Acts 8 is the eighth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles in the

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chri ...

of the Christian

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts ...

. It records the burial of

Stephen Stephen or Steven is a common English first name. It is particularly significant to Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; ...

, the beginnings of Christian persecution, and the spread of the Gospel of

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religiou ...

Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

to the people of

Samaria Samaria (; he, שֹׁמְרוֹן, translit=Šōmrōn, ar, السامرة, translit=as-Sāmirah) is the historic and biblical name used for the central region of Palestine, bordered by Judea to the south and Galilee to the north. The first ...

and

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

. The book containing this chapter is anonymous, but early Christian tradition uniformly affirmed that Luke composed this book as well as the

Gospel of Luke The Gospel of Luke), or simply Luke (which is also its most common form of abbreviation). tells of the origins, birth, ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ. Together with the Acts of the Apostles, it makes up a two-vol ...

.Holman Illustrated Bible Handbook. Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee. 2012.

Text

The original text was written in

Koine Greek Koine Greek (; Koine el, ἡ κοινὴ διάλεκτος, hē koinè diálektos, the common dialect; ), also known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek or New Testament Greek, was the common supra-reg ...

. This chapter is divided into 40 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are: ;In Greek * Papyrus 50 (3rd century; extant verses 26–32) *

Codex Vaticanus The Codex Vaticanus ( The Vatican, Bibl. Vat., Vat. gr. 1209), designated by siglum B or 03 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), δ 1 ( von Soden), is a fourth-century Christian manuscript of a Greek Bible, containing the majority of the Greek Old ...

(325–350) *

Codex Sinaiticus The Codex Sinaiticus ( Shelfmark: London, British Library, Add MS 43725), designated by siglum [Aleph] or 01 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), δ 2 (in the von Soden numbering of New Testament manuscript ...

(330–360) *

Codex Bezae The Codex Bezae Cantabrigiensis, designated by siglum D or 05 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), δ 5 (in the von Soden of New Testament manuscript), is a codex of the New Testament dating from the 5th century writ ...

(c. 400) *

Codex Alexandrinus The Codex Alexandrinus (London, British Library, Royal MS 1. D. V-VIII), designated by the siglum A or 02 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), δ 4 (in the von Soden numbering of New Testament manuscripts), is a manu ...

(400–440) * Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus (c. 450) *

Codex Laudianus Codex Laudianus, designated by Ea or 08 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), α 1001 ( von Soden), called ''Laudianus'' after the former owner, Archbishop William Laud. It is a diglot Latin — Greek uncial manuscript of the New Testament, palae ...

(c. 550) ;In Latin *

León palimpsest The León Palimpsest, designated l or 67 (in the Beuron system), is a 7th-century Latin manuscript pandect of the Christian Bible conserved in the cathedral of León, Spain. The text, written on vellum, is in a fragmentary condition. In some parts ...

(7th century; complete)Bruce M. Metzger, ''The Early Versions of the New Testament'', Oxford University Press, 1977, p. 316.

Old Testament references

* :

New Testament references

* : (Stephen's Death)

Locations

This chapter mentions the following places: * Azotus * Caesarea *

* Gaza *

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

Judea Judea or Judaea ( or ; from he, יהודה, Standard ''Yəhūda'', Tiberian ''Yehūḏā''; el, Ἰουδαία, ; la, Iūdaea) is an ancient, historic, Biblical Hebrew, contemporaneous Latin, and the modern-day name of the mountainous sou ...

Saul's approval of Stephen's death (8:1a)

The writer of Acts introduces Saul, later the Apostle Paul, as an active witness of Stephen's death in Acts 7:58, and confirmed his approval in Acts 8:1a. Reuben Torrey, in his ''Treasury of Scripture Knowledge'', suggests that this clause .e. verse 8:1a"evidently belongs to the conclusion of the previous chapter".

Verse 1

: ''And Saul was consenting to his death.'' : ''On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem. And they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.'' *"Death": from Greek: (''anairesis'') which can refer to "murder".

The church scattered (8:1b–4)

The narrative is focused around two geographical poles: Jerusalem, where the apostles stay ( verses 1b, 14) and the 'countryside of Judea and Samaria' where the rest of the church is 'scattered throughout (verse 1b), with unnamed disciples continuing the apostles' task to preach the gospel (

verse 4 Verse may refer to: Poetry * Verse, an occasional synonym for poetry * Verse, a metrical structure, a stanza * Blank verse, a type of poetry having regular meter but no rhyme * Free verse, a type of poetry written without the use of strict ...

), as the church history moves on to the middle stage of the apostolic commission in Acts 1:8 The story of church's expansion is interwoven with the record of Stephen's burial (verse 2) and the hint of Saul (later "Paul the apostle") future as a zealous instigator of the persecution, indicating that the community most affected by the wave of persecution to follow was the one to which both Stephen and Saul belonged, the 'synagogues of diaspora origin' (), because by the time of a group of 'disciples' is still in Jerusalem alongside the apostles.

Verse 4

:''Therefore those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word.'' While the apostles remain in Jerusalem, 'unnamed disciples exploit their scattered condition to spread the gospel'.

Philip's mission in Samaria (8:4-13)

The story of Philip's preaching serves as an example of 'a highly successful work of evangelism, accompanied by miraculous healings which impress the population' (verses 6, 8). The work brings about wonders, 'belief and baptism, i.e. intellectual conviction and entry into a new community', which even impresses a competitor, Simon (Magus) (verse 13), who used to 'bewitch' the Samaritans with sorceries (verses 9,10).

