Acts_8

Acts

Chapter 8
1~~And Saul was consenting unto his {Stephen's} death. And there came to pass a great persecution against the church that was at Jerusalem. And they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the apostles.

{Note: Saul was happy with the death of Stephen. From this we know Saul was part of the persecution and possibly was one of its leaders. From the persecution, Christianity started to spread from Jerusalem.}

2~~And devout men carried Stephen, and made great lamentation over him.

{Note: devout is a compound word in the Greek meaning to 'receive something good' - doctrine.}

3~~As for Saul, he made havoc {devastated} of the church, entering into every house, and dragged forcibly men and women from their homes and kept on committing them to prison.

4~~Therefore they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word.

5~~Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them.

{Note: Philip is the second deacon of the church. He is also referred to as Philip the Evangelist.}

{Note: Next following is the 'Samaritan Pentecost'. The Samaritans were a mixed race of people that were half Jewish and half gentiles. This was the test case of the spread of the Church to the gentiles.}

6~~And the people with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spoke, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did.

{Note: ALL the people had positive volition to the word. A great evangelistic event! Note the order of events. In verse 5 he Preached, verse 6 they 'gave heed' and then the miracles were his calling card from God of his authenticity - a legitimate, temporary spiritual gift until the Canon was complete.}

7~~For unclean spirits {demons}, crying with loud voice, came out of many. And many taken with palsies and that were lame were healed.

{Note: At the point of God Consciousness, it is God's responsibility to make the gospel available to all mankind. Being indwelled with demons, they had no free will to make the decision. God removed the demons so some people could give the gospel a hearing and the demons were not happy about it. The removal of certain kind of demons makes some demon induced illnesses go away.}

8~~And there was great joy {inner mental happiness} in that city.

9~~But there was a certain man, called Simon, who before time in the same city used sorcery, and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that he himself was some great one.

{Note: Simon was the devil's evangelist. He was a very learned man having studied the philosophy of 'Gnosticism' in Alexandria. And, under the power of Satan and his fallen angels, he had performed 'miracles'.

10~~ To whom they {the Samaritans} all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, "This man is the great power of God."

{Note: What they said was wrong but that is what they believed.}

11~~And to him they kept on regarding him, because for a long time he had bewitched them with sorceries.

{Note: They held him in high regard, which stimulated his approbation lust.}

12~~ But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the person of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.

{Note: Water Baptism here. This is a unique period of time. On the Earth were both Old Testament saints - saved yet not filled with the Spirit - and New Testament saints - at this time a Jewish monopoly. These people were baptized with water first and were the first 'gentiles' of sort who would receive the filling of the Holy Spirit once the Apostles come and lay on the hands. We learn later that all Old Testament saints that live long enough into the Church Age will also be filled with the Spirit.}

13~~ Then Simon himself believed also. And when he was baptized {water}, he continued {like a shadow} with Philip, and kept on being amazed, beholding the miracles and signs, which were done.

14~~Now when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John.

{Note: Peter was the leader at this time and John knew the most doctrine.}

{Samaritan Pentecost}
15~~Who {the apostles}, when they were come down, prayed concerning them, that they might receive the Holy Spirit.

16~~ (For as yet He was fallen upon none of them. Only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.)

{Note: This parenthetical phrase demonstrates the unusualness of this transitional period of time.}

17~~ Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

{Note: At this time the Samaritans were 'Old Testament Saints' being converted in the Church Age believers.}

18~~ And when Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles' hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money.

19~~And kept on saying, "Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Spirit."

{Note: Simon was a big shot as an unbeliever. His approbation lust made him want to continue to be a big shot. So he wanted to BUY the power to give others the Holy Spirit! He very likely died the sin unto death unless he confessed the sin - we are not told his fate for sure.}

20~~ But Peter said unto him, "Your money will be your destruction, because you have thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money."

21~~"You have neither part nor lot in this matter. For your heart is not right in the sight of God."

{Note: The British coined a term from this 'Simony' - the sin of buying or selling ecclesiastical preferment. And, this is an example that God can NOT be bribed. He does NOT need our money nor can our money buy his blessings. Tithing was an income tax due in the Jewish age. It was for believers and unbelievers alike. Spiritual Giving must be done 1) in fellowship (I John 1:9) and 2) VOLUNTARY. You must give from your own free will. It is not a specific percentage but once you are a mature believer, you will learn to give based on how grateful you are for what God has done for you and for all mankind.}

22~~"Change your mind {Repent - recognize this IS a sin}
therefore of this your wickedness, and pray God
{prayer of I John 1:9 confess your sins},
and perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you
{and it will be - first class condition}."

