A STUDY GUIDE ACTS 8:1-25

1. A Study Guide

a) A study guide of Acts of the Apostles. It is intended to be expository — to explain and bring out the meaning of the original text. You may use this for your personal bible study or even group bible study.

2. Acts 8:1-25

a) The verses describe Philip’s evangelism in Samaria and the conversion of Simon the sorcerer.

#1) Acts 8:1-4
8 Saul was in hearty agreement with putting him to death.

And on that day a great persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. 2 Some devout men buried Stephen, and made loud lamentation over him. 3 But Saul began ravaging the church, entering house after house, and dragging off men and women, he would put them in prison.

4 Therefore, those who had been scattered went about preaching the word.

i) Saul ravaged the church. This Saul later became the apostle Paul. He describes himself as "formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a violent aggressor" against the church in Jerusalem (1 Timothy 1:12-14).

ii) Congregation scattered. The church had grown to several thousand members since the day that the apostles, and a small number of disciples, had gathered in an upper room in Jerusalem to await the coming of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:12-15). Now the thousands of converts had fled Jerusalem leaving the apostles no church to tend but those in prison —where the apostles themselves were at risk of being thrown unless Jesus spared them.

iii) Went preaching. The thousands who fled were not cowards, however: they went from place to place preaching. So the persecution, intended to crush the church, impelled Christianity to spread from Jerusalem outward to Judea and Samaria and beyond, just as Jesus had predicted (Acts 1:8).


iv) Judea and Samaria. Judea is the country of which Jerusalem is the capital. It was the area inherited by Judah. Samaria is the country, between Judea to the south and Galilee to the north. The capital of Samaria is also named Samaria.

v) Stephen buried. Fitting the death of a martyr for Jesus, Stephen is given a decent burial with the appropriate laments. Saul has no respect for this and begins in haste to ravage the church before Stephen is hardly laid to rest.

vi) Saul went from house to house. He probably did not do this personally, since there would be hundreds of houses to raid. Saul would be able to draft strong assistance from the temple police force and squads of deputies made available to his charge by the Sanhedrin.

#2) Acts 8:5-8
5 Philip went down to the city of Samaria and began proclaiming Christ to them. 6 The crowds with one accord were giving attention to what was said by Philip, as they heard and saw the signs which he was performing. 7 For in the case of many who had unclean spirits, they were coming out of them shouting with a loud voice; and many who had been paralyzed and lame were healed. 8 So there was much rejoicing in that city.

i) Philip in Samaria. Philip was one of the seven “deacons” chosen to help the apostles (Acts 6:5). That work having been disrupted by the exodus from Jerusalem, Philip now becomes an “evangelist” (a gospel preacher) spreading Christianity (Acts 21:8). He goes to the city of Samaria.

ii) Multitudes listened. While Saul is engaged in routing the church in Jerusalem, Philip is starting another church in Samaria. He has crowds listening to him because he demonstrates the power of God in the amazing miracles and healings he performs.

iii) There was great joy. There are three reasons for the joy that Philip brought to Samaria: firstly the “good news” of salvation that he preached; secondly the healings with which he blessed the sick; thirdly the fact that through Philip, as previously through Jesus himself, God was repudiating the culture of hate between Jews and the Samaritans (John 4:9,39).

#3) Acts 8:9-11
9 Now there was a man named Simon, who formerly was practicing magic in the city and astonishing the people of Samaria, claiming to be someone great; 10 and they all, from smallest to greatest, were giving attention to him, saying, “This man is what is called the Great Power of God.” 11 And they were giving him attention because he had for a long time astonished them with his magic arts.

i) Simon the magician. You didn't have to go far from Jerusalem to find paganism openly practiced. This sorcerer, Simon, was capable of great feats of magic (1 Thessalonians 2:3-12). Whether his magic was real or fake is not important. His magic could have been as real and as supernatural as the demons that possessed the people and which Philip cast out (Acts 8:7). The important thing is that Simon deceived the people, even if his powers were real, because he led people into blasphemy praising him as the Great Power of God.

