Welcome to afaithtalk’s study in Acts. This week Acts 8. Great stories, great faith are displayed here. In the interest of your time though, this week I’m splitting the chapter into four parts. Therefore, they will all post the same day, so the only difference is that there are four files to see rather than just one. It is my hope that that will assist you in reading a little bit every day. If this is helpful, please comment to let me know.
Before we begin, let’s pray:
Lord Jesus, I want to hear, I want to see, I want to learn. Guide me and help me to accurately illustrate what is written for our good in these words. Lead me, Lord.
Acts 8 – Amplified Bible this time Verses 1-3.
Saul Persecutes the Church
1 Saul wholeheartedly approved of Stephen’s death. And on that day a great and relentless persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem; and the believers were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except for the apostles. 2 Some devout men buried Stephen, and [a]mourned greatly over him [expressing a personal sense of loss]. 3 But Saul began ravaging the church [and assaulting believers]; entering house after house and dragging off men and women, putting them in prison.
Footnotes
[a] mourned greatly – Acts 8:2 It was customary to hire professional mourners for most funerals to ensure that the deceased would be properly mourned, but those who mourned Stephen needed no such assistance because they expressed their own heartfelt grief.
Verses 1 & 3 – Without faith it is impossible to please God. (Hebrews 11:6) This is Saul’s position here. He knows a lot, as he has grown up steeped in the Scriptures, but at this point, he hasn’t seen what they mean. All Scripture is the story of God. All of it is God-breathed. (2 Timothy 3:16) It’s a classic case of not seeing the forest for the trees. Unfortunately this leads to relentless persecution. His time clueless is about up though.
Who was scattered? Who wasn’t? Why do you think it happened that way?
Verse 2 – Stephen was a great man of faith. We lost a lot when he was killed. Devout men (meaning believers) mourned greatly over him, not requiring hired mourners. Stephen’s death was a great loss personally to them, and one we can feel too. Fortunately there is life after death for those with faith. “For God is a God of the living, not the dead.” (Jesus in Matthew 22:32)