Acts 8 Simon Magus

amazed

Through His sovereign might the Lord protects the Church from being destroyed in Jerusalem. It was not that the disciples were so clever or so resourceful that they figured out a way to keep the Sanhedrin or the Romans from simply killing them all. That was the work of the Holy Spirit, for the Lord will always protect His Church, just as He protected Israel, from utter destruction.

However, we see here that the Lord is not going to protect His Church from persecution and suffering. Indeed, Jesus promises His Church that we will have trouble just in the same way that Christ had trouble in His earthly ministry. People will hate us for who we are and what we believe and they will treat us accordingly at times.

This suffering is not pointless or purposeless. When we suffer in faith, thanking God for every good thing and every difficult thing that we receive from His hand, so do we then grow in wisdom, in joy, in holiness, and we become more like our Maker in every way, through suffering.

Consider how the Lord uses the suffering of the Church in this context. Jesus gave a very clear and direct command to His disciples when He left them. That command was to go into all the nations preaching the Gospel.

But they still have not done that. And there is as yet no indication in Acts that they are even discussing how to do that. They are enjoying being together in Jerusalem and enjoying the favor of those whom they have healed in Jerusalem, and marveling at the growth of the Church in Jerusalem. Why send people out when things are going so well here? We humans can be derailed in following the Lord’s commands by both failure AND success. The former demoralizes us, and the latter distracts us.

But then Stephen is murdered, but let us be more specific about that point in light of who God is and what He has shown He can do. The Lord permits Stephen to be murdered and persecution of the Church breaks out.

Acts 8:1–3 “And Saul approved of his execution. And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him. But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.”

(As an aside, when the Luke here speaks of men and women being dragged to prison the idea is not that they will be in prison indefinitely. That did not happen in the Roman Empire. People were put in prison to stand trial, usually, and usually the trial would end either in their exile, execution, or perhaps being let go. Their trial would be short and simple. Deny Jesus is Lord, worship this statue of the Emperor and you will be free. If you do not, you will be killed. )

The Church is persecuted but not the whole Church. Remember that Stephen was specifically targeted as a Hellenistic Jew. It is Stephen’s tribe, the people he came from, that is targeting certain groups of Hellenistic Jews in the Church. And of course all the Deacons who were selected to organize the giving in the Church were Hellenistic Jews, they are not the Apostles, they are the second tier of leadership, and as such probably appeared more vulnerable. The Hebraic Jews had been given a kind of protection because of the words of Gamaliel in the Sanhedrin during Peter and John’s trial, but for whatever reason, and it’s not entirely clear in the text, the Hellenistic Jews who became Christians were fair game, and their own people came after them, of whom, you might remember, Saul was one, being from Tarsus. So a subset of the Church is being persecuted.

And what happens? Well, these Deacons that the Church selected to dole out food flee Jerusalem. And because they were selected on the basis of their character and their faith and their trustworthiness, they are effective ambassadors for Christ. These are the very first evangelists of the Church. Ironically, they are sent out into the countryside by Paul of Tarsus himself, as he attempts to hunt them down and imprison them.

So some of these new Christians flee- first to Samaria, Israel’s closest neighbor. So finally the Gospel is going out into the nations- because of the persecution and the suffering, led by one particularly zealous Pharisee, Saul of Tarsus.

Acts 8:4–8 “Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word. Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Christ. And the crowds with one accord paid attention to what was being said by Philip, when they heard him and saw the signs that he did. For unclean spirits, crying out with a loud voice, came out of many who had them, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. So there was much joy in that city.”

This is the fulfillment of a promise first given 4,000 years ago. 4,000 years. When the Lord told Abraham that Israel was going to be a light to all the nations of the world, this was a promise that had never been fulfilled, never even come close to being fulfilled. And you would not pick this moment in history to fill it, when Israel not only has no Davidic King on the throne, but are also occupied by a foreign pagan power, Rome, which, arguably, is the most powerful pagan Empire that the world had ever seen. This is not the time when you would expect this prophecy to suddenly spring to life and be fulfilled!

The promise to Abraham, that Israel would be a light to the Nations, is the promise of Jesus Christ, who is the Light of the World, and when Philip crosses that boundary from Israel into Samaria, that was the one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind that outranks every moon landing or human accomplishment that ever has been and ever will be. For we progress, we do, in our intelligence, and we progress in terms of our systems of government and we progress in our understanding of the natural world, we progress in countless ways as the human race, but none of that progress has made a dent in the depth of sin and destruction that lies at the heart of each and every one of us. And when Philip crossed into Samaria he was bringing the Gospel, the only hope for humanity that has ever existed, that ever will exist, the Light of the World was going out into the nations.

It is in keeping with the character of our God that this hope was first brought to the nations not by an Apostle, not by one of the original 12, but by this man who was initially selected to manage food distribution fairly. He was not chosen randomly, he was selected because he was full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, but no one could have predicted the extent and significance that Philip’s service to the Lord.

Acts 6:3 “Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty.”

