Acts 8:12-17

8:12 But when they believed Philip as he was proclaiming the good news about the kingdom of God ¹  and the name of Jesus Christ, ²  they began to be baptized, ³  both men and women. 8:13 Even Simon himself believed, and after he was baptized, he stayed close to ⁴  Philip constantly, and when he saw the signs and great miracles that were occurring, he was amazed. ⁵ 

8:14 Now when the apostles in Jerusalem ⁶  heard that Samaria had accepted the word ⁷  of God, they sent ⁸  Peter and John to them. 8:15 These two ⁹  went down and prayed for them so that they would receive the Holy Spirit. 8:16 (For the Spirit ¹⁰  had not yet come upon ¹¹  any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.) ¹²  8:17 Then Peter and John placed their hands on the Samaritans, ¹³  and they received the Holy Spirit. ¹⁴ 

[8:12]  ¹ sn The kingdom of God is also what Jesus preached: Acts 1:3. The term reappears in 14:22; 19:8; 28:23, 31.

[8:12]  ² tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[8:12]  ³ tn The imperfect verb ἐβαπτίζοντο (ebaptizonto) has been translated as an ingressive imperfect.

[8:13]  ⁴ tn Or “he kept close company with.”

[8:13]  ⁵ sn He was amazed. Now Simon, the one who amazed others, is himself amazed, showing the superiority of Philip’s connection to God. Christ is better than anything the culture has to offer.

[8:14]  ⁶ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[8:14]  ⁷ tn Or “message.”

[8:14]  ⁸ sn They sent. The Jerusalem church with the apostles was overseeing the expansion of the church, as the distribution of the Spirit indicates in vv. 15-17.

[8:15]  ⁹ tn Grk “who.” The relative pronoun was replaced by the phrase “these two” and a new sentence was begun in the translation at this point to improve the English style.

[8:16]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “For he”; the referent (the Spirit) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:16]  ¹¹ tn Or “fallen on.”

[8:16]  ¹² sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.

[8:17]  ¹³ tn Grk “on them”; the referent (the Samaritans) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:17]  ¹⁴ sn They received the Holy Spirit. It is likely this special distribution of the Spirit took place because a key ethnic boundary was being crossed. Here are some of “those far off” of Acts 2:38-40.