Verse 5

:''Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them.'' *" Philip": is one of the " Seven" ( Acts 6:5), not an apostle, and in Acts 21:8, he is characterized as 'the evangelist', settled in Caesarea with four daughters. The connection with a 'we-passage' in Acts 21 suggests the interaction with Philip as a source (directly or indirectly) of this story. *"

": could refer to the region (as in RSV) or the name of its capital city (as in

NRSV The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) is an English translation of the Bible published in 1989 by the National Council of Churches.Herod the Great Herod I (; ; grc-gre, ; c. 72 – 4 or 1 BCE), also known as Herod the Great, was a Roman Jewish client king of Judea, referred to as the Herodian kingdom. He is known for his colossal building projects throughout Judea, including his renova ...

The coming of the Spirit in Samaria (8:14–25)

This section highlights 'two related issues of church order': # The role of the apostles: in a supervisory role to keep an eye on new developments and to perform 'apostolic visitation' (verse 14). # Baptism and the Spirit: The sequence of events seems to imply that 'baptism in the name of Jesus' (verse 12, 16) and the reception of the Spirit (verse 15) were 'two distinct events for the Samaritans' and that the Spirit could only come with the laying on of hands by the apostles (verse 17), but this should not be treated as a universal formula, because elsewhere in the book, the Spirit comes before baptism (e.g. 10:44–48), or is not recorded at all (e.g. 8:38).

Verse 16

:''For as yet He had fallen upon none of them. They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.'' *"Fallen": from Greek: , ', a verb characteristic of Luke, used both in

and in Acts of 'the occurrence of extraordinary conditions, e.g., the sudden influence of the Spirit', cf. , ; ; , cf. , with similar usage in

Septuagint The Greek Old Testament, or Septuagint (, ; from the la, septuaginta, lit=seventy; often abbreviated ''70''; in Roman numerals, LXX), is the earliest extant Greek translation of books from the Hebrew Bible. It includes several books beyond ...

, , , , Judith 2:28; Judith 11:11, etc.Nicoll, W. R.
Expositor's Greek Testament. Acts 8
Accessed 24 April 2019.

Philip and the Ethiopian (8:26–40)

Philip's other significant evangelistic task is to meet an Ethiopian on the way to Gaza (to go back to Ethiopia), following the divine guidance, both angel (verse 26) and Spirit (verse 29, 39). In this part, Luke shows the exact geography of Philip's route: due south from Samaria intersects at Eleutheropolis with the Jerusalem–Gaza road (verse 26: ''epi'' means "down to" or "to meet"), and the miraculous timing of the journey: just at that moment ''kai idou'', "and behold", verse 27), Philip's path crosses the route of the Ethiopian pilgrim, heading west to strike the coast road towards Egypt.

Verse 37

: ''Then Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.”'' :: ''And he answered and said, “I believe that

is the Son of God.”'' This verse is absent from the majority of the Greek manuscripts, but it is present in some, including E (6th or 7th century). It is cited by

Irenaeus Irenaeus (; grc-gre, Εἰρηναῖος ''Eirēnaios''; c. 130 – c. 202 AD) was a Greek bishop noted for his role in guiding and expanding Christian communities in the southern regions of present-day France and, more widely, for the dev ...

(c. 180) and by

Cyprian Cyprian (; la, Thaschus Caecilius Cyprianus; 210 – 14 September 258 AD''The Liturgy of the Hours according to the Roman Rite: Vol. IV.'' New York: Catholic Book Publishing Company, 1975. p. 1406.) was a bishop of Carthage and an early Christ ...

(c. 250), and is found in the Old Latin (2nd/3rd century) and the

Vulgate The Vulgate (; also called (Bible in common tongue), ) is a late-4th-century Latin translation of the Bible. The Vulgate is largely the work of Jerome who, in 382, had been commissioned by Pope Damasus I to revise the Gospels u ...

(380–400) translations. In his notes

Erasmus Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus (; ; English: Erasmus of Rotterdam or Erasmus;''Erasmus'' was his baptismal name, given after St. Erasmus of Formiae. ''Desiderius'' was an adopted additional name, which he used from 1496. The ''Roterodamus'' w ...

says that he took this reading from the margin of 4ap and incorporated it into the Textus Receptus. J. A. Alexander (1857) suggested that this verse, though genuine, was omitted by many scribes, "as unfriendly to the practice of delaying baptism, which had become common, if not prevalent, before the end of the 3rd century." Uncial 020 (GA) Acts 8,38

Verse 40

: ''But Philip was found at Azotus.'' : ''And passing through, he preached in all the cities till he came to Caesarea.'' NKJV * "Philip was found" — that is, "found himself," "made his appearance": an expression confirming the miraculous manner of his transportation. * "Azotus": the ancient Ashdod.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary The Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary refers to a biblical commentary entitled a ''Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible'', prepared by Robert Jamieson, Andrew Robert Fausset and David Brown and published in 1871; and ...

* "till he came to Cæsarea" — fifty-five miles northwest of

, on the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western Europe, Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa ...

, just south of Mount Carmel; and so named by Herod, who rebuilt it, in honor of Cæsar Augustus.

Notes

References

Sources

External links

* King James Bible - Wikisource
English Translation with Parallel Latin Vulgate''Online Bible'' at GospelHall.org
(ESV, KJV, Darby, American Standard Version, Bible in Basic English)
Multiple bible versions at ''Bible Gateway''
(NKJV, NIV, NRSV etc.) {{Acts of the Apostles 08