Acts 8:14-24 “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. (18) And when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles' hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money, (19) saying, "Give me this power also, that anyone on whom I lay hands may receive the Holy Spirit." (20) But Peter said to him, "Your money perish with you, because you thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money! (21) You have neither part nor portion in this matter, for your heart is not right in the sight of God. (22) Repent therefore of this your wickedness, and pray God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you. (23) For I see that you are poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity." (24) Then Simon answered and said, "Pray to the Lord for me, that none of the things which you have spoken may come upon me.”
This is the second account in scripture of the disciples being baptized with the Holy Spirit. If you read the account you will see that leading up to this incident, Phillip the evangelist had gone to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them. Because he operated in the ministry gift of the evangelist (Acts 21:8), multitudes in that city gave their hearts to the Lord Jesus and were thus born-again. Part of the anointing that goes along with the office of the evangelist, are the gifts of the Holy Spirit called the working of miracles and gifts of healings (1 Corinthians 12:9-10). And so, these gifts were also manifested through Phillip's ministry during his meetings held in that city, and many demons were cast out and many paralyzed and lame were healed (Acts 8:7). Phillip also ensured that all the new converts were baptized in water, following the doctrine taught by the Lord's apostles (Acts 8:16). But in all the time that Phillip was ministering in that city, none of the new converts were filled with the Holy Spirit. And so, the question must be asked why not? The reason is that Phillip did not have that particular gift operating in his ministry. Phillip knew that the disciples needed to receive the Holy Spirit, so he sent to Jerusalem to ask for help in this area. When the apostles heard about Phillip's request, they specifically sent Peter and John to them to pray for the new converts so that they could receive the Holy Spirit. Peter and John had this particular anointing on their ministries, which enabled them to lay hands on disciples so that they could be filled with the Holy Spirit. This particular anointing is a gift of the Holy Spirit and falls under the category of the spiritual gift called working of miracles. Peter called it a gift when he rebuked Simon for trying to buy this gift. Some have thought that Simon and Peter, in the conversation that took place between them, were referring to being filled with the Holy Spirit as the gift. But that is not the case at all, for Simon wanted the same ability (gift) that Peter and John had, of being able to lay hands on people so that they could be filled with the Holy Spirit. And so, when Peter and John came down to the city of Samaria, they held a meeting specifically for the saints (new converts), so that they could be filled with the Holy Spirit. By this time, Peter and John would have personally laid hands on hundreds of new converts in Jerusalem to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and so they had extensive experience in this aspect of their ministry. In this meeting, the apostles would have taught the disciples what being baptized with the Holy Spirit was all about, including the gift of tongues which would be imparted to each one, and the possibility of other gifts of the Spirit also being imparted to some, as the Spirit willed. They would have also taught them how to receive the Holy Spirit by faith (Galatians 3:2). At the end of their teaching they would have called all the saints to gather around, and either Peter or John would have prayed a general prayer requesting the Lord to fill His saints with the Holy Spirit. Then both men would have walked among the saints, laying hands on them and imparting the Holy Spirit to each one in turn.
And so, this brings us to the next point, which is the incident involving Simon. The Holy Spirit recorded this incident in scripture, to teach the church certain truths about the baptism of the Holy Spirit. So what are those truths? To answer that question we first need to understand Simon’s background leading up to this incident. If you read the account in scripture, you will see that Simon was a sorcerer; and as such, he had been practicing sorcery in the city of Samaria for a long time. Through his sorcery, he had become both wealthy and famous, to the extent that everyone in the city believed that he was the great power of God that he claimed to be. Clearly, Simon was very familiar with the supernatural power of demons and worked with those demons to bewitch the people of Samaria through the display of various signs and wonders. But when Simon was confronted with the truth of the gospel preached by Philip, and witnessed the signs and wonders performed through Philip’s ministry, he was convicted of the error of his ways and believed in the gospel, thus being born again. He was then baptized by Philip as one of the new converts to Christianity in that city, and he continued with Philip for the remainder of his ministry in Samaria. And so, when Peter and John held a meeting for the saints to be filled with the Holy Spirit, Simon was among the disciples who received that experience. Simon therefore, not only saw the Holy Spirit being given through the laying on of hands of the apostles, but he also experienced it for himself firsthand. And so, it was at that point that he offered Peter and John money, for the scripture says that, “when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles' hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money, saying, "Give me this power also, that anyone on whom I lay hands may receive the Holy Spirit." So why did Simon offer money to Peter and John to give him the power to do the same thing they did? Until that time, Simon's exposure to the gifts of the Spirit had been through witnessing Philip, who as an evangelist, ministered his gifts of healing to those who were paralyzed and lame, to both the saved and the unsaved alike. And so Simon in his ignorance assumed that this gift could also be ministered to everyone, for he did not know that the gift of the Holy Spirit was given only to the Lord's saints. As I have already mentioned, the ability to lay hands on individuals to receive the Holy Spirit is, in fact, a gift of the Spirit, and so if Simon's motivation for wanting this gift was so that he could bless others with it, it would have been entirely scriptural for him to seek this gift, for the bible encourages the saints to desire spiritual gifts (1 Corinthians 12:31). And if in his zealous ignorance, he had offered money for the gift because as a new convert he didn't know any better, Peter would not have rebuked him so harshly but rather just corrected his thinking on the subject. However, Simon's motivation was not so that he could bless others, but rather for his selfish ambition, so he could keep his fame and continue to make money. For Simon had in effect now switched sides, from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light, and he couldn't work with demonic powers anymore to attract the crowds through the use of sorcery. But to his surprise, he had now found a new source of power that he thought he could use to attract the crowds once again. So what evidence did Simon see that convinced him that the power of the Holy Spirit was real? Simon would have seen the same evidence that we described in the previous account, i.e. some of the disciples would have begun to tremble under the tangible power of God coming upon them, some would have wept and still others would have laughed, while some among them, may have cried out in surprise and joy at encountering the tangible power of God for the first time. Some on this occasion may also have fallen under the power of God, as they would have been standing at the time hands were laid on them. Nevertheless, all the disciples would have started to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. And Simon himself would have experienced the same tangible power and phenomena as the rest of the disciples. Sorcerers charged money for their services, and as a businessman who was used to dealing with supernatural powers, Simon would not have offered money for something that was not evident as being supernatural, for Simon knew that it was people's craving for the supernatural that attracted the crowds. However, if the only evidence of being filled with the Spirit had been speaking in tongues, Simon would never have offered money for that; for he knew that no one would pay to come to his meetings to be given a supernatural language to speak that they couldn't even understand. And so, it had to be the other aspects of being filled with the Spirit, such as experiencing the tangible power of God and laughing under that power, that Simon knew would attract the crowds, and be willing to pay him money for that experience. It was on this basis that Simon offered Peter and John a significant amount of money for this gift because he saw it as a business opportunity for himself. Peter knew Simon's motivation for wanting this particular gift, which is why Peter rebuked him so sharply for wanting to make money through the gifting of God, and warned him that he was very close to blaspheming the Holy Spirit with all the dire consequences that entailed. And so, we learn from this account that the Holy Spirit can also be given through the laying on of hands, just as the healing anointing is imparted through the laying on of hands. We also learned that every believer that Peter and John laid hands on received the Holy Spirit, i.e. none were left out. Also, all the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit after they had already been born again, and there was very clear evidence of the disciples being filled with the Holy Spirit, other than just speaking in tongues.
Michael E.B. Maher
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