Acts 8, in which the gospel comes to Samaria as a result of the scattering of believers due to the persecution seemingly led by Saul.
A couple of items of interest to me are first, that Saul was dragging people out of houses. Were these house churches? And secondly, men and women are dragged out, and men and women are baptized in Samaria.
Over my lifetime there has been a constant wrestling in the church over baptism. So many confess Jesus as savior and lord, but then don’t get baptized, or need convincing to do so. The Ethiopian eunuch is such a clear example of how it ought to be:
36 Now as they were going along the road, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “Look, there is water! What is to stop me from being baptized?”38 So he ordered the chariot to stop, and both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and Philip baptized him.
What would you like to say?
