Acts 8:6

And the people with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

8:5-13 As far as the gospel prevails, evil spirits are dislodged, particularly unclean spirits. All inclinations to the lusts of the flesh which war against the soul are such. Distempers are here named, the most difficult to be cured by the course of nature, and most expressive of the disease of sin. Pride, ambition, and desire after grandeur have always caused abundance of mischief, both to the world and to the church. The people said of Simon, This man is the great power of God. See how ignorant and thoughtless people mistake. But how strong is the power of Divine grace, by which they were brought to Christ, who is Truth itself! The people not only gave heed to what Philip said, but were fully convinced that it was of God, and not of men, and gave up themselves to be directed thereby. Even bad men, and those whose hearts still go after covetousness, may come before God as his people come, and for a time continue with them. And many wonder at the proofs of Divine truths, who never experience their power. The gospel preached may have a common operation upon a soul, where it never produced inward holiness. All are not savingly converted who profess to believe the gospel.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

With one accord - Unitedly, or with one mined. Great multitudes of them did it.

Gave heed - Paid attention to; embraced.

Hearing - Hearing what he said.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

6-8. the people with one accord gave heed to … Philip—the way being prepared perhaps by the fruits of our Lord's sojourn, as He Himself seems to intimate (see on [1963]Joh 4:31-38). But "we may mark the providence of God in sending a Grecian, or a Hellenistic Jew, to a people who from national antipathy would have been unlikely to attend to a native of Judea" [Webster and Wilkinson].

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Gave heed; a good preparation towards their conversion, seeing faith cometh by hearing, Romans 10:17.

Hearing and seeing the miracles which he did; these miracles were as so many evidences of the truth he spake, by which he showed God’s authority for what he said.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And the people with one accord,.... The inhabitants of the city of Samaria, as one man, came to hear the word:

and gave heed to those things which Philip spake; they listened to them, took notice of them, gave their ascent to them, believed and embraced them; being induced thereunto, not only upon the evidence by which these things came, but by reason of the miracles which he wrought, for the confirmation of them: for it follows,

hearing and seeing the miracles which he did; and which are particularly mentioned in the next verse.

Geneva Study Bible

And the people with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

Acts 8:6-7. Προσεῖχον] they gave heed thereto, denotes attentive, favourably disposed interest, Acts 16:14; Hebrews 2:1; 1 Timothy 1:4; often in Greek writers, Jacobs, ad Ach. Tat. p. 882. The explanation fidem praebebant (Krebs, Heinrichs, Kuinoel, and others) confounds the result of the προσέχειν (Acts 8:12) with the προσέχειν itself,—a confusion which is committed in all the passages adduced to prove it.

ἐν τῷ ἀκούειν αὐτοὺς κ. κ.τ.λ.] in their hearing, etc., while they heard.

In Acts 8:7, more than in v. 16, those affected by natural diseases (παραλελ. κ. χωλοι), who were healed (ἐθεραπεύθ.), are expressly distinguished from the possessed (comp. Luke 4:40 f.), whose demons came out (ἐξήρχετο) with great crying.

Notice the article before ἐχόντων: of many of those who, etc., consequently, not of all. As regards the construction, πολλῶν is dependent on the τὰ πνεύματα ἀκάθαρτα to be again tacitly supplied after πνεύματα ἀκάθαρτα (see Matthiae, p. 1533; Kühner, II. p. 602).

Expositor's Greek Testament

Acts 8:6. προσεῖχον … τοῖς λεγ., cf. Acts 16:14, 1 Timothy 1:4, Titus 1:14, 2 Peter 1:9, see note on Acts 5:35, used in classical Greek sometimes with νοῦν, and sometimes without as here; frequent in LXX, cf. with this passage, Wis 8:12, 1Ma 7:12.—ὁμοθυμαδόν, see above on Acts 1:14.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

6. And the people [multitudes] with one accord gave heed] The original words imply that crowds of the people gave their faith and consent to the new teaching.

hearing and seeing the miracles which he did] Better, when they heard and saw the signs which he wrought. They heard what had been done in other places and saw what was done each under his own observation. The miracles are described by that characteristic which they were specially intended to have in this instance. They were to be signs that the message which Philip was bringing was from God. The signs here enumerated are such as could leave no doubt in the minds of those who witnessed the cures.

Bengel's Gnomen

Acts 8:6. Ἐν τῷ ἀκούειν αὐτοὺς) when they heard, what was being said and done.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 6. - The multitudes gave heed with one accord for the people with one accord gave heed, A.V.; the for those (things), A.V. that were spoken by Philip for which -Philip spake, A.V.; when they heard and saw the signs for hearing and seeing the miracles, A.V. Note St. Luke's favorite word, with one accord (above, Acts 2:1, note). Acts 8:6