Acts 8A. Paul reiterates this priority in Rom 1:16:

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1 Acts 8A At the beginning f ur study, I explained that the bk f Acts has many features that prvide structure and divide the bk int clearly identifiable parts r sectins Withut reviewing all thse divisins again, let me pint ut ne such divisin taking place here as we leave chapter 7 and enter chapter 8 T this pint in the stry f Acts, the message f the Gspel has been preached exclusively t the Jews in Jerusalem Peter has led this charge tgether with Jhn And nw these early believers are experiencing the beginning f persecutin frm the very same Jews wh were ffered the message f hpe Gd always intended that the message f the Gspel wul dbe delivered t Jews first, since salvatin is f the Jews as Jesus says in Jhn 4 Paul reiterates this pririty in Rm 1:16: Rm. 1:16 Fr I am nt ashamed f the gspel, fr it is the pwer f Gd fr salvatin t everyne wh believes, t the Jew first and als t the Greek. The events f chapter 7 becme the justificatin and the means by which Gd mves the Gspel utwardly t the next intended audience, the Samaritans After the death f Stephen, persecutin f Christians in Jerusalem began a new phase The trial and stning f Stephen was a turning pint, and the event itself was smewhat unusual The Jews lacked the pwer f the swrd under Rman authrity, s stning Stephen culd have resulted in the participants being charged with murder under Rman law The fact that s many were willing t engage in the stning indicates that they were perating under different rules at the time 2010 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

2 Acts 8A! 2 One explanatin is that the Rman Senate had remved the right fr Jewish executin under all circumstances except ne Offenses against the Temple culd be punished by death in Israel This was the charge against Stephen Anther explanatin is that this event ccurred during a shrt windw in AD 36 between the departure f Pilate and the arrival f his replacement, when Rman rule wasn t present in the city But as the city saw and heard f the stning f a Christian, the attitude f the city tward the new mvement changed dramatically Jews within the city turned n the believing Jews, particularly the Hellenistic Jews, the grup t which Stephen belnged Essentially, the Jewish ppulatin had heard the testimny f Stephen at his public trial and had rejected it sundly And fr the mst part, the rest f the city fllwed suit in that rejectin Where befre the peple f Jerusalem were flcking t the church in great number, nw they turned away ut f fear r disapprval S naturally, this changed the nature f ministry in the early church First, it mved the disciples utward frm the city t safer areas f Palestine and the diaspra Secndly, it caused the disciples t direct their message t nn- Jewish audiences wh were nt already ppsed t the message Gd was justified in mving the Gspel away frm the Jews and tward a Gentile audience n the basis f the sign f Jnah When Jesus declared that the Jewish natin had rejected Him and lst their pprtunity t receive him (in Luke 13:34-35), he tld the Pharisees that the natin wuld nly receive the sign f Jnah hencefrth (see Matt 12) The sign f Jnah is the sign f a resurrectin 2010 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

3 Acts 8A! 3 Jesus wn resurrectin was the fulfillment f that sign, and here we see that sign repeated thrugh Stephen s testimny f that resurrectin As Stephen testified in the trial cncerning Jesus and His resurrectin, the crwd rejected that testimny Rather than receiving the sign f resurrectin, they stned the messenger The Lrd will again give Israel the sign f resurrectin in the last days during Tribulatin The tw witnesses will underg a visible resurrectin fllwing their deaths And this resurrectin will be a sign t that future generatin f Israel f the truth f the tw witnesses testimny cncerning Jesus Of curse, that future generatin f Israel will als reject the sign in the mment it will be given Nw since the natin f Israel has rejected the sign f resurrectin given in Stephen s testimny, the gspel will mve away frm them and t a new peple grup: the Samaritans But first, we begin chapter 8 with three verses t bridge us int the rest f the chapter Acts 8:1 Saul was in hearty agreement with putting him t death. And n that day a great persecutin began against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered thrughut the regins f Judea and Samaria, except the apstles. Acts 8:2 Sme devut men buried Stephen, and made lud lamentatin ver him. Acts 8:3 But Saul began ravaging the church, entering huse after huse, and dragging ff men and wmen, he wuld put them in prisn. Saul apprved f what he saw happening t Stephen The Greek wrd fr hearty agreement means that Paul didn t instigate the actin against Stephen, but he liked it and decided t make it his wn cause S Saul becmes a self-appinted vigilante t find and eliminate the Jewish Christians Many disciples leave the city and g int Samaria 2010 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

