The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible New Testament (149 page)

7:48 made with hands:
A subversive description of the Temple (Mk 14:58) that compares it with a handmade idol (7:41). Every occurrence of this expression in the Greek OT is associated with idols and idolatry (Lev 26:1; Wis 14:8; Dan 5:23, etc.). • Israel is charged with failing to grasp what Solomon himself understood when he built the first Temple— that no earthly sanctuary could contain the Most High God (1 Kings 8:27). Centuries of devotion to the Temple led to a false perception of God and an exaggerated emphasis on the sacredness of the building itself. 
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7:49-50
A citation of Is 66:1-2. • Yahweh rebukes the Israelites for their overattachment to the Temple and their presumptuous attitude toward its services. The Israelites had forgotten that the architectural Temple in Jerusalem was only a man-made structure, far outmatched by the macrotemple of heaven and earth that God had erected with his own hand (Ps 102:25). Stephen uses the text to draw a sharp contrast between the creative hand of God (7:50) and the corrupting hands of men (7:41, 48). 
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7:51 stiff-necked . . . resist the Holy Spirit:
Stephen links his accusers with the long line of sinners from covenant history. • The same charges were leveled against the generation of Israel that came out of Egypt (Ex 33:5; Is 63:10). 
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7:52 the Righteous One:
Jesus, described as the Suffering Servant from Is 53:11.
See note on Acts 3:13
. 
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7:53 delivered by angels:
Jewish tradition based on the Greek version of Deut 33:2 held that angels delivered the Torah to Moses on Mt. Sinai (Gal 3:19; CCC 332). 
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7:56 the Son of man:
Jesus, depicted as the messianic king from Dan 7:13. Though normally seated upon his throne, he stands up to give Stephen a royal welcome into his kingdom. See essay:
Jesus, the Son of Man
at Lk 17. 
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7:58 stoned him:
A crude means of execution always staged outside Israelite camps and cities (Num 15:35). Although the Sanhedrin was formally prohibited from administering this and other forms of capital punishment under Roman rule (Jn 18:31), the enraged mob took matters into their own hands.
See note on Acts 6:8-7:60
.
Saul:
The initial appearance of Saul prepares for his prominent role later in the book as Paul the Apostle. By ancient standards, he was a
young man
between 24 and 40 years old. 
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8:1 scattered:
Persecution pushes Christianity out of Jerusalem and into the surrounding regions of Judea and Samaria (8:25, 40), and even beyond the northern border of Palestine as far as Phoenicia, Syria, and the Mediterranean island of Cyprus (11:19). Far from driving believers into hiding, the dispersion launches a new phase of missionary activity (8:4).
See note on Acts 1:8
.
except the apostles:
Jerusalem remained the center of apostolic presence and authority in the earliest years. The exemption of the apostles from this first persecution is explained by Gamali-el's advice to the Sanhedrin in 5:38 to leave the leaders of the movement alone. 
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8:5 Philip:
One of the seven deacons appointed in 6:5, later called "the evangelist" (21:8). Philip's successful ministry in Samaria displays the power of the gospel to make friends of enemies: many accepted his message and came to him for Baptism, even though racial and religious tensions between Jews and Samaritans could be traced back several centuries. Jesus himself set the precedent for an outreach to the Samaritans in Lk 17:11-19 and Jn 4:7-42.
See note on Lk 9:52
. 
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8:9 Simon:
Revered by the Samaritan masses as the embodiment of divine power (8:10). Beyond the narrative of Acts, Christian tradition calls him the father of heretics and the founder of Gnosticism. It is said that when Simon and his teaching eventually reached Rome, a statue was erected in his honor along the Tiber River with the inscription: "To Simon, the holy god". Luke probably included this episode to alert readers that Simon and his devotees were not approved by the apostles.
practiced magic:
This is the first of several episodes in Acts where Christianity triumphs over the magical and superstitious arts so prevalent in the ancient world (13:6-11; 16:16-18; 19:18-19). 
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8:14 received the word:
Samaria's enthusiasm in this episode is the mirror opposite of Lk 9:51-53.
Peter and John:
The apostles are called to examine and endorse this new development of bringing the first non-Jews into the family of faith. 
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8:16 not yet fallen:
A distinction is made in Acts between Baptism, which confers the Spirit in an invisible way (2:38), and the laying on of hands, which calls down the Spirit to manifest his presence in a visible and charismatic way (19:6). • In the interpretive tradition of the Church, this deeper conferral of the Spirit through the imposition of hands is linked with Confirmation, a sacrament that follows Baptism and is integral to the process of Christian initiation. As in this episode, deacons (Philip) can baptize, but it belongs to the bishops (Peter and John) to bestow a fuller measure of the Spirit on the baptized by the laying on of hands (CCC 1288, 1313). 
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Word Study

Laid Waste
(Acts
8:3
)

Lymaino
(Gk.): means to "ravage" or "bring to ruin" and is found only here in the NT. It was used in Greek literature of wild animals ravaging field crops (Ps 80:13), kings authorizing human cruelties (2 Chron 16:10), and armies devastating cities and countrysides (Josephus). Here it underscores the intensity and brutality of Saul's attack on the budding Christian movement. Saul himself, following his dramatic conversion, informs us that imprisonments, beatings, and even votes for execution were among his tactics (Acts 9:1; 22:4; 26:9-11). The point is that Saul was not merely harassing the young Church; he wanted to stamp both her faith and her followers out of existence. Years later he was haunted by these violent memories and declared himself "unfit to be called an apostle" (1 Cor 15:9) and even "the foremost of sinners" (1 Tim 1:15).

8:18 offered them money:
Simon wanted to purchase the sacramental power of the apostles to confer the Spirit. He was interested, not in ministry, but in the miraculous. Simony is the sin of buying and selling ecclesiastical authority and takes its name from Simon and his self-centered motives (CCC 2121). 
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8:26 the road:
It ran southwest from Jerusalem to the coastal city of Gaza, one of the last inhabited settlements before the desert stretch from Palestine to Egypt. 
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8:27 a eunuch:
An emasculated court official, here specified as the treasurer of the Ethiopian kingdom in Africa.
Candace:
Either the name or the title of the queen mother and royal matriarch of Ethiopia.
Jerusalem to worship:
Judaism drew admirers from many places and nationalities in the ancient world. The eunuch falls into this category, but because of his physical condition he could not be circumcised, enter the Temple, or unite himself fully with the community of the Old Covenant. • Although castration was an impediment to fellowship and membership in Israel (Deut 23:1), Isaiah envisioned a lifting of this restriction in the messianic age (Is 56:3-5). The dawning of this new age in Christ convinces Philip there is no longer anything to "prevent" the eunuch's Baptism into the covenant family of God (8:36-38). 
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8:30 heard him:
Reading aloud was customary in antiquity. 
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8:32-33
The eunuch is puzzled by the prophecy of Is 53:7
8 and the person to whom it refers (8:34).
•
The passage comes
from the song of the "Suffering Servant" in Is 52
:13
—53:12, which describes the rejection, humiliation, and murder of the Messiah by his own generation. In the midst of this tragedy, the Servant pours out his life willingly in sacrifice for human sin. Philip interprets the poem christologically, i.e., as a preview of the suffering and sacrifice of Christ (CCC 601). 
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8:39 caught up Philip:
Sudden relocations by the Spirit were also experienced by the prophet Elijah (1 Kings 18:12; 2 Kings 2:16).
went on his way:
According to the report of Irenaeus (
A.D.
180), the eunuch returned home to become the first Christian to evangelize Ethiopia. 
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