Acts 8:5

Φίλιππος δέ, But Philip. He is the second named in the list of the seven deacons (Acts 6:5). He is only mentioned in this chapter and Acts 21:8, where he is called Philip the Evangelist.

εἰς τὴν πόλιν, into the city, i.e. the capital city of the district of Samaria. It was at this time called Sebaste = Augusta, in honour of Augustus Cæsar (Joseph. Ant. XV. 8. 5).

ἐκήρυσσεν, he proclaimed. This word, connected with κῆρυξ, points out the preachers as the heralds of a king, while εὐαγγελίζεσθαι, in the previous verse, speaks rather of the glad tidings which was the characteristic of their message.

αὐτοῖς, i.e. Σαμαρείταις, to the people of Samaria, understood in the previous Σαμαρείας. Cf. Acts 20:2, where αὐτούς refers to the people of Macedonia, though the country only is named in the verse before.

τὸν Χριστόν, the Christ, the Messiah, the king whose message Philip proclaimed.