使徒行传 8
Chinese Union Version Modern Punctuation (Simplified)
教会被害门徒分散
8 从这日起，耶路撒冷的教会大遭逼迫。除了使徒以外，门徒都分散在犹太和撒马利亚各处。 2 有虔诚的人把司提反埋葬了，为他捶胸大哭。 3 扫罗却残害教会，进各人的家，拉着男女下在监里。
腓利往撒马利亚传道
4 那些分散的人往各处去传道。 5 腓利下撒马利亚城去宣讲基督。 6 众人听见了，又看见腓利所行的神迹，就同心合意地听从他的话。 7 因为有许多人被污鬼附着，那些鬼大声呼叫，从他们身上出来；还有许多瘫痪的、瘸腿的，都得了医治。 8 在那城里就大有欢喜。
行邪术的西门
9 有一个人名叫西门，向来在那城里行邪术，妄自尊大，使撒马利亚的百姓惊奇。 10 无论大小都听从他，说：“这人就是那称为神的大能者。” 11 他们听从他，因他久用邪术使他们惊奇。 12 及至他们信了腓利所传神国的福音和耶稣基督的名，连男带女就受了洗。 13 西门自己也信了，既受了洗，就常与腓利在一处，看见他所行的神迹和大异能，就甚惊奇。
彼得约翰传教于撒马利亚
14 使徒在耶路撒冷听见撒马利亚人领受了神的道，就打发彼得、约翰往他们那里去。 15 两个人到了，就为他们祷告，要叫他们受圣灵， 16 因为圣灵还没有降在他们一个人身上，他们只奉主耶稣的名受了洗。 17 于是使徒按手在他们头上，他们就受了圣灵。
西门贪心受责
18 西门看见使徒按手便有圣灵赐下，就拿钱给使徒， 19 说：“把这权柄也给我，叫我手按着谁，谁就可以受圣灵。” 20 彼得说：“你的银子和你一同灭亡吧！因你想神的恩赐是可以用钱买的。 21 你在这道上无份无关，因为在神面前你的心不正。 22 你当懊悔你这罪恶，祈求主，或者你心里的意念可得赦免。 23 我看出你正在苦胆之中，被罪恶捆绑。” 24 西门说：“愿你们为我求主，叫你们所说的，没有一样临到我身上！”
25 使徒既证明主道而且传讲，就回耶路撒冷去，一路在撒马利亚好些村庄传扬福音。
腓利传道于埃塞俄比亚的太监
26 有主的一个使者对腓利说：“起来，向南走，往那从耶路撒冷下加沙的路上去！”那路是旷野。 27 腓利就起身去了。不料，有一个埃塞俄比亚[a]人，是个有大权的太监，在埃塞俄比亚女王干大基的手下总管银库。他上耶路撒冷礼拜去了， 28 现在回来，在车上坐着，念先知以赛亚的书。 29 圣灵对腓利说：“你去，贴近那车走！” 30 腓利就跑到太监那里，听见他念先知以赛亚的书，便问他说：“你所念的你明白吗？” 31 他说：“没有人指教我，怎能明白呢？”于是请腓利上车与他同坐。 32 他所念的那段经说：“他像羊被牵到宰杀之地，又像羊羔在剪毛的人手下无声，他也是这样不开口。 33 他卑微的时候，人不按公义审判他[b]。谁能述说他的世代？因为他的生命从地上夺去。’ 34 太监对腓利说：“请问，先知说这话是指着谁？是指着自己呢，是指着别人呢？” 35 腓利就开口从这经上起，对他传讲耶稣。
太监信而受洗
36 二人正往前走，到了有水的地方，太监说：“看哪，这里有水！我受洗有什么妨碍呢？”[c] 38 于是吩咐车站住，腓利和太监二人同下水里去，腓利就给他施洗。 39 从水里上来，主的灵把腓利提了去。太监也不再见他了，就欢欢喜喜地走路。 40 后来有人在亚锁都遇见腓利；他走遍那地方，在各城宣传福音，直到恺撒利亚。
Acts 8
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Chapter 8
1 Now Saul was consenting to his execution.(A)
Persecution of the Church. On that day, there broke out a severe persecution[a] of the church in Jerusalem, and all were scattered throughout the countryside of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.[b] 2 Devout men buried Stephen and made a loud lament over him. 3 Saul, meanwhile, was trying to destroy the church;[c] entering house after house and dragging out men and women, he handed them over for imprisonment.(B)
III. The Mission in Judea and Samaria
Philip in Samaria. 4 Now those who had been scattered went about preaching the word.(C) 5 Thus Philip went down to [the] city of Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah to them.(D) 6 With one accord, the crowds paid attention to what was said by Philip when they heard it and saw the signs he was doing. 7 For unclean spirits, crying out in a loud voice, came out of many possessed people, and many paralyzed and crippled people were cured.(E) 8 There was great joy in that city.
Simon the Magician. 9 A man named Simon used to practice magic[d] in the city and astounded the people of Samaria, claiming to be someone great. 10 All of them, from the least to the greatest, paid attention to him, saying, “This man is the ‘Power of God’ that is called ‘Great.’” 11 They paid attention to him because he had astounded them by his magic for a long time, 12 but once they began to believe Philip as he preached the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, men and women alike were baptized.(F) 13 Even Simon himself believed and, after being baptized, became devoted to Philip; and when he saw the signs and mighty deeds that were occurring, he was astounded.
