The Word (Salvation) Came to Samaria

Scripture Reading

Acts 8:4-25 (ESV)

“4 Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word. 5 Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Christ.

6 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. 7 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. 8 So there was much joy in that city.

9 But there was a man named Simon, who had previously practiced magic in the city and amazed the people of Samaria, saying that he himself was somebody great. 10 They all paid attention to him, from the least to the greatest, saying, ‘This man is the power of God that is called Great.' 11 And they paid attention to him because for a long time he had amazed them with his magic.

12 But when they believed Philip as he preached good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. 13 Even Simon himself believed, and after being baptized he continued with Philip. And seeing signs and great miracles performed, he was amazed.

14 Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John, 15 who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, 16 for he had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit.

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

20 But Peter said to him, ‘May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! 21 You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right before God. 22 Repent, therefore, of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you. 23 For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity.’

24 And Simon answered, ‘Pray for me to the Lord, that nothing of what you have said may come upon me.’ 25 Now when they had testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans.”

Main Point

God expands Christ’s kingdom in the world through the preaching of the gospel and through the conversion of sinners, but there will be some who only appear converted for a time.

Message

(1) Philip Preached the Gospel

The commission

Remember the commission Christ gave His disciples in Acts 1:8, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

The Holy Spirit came to believers in the Lord Jesus in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4), and Christians immediately began bearing witness to Jesus as the Christ.

Now, in Acts 8, because of persecution in Jerusalem, Christians have been scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria… and they “went about preaching the word” (Acts 8:1).

Focusing on Philip

But why does Luke focus us on one preacher/witness?

Because Philip “went down to a/the city of Samaria...” (v5).

After Jerusalem, Samaria is the next target of Christ’s expanding kingdom (Acts 1:8).

And Philip “proclaimed to them the Christ” (v5).

Notice yet again the centrality of “the Christ” or “the Messiah” in the message of these early Christians.

What does this mean? …gospel here.

(2) Samaritans Hear and Believe

What happened?

Many of the Samaritans “paid attention” to what Philip “said” (v6).

The Samaritans “saw the signs that he did” (v6).

The “signs” of casting out “unclean spirits” (v7) and “healing” those who were “paralyzed or lame” (v7) and the “performing” of “great miracles” (v13) were marks or characteristics of the age when Jesus inaugurated the New Covenant (both during His earthly ministry and through His Apostles).

These signs were primarily done through the Apostles, but as we see here, the signs were also performed by other Christians.

Therefore, the signs validated the message… and gave a foretaste of the glorious age to come.

Some of the Samaritans “believed Philip as he preached good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ” (v12).

Those Samaritans who believed “were baptized” (v12).

The Biblical pattern

Let’s just take a moment to enjoy the progression of this thoroughly Baptist passage.

Philip preached the gospel… Samaritan men and women believed what Philip preached… and so those converted believers were baptized.

Notice also the association of baptism with the “name of the Lord Jesus” (v16)… association with Christ and with His people/kingdom/disciples in the world.

As we saw in Acts 2, this is not a specific vocabulary prescription, but an overt indication that baptism is THE way Christians “go public” as Christ-ians.

It’s not explicitly mentioned in this passage, but based on what we’ve read earlier in Acts 2 (especially v41-47), we may safely assume that these baptisms were the beginning of a congregation or church in Samaria.

Next week, we will delve deeper into all of this, since the next portion of Acts 8 describes a little divergence from this pattern… though only a very small (and historically understandable) divergence, as we shall see.

However, there is one peculiar oddity in our passage that may be a little confusing to some, and that is the fact that “belief” and “baptism” both happen before these believing Samaritans “received the Holy Spirit.”

What’s up with that?

(3) God Himself Affirmed the Believing Samaritans

The Holy Spirit came upon believing Samaritans

“14 when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John, 15 who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, for he had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 [And when] they laid their hands on them… they received the Holy Spirit” (v14-17).

Luke doesn’t say how this reception of the Holy Spirit was manifest, but we may assume that they experienced the same as those first Spirit-filled Christians on the day of Pentecost.

“They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues [or “languages”] as the Spirit gave them utterance” (Acts 2:4).

What does this mean?

This was a divine affirmation of them as recipients of God’s gospel promises (total salvation).

