Bible Commentaries

Acts 8:3

(with Acts 14:19; Acts 9:1; Acts 23:12, etc.)

The Smiter Smitten.

We learn from these texts:—

I. That a man's life comes back upon him.

II. That a man's Christian experience must be affected by the unchristian life he has lived. In reviewing these statements in the light of history and revelation we see (1) that the distribution of penalties is God's work and not man's; (2) that under all the apparent confusion of human life there is a principle of justice; (3) that the greatest sufferings may be borne with patience and hopefulness.

Parker, City Temple, vol. ii., p. 113.

(with Acts 20:28)

Saul and Paul.

The change in the heart and life of Paul shows:—

I. The marvellous power of the grace of God.

II. The difference between sanctifying human energies and destroying them.

III. The possible greatness of the change which awaits even those who are now in Christ.

Parker, City Temple, vol. ii., p. 173.

References: Acts 8:5-8.—New Outlines on the New Testament, p. 84. Acts 8:5-13.—E. M. Goulburn, Acts of the Deacons, p. 234.

Acts 8:8

A Christian City.

It is manifestly true that an aggregate of individuals may possess, in its own peculiar way, the spiritual character which the individual possesses, and a city, like a man, have and exhibit Christian faith and Christian righteousness and Christian love.

I. Look first at faith, then. Perhaps this seems hardest to establish. Look at this city where you live. It is a Christian city, a believing city, and why? How do you know it? It is not because an occasional document is solemnised with the name of God, it is not because a few verses of your Bible are read in your public schools; it is because that spirit which has never been in the world save as the fruit of Christian faith prevails in and pervades its government and social life—the spirit of responsibility, of trust in man, and of hopefulness for the great human future. Those are the real spiritual results of Christian believing. They are not found in heathenism. It does not come by accident; it has entered into us through the long belief of our fathers, which we ourselves do still keep, in spite of all our ecclesiasticisms and disputes,—the believing in a humanity created by God, redeemed by Jesus Christ, inspired by the Holy Spirit. If we doubt this, we doubt whether a city can have and show a Christian faith.

II. Righteousness. Every city has a moral character distinguishable from, however it may be made up of, the individual character of its inhabitants. This is seen in two ways: first, in the official acts which it must do—acts of justice or injustice, of deceit or candour, by which it appears as a person acting with official unity among its sister cities. But even more, its moral character appears in its power and influence, in the moral atmosphere which pervades it, and exercises its power upon all who come within it. A Christian city is not all a dream. Already we have a city with enough of Christ in it feebly to turn away from its gates some vices which once came freely into the old city. Very far off, but still in the same direction, we can see the city so completely filled with Christ, that no sin can come in, nothing can defile it, "neither whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a lie."

III. Love. The charity of a city is a distinct testimony to one thing which has been wrought into the convictions of that city, and that one thing is the value of a man, and that conviction has come nowhere except out of Christian faith. Deepen a city's Christianity, and the city's charity must deepen and widen too.

Phillips Brooks, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxiii., p. 369.

References: Acts 8:8.—C. J. Vaughan, Church of the First Days, vol. i., p. 280. Acts 8:9-25.—Preacher's Monthly, vol. i., p. 429. Acts 8:14-17.—Bishop Barry, Cheltenham College Sermons, p. 24. Acts 8:14-26.—E. M. Goulburn, Acts of the Deacons, p. 254. Acts 8:17.—Clergyman's Magazine, vol. iv., p. 225; R. D. B. Rawnsley, Village Sermons, 2nd series, p. 131. Acts 8:21.—G. Brooks, Five Hundred Outlines, p. 424. Acts 8:22.—Preacher's Monthly, vol. vii., p. 39; C. J. Vaughan, Church of the First Days, vol. i., p. 298. Acts 8:26.—G. Matheson, Moments on the Mount, p. 55. Acts 8:26-30.—E. M. Goulburn, Acts of the Deacons, p. 276. Acts 8:26-39.—E. Bersier, Sermons, 2nd series, p. 98. Acts 8:30.—Outline Sermons to Children, p. 218; Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxv., p. 305; Contemporary Pulpit, vol. ix., p. 27; Spurgeon, Evening by Evening, p. 52; C. J. Vaughan, Church of the First Days, vol. i., p. 316. Acts 8:30, Acts 8:31.—J. Baines, Sermons, p. 241; E. M. Goulburn, Acts of the Deacons, pp. 295, 313. Acts 8:30-33.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxx., No. 1792. Acts 8:31-36.—E. M. Goulburn, Acts of the Deacons, p. 336. Acts 8:32, Acts 8:33.—E. M. Plumptre, Church Sermons, vol. i., p. 337. Acts 8:35.—E. Cooper, Practical Sermons, vol. iii., p. 17; W. Hay Aitken, Mission Sermons, vol. i., p. 87. Acts 8:36.—T. Thain Davidson, Sure to Succeed, p. 147; Preacher's Monthly, vol. vi., p. 56. Acts 8:37.—Spurgeon, Evening by Evening, p. 240. Acts 8:39.—Plain Sermons by Contributors to "Tracts for the Times," vol. viii., p. 220; J. H. Evans, Thursday Penny Pulpit, vol. ii., p. 13; J. Vaughan, Fifty Sermons, 10th series, p. 186. Acts 8:39, Acts 8:40.—E. M. Goulburn, Acts of the Deacons, p. 361.