14 Now when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent them Peter and John, 15 who went down and prayed for them, that they might receive the holy Spirit, 16 for it had not yet fallen upon any of them; they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.[e] 17 Then they laid hands on them and they received the holy Spirit.(G)
18 [f]When Simon saw that the Spirit was conferred by the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money 19 and said, “Give me this power too, so that anyone upon whom I lay my hands may receive the holy Spirit.” 20 But Peter said to him, “May your money perish with you, because you thought that you could buy the gift of God with money. 21 You have no share or lot in this matter, for your heart is not upright before God. 22 Repent of this wickedness of yours and pray to the Lord that, if possible, your intention may be forgiven. 23 For I see that you are filled with bitter gall and are in the bonds of iniquity.” 24 Simon said in reply, “Pray for me to the Lord, that nothing of what you have said may come upon me.” 25 So when they had testified and proclaimed the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem and preached the good news to many Samaritan villages.
Philip and the Ethiopian.[g] 26 Then the angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, “Get up and head south on the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza, the desert route.” 27 So he got up and set out. Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Candace,[h] that is, the queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury, who had come to Jerusalem to worship,(H) 28 and was returning home. Seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah. 29 The Spirit said to Philip, “Go and join up with that chariot.” 30 [i]Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?” 31 He replied, “How can I, unless someone instructs me?” So he invited Philip to get in and sit with him.(I) 32 This was the scripture passage he was reading:(J)
“Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter,
and as a lamb before its shearer is silent,
so he opened not his mouth.
33 In (his) humiliation justice was denied him.
Who will tell of his posterity?
For his life is taken from the earth.”
34 Then the eunuch said to Philip in reply, “I beg you, about whom is the prophet saying this? About himself, or about someone else?” 35 Then Philip opened his mouth and, beginning with this scripture passage, he proclaimed Jesus to him. 36 (K)As they traveled along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “Look, there is water. What is to prevent my being baptized?” [37 ][j] 38 Then he ordered the chariot to stop, and Philip and the eunuch both went down into the water, and he baptized him. 39 When they came out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, but continued on his way rejoicing.(L) 40 Philip came to Azotus, and went about proclaiming the good news to all the towns until he reached Caesarea.(M)
Footnotes
- 8:1–40 Some idea of the severity of the persecution that now breaks out against the Jerusalem community can be gathered from Acts 22:4 and Acts 26:9–11. Luke, however, concentrates on the fortunes of the word of God among people, indicating how the dispersal of the Jewish community resulted in the conversion of the Samaritans (Acts 8:4–17, 25). His narrative is further expanded to include the account of Philip’s acceptance of an Ethiopian (Acts 8:26–39).
- 8:1 All were scattered…except the apostles: this observation leads some modern scholars to conclude that the persecution was limited to the Hellenist Christians and that the Hebrew Christians were not molested, perhaps because their attitude toward the law and temple was still more in line with that of their fellow Jews (see the charge leveled against the Hellenist Stephen in Acts 6:13–14). Whatever the facts, it appears that the Twelve took no public stand regarding Stephen’s position, choosing, instead, to await the development of events.
- 8:3 Saul…was trying to destroy the church: like Stephen, Saul was able to perceive that the Christian movement contained the seeds of doctrinal divergence from Judaism. A pupil of Gamaliel, according to Acts 22:3, and totally dedicated to the law as the way of salvation (Gal 1:13–14), Saul accepted the task of crushing the Christian movement, at least insofar as it detracted from the importance of the temple and the law. His vehement opposition to Christianity reveals how difficult it was for a Jew of his time to accept a messianism that differed so greatly from the general expectation.
- 8:9–13, 18–24 Sorcerers were well known in the ancient world. Probably the incident involving Simon and his altercation with Peter is introduced to show that the miraculous charisms possessed by members of the Christian community (Acts 8:6–7) were not to be confused with the magic of sorcerers.
- 8:16 Here and in Acts 10:44–48 and Acts 19:1–6, Luke distinguishes between baptism in the name of the Lord Jesus and the reception of the Spirit. In each case, the Spirit is conferred through members of the Twelve (Peter and John) or their representative (Paul). This may be Luke’s way of describing the role of the church in the bestowal of the Spirit. Elsewhere in Acts, baptism and the Spirit are more closely related (Acts 1:5; 11:16).
- 8:18–20 Simon attempts to buy the gift of God (Acts 8:20) with money. Peter’s cursing of Simon’s attempt so to use his money expresses a typically Lucan attitude toward material wealth (cf. Lk 6:24; 12:16–21; 16:13).
- 8:26–40 In the account of the conversion of the Ethiopian eunuch, Luke adduces additional evidence to show that the spread of Christianity outside the confines of Judaism itself was in accord with the plan of God. He does not make clear whether the Ethiopian was originally a convert to Judaism or, as is more probable, a “God-fearer” (Acts 10:1), i.e., one who accepted Jewish monotheism and ethic and attended the synagogue but did not consider himself bound by other regulations such as circumcision and observance of the dietary laws. The story of his conversion to Christianity is given a strong supernatural cast by the introduction of an angel (Acts 8:26), instruction from the holy Spirit (Acts 8:29), and the strange removal of Philip from the scene (8:39).
- 8:27 The Candace: Candace is not a proper name here but the title of a Nubian queen.
- 8:30–34 Philip is brought alongside the carriage at the very moment when the Ethiopian is pondering the meaning of Is 53:7–8, a passage that Christianity, from its earliest origins, has applied to Jesus; cf. note on Acts 3:13.
- 8:37 The oldest and best manuscripts of Acts omit this verse, which is a Western text reading: “And Philip said, ‘If you believe with all your heart, you may.’ And he said in reply, ‘I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.’”
Copyright © 2011 by Global Bible Initiative
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