What does it take to be an effective servant of the Lord? Do you need to be the person in charge, the one everyone respects and looks up to? No, what you will need is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and wisdom. And of course, there is a direct correlation between these two traits. The Spirit does cultivate wisdom in a humble and teachable heart.

So Philip goes into Samaria and preaches the Gospel and heals people, and joy takes hold in Samaria. BUT. And in every triumph of the Lord, every victory of the Gospel on Earth there is always a BUT because Satan is the prince of this world and nothing in this world ever can be or will be perfect. That is for the next world.

BUT there was a man named Simon. Simon had tremendous pride and charisma and, apparently, power of some kind. Either it was power rooted in skill and trickery or it was demonic power that Satan had given, him, the details are unknown. But he used it to build himself up, such that people said

Acts 8:10 “This man is the power of God that is called Great.””

But when a large number of people came to believe the Gospel, and Simon saw the power of the Gospel then even Simon himself believed, and was baptized. Even more than that, after he was baptized he took to following Philip around, and was continually amazed at what Philip was able to do through the power of the Holy Spirit. At least, that is how Simon thought about it. But it was not Philip working through the Holy Spirit. It was the Holy Spirit working through Philip.

So far, so good. Simon has believed the Gospel and been baptized and is following Philip. What could go wrong?

So the Apostles get word of this, that the Samaritans are coming to Christ. And the Apostles decide to send Peter and John. Why? Because the Holy Spirit has not fallen upon the Samaritans in the same way that He fell upon the Hebrew Christians at Pentecost and, apparently, has continued to fall upon new believers in that time, specifically with regard to speaking in tongues. This was a sign that they had come to expect.

So Peter and John go to Samaria- and they had been there before with Jesus in the flesh if you recall. And John had once asked if it would be possible for Jesus to destroy a Samaritan city with fire from above as in the days of Sodom and Gomorrah, and I have to imagine he felt the shame of that request now. Never pray for the destruction of your enemies. pray for their redemption or the shame will be yours to carry.

The Apostles pray for these new believers, and the Holy Spirit falls upon them. Now, it is time for some reflection at this point.

Why would it be that the Lord would orchestrate things in such a way that the Samaritans would repent and believe under Philip’s teachings, teachings that were marked by power as well, but not receive the Holy Spirit until the Apostles came to pray for them? Was this some kind of rebuke of Philip? What is going on?

The answer to this is that while God can and does use any believer of good will to spread the Gospel, yet authority in the Church still matters, and must still be acknowledged. And that authority is delegated by the people of God to those who know and understand the life and teachings of Jesus Christ and so, reasonably, the Apostles who lived and worked and ministered with Jesus as his personal students, WERE the authority in the Church at this time. And it was important for the Samaritans to understand that. There was a center of authority in the Church, and it was the Apostles, who were, at this time, based in Jerusalem.

How did the Samaritans, historically, feel about Jerusalem? They hated Jerusalem and they despised the Jewish faith. And I don’t have the time to unpack that long and tortured history, but that was the reality at the time. So there were many reasons for the Lord to underline and emphasize to the Samaritans that, yes, salvation is from the Jews, and the authoritative messengers of this salvation are the Apostles- who are Jewish and currently in Jerusalem.

Of course, today that authority rests in the Bible, and so we rightly give church authority to those who have an understanding of and are led by, the Word of God. The Catholic Church has been in the news lately as they have picked a new Pope, from Illinois nonetheless! The Catholic Church claims that this Pope, like all other Popes, is the head of the whole Church and when he speaks Ex Cathedra that his words have the same authority as the Bible. Now I hope this Pope is a good and godly man and I hope he manages to pastor well in his role, but he has no information or knowledge about Jesus that I do not have. We both have the same Bible and we know the same things about our Lord. To give anyone, the Pope or otherwise the same authority as the written Word of God is to court disaster, to put it mildly.

And so you get theological “truths” such as if a soul is suffering in Purgatory- which is a place where some souls go to be purified before they are fully saved or sanctified, then you can go to a cemetery and say certain prayers for them and their suffering will be lessened somewhat. However, if you go to a cemetery between November 1 and November 8, then the soul suffering in purgatory will receive what is known as a ‘plenary’ indulgence and they will be done with their suffering and go straight to heaven. However, if you do it on November 9, then they will still be suffering.

I don’t say this to mock the Catholic Church specifically. You can find strange and bizarre beliefs in every denomination where human opinion, human thought, human legalism and bureaucracy have masqueraded as having divine authority. I do not have divine authority as a pastor, the Bible does. If my teachings stray from the Word of God then I lose any right in that moment to speak authoritatively from the pulpit.

And this is why Peter and John went in person to the Samaritans to exhibit their proper authority which is based in their knowledge of Jesus Christ.

Knowing this, you can see the absurdity of Simon’s request:

Acts 8:18–19 “Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money, saying, “Give me this power also, so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.””

Just ignoring for a moment the arrogance behind this request, you can see how even if they had wanted to it would have been impossible for the Apostles to give Simon what he wanted because their authority was based on their life experience with Jesus Christ, which no one but the 12 had. And, depending on your views, either that 12 includes Paul, which is my view, or there were actually, in the end, 13 Apostles, but I am not here to unpack that debate.

