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A man named Simon had been in the city for some time, and had swept the Samaritans off their feet with his magical arts, claiming to be someone great. All of them, high and low, listened eagerly to him. “This man,” they said, “is that power of God which is called ‘The Great Power’.” They listened because they had for so long been carried away by his magic. But when they came to believe Phillip with his good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptised, men and women alike. Even Simon himself believed, and was baptised, and thereupon was constantly in Phillip’s company. He was carried away when he saw the powerful signs and wonders that were taking place.
The apostles in Jerusalem now heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God. They sent off Peter and John, who went down there and prayed for the converts, asking that they might receive the Holy Spirit. For until then the Spirit had not come upon any of them. They had been baptised into the name of the lord Jesus, that and nothing more. So Peter and John laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit.
When Simon saw that the Spirit was bestowed through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money and said, “give me the same power too, so that when I lay my hands on anyone, he will receive the Holy Spirit”. Peter replied, “your money go with you to damnation, because you thought God’s gift was for sale! You have no part nor lot in this, for you are dishonest with God. Repent of this wickedness and pray the Lord to forgive you for imagining such a thing. I can see that you are doomed to taste the bitter fruit and wear the fetters of sin.” Simon answered, “Pray to the Lord for me yourselves and ask that none of the things you have spoken of may fall upon me.” (from the NEB)
Perhaps it’s just the translation I used, but this text appears at first, for a New Testament excerpt, not to reflect the loving, forgiving God we know. Nevertheless, I’m going to try to offer some thoughts, though certainly not definite answers.
I suppose there could be three “bits” in this passage that have relevance to us today. They’re not generally explicit teaching as such, but more thoughts that come from the actions of the apostles here. They are on Conversion, the Holy Spirit, and Forgiveness, all fairly weighty themes.
The initial conversion of the Samaritans is interesting, as it appears partially due as much to the “signs and wonders” attending Phillip’s teaching as to do with the content of it. This doesn’t look good when it is considered that the same people had been taken in by Simon’s cynical promotion of himself through “magic”. The nature of these “signs and wonders” is not clear, but as they are clearly distinguished from Simon’s methods by the writer of this piece, perhaps we should conclude that they were relevant outworkings of the content of Phillip’s message, intended to further people’s appreciation of it and conversion by it, rather than to dazzle and persuade by spectacle. What is clear, however, is the further point that it is possible for followers of Jesus to be convinced of his Good News, repent and be baptised, without receiving the Holy Spirit.
This is not to say that the Samaritans were not now saved Christians because they had yet to receive the Holy Spirit, but that God appears to have had more in their lives in store for them than just acceptance of the Gospel and acknowledgement of it. This is perhaps a lesson for us — the Holy Spirit here and elsewhere in the New Testament appears to draw a believer further into an understanding of God, endowing them with individual gifts that enable a greater witness to him, in a whole variety of ways. If we do not continue to learn from and pray with those who work for the growth of our Christian community, as the Samaritans learnt from and prayed with Peter and John, we deny ourselves the ability to grow as individual Christians, and thus to contribute to that growth. The Holy Spirit is in the gift of God, not of those who preach his message, as the passage clearly states by John and Peter’s application to God that the people might receive the Holy Spirit, and the fact that not all of the Samaritans received it. However, it seems to be stated that the state of being in the Spirit and thus in God, that leads to the building up of the community, is communicated by God through the Christian work of that community.
Simon’s failure to understand the Holy Spirit and the fact that the individual cannot choose to have it passed on to them leads to the passage’s statements on forgiveness. Peter’s reply perhaps appears harsh and condemnatory, not allowing Simon any chance of progress in the new life he had appeared to be gaining in Jesus. Yet I think he is holding out the promise of forgiveness. He does not see Simon’s fault as the misunderstanding of the Spirit as such, yet that he has been “ dishonest with God” — he had believed in Jesus Christ, yet had not been honest enough with God to ask forgiveness for his previous actions, and had not renounced the use of religion as a personal ego- booster and self-importance device, another thing which anybody anywhere finds a constant problem in trying to follow Jesus. Peter sees that this means that Simon’s conversion is imperfect, which is why he tells him that only by asking God for forgiveness can he achieve eternal life in Christ. Simon is not being expelled from the body of Christ, but reminded that he’d be better off asking forgiveness from God and joining that body than hiding his nature from God and assuming he can get in anyway. Simon’s recognition of both this and his own human difficulties in opening up to God and honestly asking forgiveness for actions he took some pleasure in is the most important part of this text for me.
In asking Peter and John to pray for him, Simon shows both shock at Peter’s teaching, and humility in realising that he cannot be saved in his own strength (just as Peter has finally brought it home to him that he cannot receive the Holy Spirit in his own strength). This is another point perhaps relevant to all of us, and again shows the importance of the Christian community in living out God’s message of forgiveness — we must pray for each other, and have the humility and trust to ask others to pray for us — not because we are trusting in their strength to be more than ours, but because by doing so we are sharing with each other our weaknesses in following God, and encouraging others that God will help them with those weaknesses in answering our prayers.
This may appear to be an “Early Church” story about Men With A Mission charging about and performing “signs and wonders”. Yet at root, it could be about us — the Church and body of Jesus, that needs to constantly be admitting its problems, listening to God, telling others about what we understand of Him and supporting and comforting each other in trying to draw closer to Him.
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Last modified: 25th November 2005