4 Acts 8A! 4 But the apstles, we re tld remain behind in the city This fact becmes imprtant later in chapter 8 Stephen we re tld is buried by devut Jewish men wh murn his death The Jewish custms and rabbinical law frbid public lamentatins fr anyne wh was put t death by stning S Luke s mentin f these lamentatins seemed intended t reflect that nt all Jews within the city were in agreement with the verdict and executin f Stephen This statement stands in cntrast with Saul s hearty agreement We can t help but ntice that Saul has becme the catalyst Gd is using t mve the Gspel utward frm Jerusalem It s likely that had persecutin never cme t the early church, the leaders may have never ventured far frm the city in preaching the Gspel They certainly wuldn t have cnsidered ging utside Judea And the fact that the Apstles aren t willing t leave even nw that persecutin has begun indicates their reluctance t mve utward Cnsider this interesting fact: Saul later becmes Paul, the man credited t be the single greatest evangelist in the histry f church Gd used Paul s ministry t preach the gspel t Gentiles in many new places and explain the full dctrines f the church And yet here we see Saul - wh has nt yet cme t faith himself - being used by Gd in exactly the same way! Saul is respnsible fr mving the Gspel utwardly frm Jerusalem Perhaps Paul was thinking f this very irny when he wrte Rmans 8:28: Rm. 8:28 And we knw that Gd causes all things t wrk tgether fr gd t thse wh lve Gd, t thse wh are called accrding t His purpse Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

5 Acts 8A! 5 Whether as Saul persecuting r as Paul preaching, this man was used by Gd t mve His wrd t the natins Nw we mve frward lking at a secnd ne f the early deacns First we had Stephen, nw we have Philip, and ntice Luke s cnnecting verse: Acts 8:4 Therefre, thse wh had been scattered went abut preaching the wrd. D yu remember n the first night f the class I mentined that the main thrust f Luke s accunt is nt the wrk f the apstles Rather, Luke emphasizes the wrk f the Spirit and pwer and imprtance f Gd s wrd in building the Church Here s ne f thse mments when Luke pauses t make clear that the instrument Gd uses t mve His church utward frm Jerusalem is the preaching f His wrd Had the disciples merely scattered withut preaching the wrd, perhaps instead trying t persuade men with human wisdm The scattering wuld have accmplished nthing The Greek wrd fr scattered is diaspeir, which is the same wrd used fr the scattering f seed n a field It may cause yu t remember the parable f the swer and the seed, where the spread f the Gspel is cmpared t the scattering f seed This scattering led t many imprtant changes in the early church Fr example, the Gspels were written because f this mvement away frm Jerusalem While the church was largely centered in Jerusalem with the apstles nearby, n ne had need f a written Gspel accunt And questins regarding Jesus teaching r the events f His ministry were handled in persn during church services r in ne-n-ne questining Once the saints began t spread ut int Judea and beynd, the need fr a written recrd became bvius 2010 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

6 Acts 8A! 6 Since the early church was mstly Jewish, the first Gspel accunt was written by the Apstle Matthew s that a Jewish audience culd understand hw Jesus was the Messiah Later, ther apstles write their Gspel accunts t serve different, nn-jewish audiences Secndly, the apstles began t write letters t newly funded churches t encurage and instruct new believers in the absence f persnal visits As with the Gspel, the earliest epistles were the Jewish epistles (James, I & II Peter, Hebrews, and Jude) written t the dispersed Jewish believers Third, church leadership was decentralized as lcal, nn-apstlic leaders established in each city t steward their cngregatins Finally, frmal dctrines and creeds f the Christian faith belief emerged frm ut f the apstles writings These dctrines bund the dispersed cngregatins tgether in spirit, and t cntend with false teaching whenever it emerged Against that backdrp, we begin the stry f Philip nw Acts 8:5 Philip went dwn t the city f Samaria and began prclaiming Christ t them. Acts 8:6 The crwds with ne accrd were giving attentin t what was said by Philip, as they heard and saw the signs which he was perfrming. Acts 8:7 Fr in the case f many wh had unclean spirits, they were cming ut f them shuting with a lud vice; and many wh had been paralyzed and lame were healed. Acts 8:8 S there was much rejicing in that city. Philip ges dwn t the city f Samaria Samaria was nt actually a city in Philips day, but rather a regin directly nrth f Jerusalem Luke says Philip went dwn because any directin away frm the Temple munt is cnsidered dwn t a Jew This reference is ne reasn sme believe Luke may have been Jewish rather than Gentile 2010 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

