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 practising 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 baptised 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 that 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."
Michael E.B. Maher
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