23~~"For I perceive that you are in the gall of bitterness
{mental attitude of frustration},
and in the bond of iniquity {mental attitude misery}."

24~~Then answered Simon, and said, "Pray you to the Lord for me, that none of these things which you have spoken come upon me."

{Note: they told him to pray for himself. He was not listening which does not bode well for him but we do not know for sure. Paul mentions cases where believers have so much scar tissue of the soul that their pastor teacher must make an intercession prayer and that may be what Simon was requesting.}

25~~And they, when they had testified and preached the word of the Lord, returned to Jerusalem, and kept on preaching the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans.

26~~ And the angel of the Lord spoke unto Philip, saying over and over, "Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goes down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert."

{Note: Apparently Philip did not want to leave his successful ministry and the angel had to ask more than once. Maybe Philip also was being affected by approbation lust like Simon.}

27-28~~ And he arose and went.
And, behold, a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch
{means servant of his country - actually he was the Treasurer of
Ethiopia - the third in Charge of the country}
of great authority under Candace
{title of leadership like 'Caesar' to the Romans after Julius}
queen of the Ethiopians . . .
who had the charge of all her treasure,
and had come to Jerusalem to worship and 28~~
was returning, and sitting in his chariot reading out loud over and over Isaiah the prophet.

{Note: the Ethiopian converted to Judaism and had gone to Jerusalem to study. As he was returning he was reading a prophesy about Christ in Isaiah and no one could explain its meaning to him so he was trying to read it over and over and learn it by himself. Doctrine: all believers need their Pastor Teacher to explain doctrine to them - at least initially - then maybe they can expand the study on their own.}

29~~ Then the Spirit said unto Philip, "Go near, and join yourself to this chariot." {Hitch a ride}

30~~ And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Isaiah, and said, "Do you understand what you are reading?"

31~~And he said, "I wish I could, but how can I?
{The 'apodosis' of the 4th class condition . . .
it should follow the 'protasis' but it is out of order} . . .
except some man should guide me
then I would!
{Here is the 'protasis' of a FIRST class condition
so it is a MIXED IF CLAUSE}

And he desired Philip
that he would come up and sit with him.

{Note: This is all mixed up in the Greek on purpose. By this, God is making the point that IF the believer is guided by his pastor-teacher, then he CAN learn, otherwise it is just a WISH of the believer that will not come true!}

32~~ The place of the scripture
which he read was this {Isaiah 53: 7-8},
"He {Christ} was led as a sheep to the slaughter.
And like a lamb was dumb before His sheerer,
so opened He not His mouth."

33~~"In His humiliation His judgment was carried. And who shall think through and understand in his generation? For His life is carried from the earth."

{Note: The giving of His life carried away from the Earth the judgement of our sins.}

{Note: Humans could not get Christ to cry out. They beat
him . . . his joints were separating on the cross under His own
weight . . . they spit on him . . . yet for the first 3 hours he said nothing. His humiliation was when He, as a sinless and perfect man, was imputed with the sins of the world and for the first time ever,
He was forsaken by both God the Father and God the Holy
Spirit . . . then He cried out, "My God (the Father), My God (the Holy Spirit) Why have You forsaken Me?"}

34~~And the eunuch answered Philip, and said, "I beg of you, of whom did the prophet speak of this? Of himself, or of some other man?"

35~~ Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him . . . Jesus.

36~~And as they went on their way, they came upon water and the eunuch said, "See, here is water. What does hinder me to be baptized?"

{Note: the Ethiopian has been taught doctrine and is prepared for water baptism.}

37 {not in the original manuscripts - omit}

38~~ And he commanded the chariot to stand still
and they went down both into the water . . .
both Philip and the eunuch . . .
and he baptized him.

39~~ And when they were come up out of the water,
the Spirit of the Lord called away Philip,
with the result that the eunuch saw him no more.

And he {the Ethiopian}
went on his way rejoicing {joy in his mental attitude}.

40~~ But Philip was found at Azotus
{where Greek type gentiles were evangelized}
and, passing through,
he preached in all the cities,
till he came to Caesarea
{Roman types were evangelized now}.

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