But there is another truth here that bears bringing out into the light. We are called into communion with one another for our benefit, to worship together and to comfort and strengthen and support one another, but also of course to keep each other accountable and say, when needed, the hard things that need to be said, for we all have sin and we need each other to see our sin and repent of it. All of us need that, from the pastors on down.

Church is difficult. It is not easy and it was never, not from day one, never portrayed as being easy or as just about positive emotions, good music, potlucks, and so forth. To be the Church together is to struggle sometimes with each other and to cry sometimes and to be angry sometimes. That IS Church together.

And one of the reasons that is, is as follows: sometimes people believe in Jesus, are baptized, and are part of the Church, and may even appear to have the Holy Spirit however you might perceive that, but they are not saved, they are not actually given to Christ. They are not actually part of God’s Church. And that is part of what makes Church difficult. Because we gather as the Body of Christ, but there are Tares among the Wheat. There are wolves among the sheep. And no one has the necessary wisdom or insight to know exactly, which people are false. Only Christ alone, who searches the heart and knows us intimately every day through His Holy Spirit, He alone can and will make that determination. That is a difficult aspect of being the Church in these days of now and not yet, of fulfillment of God’s Word, but still living as sojourners and exiles in an unfriendly land.

So, yes, trust your fellow believers in the Church. Love them, presume the best about them, and delight in them, but never put your faith in any single person other than Jesus Christ of Nazareth. There are people in my life that if they left the Church or started behaving terribly as if the Holy Spirit was gone from them, I would be profoundly sad. I would even be shocked. But I can promise you my faith would not be moved one inch. Because I never had faith in them.

Simon Magus believed in Jesus, was baptized, and was following Philip as a disciple of Philip, but in the end it became apparent that his heart was still all about himself. His kingdom, his power, his glory, his agenda, and he did not have the desire to humble himself before Jesus and drink from his cup of suffering and powerlessness. And he was a church member in good standing, at least up to this point in the story.

Peter strips him, or attempts to strip him, of his pride and what Peter calls his bitterness and bondage to sin. He calls Simon to repentance.

And when he calls Simon to repentance I do not mean repentance for some particular sin. Because we all can be called to that as believers and will be called to repentance of some sin or other many times over the course of our lives. No, Peter is talking about Simon’s heart, his entire posture towards the Lord of heaven and earth. Peter clearly does not trust or like this guy, to put it in more human terms. He says to him, I hope you die. That is what he says.

In fact, in the text there does not seem to be much hope from Peter or John (who is silent in this text) regarding the possibility that Simon will repent. The text ends with Simon asking them to pray for him, and one might reasonably expect Luke at that point to record that Peter and John laid hands upon Simon and prayed for the Lord to restore their brother but no, that is simply the end of the story.

Moreover, Simon’s request himself for prayer sounds more than a little off. Pray for ME to the Lord....than nothing may com upon ME. Even his prayer just sounds like a man trying to escape the consequences of his actions, it does not sound like a man who has grasped the depth of his sin and is humbling himself before Christ who is his Lord and Savior that he would do anything for at this point.

This is the end of Simon’s story in the Bible, but history seems to bear out his lack of true repentance. A number of sources from the early Church Fathers tell us that Simon Magus created a gnostic cult around himself and caused people to worship him and a woman whom he claimed was the embodiment of the mind of God. This cult of his survived for roughly a couple hundred years, lasting into the fourth century when it died out. You can read an extensive account of Simon’s story in Irenaeus if you are the sort of person who enjoys diving into these things.

The book of Acts was given to us as Scripture for a reason, and one of those reasons was to show the Church what Church looks like, and a healthy Church will have conflict sometimes, because a healthy Church will inevitably run into conflict with the world, which operates from an entirely different set of rules and expectations.

The good news here in Acts 8 of course is that the Church was healthy and DID have Godly leaders and Peter and John DID call out Simon’s bitterness, bondage to sin, and lust for power. And so Simon failed in his bid to make the church about himself and his power and his kingdom. But for a season we should not forget that Simon was a baptized and accepted member of the Church.

1 John 2:15–17 “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.”

Simon had the desires of the flesh. He thought that following Jesus was a path to power and to fame. And he believed that everyone felt the same way he did. He had no idea that Peter would react as negatively as he did when he, Simon, offered to purchase the gifts of the Spirit for money. He clearly believed that Peter would want money the same way Simon did.

What is the way of Christ as opposed to the way of Simon? It is found in the second chapter of Philippians:

Philippians 2:3–8 “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

Jesus was a servant to all, who made His life not a life of grasping power, but of emptying Himself and humbling Himself, all the way to the Cross. And we should have the same mind among ourselves, minds of service to each other, even when we are hurt or injured in mind or spirit or our pride is wounded, nevertheless, we turn away from ambition and conceit, and we embrace the narrow path that leads to eternal life, the way of the Cross, denying ourselves while carrying our Cross, and in this way reflecting the Love of our Savior, the depths of which we will not know until, as the song says, we have been there 10,000 years, bright shining as the sun.