#4) Acts 8:12-13
12 But when they believed Philip preaching the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were being baptized, men and women alike. 13 Even Simon himself believed; and after being baptized, he continued on with Philip, and as he observed signs and great miracles taking place, he was constantly amazed.

i) Simon amazed by Philip. It is a measure of the miraculous powers of Philip that Simon, the great sorcerer, saw Philip’s miracles as greatly superior to his own. Compare this with the so-called “miracles” which some evangelists today claim to do.

ii) Those who believed were baptized. As in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:38,41), all who believed Philip’s message of Christ were baptized. Today there are very few churches that join baptism with faith as we see the two joined here: both being an integral part of true conversion to Christ.

iii) Both men and women. God makes no difference between male and female, saving them both on exactly the same terms and making them all “sons of God”(Galatians 3:25-29).

iv) The kingdom of God. Peter had preached the fulfillment of the throne prophecies, that Jesus was seated at the right hand of God and ruling in his kingdom (Acts 2:29-36). Philip preaches the kingdom of God in the same way.

v) Name of the Lord. The "name of the Lord" here means the power and authority of God in Christ our Lord, who alone is able to save. The name given to Jesus is "the name above every name" (Philippians 2:9-10). As Jesus said, "All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth" (Matthew 28:18-20). Jesus is the one who has first place in everything (Colossians 1:13-20).

#5) Acts 8:14-17
14 Now when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent them Peter and John, 15 who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. 16 For He had not yet fallen upon any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then they began laying their hands on them, and they were receiving the Holy Spirit.

i) Peter and John. These two apostles were working together at the time the lame man was healed (Acts 3:1-2). Still faithful companions, they go down to Samaria, bringing unique apostolic powers, to help Philip and the new converts in the city of Samaria.

ii) The Spirit had fallen on none. Peter and John came to lay hands on the people to impart the Holy Spirit. Luke explains, "As yet the Spirit had fallen on none of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of Jesus Christ" (Acts 8:16). This means that they had received forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit in the wonderful way that all baptized believers do (Acts 2:38-39). However they had not received the Spirit in such a way that would enable them to work miracles and signs (Mark 16:15-18).

iii) Apostles laid hands on them. Philip, not being an apostle, couldn't impart miraculous powers to others, even though he could work miracles himself. The apostles, however, could impart miraculous gifts by the laying on of their hands (Acts 8:17-18).

#6) Acts 8:18-24
18 Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was bestowed through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money, 19 saying, “Give this authority to me as well, so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” 20 But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! 21 You have no part or portion in this matter, for your heart is not right before God. 22 Therefore repent of this wickedness of yours, and pray the Lord that, if possible, the intention of your heart may be forgiven you. 23 For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bondage of iniquity.” 24 But Simon answered and said, “Pray to the Lord for me yourselves, so that nothing of what you have said may come upon me.”

i) When Simon saw. Simon, the erstwhile great sorcerer, has been greatly amazed at Philip’s supernatural powers. Now comes another shock: Peter and John are able not only to perform the same miracles, but also to transfer the powers to others: not by lengthy initiations or closeted learning in the mysteries of magic —simply by the laying on of their apostolic hands! This is too much for Simon; that power he covets. So he offers to buy the apostolic powers.

ii) Your money perish with you! Peter harshly rebukes Simon, not because Peter hates Simon, but because he loves him. Understanding this, and that he is falling from grace, Simon accepts the rebuke and asks for prayers.

iii) Repent and pray. Some compare Acts 2:38 with Acts 8:22, saying the former (repent and be baptized) is God’s law of pardon for the non-Christian whilst the latter (repent and pray) is God’s law of pardon for the Christian who sins.

iv) Heart not right with God. It's important for us to understand that God sees into our hearts. He does not judge us by what others see and say. God judges us by what he sees. God knows the hearts of every person (Acts 1:24). God saw the wrong in Simon’s heart. This had dire consequences for Simon unless he quickly changed his heart.

#7) Acts 8:25
25 So, when they had solemnly testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they started back to Jerusalem, and were preaching the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans.

i) Testified and preached. Whilst it is pretty much the same thing to say they "testified and preached the word" and to say "they preached the gospel", there is one particular difference. Anyone can preach, but not every one can testify or bear witness —a task Jesus gave to his apostles (Acts 1:8). The apostles (and a number of other people) had seen and spoken to Jesus after his resurrection. That meant that they could provide an eye-witness assurance that Jesus had risen. In the case of the apostles, they could give the same assurance of his ascension. Being able to give an eye-witness testimony was every bit as important as being able to work attesting miracles. 

Comments