Untitled Sermon
Acts 8:9-25
Luke clearly depicted Simon as a worker of magic, a charlatan who made money from his bag of tricks. Had we only the account in Acts, there would never have been any question about whether he ever was anything more. The early church fathers, however, tell of a heretical Gnostic sect of Simonians in the second and third centuries who traced their beliefs back to the Simon of Acts. The earliest account is that of Justin Martyr from the middle of the second century. Justin was himself a Samaritan and wrote that Simon, a Samaritan from the village of Gitto, was worshiped by “almost all” of the Samaritans of his day as “the first god.” Dating his rise to acclaim in the reign of Claudius, he spoke of Simon’s journey to Rome, where he was worshiped as a god and had a statue erected to him with the inscription “to the holy god Simon.” Justin also noted that he was accompanied by a female named Helen, who had been a former prostitute, whom his followers claimed to be “the first idea generated by him.” Writing toward the end of the second century, Irenaeus attributed a much more elaborate system to the Simonians. It is quite possible that the Simon of Acts had virtually no connection with Justin’s Simonians but was “co-opted” by the later Gnostic group to give a New Testament rootage for their movement
The Spirit “blows where it wills” (John 3:8); the Spirit cannot be tied down to any manipulative human schema
It is not without justification that many refer to this as the “Samaritan Pentecost.” It is a major stage of salvation history. The Spirit as it were indicated in a visible manifestation the divine approval of this new missionary step beyond Judaism.
There is further significance to the Samaritan experience occurring in two stages. Through Peter and John’s participation, the Samaritan mission was given the stamp of approval of the mother church in Jerusalem. It was not just the undertaking of a maverick Hellenist missionary. It was endorsed, received, and enthusiastically participated in by the whole church. But is there any significance in the fact that the Spirit was received through the apostles laying their hands on the Samaritans? Some would see this as an indication of a rite of “confirmation” separate from and subsequent to baptism. Again the evidence of Acts will not bear this reading of the practice of a later age back into the New Testament text.113 Peter and John’s laying on of their hands is best seen as a gesture of the apostolic solidarity and fellowship with the Samaritans. The receipt of the Spirit is above all God’s answer to their prayer
He therefore offered Peter and John money for the trade secret of how to dispense the Spirit through the laying on of one’s hands. Though a complete misunderstanding of the Holy Spirit, Simon’s behavior was completely in character for a professional magician. Tricks of the trade were often exchanged among them in financial transactions. They were viewed almost as commercial commodities (cf. the enormous “market value” of the magical scrolls Paul persuaded the Ephesians to burn—Acts 19:19)
Simon completely misunderstood when he saw the Spirit as coming through the human gesture of the apostles’ laying their hands on the Samaritans. He was viewing the whole matter through a magician’s eyes. But Christianity has nothing to do with magic, and God’s Spirit is not subject to a charlatan’s manipulation—not in Simon’s day or for any profit-making Christian charlatan of our own day.
Simon had not responded to the gospel; he had responded to greed. He lacked the contrition and inner conviction that accompany a true response to the gospel. His heart was “not right before God.” Peter did not merely pronounce a curse on Simon. He offered him the chance to repent (v. 22). God can forgive even such a thought as Simon’s greedy desire to manipulate the divine Spirit.
The question is whether Simon did in fact repent. His response (v. 24) may express a degree of remorse but scarcely the sort of complete turnabout of will and mind that marks true repentance. In fact, Simon expressed no repentance. Instead, he asked the apostles to intercede for him. There was no prayer of contrition from Simon, just the fear that Peter’s predicted judgment might come down upon him.
Luke gave no further information on Simon the magician. He remains a shadowy figure. Luke, however, made his point. Christianity has nothing to do with magic; magic is powerless before the genuine power of the Holy Spirit. God’s Spirit can neither be manipulated nor bought. Simon illustrated that. A proper response to God’s gift of salvation is much more than simply a “what-is-in-it-for-us?” approach. It involves genuine commitment in response to the work of God’s Spirit.
Then Simon answered, ‘Pray to the Lord for me so that nothing you have said may happen to me’. Simon perceives that he is in such bondage and that others must pray for his deliverance, but his desire seems to be ‘to escape the consequences of his sin rather than to amend his life’. Since Luke does not record the outcome for Simon, it is possible that he viewed his penitence as insincere.
Whenever God accompanies the gospel with physical miracles, the potential for perversion exists. Christians willing to proclaim God’s truth must expect trouble from those who want to distort it.
“His only hope was genuine evangelical repentance which he had not experienced. He had no real spiritual understanding of the faith that he claimed. His faith was imperfect; it was centered in man, not in Christ”
Simony. That’s what we call it, and here’s how the word came into the language. Simony describes the buying or selling of religious office, precisely what the Samaritan sorcerer wanted to do. Whatever Simon saw fascinated him. Watching Philip do miracles had been exciting and attractive, but now the unleashing of some new power in the lives of people by an unseen presence of the living God was downright irresistible. This man was a professional who immediately saw the profit potential in this kind of power. How much would it cost for Peter and John to pass this on to him? After all, they would soon return to Jerusalem, and someone in Samaria needed to carry on this amazing gift.
Sadly, people who name the name of Jesus have not abandoned simony down through the centuries. Luther was enraged by the activity of John Tetzel selling “indulgences” right across the river from Luther’s parish. Tetzel even had a catch phrase which surely attracted the attention of German listeners: So bald der Pfennig in Kasten klingt, die Seele aus des Fegefeuer springt. Translation: “As soon as you drop your money in the pot, the soul [of the person you pay for] jumps right out of the fire of purgatory.”
Today misguided “evangelists” use radio, television, mailing campaigns, and even the Internet to garner money for religious favors of one kind or another. In many cases, they are no better than Simon the sorcerer, exchanging funds for God’s grace. We talk often about blasphemy of belief, but there is also a blasphemy of behavior.
8:20. Leave it to J. B. Phillips to lay it on the line. He translates the first part of Peter’s response, “To hell with you and your money.” Where truth exists, so does error. Where reality exists, we find sham. The true heart of Simon begins to emerge. Whatever he believed back in verse 13, it was certainly not faith for salvation, else Peter could never have said he would perish.
Quite obviously the statement of belief, water baptism, and perhaps even the laying on of hands conveyed no genuine indication of heart condition. That has hardly changed in today’s church. Baptism, communion, membership, office holding, and any other kind of external recognition mean nothing to God who looks directly at the heart condition.
Let’s not confuse his request for prayer with repentance. He fears the consequence, but we see no indication that he practices metanoia (repentance) which, as we have noted previously, means to turn around and go the other way.