1Saul was consenting to his death. A great persecution arose against the assembly which was in Jerusalem in that day. They were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except for the apostles. 2Devout men buried Stephen and lamented greatly over him. 3But Saul ravaged the assembly, entering into every house and dragged both men and women off to prison. 4Therefore those who were scattered abroad went around preaching the word. 5Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Christ. 6The multitudes listened with one accord to the things that were spoken by Philip when they heard and saw the signs which he did. 7For unclean spirits came out of many of those who had them. They came out, crying with a loud voice. Many who had been paralyzed and lame were healed. 8There was great joy in that city.
9But there was a certain man, Simon by name, who used to practice sorcery in the city and amazed the people of Samaria, making himself out to be some great one, 10to whom they all listened, from the least to the greatest, saying, “This man is that great power of God.” 11They listened to him because for a long time he had amazed them with his sorceries. 12But when they believed Philip preaching good news concerning God’s Kingdom and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. 13Simon himself also believed. Being baptized, he continued with Philip. Seeing signs and great miracles occurring, he was amazed.
14Now when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them, 15who, when they had come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Spirit; 16for as yet he had fallen on none of them. They had only been baptized in the name of Christ Jesus. 17Then they laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. 18Now when Simon saw that the Holy Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money, 19saying, “Give me also this power, that whomever I lay my hands on may receive the Holy Spirit.” 20But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! 21You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart isn’t right before God. 22Repent therefore of this, your wickedness, and ask God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you. 23For I see that you are in the poison of bitterness and in the bondage of iniquity.”
24Simon answered, “Pray for me to the Lord, that none of the things which you have spoken happen to me.”
25They therefore, when they had testified and spoken the word of the Lord, returned to Jerusalem, and preached the Good News to many villages of the Samaritans.
26Then an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, “Arise, and go toward the south to the way that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza. This is a desert.”
27He arose and went; and behold, there was a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was over all her treasure, who had come to Jerusalem to worship. 28He was returning and sitting in his chariot, and was reading the prophet Isaiah.
29The Spirit said to Philip, “Go near, and join yourself to this chariot.”
30Philip ran to him, and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?”
31He said, “How can I, unless someone explains it to me?” He begged Philip to come up and sit with him. 32Now the passage of the Scripture which he was reading was this,
“He was led as a sheep to the slaughter.
As a lamb before his shearer is silent,
so he doesn’t open his mouth.
33In his humiliation, his judgment was taken away.
Who will declare His generation?
For his life is taken from the earth.”
34The eunuch answered Philip, “Who is the prophet talking about? About himself, or about someone else?”
35Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture, preached to him about Jesus. 36As they went on the way, they came to some water; and the eunuch said, “Behold, here is water. What is keeping me from being baptized?”
37 38He commanded the chariot to stand still, and they both went down into the water, both Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him.
39When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, and the eunuch didn’t see him any more, for he went on his way rejoicing. 40But Philip was found at Azotus. Passing through, he preached the Good News to all the cities until he came to Caesarea.
The city of Paphos occurs twice in the Bible (Acts 13:6, 13). Paphos is located on the western shore of the island of Cyprus (biblical Kittim, cf. Amos 9:7). According to legend, Cinyras, the first king of Paphos, named the city after his mother. The apostle Paul, along with Barnabas and John Mark (Acts 13:2, 16) traveled “through the island” on his first missionary journey (Acts 13:1—14:28) to Paphos, arriving around the spring of 48 A.D. (Acts 13:1-14:28).
The Paphos to which Luke refers is actually New Paphos, which was built in the fourth century B.C. (the older city is approximately ten miles away). The seaport of the original Paphos eventually became the dominant population center, thus forming New Paphos. New Paphos was made the capital of Cyprus under the Ptolemies, and was so until the fourth century A.D. The entire island of Cyprus, and with it the city of New Paphos, was annexed to Rome in 68 B.C., and became a Roman senatorial province in 22 B.C.
The worship of Aphrodite, the promiscuous Greek goddess of love, is particularly associated with the city. In Greek mythology, Aphrodite (Roman "Venus") emerges from the ocean on the beach adjacent to the original Paphos. Accordingly, Paphos became a center of Aphrodite worship, which included temple prostitution, in the ancient world.
Against the backdrop of entrenched paganism, Paphos was also the site of active Jewish synagogues at the time of Paul's arrival (cf. 1 Macc. 15:16-23; Ant. 13:284-287). Paul's powerful ministry resulted in the first assemblage of believers in Jesus the Messiah on the island. Through his standard modus operandi of missions, Paul introduced ethnic and proselyte Jews to Jesus by first preaching in the synagogues (Acts 13:15). The salient ministry of Paul resulted in polarization. Paul was resisted by "Bar-jesus" (Acts 13:6, literally Aramaic for "son of Joshua" or Jesus, a name not uncommon in the era; also known as Elymas in 13:8), a Jewish sorcerer, perhaps along the lines of Sceva (Acts 19:13-19) or the Samaritan magician Simon Magus (Acts 8:9-24). Paul's instituting temporary blindness upon the Jewish magician demonstrated that God's power is truly in Paul's Gospel (cf. Rom 1:16).
When Paul came to Cyprus, Acts 13.6 says that he traveled “through the island” to “new” Paphos, where the Roman proconsul was stationed, which agrees with Luke’s account of Sergius Paulus summoning Paul and Barnabas. As the governor appointed by the Roman senate over Cyprus (13:7), Sergius Paulus, described as an "intelligent" man personally and officially, is in the middle of the conflict of Bar-jesus and Paul. Sergius Paulus was a wise Roman (Acts 13:7) who was open to the Gospel (Acts 13:7). He may have been the first Roman civil ruler converted to Christ.
In 2000 Italian archaeologists working at Paphos discovered the fragments of a first or second-century marble inscription that they think may refer to Paul. The fragment was found in what is believed to be a first or second century Christian church and reads, “…los …osto…” They argue the original read “Paulos Apostlos.”1 If this is correct, it is a very early archaeological evidence of Paul’s presence on the island. Additional archaeological excavations have revealed architecture dating to the Roman era, including an odeon (musical theater), an agora (marketplace or ancient open air mall), a temple, a theater, and two palatial villas (one of which may have been the Roman governor's palace).
Judith Harris, “Putting Paul on the Map: Apostle’s Name found on Cyprus Inscription,” Biblical Archaeology Review, Vol 26, No. 1 (Jan/Feb 2000) 12-14. Online: http://members.bib-arch.org/publication.asp?PubID=BSBA&Volume=26&Issue=1&ArticleID=7 (accessed April 23, 2010). ↩︎