After Peter’s gospel presentation in Acts 2, he called his hearers to “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children [i.e., descendants of Abraham] and for all who are far off [i.e., the nations or Gentiles], everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself” (Acts 2:38-39).

This was a distinct expansion in the course of Redemptive history

God’s gospel promises were affirmed first to believing Jews in Jerusalem and then to ethnically-impure Jews in Samaria who believed.

Note: an odd and unexpected expansion from the perspective of the Jews, but not unknown or spontaneous on God’s part.

Should we expect “tongues” or a “second experience” from the Holy Spirit today?

Because of the significant shift from the Mosaic covenant to the New Covenant, it is not surprising that we see many unusual events in the Gospels and in Acts, which we do not expect to see repeated.

Jesus lived and died and ascended; and we do not expect to see Him do these again.

The Apostles were divinely set apart as the foundation of the early Church, and some of them even wrote and/or endorsed inspired books which now complete the New Testament; and yet, we do not expect modern Apostles nor additions to our Bibles.

During Jesus’ ministry and that of His Apostles, the message of the gospel was accompanied by signs and miracles, which validated the message in real time; and yet, we do not expect to see hospitals cleared out today by apostolic preachers.

So too, the Holy Spirit came upon those who believed with observable evidence, namely speaking in languages they couldn’t have known (notably following the exact geographical pattern Jesus articulated in His commission at the beginning of Acts - Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, the end of the earth); and yet, we do not expect immediate observable evidence of anyone’s regeneration or reception of the Holy Spirit today.

And yet, we do expect evidence! Even the observable kind!

The Holy Spirit “washes” and “regenerates” and “renews” sinners, according to the “mercy of God” (Titus 3:5).

And the “fruit [or evidence] of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, [and] self-control” (Gal. 5:22-23).

Also, the Holy Spirit “apportions to each” and “empowers” individual “members” of the larger church “body” to serve one another for the “common good” (1 Cor. 12).

All of this will be more important when we get to the strange character of Simon the magician.

(4) The Repeated Arc of the Book of Acts

The Arc

Christ commissioned His disciples to be His witnesses.

Christians faithfully lived as pilgrim-ambassadors for Christ in the world.

God expanded Christ’s kingdom in the world (which is made visible in the assemblies of His Spirit-filled people) through preaching/evangelizing and conversions.

And even the most heinous opposition the world could muster only served God’s purposes in extending Christ’s kingdom further.

A good reminder and encouragement for us

We share in the same commission Christ gave His first disciples… we are His witnesses.

We ought to follow the good examples of those Christians who have lived before us… we must live as faithful pilgrim-ambassadors.

We ought to trust God’s plan to grow Christ’s kingdom in the world through gospel-proclamation and conversions… we simply teach people the gospel with the aim to persuade them to believe, and we call everyone to repent and to trust and follow Jesus… alongside other Spirit-filled Christians.

And, we ought to trust in God’s sovereign and wise plans as well as His unstoppable power to accomplish His will… May God help us to simply be faithful.

(5) The strange Character of Simon the Magician

Who was Simon?

v8 says, “there was much joy in that city” because of Philip’s preaching and the apostolic miracles which came along with this New Covenant message.

But, then, v9 says, “But there was a man named Simon...”

Simon “had previously practiced magic… and amazed the people of Samaria” (v9).

Simon had the “attention” of everyone, “from the least to the greatest” (v10).

It’s implied that Simon claimed to be some sort of god in the saying, “This man is the power of God that is called Great” (v10).

Early Church pastors and theologians of the second and third centuries charge the “Simon of Acts” with being the founder of “a heretical Gnostic sect” called “Simonians” (see Polhill’s commentary on Acts 8:9-13).

Did Simon become a Christian?

v13 says, “Even Simon himself believed, and after being baptized he continued with Philip.”

Simon kept “seeing signs and great miracles performed, [and] he was amazed” (v13).

Whatever was in Simon’s heart, he was publicly living as a Christian… at least for a time.

The Apostles confronted Simon

v14 and following says, “Peter and John… 15 came down and prayed for [the Samaritan believers] that they might receive the Holy Spirit… 17 [And when] they laid their hands on them… they received the Holy Spirit.”

