In the last sermon in this series, we discussed how the persecution that followed Stephen’s death scattered the church. The persecution was bad, but the scattering was good. It took God’s people out of Jerusalem and into all the world. #greatcomission This is where we pick up.
4 Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went. 5 Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah there. 6 When the crowds heard Philip and saw the signs he performed, they all paid close attention to what he said. 7 For with shrieks, impure spirits came out of many, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. 8 So there was great joy in that city.
9 Now for some time a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great, 10 and all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention (“were praying to him”[1]) and exclaimed, “This man is rightly called the Great Power of God.”[2] 11 They followed him because he had bewitched them for a long time with his sorcery.
12 But when they believed Philip as he proclaimed the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ,[3]they were baptized, men and women.[4] 13 Simon himself believed and was baptized. And he followed Philip everywhere, bewitched by the great signs and miracles he saw.
14 When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to Samaria. 15 When they arrived, they prayed for the new believers there that they might receive the Holy Spirit,16 because the Holy Spirit had not yet come on any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.[5]
18 When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money 19 and said, “Give me also this ability/authority so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.”
20 Peter answered: “"Your silver will go with you to destruction, because you thought that the gift of God is acquired by the possessions of the world."21 You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God.
22 Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord in the hope that he may forgive you for having such a thought in your heart. 23 For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin.”[6]24 Then Simon answered, “Pray to the Lord for me so that nothing you have said may happen to me.”[7]
25 After they had further proclaimed the word of the Lord and testified about Jesus, Peter and John returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many Samaritan villages.
* * * * *
We learn a lot in this passage about how God expects His kingdom to come to earth, as it is in heaven. We will focus on three key things.
The Kingdom, rightly expressed, brings blessing and joy.
Sick and broken people (and those who cared about them) listened to what Philip had to say when their lives got better after a follower of Jesus showed up. He cast out demons and healed the sick. “There was great joy.” You bet there was.[8] How would there not be? I’ve said more than once that when the Kingdom is clicking on all cylinders, the poor, the sick, the powerless and oppressed are going to say, “Thank God the Christians are here!”
However, if the story stops there, it’s just a contest of miracles vs. magic. Apparently Simon did some really impressive stuff too. I don’t know if he made their lives better, but he had their attention. It seems that people tend to follow both 1) those who impress them, and 2) those would can make their lives better. So, there is going to have to be more to what Philip has to offer than just the practical provision. And there is.
“But Philip proclaimed the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ.”
There are different reasons people follow a spiritual leader—but only one reason people become disciples: they accept a truth that transforms not just their physical bodies but also their hearts and souls.
Great joy came to the city thanks to how Philip was healing people, and that was a good thing. But just like Jesus healing the lame man before he forgave his sins, Philip healed people on the outside in the name of Jesus so they had good reason to believe that Jesus had the power to heal them on the inside.
This could be a whole sermon, but I’ll try to put it succinctly. If the power of God manifesting in ways that people could see served as proof that God can do things inside that they couldn’t see, would that not be true of any manifestation of the power of God? Not just the kind of miracles Philip did, but the tangible expression of God’s love, kindness, mercy, justice, grace, etc.? When we express these things as tangible actions that help the circumstances of others in ways they can see, I suspect it sends a message about what God can do in the intangible spiritual parts of people that they can’t see. To paraphrase an old saying, we can give someone a fish, teach them to fish, and point them to Jesus, who feeds their souls. They all work together.
The Kingdom, rightly expressed, erases unholy fault lines.[9]
The laying on of hands to receive the Holy Spirit is recorded only two other times in Acts (the conversion of Saul in Acts 9, and a group of disciples in Ephesus in Acts 19). There were a lot of other times where the laying on of hands does not seem necessary (like at Pentecost). Why did it matter here?
I’m leaning toward the commentaries that suggest the apostles laid hands on them here because they needed to be a part of a clear sign that the Spirit of God was living and active in Samaritans (!).[10]
The Samaritans were descendants of Israelites who had intermarried with the conquering Assyrians during the exile (2 Kings 17). They kept some Old Testament traditions and doctrine, but they also blended pagan beliefs. Faithful Jews saw Samaritans as corrupt and unclean.
When Jews from the Southern Kingdom returned from Babylonian captivity and began to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem, the Samaritans offered help. The Jews refused. So, the Samaritans tried to sabotage what they were doing (Ezra 4:1–5). They also tried to stop the rebuilding of Jerusalem’s wall (Nehemiah 4:2).
