Acts of Apostles in the Early Church 

Acts 8:1b-25 Response among Samaritans

The persecution following Stephen's death led to the church's outreach. The attack seems to have concentrated on his fellow Hellenists (Greek-speaking Jews), leaving the apostles free to remain in Jerusalem.

Wherever the scattered believers went they preached the good news--in Philip's case with such marked success that two of the apostles came down to see what was happening.

Power of God called Great (verse 10): Simon saw himself as the sole agent of the supreme God.

Receive the Holy Spirit (verse 15-17): every believer has the Spirit of God--see Romans 8:9; 1 Corinthians 12:13. But the visible sign of the coming of the Spirit--given when the apostles officially recognized that these members of the despised enemy nation had become God's children--underlines the special significance of the Samaritans being welcomed into the church.

Acts 8:26-40 Philip and Ethiopian treasurer

At the height of Philip's flourishing Samaritan campaign God calls him away to meet the need of an individual.

An Ethiopian (verse 27): the man, a Jewish convert, was treasurer not of present-day Ethiopia, but of the old kingdom of northern Sudan.

Candace (verse 27): the title of the queen mother who ruled the country on behalf of her son. The king himself, deified as the child of the sun-god, was considered too holy for such secular functions.

The scripture (verse 32): Isaiah 53:7-8. The quotation is form the Greek (Septuagint) text which differs slightly form the Hebrew (Massoretic) text on which our Old Testament is based.

Acts 9:1-31 Saul's conversion

Saul's conversion makes a turning point in the history of the early church. The story is told three times in Acts--once here by Luke, and twice by Paul (22:5-16 and 22:12-18). 

Never has any conversion meant a more complete about-face and radical change of thinking. 

The encounter with Christ was followed by three sightless days: Saul was identified with Jesus in his death and three days in the grave, and identified with him too in baptism and newness of life.

By the time Ananias reached him, Saul the persecutor had become "Brother Saul" -- a man to be hunted down in his turn by those whose cause he once led. 

With is conversion, the early church and its followers had peace for a while.

The Way (verse 2): the church was known by this name before the people of Antioch invented the new name "Christian" (11:26)

Tarsus (verse 11): a university city with a population of half a million. It was the meeting place of East and West, Greek and Oriental.

Acts 9:32-43 Peter at Lydda & Joppa, and Tabitha raised from the dead

With peace at last, Peter is free to visit the Christian groups. He settles for a time at Joppa, the port from which Jonah, another reluctant missionary to the Gentiles, embarked. Peter's host's job is the "unclean" one of tanning--perhaps an indication that Peter is already to some extent emancipated form his religious taboos. But a far more radical challenge is to follow.

Acts 10 Peter and Cornelius

Up to this point the gospel has been preached only to Jews, converts to Judaism (proselytes) and Samaritans (who observed the law of Moses). Now God steps in to make it plain the message is for all people (verse 34-35). He prepares Cornelius, and he prepares Peter.

Three times the vision and message come--apparently instructing Peter to break the Jewish food-laws (see Leviticus 11).  But when the men from Cornelius arrive, he is quick to realize the far deeper, human implications of his dream (verse 28. A second Pentecost--the coming of the Holy Spirit on the Gentiles--follows his teaching. No one could then deny baptism to those who had received an obvious mark of God's favor.

Acts 11:1-18 Apostles approve Peter's action

This repetition of the events at Caesarea underlines their significance. The criticism Peter faces from a particularly narrow faction of Jewish Christians in Jerusalem is to dog every stage of Paul's missionary work.

The admission of Gentiles to full membership of the church, without circumcision, is the most controversial question of the apostles' generation. But Luke makes it clear the apostles and leaders had a full report from Peter and fully approved his action--the hand of God was so evident in it all.

(Source: Eerdmans' Handbook of the Bible)