Read or listen The Acts of the Apostles Chapter 8 online (ESV, Bible Gateway)

The dam breaks – Acts 8:1-3

We have probably seen in our lifetimes on the news how an agitated crowd can commit crimes that would be impossible under normal circumstances. Unfortunately, the events in Jerusalem after the death of Stephen are repeated again and again. The many tragic persecutions of Christians in our lifetime will not be the last in this series.

There were, therefore, some among the people who were angered by the spread of the Christian faith. The new faith was a threat to Judaism and therefore had to be eradicated. However, not everyone approved of Stephen’s stoning. A few “devout” men buried him and made lamentation over him. Both actions prove that Stephen had not been legally convicted.

Saul was one of the most active persecutors of Christians. He himself admits this in his letters (for example, Gal 1:13: "For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it".). In Saul's opinion, things had gone too far. Those heretics should no longer be tolerated, they had to be stopped, even by force. The agitated people no longer remembered Gamaliel's advice (Acts 5:35-39).

Defeat was victory – Acts 8:4-8

The Jews aimed to silence the proclamation of the gospel by persecuting Christians, but the opposite happened. The fear of the spread of “heresy” was realized (cf. Acts 4:17) when Christians scattered in different directions proclaimed the risen Christ.

Philip the deacon (Acts 6:5, not the apostle Philip) preached the gospel to the Samaritans. Now the commission of the resurrected Jesus (Acts 1:8) to proclaim the gospel not only in Jerusalem, but also in Judea and Samaria, to the ends of the earth, began to be fulfilled.

Philip turned a new page in the history of missionary work. Now the gospel was preached to non-Jews for the first time. On the other hand, the Samaritans were not pure Gentiles either, but a “mixed people”; their faith included elements of Judaism but also of pagan religions (the origin of the mixed people of Samaria is told in 2 Kings 17:24-41).

At that time, Samaria was known for its superstition and occultism. The Jews despised the Samaritans (cf. John 4), but God had decided to include them in his church.

God forced to leave

But why did Christians leave Jerusalem to preach the gospel only when forced by persecution? Did they not want to follow Jesus' great mission command (Matt 28:18-20: "All authority in Heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make Disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.)?"

Apparently, the biggest reason for the apostles and other Christians’ reluctance to go and preach the gospel “to the ends of the earth” was the Jewish “missionary vision.” The Jewish understanding of the salvation of the world was "center-oriented": at the end of time, all nations would flow to Mount Zion to hear God's will (Micah 4:1-5). The Jew’s duty was therefore to be a Jew, and that would be his testimony of God.

But the Christian church's mission vision is "centrifugal": the gospel must be proclaimed wherever there are people. We must not wait for people to come to the gospel, but take the gospel to the people.

The same pattern is repeated several times in the book of Acts: When the gospel moves into a new area, God “confirms” with signs that the new phase is right. There were signs at Pentecost, miraculous things happened when the first non-Jews became Christians, and we will find the same thing happening when the first Gentiles are converted (Acts 10:44-48).

Simon the sorcery maker – Acts 8:9-25

Before Philip came, the religious leader of Samaria had been Simon the Sorcerer, or Simon Magus (magus means great). The gospel deprived Simon of his followers. Even Simon was baptized.

But did Simon believe the gospel? There is reason to think that he did not. He was a typical miracle worker of that time, who saw in Philip only a new, powerful magician. Simon wanted to get involved with a new force. Later, he was ready to join Peter when he performed even greater miracles.

Simon is a warning example for us. It is not “believing” that is the basis of salvation, but the atoning work of Christ on the cross. Simon did not want to trust only in Jesus (Acts 2:21). He could act like a believer, but God – like Peter (verse 23) – saw what was inside him.

Simon became jealous of Peter and John because they had a power that Simon himself did not have. He wanted to buy that power. But God cannot be ordered or bought. Peter pronounced a harsh sentence, but he left Simon the opportunity to repent (verse 22). Simon does seem to repent, but early Christian tradition – including Justin Martyr – tells us that Simon the Witch was one of the most fierce opponents of the early church.

After the Jewish revolt (66-72 AD), Samaria is known to have been conquered by superstition again. Simon, who according to Justin was even considered “the highest god,” seems to have later triumphed over the Christian church in Samaria.