7 Acts 8A! 7 Secndly, Luke says the city f Samaria t indicate sme ppulatin center within the regin, nt t mean a specific city called Samaria In the Greek, Luke says that Philip was cntinuusly preaching r prclaiming Christ t the peple in Samaria In ther wrds, Philip was preaching t Samaritans Samaritans were an interesting grup histrically In a sense we culd say they were neither entirely Jewish nr entirely Gentile They were a peple wh descended frm these Jews wh escaped the Assyrian captivity f the Nrthern Kingdm f Israel and remained in the While living in the land, they began t inter-marry with the surrunding Gentile peples When the Jews were led back int the land by Zerubbable after the Babylnian captivity, they encuntered these halfbreed Jews still living in Samaria The returning Jews n lnger regarded these descendants f the Nrthern Kingdm t be true Jews And they were crrect: Samaritans aren t Jews any lnger In defiance t the returning Jews, the Samaritans tried t recreate their Jewish heritage in a cunterfeit manner They created a distrted versin f the Msaic Law and build their wn temple and established their wn priesthd and wrship Meanwhile, they became bitter enemies with the Jews Jews hated Samaritans even mre than ther Gentiles because they were impstrs pretending t be Jewish Yu can see this rivalry thrughut the Gspel accunts The wman at the well in Jhn 4 is a classic example As the Gspel mves utward frm Jerusalem, we said earlier in the study that it will mve thrugh three distinct phases 2010 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

8 Acts 8A! 8 First it ges t the Jews in Jerusalem Secndly, it mves ut f Judea and int Samaria and t Samaritans Lastly, it reaches Greek Gentiles acrss the entire wrld Since Samaritans are simply an unique grup f Gentiles, why are they given a unique status in the prgressin f the Gspel? The reasn is cnnected t their histric rle as impstrs f the Jewish faith The Samaritans had made a practice f cunterfeiting everything f significance within Jewish religius practice With each cunterfeit, the Samaritans reinfrced the ntin that they were the true practitiners f the Jewish faith and the rightful heirs t the prmise given t Abraham Nw that the lng-awaited Jewish Messiah had cme in fulfillment f that prmise, it was likely that the Samaritans might cncct anther cunterfeit They might prpse the arrival f their wn messiah and cmplicate the spread f the Gspel amng the citizens f Judea and Samaria At this early vulnerable stage f grwth, the Lrd saw fit t bring Samaritans int the church rather than cmpete with their false message With each new mvement f the church, we are ging t see a repeating f the pattern that was established in the beginning When the church first arrived t Jews, the message f the Gspel was accmpanied by Signs & miracles Pwer ver the demnic realm The delayed indwelling f the Hly Spirit Large numbers f cnverts in a brief time 2010 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

9 Acts 8A! 9 Therefre, we shuldn t be surprised t see that pattern repeat when the Gspel first arrives fr this new grup in Samaria Interestingly, the signs are perfrmed by a delegate f the Apstles rather than by an Apstle persnally Because the Apstles had nt yet understd the necessity f mving beynd a Jewish audience in spreading the Gspel This issue cmes t a head in Acts Lking at the text, Philip preaches and crwds respnd Specifically, the crwds were f ne accrd r ne mind in their respnse In cntrast t the resistance seen in Jerusalem, here the crwds were unifrmly receiving the Gspel message This is similar t the way the crwd in Jerusalem received the Gspel at Pentecst and immediately fllwing Naturally, their attentin was directed n Philip because he was perfrming miraculus signs accmplished by the Spirit in cnfrmatin f the truth f his message S the signs were used t attract attentin fr Philip s message And the message was received in part ut f a recgnitin that it came by the pwer f Gd At this pint we re intrduced t a new character, Simn Acts 8:9 Nw there was a man named Simn, wh frmerly was practicing magic in the city and astnishing the peple f Samaria, claiming t be smene great; Acts 8:10 and they all, frm smallest t greatest, were giving attentin t him, saying, This man is what is called the Great Pwer f Gd. Acts 8:11 And they were giving him attentin because he had fr a lng time astnished them with his magic arts. Acts 8:12 But when they believed Philip preaching the gd news abut the kingdm f Gd and the name f Jesus Christ, they were being baptized, men and wmen alike. Acts 8:13 Even Simn himself believed; and after being baptized, he cntinued n with Philip, and as he bserved signs and great miracles taking place, he was cnstantly amazed Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

