Charles Ellicott Commentary Acts 8:4

"They therefore that were scattered abroad, went about preaching the word." — Acts 8:4 (ASV)

Those who were scattered abroad.—These, as has been said above, were in all probability Stephen’s Hellenistic fellow-workers and followers. As in later ages, the axiom that “the blood of martyrs is the seed of the Church,” held true from the beginning. The attempt to stamp out the new faith only gave it a wider scope of action, and urged it on to pass the limits within which it might otherwise have been confined for a much longer period.

Preaching the word.—Better, preaching the glad tidings of the word.