Acts 8:4Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Yet, by the ordering of Providence, this became only a new means for spreading Christianity beyond the borders of Judea.

Those who had left Jerusalem brought the preaching of the Gospel with them to other places, both in Palestine and beyond Palestine.

Some went to Samaria, where even the Lord had found people disposed toward faith, such as Philip. Others went to other cities of Judea and Galilee.

Here and there new churches were formed. Preaching in certain coastal cities, such as Azotus, Joppa, and Caesarea, could serve the spread of the Gospel even in distant lands.

Even now some went beyond the borders of Palestine, to the island of Crete, to Phoenicia, to Syria, and specifically to Damascus and Antioch.

Yet the malice of Christ’s enemies, when it raised persecution against His followers, never resulted in the reduction or weakening of Christian society. It resulted instead in the still greater spread of the Church of Christ among the nations of the world.

So it was in the present case. The persecution raised in Jerusalem against Christians led Christianity to spread in various places, first of all in Judea and Samaria.

There the persecuted were scattered after leaving Jerusalem, for “those who were scattered went about preaching the word.”

Thus the prophecy and command of Jesus Christ to the apostles began to be fulfilled of itself: “You shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria” (Acts 1:8).

Certain devout men buried his body, and at the same time “made great lamentation over him.”

He was the first martyr for the name of Christ. In him the great truth was first justified, that “the blood of the martyrs is the seed of Christianity.”

Among the Cilician Hellenists who disputed with Stephen in the synagogue was a “young man named Saul,” from the city of Tarsus, a disciple of the famous Gamaliel.

For all his learning, he could not stand against Saint Stephen. Like the others, he burned with hatred toward him, a hatred that made him look with malicious joy upon his martyr’s death.

Saul not only approved this vile murder, but also assisted the murderers. They laid their garments at his feet, so that they might cast the first stones, as the law prescribed.

Those who were scattered preached the word. Above, in verse 1, it was noted that the members of the Christian community of Jerusalem were scattered only through various places in Judea and Samaria.

Below it is noted that they went as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch (Acts 11:19).

Yet those who were scattered did not hide and remain idle in the places of their refuge. They went through the lands where they had been scattered and preached the word, that is, the Gospel of Christ.

“The blood of the martyrs,” Tertullian said, “is the seed of Christians.”

The blood of the protomartyr that was shed caused the preaching of Christ to be carried by His disciples into distant lands.

Until then, it had been confined chiefly to Jerusalem, together with the crowds of pilgrims who came there from various countries.

Saul, a Hebrew of the tribe of Benjamin and a native of Tarsus, lived in Jerusalem to study the law under the famous rabbi Gamaliel.

Burning with hatred toward Christians as destroyers of faith according to the law of Moses and the traditions of the elders, he approved Stephen’s killing as the triumph of a righteous cause.

He considered the best means of upholding the law to be the extermination of all Christians, as far as possible.

As a prominent disciple of a famous teacher and member of the Sanhedrin, he could enjoy the attention and support of other members of the Sanhedrin. They could encourage his boundless zeal and even give him certain powers.