The Samaritans finally built a temple of their own. About 130 years before the time of Jesus, a Jewish king defeated the Samaritan nation and destroyed their temple on Mount Gerizim. Though it was never rebuilt, the Samaritans insisted that Gerizim was the only legitimate place of worship – which was part of Jesus discussion with the woman at the well (John 4:20). [11]
Jews and Samaritans had centuries of theological/social hostility. If they weren’t careful, the early church could fracture along old lines of hostility. The apostles themselves needed to participate in ratifying Jesus’ presence with the Samaritans and literally touching a people the Jews would have considered unclean. God made unity visible, with the hands of his people standing in for His hand being upon them.
The gospel doesn’t just heal individuals—it heals communities. It breaks unholy boundaries, confronts old rivalries, and forms what Paul will eventually call “one new humanity.” (Ephesians 2:15)
This could be a whole sermon, so here’s the brief version: There is just no room for unholy fault lines in the church. Paul wrote in Galatians 3:26-28,
It is your faith in the Anointed Jesus that makes all of you children of God because all of you who have been initiated into the Anointed One through the ceremonial washing of baptism have put Him on. It makes no difference whether you are a Jew or a Greek, a slave or a freeman, a man or a woman, because in Jesus the Anointed, the Liberating King, you are all one.
In that culture, there were fault lines between Jews and Greeks, slave and free, and men and women (I guess the Samaritan one had already been addressed). Today we might talk about separating, judging, and creating hierarchies of value over things like race, nationality, class, education level, gender, age, citizenship, etc. Every culture at every time has its own things that hinder God’s people from uniting in Christ.
One thing is clear. God allows no place for this. God demands that the good news of the saving gospel of Jesus be given to all people at all places at all times, and that when we are genuinely united by the Spirit of God, the ground will be level at the foot of the cross, and whosever will may come.
The Kingdom, rightly expressed, chooses service over control.
Simon will provide us with what an example of at least one thing that will ruin a joyful community: pride; or the need to be in control to elevate oneself.
Justin (The) Martyr, martyred in 165, had Samaritan lineage. He claimed that almost all the Samaritans considered Simon the highest god (our translation gives the title “the Great Power of God.”) Whatever Simon was doing must have been impressive. Yet, Simon appears to have responded to the message of the Gospel: he “believed” and was “baptized.” Then he apparently saw something really powerful when the Holy Spirit arrived, and he wanted a piece of that action.
“Give me also this ability/authority so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit...”
Peter saw into the root of the problem and called it out:
“Your heart is not right before God… you are full of bitterness and captive to sin.”
Bitterness seems like an odd choice of words – unless it has something to do with being angry that he had lost the spotlight. He seems to have desired power, a stage, a reputation, importance, admiration, etc. To accomplish those things, he was willing to turn the Holy Spirit into a commodity to distribute. It looks like he was more interested in people being impressed by him than transformed by the Holy Spirit.
It’s a terrible practice to use the things of the Kingdom to magnify ourselves. The Kingdom invites surrender; we do not have hearts right before God when we continue to desire control and seek power or try to make sure the spotlight does not waver in its focus on us.
We see Simon’s un-right heart on display when Peter invited repentance.[12] Simon didn’t repent; he just asked Peter to “pray that nothing bad happens to me.” Apparently Peter did, because there is no record that anything bad happened to Simon.[13]
There’s probably a whole sermon to preach here but if “hope deferred makes the heart sick,” I wonder if “pride deferred makes the heart bitter.” Here’s something to watch out for: if it makes us mad and/or jealous when the spotlight wavers from us and focuses on someone else, we need a heart check. The church is meant to filled with servants, not attention-seekers. We need servers, not celebrities. Remember what the ground is like at the foot of the cross? That’s the landscape on which God’s church is meant to be built.
Quick recap:
The Kingdom, rightly expressed, brings blessing and joy. It will attract because it makes life better when rightly lived. But that kind of blessing alone doesn’t lead to faith. It opens doors (or eyes and ears) into which “the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ” can be preached. Practical provision is an important good that can transform someone’s practical condition, but only the gospel transforms hearts. It’s good to do both.
The Kingdom, rightly expressed, erases unholy fault lines. God made the apostles lay hands on Samaritans – a people previously loathed by the Jewish people - so that everyone would know that no one is second-class in the kingdom of God. The Spirit unites what all the divisive “-isms”[14] would tear apart.
The Kingdom, rightly expressed, chooses service over control. Simon wanted the benefits of the kingdom without surrendering to its King. He wanted the Spirit’s power in his hands rather than over his life. The King of this Kingdom confronts this. The kingdom is not magic, manipulation, or power—it is surrender, transformation, and a new kind of life of cruciform love empowered by the Holy Spirit.
