Translated by Qwen.
Acts 8:5 (But Philip) – One of the first seven Deacons, companion of Stephen (Acts 6:5), who is called Philip the Evangelist (Acts 21:8).
Going down from Jerusalem) – From Jerusalem and Judea, which were mountainous and higher in elevation, to Samaria.
(to the city of Samaria) – To Samaria, the metropolis of the kingdom of the ten tribes, which Herod had previously ordered to be called by the Greek name Sebaste (that is, Augusta), in honor of Caesar Augustus.
Acts 8:6 (And the crowds were paying attention) – Attentively and eagerly listening.
(to what was said by Philip) – For how inclined and ready the people of that region were to receive the faith of Christ is clear from that Samaritan woman and the citizens of the city, who were so drawn by a single discourse of Christ that they immediately confessed Him to be the Savior of the world (John 4:42).
(hearing with one accord) – Harmoniously, and with no one resisting the preaching.
(and seeing the signs he was performing) – For Christ wished His faith to be planted by signs and miracles, although He could have inspired it in hearts without miracles, just as He does not produce crops unless seeds are sown in the earth, even though He could create them without seed.
Acts 8:7 (For many) – Supply “spirits.”
(of those men who had unclean spirits, were coming out). The Greek is clearer: For of many having them, that is, of the energumens (the possessed), the unclean spirits were coming out, adjured and expelled by Philip.
(crying out with a loud voice) – By this it was signified that they were expelled not by collusion or pretense, but unwillingly and resisting, because out of pride they grieved to appear inferior to the power of Christ by which they were being driven out.
Acts 8:8 (And many paralytics and lame were healed) – He mentions these kinds because their healing is more difficult and more admirable; for there is no doubt that many other sick and weak people besides paralytics and lame were healed, and indeed perfectly and permanently, not as Simon Magus sometimes used to cure such people. For the cures of magicians are almost always feigned and tend to last only for a time.
Acts 8:14 (They sent Peter and John to them) – Not by command and as their inferiors, but out of fraternal charity, as Cajetan says, just as sometimes brethren send their superiors, and chapter members their bishop, to the Pope or Emperor. So also the Church of Antioch (Acts 15:2) sent Paul and Barnabas. Therefore, it cannot be proved from this that Peter was lesser or only equal to the other Apostles, by whom he is said to have been sent to Samaria; just as Arius does not rightly prove that the Son of God is lesser than the Father because the Father sent Him into the world. But Peter and John were sent as bishops, so that they might confer the Sacrament of Confirmation on the Samaritans after baptism had been administered by Philip, which Philip could not confer since he was only a deacon.
Acts 8:15 (Who, when they had come, prayed for them) – That they might receive the Holy Spirit not only through the interior grace of the Sacrament of Confirmation, but also through some external sign, such as the gift of tongues or fire falling from heaven upon them, as on the Apostles on the day of Pentecost.
Acts 8:16 (For He had not yet come upon any of them) – He had not yet descended in a visible form.
(But they had only been baptized) – By Philip
(in the name of the Lord Jesus) – With Christian baptism, which is conferred through the invocation of Christ the Son of God and the invocation of the Father and the Holy Spirit. However, St. Thomas (Summa Theologiae III, q. 66) thinks that at that time baptism conferred by the invocation of Christ’s name alone was valid by privilege and dispensation, so that the name of Christ, which was hateful to Jews and Gentiles, might be made honorable, because through its invocation alone the Holy Spirit was given in baptism.
Acts 8:17 (Then they laid hands upon them) – Conferring on them the Sacrament of Confirmation, and together with the laying on of hands, anointing the forehead with chrism, as many theologians think. But some, like St. Thomas (ST III, q. 72, art. 2), say that the Apostles commonly did not use chrismation as long as they exhibited sensible signs of the Holy Spirit in Confirmation. And indeed it would have been difficult for the Apostles to carry chrism with them everywhere as they sowed the evangelical preaching throughout the whole world, and immediately after to confirm so many thousands of people from baptism. Hence John Damascene says that the Apostles then conferred the Holy Spirit through fire, not through water.
(And they received the Holy Spirit) – With a fuller abundance of grace, accompanied also by some visible sign and miracle.
CONTINUE
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