Acts 8:5-17 “Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them. (6) And the multitudes with one accord heeded the things spoken by Philip, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. (7) For unclean spirits, crying with a loud voice came out of many who were possessed; and many who were paralyzed and lame were healed. (8) And there was great joy in that city. … (14) Now when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them, (15) who, when they had come down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. (16) For as yet He had fallen upon none of them. They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. (17) Then they laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.”
In this section we are discussing the concept of achieving greater results; by recognizing what our gifts are and thus operating in the specific anointing that we have received from the Lord. Let me illustrate this point by means of an example given to us in the passage of scripture quoted above. When persecution against the church in Jerusalem occurred after Stephen was martyred, the saints were scattered and went everywhere preaching the gospel. Philip, who was one of the seven, went down to the city of Samaria where he preached the gospel. Scripture reveals to us that he had a city-wide revival and that multitudes responded to his message by giving their hearts to the Lord. Not only were many saved through his ministry however, but also many were healed and delivered through his laying on of hands. And so we see that when Philip ministered in Samaria, many were saved, healed and delivered, but as we read further in the above account we see that no one was filled with the Holy Spirit. So why is that? Philip had no problem laying hands on many who were sick and demon possessed, so why not lay hands on them to get them filled with the Spirit as well? The reason was because Philip had received the spiritual gift of healings from the Lord, and thus he carried the anointing to be able to minister God’s power to the multitudes in healing and deliverance. But when it came to laying hands on believers to be filled with the Holy Spirit, Philip recognized that he was not anointed in that area because that wasn’t his gift. For the ministry of the laying on of hands for the infilling of the Holy Spirit is also a gift from the Lord and therefore carries a different anointing. And so Philip asked the church in Jerusalem to send him help in that area. In response to Philip’s request, the church in Jerusalem specifically sent the apostles Peter and John to Samaria to lay hands on the saints. The reason they did that was because Peter and John had received the ministry gift from the Lord for the infilling of the Holy Spirit, and they were therefore anointed in that area. Philip could certainly have laid hands on each new convert in faith, and prayed for them to be filled with the Holy Spirit. But scripture tells us that multitudes were saved, and so for Philip to pray in faith for each one in turn to receive the infilling of the Spirit would not have been nearly as effective as having people pray, who were specifically anointed by the Lord to minister in that area. Clearly Philip recognized that he couldn’t do it all, and that each one of us have received our own gift from the Lord and we are to walk in our callings and defer to others in the body of Christ in areas where we have not received those gifts from the Lord.
Michael E.B. Maher
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