30 And Philip, running up, heard him reading the prophet Esaias, and said, Dost thou then know what thou art reading of?
I will run the way of thy commandments when thou shalt enlarge my heart.
Whatever thy hand findeth to do, do with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in Sheol, whither thou goest.
But he that is sown upon the good ground -- this is he who hears and understands the word, who bears fruit also, and produces, one a hundred, one sixty, and one thirty.
Jesus says to them, Have ye understood all these things? They say to him, Yea, [Lord].
When therefore ye shall see the abomination of desolation, which is spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in [what is a] holy place, (he that reads let him understand,)
But when ye shall see the abomination of desolation standing where it should not, (he that reads let him consider [it],) then let those in Judaea flee to the mountains;
And he said to them, These [are] the words which I spoke to you while I was yet with you, that all that is written concerning me in the law of Moses and prophets and psalms must be fulfilled. Then he opened their understanding to understand the scriptures,
Jesus says to them, My food is that I should do the will of him that has sent me, and that I should finish his work.
Ye search the scriptures, for ye think that in them ye have life eternal, and they it is which bear witness concerning me;
For this reason be not foolish, but understanding what [is] the will of the Lord.
Here is wisdom. He that has understanding let him count the number of the beast: for it is a man's number; and its number [is] six hundred [and] sixty-six.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Acts 8
Commentary on Acts 8 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 8
In this chapter we have an account of the persecutions of the Christians, and the propagating of Christianity thereby. It was strange, but very true, that the disciples of Christ the more they were afflicted the more they multiplied.
Act 8:1-3
In these verses we have,
Act 8:4-13
Samson's riddle is here again unriddled: Out of the eater comes forth meat, and out of the strong sweetness. The persecution that was designed to extirpate the church was by the overruling providence of God made an occasion of the enlargement of it. Christ had said, I am come to send fire on the earth; and they thought, by scattering those who were kindled with that fire, to have put it out, but instead of this they did but help to spread it.
Act 8:14-25
God had wonderfully owned Philip in his work as an evangelist at Samaria, but he could do no more than an evangelist; there were some peculiar powers reserved to the apostles, for the keeping up of the dignity of their office, and here we have an account of what was done by two of them there-Peter and John. The twelve kept together at Jerusalem (v. 1), and thither these good tidings were brought them that Samaria had received the word of God (v. 14), that a great harvest of souls was gathered, and was likely to be gathered in to Christ there. The word of God was not only preached to them, but received by them; they bade it welcome, admitted the light of it, and submitted to the power of it: When they heard it, they sent unto them Peter and John. If Peter had been, as some say he was, the prince of the apostles, he would have sent some of them, or, if he had seen cause, would have gone himself of his own accord; but he was so far from this that he submitted to an order of the house, and, as a servant to the body, went whither they sent him. Two apostles were sent, the two most eminent, to Samaria,
Act 8:26-40
We have here the story of the conversion of an Ethiopian eunuch to the faith of Christ, by whom, we have reason to think, the knowledge of Christ was sent into that country where he lived, and that scripture fulfilled, Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands (one of the first of the nations) unto God, Ps. 68:31.