* * * * *
Acts 8 gives us a warning and a hope.
The warning: We can go through all the motions—believe, get baptized, follow the miracles—and still miss the heart of the kingdom. Matthew 7:15-23 notes:
“Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor figs from thistles, are they? So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit.
A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, you will know them by their fruits. Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.
Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; leave Me, you who practice lawlessness.’
This is a wild passage. Apparently, people can prophesy, cast out demons, and do miracles, while being practitioners of lawlessness who are not part of the kingdom. Those verses suggest that sometimes prophecy, exorcism and miracles are actually bad fruit. That should sober us when we are drawn to someone’s ministry simply because of signs and wonders.
It’s those who do the will of the Father – those who increasingly look like Jesus - whom Jesus recognizes as his own. There is something about faithful obedience in response to God’s love and grace that is really, really important. It’s the fruit of the Holy Spirit that offers testimony to true discipleship. Let’s never elevate impressiveness over character, or charisma over righteous maturity.
The hope: When Peter confronted Simon, he invited him to repent. This participates in a theme we see over and over in the Bible.
"Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord." (Acts 3:19)
"He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them finds mercy." (Proverbs 28:13)
"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9)
“Rend your hearts and not your garments.” Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster.”[15] (Joel 2:13)
Grace remains offered to even the worst offenders. Simon’s sin is pretty terrible: treating the Holy Spirit like a magical toy. And yet he is told,
“Repent and pray to the Lord in hope that he may forgive you.”
Or, as Peter will later say,
“The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9)
The is the heart of “the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ.” God will make us new, and invites us into life in His kingdom.
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[1] Aramaic Bible in Plain English
[2] “Simon Magus the sorcerer is frequently mentioned in ancient writings outside the Bible as the archenemy of the church and one of the leaders of the Gnostic heresy. Gnosticism (named from the Greek word gnosis, meaning “knowledge”) taught that a person gained salvation not by the merit of Christ’s death for sinners, but by special knowledge about God. Justin Martyr (died c. a.d. 165), himself a Samaritan, says that almost all the Samaritans considered Simon the highest god (the “power of God,” v. 10). Irenaeus (died c. a.d. 180), who wrote extensively against the Gnostics, regards Simon as one of the sources of their heresies.” (ESV Reformation Study Bible)
[3] HELPS Word-studies 3686 ónoma – name; (figuratively) the manifestation or revelation of someone's character, i.e. as distinguishing them from all others. Thus "praying in the name of Christ" means to pray as directed (authorized) by Him, bringing revelation that flows out of being in His presence. "Praying in Jesus' name" therefore is not a "religious formula" just to end prayers (or get what we want)!
["According to Hebrew notions, a name is inseparable from the person to whom it belongs, i.e. it is something of his essence. Therefore, in the case of the God, it is specially sacred" (Souter).]
[4] “The eager reception by the people (v. 12) is due in part to the foundation laid by St. Photini, the Samaritan woman of Jn 4, who brought news of the Messiah before His crucifixion (see Jn 4:39).” (Orthodox Study Bible)
[5] The Orthodox call this chrismation, the “anointing for the reception of the Holy Spirit”.
[6] Peter is using language from Isa 58.6.
[7] “He offered Simon an opportunity to repent, for Simon, unlike Ananias and Sapphira who died instantly (5:5, 10), was quick to ask for prayers so that the curse pronounced by Peter would not take effect (8:24).” (Africa Bible Commentary)
[8] “Spirit-given delight that arises from the redemptive acts and abiding presence of God.” (Topical Lexicon)
[9] Think of things that could bring about relational earthquakes that shake or fracture the church.
[10] “The Lord waited to demonstrate the full power of the Holy Spirit (vv. 15–16) until some of the apostles themselves could be present. This way there would be no question at all that the Samaritans had received the Holy Spirit in the same way that the Jewish Christians had (see Rom. 11:13–24; Eph. 2:11–22).” (ESV Global Study Bible)
[11] I am summarizing parts of an article from The Master’s University called “The Unlikeliest Ally.” https://www.masters.edu/thinking_blog/the-unlikeliest-ally/
[12] Something he had not done with Ananias & Sapphira. They lied to the Spirit; Simon tries to buy the Spirit. That’s seems equally egregious. Hmmmm…..
[13] “According to tradition, he afterwards returned to his magical arts and was a bitter enemy of the Church.” (Orthodox Study Bible)
[14] Racism, sexism, classism, etc.
[15] #Godcreed