{That Samaria had received} (hoti dedektai h(8820)Samaria).
The district here, not the city as in verse  5 . Perfect middle
indicative of dechomai retained in indirect discourse. It was a
major event for the apostles for now the gospel was going into
Samaria as Jesus had predicted ( 1:8 ). Though the Samaritans
were nominally Jews, they were not held so by the people. The
sending of Peter and John was no reflection on Philip, but was an
appropriate mission since "many Christian Jews would be
scandalized by the admission of Samaritans" (Furneaux). If Peter
and John sanctioned it, the situation would be improved. John had
once wanted to call down fire from heaven on a Samaritan village
( Lu 9:54 ).