Acts 8:4

Went every where. Greek dierchomai, “to go through,” a favorite word with Luke for missionary labor (cf. Luke 9:6; Acts 8:40; 9:32; 11:19; 13:6). In this case the attempt to stamp out the new faith gave it wider scope of action, as the Lord had desired (Acts 1:8), and forced it beyond limits to which it might otherwise have been confined for a much longer waiting period. Then, as later, the blood of martyrs was the seed of the church.

Preaching. Greek euaggelizomai, for which a very literal and picturesque translation is “to gospelize.” This graphically represents the work done by these persecuted Christians — they carried the gospel, or good news, to the many places to which they were scattered.

Word. This should be understood in its broadest sense as referring to all teaching concerning Christ. Much of this would come from the Old Testament, but a great part of “the word” was not yet committed to writing and was dependent on the spoken messages of the voluntary evangelists.