10 Acts 8A! 10 Simn the magician is a curius and ften debated fellw His may be the first religius charlatan t infiltrate the Christian church If there had been cable TV, prayer clths, and tll-free dnatin phne lines in this day, Simn prbably wuld have been the first t emply them Luke says he was perfrming magic, astnishing the peple, and claiming t be smene great In fact the peple were calling Simn, the Great Pwer f Gd It s interesting t see right frm the beginning hw Luke juxtapses Simn and Phillip Phillip is astnishing the peple, as is Simn But Phillip s wrk is the result f Gd s pwer While Simn s wrk is the result f magic, dark arts Real pwer, but demnic Simn s wrk is intended t make himself lk pwerful and imprtant befre the peple and it was wrking While Phillip s wrk causes the peple t rejice and give Gd glry Based n Philip s preaching, the church has been established in this place and is starting t grw And the re-emergence f miracles fr the sake f the Samaritans was intended affirm the truth f Philip s teaching in the same way that it did in Jerusalem The Hly Spirit is nt yet seen t indwell the new believers thugh Why des the arrival f the Spirit wait under these circumstances? In the case f Jerusalem, the Spirit s arrival was delayed until a certain day in rder t fulfill the Feast f Pentecst Here the delay is different 2010 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

11 Acts 8A! 11 The primary purpse fr a delay here was t make an impressin n a different audience - the apstles themselves Keep in mind that the indwelling f the HS is the mark f faith S it served as a pwerful sign t anyne f where true faith was present Nw speaking f pwerful signs, Simn has a pretty gd thing ging here Within his cmmunity he is the leading spiritual attractin And like the Pharisees in Jerusalem, anything that cntends with his prminence is a threat S the arrival f a cmpetitr wielding even greater pwer bthers Simn greatly Simn we re tld is s impressed by Philip, that he believes and submits t water baptism Even after the baptism, he cntinues t fllw Philip arund bserving the miracles The wrd fr bserving is there, which carries the sense f studying r examining smething Simn was fllwing Philip ut f prfessinal curisity It causes us t wnder abut what Luke means when he says believes Culd Simn have made a cnfessin withut actually accepted the Gspel truly? The news f Philip s ministry sn reached the apstles in Jerusalem, and f curse they were surprised t hear f it Acts 8:14 Nw when the apstles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the wrd f Gd, they sent them Peter and Jhn, Acts 8:15 wh came dwn and prayed fr them that they might receive the Hly Spirit. Acts 8:16 Fr He had nt yet fallen upn any f them; they had simply been baptized in the name f the Lrd Jesus. Acts 8:17 Then they began laying their hands n them, and they were receiving the Hly Spirit Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

12 Acts 8A! 12 Peter and Jhn are nt assigned the duty f ging t Samaria and investigating this news The fact that they g at all tells us hw cncerned they were by this news Dn t read v.14 and v.15 tgether t quickly If yu d, it will sund as if the purpse f their travel t Samaria was t lay n hands, as if that was the expected functin f the Apstles This isn t the prper reading They came t investigate and validate that the Samaritans were actually being called int the truth faith Rather than simply mimicking the Jews nce again Once they arrived, then they perfrmed these activities in respnse t the faith they fund The apstles were an imprtant part f this event, because their presence validated their experience It als cnfirmed again that Peter had the keys t the Kingdm And he was nw enlisted t recgnize the expansin f the church beynd Jews and the entry f Samaritans int the Kingdm by faith This is why the baptism f the Hly Spirit had nt yet ccurred Peter is always invlved in the first faith experience fr every new grup (Jew, Samaritan, Gentile) because he held the keys accrding t Jesus directin This als ensured that Peter was able t persnally witness Gd s wrk thrugh the Spirit and understand himself that these new grups were jining the church Finally, Jhn is included here as well, perhaps because f his early desire t destry the Samaritans when they reject Jesus during the Gspel accunt After this mment, Jhn is never mentined again in the bk f Acts 2010 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.