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Acts 8:1-2
New Catholic Bible
Acts 8:1-2
New Catholic Bible
Chapter 8
The Church Becomes Open to the Gentiles.[a] 1 Saul approved of his death. That day marked the beginning of a severe persecution of the Church in Jerusalem, and everyone except the apostles scattered to the country districts of Judea and Samaria. 2 Stephen was buried by devout men who made loud lamentations over him.
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- Acts 8:1 The Hellenist Christians are driven out of Jerusalem. Their dispersion proceeds in an underground manner throughout the narrative until the moment when we will encounter a list of people who emigrate to Cyprus and Antioch. There, for the first time, the Church is opened to Gentiles (Acts 11:9ff). During this period, Luke shows the Gospel spreading to Samaria, Gaza, and the coast as far as Caesarea, Damascus in Syria, and Tarsus. The Gospel is received by many different cultures and people: the Pharisean persecutor, the functionary, the peasant of the plain of Sharon, the notable rich of Joppa, the artisan, the army, and the non-Jewish Greeks of Antioch.
Luke presents Paul under the somber traits of persecutor; once he becomes an apostle, Paul will remain marked by the memory of the time when he wanted to obstruct the path of the infant Gospel (see Acts 22:20; 26:10; 1 Cor 15:9; Gal 1:13, 23; Phil 3:6).
