Acts 8:4-8 - Impure spirits came out of many

8:4-8

Those scattered preached the word wherever they went. Philip is now given as a particular example. Remember that Philip, along with Stephen, was one of the seven chosen to serve at tables. We may consider this a rather menial task. This would be both unjust, and also the examples of Stephen and Philip show that doing “menial tasks” is no hindrance to being used by God in other ways. Philip went to Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah there. The focus of the message is Jesus. Note that he did not just preach, but also performed signs. Cessationists sometimes argue that the signs were given to approve the apostles. Now it is true that miracles were a sign of an apostle, but Philip was not an apostle, at least not in the sense of the twelve, and he performed miracles. It would seem to be more accurate to say that the miracles were there to be a sign of the authenticity of the gospel, and as such are just as relevant and necessary today. The miracles made people pay close attention. Signs are still needed today. People need to see something in order for them to pay attention to what we say. The converse of this is that the miracles are not an end in themselves, they are a means to preaching the gospel. The signs that were seen were that demons came out of people and the paralyzed and lame were healed. Unsurprisingly, there was great joy in the city.