Acts 8 Study Notes

8:17 Early converts received the Holy Spirit at the laying on of hands by apostles or evangelists. Some suggest that this was God’s plan to ensure that new believers received trustworthy instruction and got connected to God’s chosen apostolic leaders.

8:18-19 Here we see Simon’s true heart. He was used to impressing the crowds with magic; now he wanted to impress them with his ability to impart the Holy Spirit.

8:20-24 By saying that Simon had no part or share in this matter, Peter confirmed that Simon had not truly converted to Christianity. His heart (meaning his will, affections, allegiance) was still not right before God.

8:25 After several episodes in Samaria, Peter, John, Philip, and any other apostles traveling with them returned to Jerusalem. They evangelized many villages of the Samaritans along the way, tearing down ethnic barriers with the global gospel of Jesus Christ.

8:26-29 Through the agency of an angel of the Lord, God arranged for Philip to stand in a place that would bring him into contact with an important Ethiopian man who would listen, believe, and in turn spread the gospel to other lands. Candace was not the queen’s name but a title. Reading aloud was common, especially if the scroll was not in his native language. The eunuch was a Gentile God-fearer who had come to worship in Jerusalem. The Ethiopia of that time was not the modern country of Ethiopia but the ancient kingdom of Meroe, which covered what is now northern Sudan south of Aswan to Khartoum.

8:30-31 Philip’s question and the Ethiopian’s response imply that the OT passage the eunuch was reading (Is 53:7-8) required interpretation in light of what God had done in Jesus of Nazareth.

8:32-34 The Ethiopian was reading Is 53:7-8, apparently from the Greek text. It is likely that he was reading the entire Suffering Servant section of Isaiah (52:13-53:12). The eunuch’s question, who is the prophet saying this about, allowed Philip to explain Jesus as the subject of the passage. It is Jesus, not Isaiah, who suffered for the sins of humanity (Is 53:6). From the earliest days of the church, the Suffering Servant section has been seen as an ideal starting place for explaining the gospel.

8:35 The phrase, beginning with that Scripture, may indicate that Philip went on to explain other relevant OT passages besides those in Isaiah.

8:38-40 The Ethiopian requested and was granted baptism just as soon as he believed (see note at 10:47-48). That they went into the water and then came up out of the water apparently indicates baptism by immersion. The eunuch came out of the water and found himself alone. The Holy Spirit had miraculously carried Philip away to his next appointment, a place called Azotus, the OT Philistine city of Ashdod, about thirty-five miles from Gaza.