.
This kind of faith can be perfectly honest and still be empty.
It may not be in the least insincere, and those who believe this way may be the readiest to fight for their creed if it seems necessary. But there is no life, as there is no repentance, no link with Christ formed by the Holy Spirit through receiving the word.
Philip baptized Simon along with the rest of Samaria. So what can baptism do, and what can it not?
The gift of the Spirit, a few verses later, is what exposed the difference.
When the Holy Spirit was given, the line was drawn between what was real and what was not. Not all who are baptized prove to be real, but the Spirit is given only to those who are… Simon submitted to all this; nevertheless, when the test came, reality was not found in him.
Philip took Simon at his word.
Simon confessed the Lord, and Philip baptized him. I have no doubt Philip thought he had caught a great fish, and would have brought him into the assembly of believers. But the Lord had His eye on His assembly, on His dear servant, and on this daring sinner. So through Peter He brings out Simon's real state.
Simon Magus is like a buoy fixed by the hand of God over a sunken rock, to keep passing ships away from it. He is a solemn warning to all false professors. Learn this lesson: neither baptism nor making a profession of Christ can save you. He was baptized, he professed to follow Christ, and he sought entrance into God's assembly. He was clearly not saved then, and whether he ever was saved is doubtful. Nothing will do but real possession of Christ.
- Amazed, not changed — the signs held Simon; God's word never entered his heart.
- Evidence, not faith — believing because you saw a miracle is not the faith that works by the Holy Spirit.
- Sign without substance — baptism is an excellent sign where there is life and faith. Without them it only deepens guilt, with a Saviour in plain sight.
- The Spirit draws the line — not everyone baptized proves real. The gift of the Spirit exposed what Philip could not see.
- A buoy over a rock — Simon warns every passer-by: neither baptism nor profession saves. Only having Christ does.
And the apostles who were in Jerusalem, having heard that Samaria had received the word of God, sent to them Peter and John;
News of Philip's preaching in Samaria reaches Jerusalem. The apostles answer by sending two of their own to a place Jews avoided. Why did they get involved at all, and why these two men?
The report that reached Jerusalem was not about crowds. It was about a word received. One writer shows how striking that is, given the long history between the two peoples:
"Samaria had received the word of God" — I think that is a beautiful phrase. The Jews had been trying hard to make them receive the law, but it had been a complete failure. That was the reason why "Jews have no dealings with Samaritans." What the law failed to do, the sovereign grace of God accomplished. The whole city received the word. "And there was great joy in that city." It was one of the triumphs of grace.
No one in Samaria asked for help. The apostles still acted, because these new believers belonged with them:
This shows that independence between congregations is as far as possible from the will of God. There was no holding aloof on the part of the leaders in Jerusalem, though we hear of no request for their intervention from the Samaritans. The apostles felt as members of the one body of Christ for the fresh objects of divine grace.
They could have reacted very differently. Philip's work looked irregular, and his converts still lacked something:
They did not give way to natural prejudice. They did not denounce Philip as irregular in what he was doing. They did not seize on the absence of the gift of the Spirit as a reason for discounting the whole work at Samaria, or even disowning it altogether. They bowed to the sovereign grace of God. From their own number they chose two who ranked among the very chief of the apostles — Peter and John.
The Samaritans had welcomed the word, yet they had not yet received the Spirit. One writer traces the delay to a danger God meant to head off:
Here, as it appears to me, is why divine wisdom led to this striking difference at Samaria. The need was to prevent that independence to which even Christians are so liable. Samaria was especially open to this evil, so it called for a much greater guard. How painful it must be to the Spirit of God if the old pride of Samaria were to rise up against Jerusalem! God would cut off the very appearance of this. His Spirit acted freely toward Samaria without the apostles, yet the Holy Spirit was given through the laying on of their hands. That solemn act was not only an old sign of divine blessing, but of identification too.
The two men sent were the last pair anyone would expect to go:
The Spirit did not fall on them at once, as on the company in Caesarea in Acts 10:44. Instead the Samaritans waited for this blessing until Jerusalem spoke through Peter and John. God openly showed that the Church, whether planted in this city or in that, is one. … The choice of instruments, too, was remarkable. Peter was the conservative Jew, who had always judged it unlawful to visit or keep company with a man of another nation (Acts 10:28). John was the son of thunder, who once asked his Lord whether he should command fire to come down from heaven and consume the Samaritans.
The Samaritans were genuine believers before Peter and John arrived. Kelly insists on a distinction that the whole passage turns on:
God so ordered it that the Holy Spirit should not at first be given to the disciples at Samaria. I do not mean only to men like Simon, or to false believers, but even to those who were true. They could not have believed the gospel without the quickening work of the Holy Spirit. But we must distinguish between the Holy Spirit giving life and God giving the Holy Spirit Himself.
Kelly then warns readers not to make this a standing practice:
To a thoughtful believer it will be plain that the reasons for this do not hold at the present time. I say this only in case anyone concludes that men commissioned by God must now lay on hands to give such a spiritual blessing.
- Received — the word of God did in Samaria what the law never could. Grace won where legal pressure had failed.
- Responded — the apostles did not ignore the news or question Philip's odd methods. They sent two of their chief men.
- Restrained — God held back the Spirit. Old Samaritan pride was not to rise up against Jerusalem under a Christian name.
- Related — laying on hands meant identification. The two chosen were the strict Jew and the man who once wanted fire on Samaritan heads.
- Reserved — believing brought life by the Spirit; receiving the Spirit Himself came after. And the delay served that hour, not ours.