Acts Chapter 8 – Scattered but Unstoppable
Acts Chapter 8 begins with the aftermath of Stephen’s death. Persecution scatters the church—but instead of silencing the Gospel, it multiplies its reach. Philip becomes the central figure, preaching with power in Samaria and being led by the Spirit to a divine encounter with an Ethiopian eunuch. Through trial, the Gospel breaks into new territories.
Persecution, Preaching, and Divine Appointments
✔ The church scatters after Stephen’s martyrdom.
✔ Saul leads persecution against believers.
✔ Philip preaches Christ in Samaria with miracles and conversions.
✔ Simon the sorcerer believes, but reveals a divided heart.
✔ Philip shares the Gospel with an Ethiopian official, who believes and is baptized.
📖 Acts 8:4 – “Therefore they that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the word.“
🔎 What looked like defeat became divine distribution.
Acts Chapter 8 - Overview
Acts 8:1–8 – The Gospel Advances Through Scattering
📖 Acts 8:1–3 – “Saul was consenting unto his death… As for Saul, he made havoc of the church.“
🔎 The fire of persecution forced believers out of Jerusalem, but with them went the flame of the Gospel.
📖 Acts 8:4–5 – “They that were scattered… went every where preaching the word. Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria.“
🔎 Philip’s move into Samaria was both strategic and prophetic—breaking cultural barriers and fulfilling Jesus’ words in Acts 1:8.
📖 Acts 8:6–8 – “The people with one accord gave heed… there was great joy in that city.“
🔎 The Gospel brought not just truth, but healing and joy. Darkness was driven out by light.
➡️ What man used to scatter, God used to send.
Acts 8:9–25 – Simon the Sorcerer and the Power of the Spirit
📖 Acts 8:9–11 – “Simon… used sorcery… to whom they all gave heed.“
🔎 Simon was a spiritual deceiver who wielded influence through dark arts. The people, confused by counterfeit power, believed he had divine backing—until Philip came preaching Christ with true power.
📖 Acts 8:12–13 – “When they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God… then Simon himself believed also.“
🔎 At first, Simon appeared to believe. But his interest in the Gospel was entangled with a desire to maintain power and influence.
📖 Acts 8:18–21 – “Thy money perish with thee… because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money.“
🔎 Peter’s rebuke is sharp. The Holy Spirit is not a commodity. Simon’s heart was not surrendered—it was still ruled by ambition.
📖 Acts 8:22–23 – “Repent therefore of this thy wickedness… I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness.“
🔎 His belief lacked true repentance. The root of sorcery is control—and Simon had not yet yielded control to Christ.
💡 Historical Note: Some early Christian writers—like Justin Martyr and Irenaeus—identified this Simon as Simon Magus, later linked with Gnostic heresies.
➡️ The Spirit cannot be controlled. He moves in truth, not ambition. Simon reminds us that false conversion and impure motives can exist—even in the presence of miracles. True discipleship is marked not by interest in power, but by surrender to Christ.
Acts 8:26–40 – The Ethiopian Eunuch
📖 Acts 8:26–29 – “The angel of the Lord spake unto Philip… Go near, and join thyself to this chariot.“
🔎 The Spirit leads Philip to a man hungry for truth. God arranges divine appointments when we listen.
📖 Acts 8:30–35 – “Understandest thou what thou readest?… Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus.“
🔎 The eunuch was reading Isaiah 53—about the suffering Messiah. Philip showed how Jesus fulfills the Word.
📖 Acts 8:36–38 – “What doth hinder me to be baptized?… They went down both into the water… and he baptized him.“
🔎 The Gospel leads to faith, and faith leads to action. There is no delay when the heart is ready.
📖 Acts 8:39–40 – “The Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip… but the eunuch went on his way rejoicing.“
🔎 The Gospel travels back to Africa through this one man. Philip disappears—but the Word remains.
➡️ One encounter can change a continent.
Acts Chapter 8 - Deeper Study
Overview: The Gospel in Motion
🔹 Timeframe: Immediately after Stephen’s death.
🔹 Setting: Jerusalem, Samaria, and the road to Gaza.
🔹 Theme: The Gospel spreads through persecution and Spirit-led encounters.