But Simon doesn’t seem to be included among them, since he is singled out in the passage. v18 says, “When Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money” so that he too could do this trick (v18-19).

In an instant, Peter rebuked Simon, and Peter even speaks a word of judgment against him.

Peter said, “20 May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! 21 You have neither part nor lot in this matter [more precisely “this word”], for your heart is not right before God. 22 Repent, therefore, of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you. 23 For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity.”

In short, Peter says that Simon has no part in what the believing Samaritans were receiving, and that Simon is still corrupt to the core and in bondage to sin.

This (1) reminds us that not all who profess to be Christians are truly Christian, and (2) that some actions and/or misplaced beliefs are signals that a person may be a false convert.

Remember the different kinds of soil Jesus talked about in Matthew 13.

Sowers of the gospel throw out seed, calling sinners to repent and believe.

Some sinners barely hear the gospel at all, because they are distracted by the things of this world and by the evil one at work in this world. Distractions and demonic efforts “devour” the seed before it can settle (Matt. 13:4, 19).

Some sinners hear the gospel and respond positively right away. But these people often have no depth, and they do not endure when it become difficult to follow Jesus (Matt. 13:5-6, 20-21).

Some sinners hear the word of the gospel, but the cares of the world and the deceptive promises of sin choke out any real life or fruit (Matt. 13:7, 22).

And some sinners hear the word and understand it, and they bear fruit in keeping with repentance and faith (Matt. 13:8, 23).

Only one of these types of soil (or kinds of responses) is good. But two of the bad ones look or appear good for a while.

Simon seems to have been like the 3rd category of gospel hearer… He heard and seemed to believe, but time revealed that his heart was still full of sin, and he was still in bondage to it.

Calvin said, “when [Simon] was convicted he gave Christ his hand in earnest, like as many yield unto the gospel, lest they strive against God, but in the mean season they continue like to themselves; whereas the denial of ourselves ought to follow true faith. And this is to mix Christ with Satan, when doctrine pierceth not unto the hidden affections of the heart, but the inward uncleanness lieth hidden there” (see Calvin’s commentary on Acts 8:18).

This last point should (a) sober us as professing believers, (b) it should motivate us as evangelists, and (c) it should codify us as a church.

It should sober us as professing believers such that we cannot be allowed to merely trust in our profession of faith to save us.

The New Testament is filled with warnings about false belief and false doctrine.

May we never stop seeking to eradicate such things from our own minds and hearts.

We must be believing the true gospel, we must be clinging to the true Christ, and we must have all of our worldly desires and ambitions subdued under the lordship of Jesus.

It should motivate us as evangelists when our friends or our family members or our neighbors or our coworkers profess to be Christians but have no noticeable fruit in their lives.

This may not be a lack of discipleship... but may in fact be a lack of true spiritual life, or the absence of true conversion, or an ignorance of the true gospel, or false assumptions about someone’s spiritual state based on any or all of the above.

It should codify or arrange or order us as a church, such that we (all church members) understand that there is such a thing as a false convert… who appears true for a time.

We must certainly lament when one or more church members is acting or believing in ways that are contrary to Scripture, but we must not be inactive in the face of this sort of thing.

We must teach and admonish one another (Col. 3:16), we must confront one another in sin (Matt. 18:15-20), and we must (just as Peter did to Simon) call one another to repentance (Acts 8:22).

May we be encouraged by the reminder that God builds Christ’s kingdom in the world through the preaching (or speaking) of the message of the gospel…

and may we be instructed by Simon’s bad example this morning to take conversion to Christ’s kingdom seriously…

so that we will be true citizens of Christ’s kingdom and faithful witnesses, and also that we will help others be the same.

Bibliography

Calvin, John. Commentary upon the Acts of the Apostles. Edited by Henry Beveridge. Translated by Christopher Fetherstone. Vol. 1. 2 vols. Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2010.

Peterson, David G. The Acts of the Apostles. The Pillar New Testament Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI; Nottingham, England: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2009.

Polhill, John B. Acts. Vol. 26. The New American Commentary. Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1992.

Sproul, R. C., ed. The Reformation Study Bible: English Standard Version. 2015 Edition. Orlando, FL: Reformation Trust, 2015.