ACTS 8:1-40
Bible Study Notes Rev. Betsy Perkins
Philip the Deacon
- Can you think of an experience in which a situation that seemed terrible had an unexpected benefit or blessing? How did you recognize the good within the bad?
Joe Boyd, Bible Experiment – Acts of the Apostles (RightNowMedia), 40:55 – 41:30
Leaving Jerusalem (8:1-8)
- Who was leading the attack on Christians? Who was being targeted in the attacks?
As Jesus’ followers are marked out and hunted down, scattered across the surrounding countryside, the young man called Saul, who had been a principal witness to Stephen’s death, goes off to seize as many as he can. When you’re doing that kind of thing, you only arrest people who are likely to be a problem, people who are full members of, and possibly also potential leaders in, the movement. It is striking, here and elsewhere, that this number regularly, from the very beginning of the movement, included not only men but also women. N.T. Wright
- What effect did this persecution have on the believing community? How did the persecution fulfill Jesus’ commission for his disciples in Acts 1:8?
- Who is Philip? (see 6:3-6) Where did he go? What was he doing there?
Philip and Simon (8:9-25):
- What is the result of Philip’s preaching and healing work in Samaria?
- What did the apostles do when they heard what was happening in Samaria? Why?
- What could have happened if Peter and John did not go to visit the new believers in Samaria?
- What do Peter and John pray for when they lay hands on the Samaritan believers? What happens?
- Who is Simon?
- How had he responded to the message about Jesus by Philip?
- Did Simon receive the Holy Spirit from Peter and John’s prayers?
- What does he want from Peter and John? How does he seek to get it?
- How does Simon seem to understand the gift of the Holy Spirit?
- The word ‘simony’ means the attempt to buy spiritual position, status or power. What would be an example simony that happens today?
We are not told, frustratingly, what happened; only that Simon received a dire warning, and begged Peter to pray that he would be spared. Luke is not interested in Simon’s fate, so much as in the general point, that any attempt to bring the Spirit under human control is a nonsense and to be rejected outright. The Spirit is the spirit of the Sovereign God, who blows where He wants and how He wants. Neither Peter, nor John, nor Philip, nor any human being then, since or now can do other than be open to what the Spirit wants, ready to be blown along by the rushing mighty wind. And that is precisely what happened to Philip next. N.T. Wright
- What do Peter and John do as they return to Jerusalem?
Philip and the Ethiopian (8:26-40):
- What examples of the Holy Spirit’s leading do you see in this story?
- Why did God ask Philip to leave his preaching and go down a desert road?
- What are we told about the person Philip encounters on the road?
- How does Philip handle the opportunity God gives him?
- What problem was the Ethiopian official having? What passage was he struggling to understand?
- Read Isaiah 53:6-8. Skim the next couple chapters – Isaiah 54 about God’s promise of new blessing, and new covenant, for the whole world (54:2-3, 10); Isaiah 55 about a new invitation and new creation (55:1, 10-12). Now read Isaiah 56:1-8. What was God’s message for the Ethiopian man?
No wonder the Ethiopian was excited. When you tell the story of Israel like that, with Jesus at its climax, it opens up to include everybody, including people like him, doubly excluded and now wonderfully welcomed. No wonder he wanted to share in the death and resurrection of this Jesus by being baptized, by having the whole story become his personal story. No wonder he went on his way celebrating – to become, if later tradition is to be believed, the first evangelist in his own native country. We today should ponder, too, the fact that the first non-Jew to come to faith and baptism in Luke’s great story is a black man from Africa. N.T. Wright
- Were there any reasons for the man not to be baptized?
- Why is it important to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit?
- In what ways does the Spirit lead us? How have you experienced ‘nudges’ or a ‘voice’?
- Is it possible for us to miss opportunities to help someone that God has tried to arrange? What are the dangers of ignoring the Spirit’s leading?
- Are there things that keep you from responding to the Spirit’s directions?
- How can you be more sensitive to God’s leading and more open to divine encounters?
In light of this passage and our discussion, what one truth about God and about yourself stand out as something to “take to heart” this week?
Are there steps you will take, by God’s grace, to more fully apply it to your life?
Resources: NIV Zondervan Study Bible, 2015
N.T. Wright, Acts for Everyone, Part 1 2008
Max Lucado, Life Lessons from Acts: Christ’s Church in the World, 2018
Joe Boyd, Bible Experiment – The Acts of the Apostles (RightNowMedia), 2014
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