🔹 Connection to Future Events: Philip’s witness sets the stage for Saul’s transformation in Chapter 9.
Driven Out, Sent Forth
The persecution that began with Stephen’s death didn’t suppress the church—it scattered the seeds of the Gospel. Philip’s faithfulness shows that no one is beyond reach—neither a deceiver like Simon nor a seeker like the eunuch.
God uses pressure to redirect His people. What looked like chaos was actually commission. The Spirit leads not just the apostles—but anyone willing to go.
🔹 Trials are often God’s tools for expansion.
🔹 The Spirit breaks social, racial, and religious barriers.
🔹 Faith without repentance is incomplete.
🔹 Divine appointments are for those who listen and move.
🔹 The Gospel travels farther than the messenger.
➡️ What man scatters in fear, God sows in faith.
Key Takeaways
🔑 Persecution spreads the Gospel.
🔑 The Spirit leads with precision and purpose.
🔑 Miracles confirm, but Jesus saves.
🔑 Repentance reveals the heart of faith.
🔑 God reaches people everywhere—and in every way.
Prophetic Patterns & Dual Fulfillment
🔮 Isaiah 53 – He was led as a sheep to the slaughter.
🔮 Amos 9:12 – All nations called by My name.
🔮 Joel 2:28 – I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh.
🔮 Psalm 68:31 – Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God.
Historical & Cultural Context
📜 Samaritans were seen as religious outcasts by Jews.
📜 Sorcery and spiritual confusion were common in ancient cities.
📜 Eunuchs were excluded from full temple worship, yet welcomed into Christ.
📜 The road from Jerusalem to Gaza was a major trade route.
💡 Final Reflection: Sent with the Word
📌 Are you willing to follow the Spirit—even into discomfort?
📌 What is God using in your life to move you to new places?
📌 Will you speak when the moment comes?
📖 Acts 8:4 – “They that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the word.“
🔥 God uses broken paths to build bridges for the Gospel.
Saul Ravages the Church
Act 8:1 And Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the apostles.
Act 8:2 And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him.
Act 8:3 As for Saul, he made havock of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed them to prison.
Philip Proclaims Christ in Samaria
Act 8:4 Therefore they that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the word.
Act 8:5 Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them.
Act 8:6 And the people with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did.
Act 8:7 For unclean spirits, crying with loud voice, came out of many that were possessed with them: and many taken with palsies, and that were lame, were healed.
Act 8:8 And there was great joy in that city.
Simon the Magician Believes
Act 8:9 But there was a certain man, called Simon, which beforetime in the same city used sorcery, and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one:
Act 8:10 To whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, This man is the great power of God.
Act 8:11 And to him they had regard, because that of long time he had bewitched them with sorceries.
Act 8:12 But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.
Act 8:13 Then Simon himself believed also: and when he was baptized, he continued with Philip, and wondered, beholding the miracles and signs which were done.
Act 8:14 Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John:
Act 8:15 Who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost:
Act 8:16 (For as yet he was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.)
Act 8:17 Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost.
Act 8:18 And when Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money,
Act 8:19 Saying, Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost.
Act 8:20 But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money.
Act 8:21 Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart is not right in the sight of God.
Act 8:22 Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee.
Act 8:23 For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity.
Act 8:24 Then answered Simon, and said, Pray ye to the Lord for me, that none of these things which ye have spoken come upon me.
Act 8:25 And they, when they had testified and preached the word of the Lord, returned to Jerusalem, and preached the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans.
Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch
Act 8:26 And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert.
Act 8:27 And he arose and went: and, behold, a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship,
Act 8:28 Was returning, and sitting in his chariot read Esaias the prophet.
Act 8:29 Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot.
Act 8:30 And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest?
Act 8:31 And he said, How can I, except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him.
Act 8:32 The place of the scripture which he read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth:
Act 8:33 In his humiliation his judgment was taken away: and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth.
Act 8:34 And the eunuch answered Philip, and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other man?
Act 8:35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus.
Act 8:36 And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?
Act 8:37 And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
Act 8:38 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.
Act 8:39 And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing.
Act 8:40 But Philip was found at Azotus: and passing through he preached in all the cities, till he came to Caesarea.
Date Written
Around 62-64 AD
Written By
Luke
Verses
40