Acts 8v12

But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.

Philip had gone down to the city of Samaria to preach. The Samaritans were looked down on by the Jews – as the woman at the well said to Jesus, “How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans” (John 4v9). The reason for this separation between the Jews and the Samaritans is that they were not ethnically pure, having inter-mixed with the people placed there by the king of Assyria, as seen in 2^nd Kings 17v24-41. Despite this, Jesus had spoken to the woman at the well, along with all of the people of her city (John 4v9-42). He also specifically sent the Apostles to witness in Samaria in Acts 1v8.

Philip’s preaching in Samaria was about Christ (v5), and more particularly the name of Jesus Christ, as we find in this current verse. This preaching had led them to all be baptized. The phrase “both men and women” was used in this current verse, showing that the sign of salvation is no longer any different between the genders. Previously, under the Old Testament, circumcision as a sign of salvation had been for the male only. The gender-equality of salvation is also referred in other passages in the Bible – for instance see also Galatians 3v27-28 {87 }