Does baptism give us the Holy Spirit?

The account of the events in Samaria would seem at first glance to confirm the teaching of adult baptists: "You do not receive the Holy Spirit in baptism, as Lutherans, Catholics, and Orthodox teach. There must first be faith and only then baptism. Water baptism does not help anything, you must receive the fullness of the Holy Spirit!"

I already pointed out some of the problems associated with this account if it is intended to be used to defend the "baptism of believers". In Acts 2:38, Peter promises the Holy Spirit to all who are baptized. This promise is still valid today.

Why then did not Peter's promise happen in Samaria? I have already indicated the reason. It was a significant turning point in the history of the church, a point whose correctness God wanted to ensure with a special sign. Later, in the house of Cornelius, the opposite happens: first the believers receive the Holy Spirit and only then are they baptized (Acts 10:44-48). In Samaria the order was reversed.

Both times it was an exception, not a rule. With that exception, God wanted to give the apostles the assurance that it was right to baptize Samaritans and Gentiles.

How about today?

The fate of Simon the Sorcerer teaches us two things:
First, that we must distinguish between Christian faith and the service of idols. There is only one way (John 14:6: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.").
Secondly, one should be careful if someone wants to prove a doctrine with verses taken from different parts of the Bible. Verses should not be taken out of context.

The First African Christian – Acts 8:26-40

Luke tells another incident of Philip's preaching. Led by the Spirit of God, Philip is allowed to teach "a court official of Candace", who was visiting Jerusalem from the area of ​​present-day Sudan, that Jesus is the Messiah of Old Testament prophecies.

The Ethiopian courtier was rich, and could afford to buy a Greek translation of the book of Isaiah. As was the custom at the time, he read it aloud. When Philip came near the chariot, he was reading Isaiah 53:7-8. The courtier was a so-called God-fearing man (Acts 10:2); he believed in the God of the Jews and wanted to observe the most important regulations of the law, but he had not converted to Judaism. (Acts 2:11 proselyte).

The Greek writer Plutarch reports that Candace's finance ministers were eunuchs, so the courtier could never have become a Jew (Deuteronomy 23:2). However, the prophet Isaiah had promised even the circumcised a share in God's kingdom at the end of time (Isaiah 56:3-8). The courtier had become acquainted with Judaism in his homeland, where there was a significant Jewish colony.

Philip taught the eunuch that the suffering servant of Isaiah 53 is Jesus. By believing in him and being baptized, the eunuch—who had been cast out of Judaism—would also be saved. Somewhere along the road from Jerusalem to Gaza (a 100 km long road) there was a river or pond where Philip baptized the first black Christian.

The question in verse 36 shows how important baptism was to the early Christians: even in that brief moment of teaching it was brought up. After baptism, the Spirit took Philip to Caesarea, where we meet him again later (Acts 21:8-9).

The courtier returned to his homeland rejoicing at his salvation. From church history we know that there have been (Coptic) Christian congregations in the area of ​​present-day Sudan since very early times.

It is possible that there were Christians in Africa even before the courtier. Among the listeners of the Pentecost sermon (Acts 2:9-11) were also those from Africa and Europe. But in any case, at least from the time of the courtier, there were followers of Jesus in Africa. The story of the courtier is the first account in the Acts of the Apostles of the conversion of a private person.

It is also worth noting that the Holy Spirit worked and still works precisely through the Word, the Bible. Christ is found in the Bible. Today, Jews do not read Isaiah 53 in synagogue worship. Sometimes the passage is even missing and instead is only stated: “Some passages are missing here.” The prophecy refers too clearly to Jesus.

Why is verse 37 missing?

When the Bible was divided into chapters and verses, the text used was not the best possible. Later it was noticed that in a few places there were so-called additions that were removed. But the verse division was not wanted to be changed, lest it happen that the same verse number could mean two different verses. This created “gaps,” one of which is verse 37.

The verse reads as follows: “Philip said to him, ‘If you believe with all your heart, you may.’ The eunuch answered, ‘I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.’” This addition may have arisen as a "protest" against baptisms performed too quickly and on too light grounds, or perhaps some copyist wanted to include parts of his own church's baptismal formula in the story. There is nothing wrong with the verse, it just does not belong in the original text of Acts and has therefore been removed.