Acts Episode 16: Persecution and the Growth of the Church in Samaria

Wes

Welcome to the Two Journeys Bible Study podcast. This podcast is just one of the many resources available to you for free from Two Journeys Ministry. If you’re interested in learning more, just head over to twojourneys.org. Now on to today’s episode.

This is Episode 16 in our Acts Bible Study podcast. This episode is entitled Persecution and the Growth of the Church in Samaria, where we’ll discuss Acts 8:1-25. I’m Wes Treadway and I’m here with Pastor Andy Davis.

Andy, what are we going to see in these verses we’re looking at today?

Andy

Well, we’ve said again and again that the theme verse for the entire Book of Acts is Acts 1:8, “You receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you’ll be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.”

Now today we’re going to look at the movement of the gospel from Jewish only to including the Samaritan people. And we’re going to see the power of the gospel to unite people who were ancient enemies who really couldn’t stand each other. But we’re going to see the unification of the church by the sovereign activity, the very unusual activity of God, of refraining from giving the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Samaritans until the apostles arrive from Jerusalem, just unifying the church so beautifully.

We’re also going to see an interesting encounter with a man named Simon the Sorcerer, and how we’re going to see very vigorously how money cannot play a role in the establishment of church leaders in the spreading of the gospel. And so, we’re going to see all of that today.

Wes

Let me go ahead and read Acts 8:1-25, beginning with Saul’s reaction to the execution of Stephen.

And Saul approved of his execution. And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him. But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.

Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word. Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Christ. 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. 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. So there was much joy in that city.

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. They all paid attention to him, from the least to the greatest, saying, “This man is the power of God that is called Great.” And they paid attention to him because for a long time he had amazed them with his magic. 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. Even Simon himself believed, and after being baptized he continued with Philip. And seeing signs and great miracles performed, he was amazed.

Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John, 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. Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit. Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money, saying, “Give me this power also, so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.”

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

And Simon answered, “Pray for me to the Lord, that nothing of what you have said may come upon me.”

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.

Andy, what do we learn about Saul’s attitude concerning Stephen’s death? And why does Luke tell us this at the beginning of chapter 8?

Andy

Well, one of the great stories, clearly one of the great stories on the entire Book of Acts is the conversion of Saul of Tarsus from a hater of the gospel and of the church to the apostle Paul who did more than any human being ever to build the church. It’s told three times. So, it’s clearly emphasized in the Book of Acts. This is a benchmark, the fact that this godly man, Stephen, whose face looked like the face of an angel and who had such a Christ-like disposition to his persecuting murderers, really, “Father,” he said, “do not hold this sin against them.” It’s just incredible that he hates Stephen and Christians so much that he’s giving consent to his murder.

So, this will be a benchmark, and also, we’ll get the same thing in the next chapter when it says Saul is breeding out murderous threats against the Lord, Lord and his disciples. So, he’s there giving approval to his death. That’s who he was at that point.

In other words, from his heart, he agreed that this was the right thing to do, to murder this man. Keep in mind, they had not been able to refute Stephen’s arguments. So, it’s just interesting, the twisted, devious, wicked nature of the unconverted human heart.

Wes

How does Luke describe the details of this first persecution that arises, and what’s the significance of the fact that the apostles were not scattered from Jerusalem?

Andy

They’re like seeds. They’re just being scattered everywhere. And everywhere they go, they preach the word.

Right. So, it’s a massive persecution. It’s very, very serious. We’re going to talk in a moment about Saul’s involvement in it, but just many, many people are being arrested and hauled off into prison. And it’s very significant that the apostles, the church was scattered. So that’s a pretty big deal. You’re not able to live in your homes anymore, but they’re scattered throughout. But it’s just interesting. They’re like seeds. They’re just being scattered everywhere. And everywhere they go, they preach the word. And the significance of the apostles not being among those who were scattered shows that this was a lay people’s movement.

This was not the leaders that were sharing the gospel. They were, but the regular common men and women, the brothers and sisters in Christ were spreading the gospel. And so, we’re going to find out in heaven how much ordinary people were involved in the spiritual conquest of the Roman Empire. Three centuries of gospel advance carried on by tradesmen and housewives and relatives traveling to see other relatives and all kinds of stuff that could never make it into the pages of history, just very ordinary things as they were going sharing the gospel. And so, it’s very significant that the church was scattered but not the apostles.

Wes

I wonder if you’d talk for a moment about the courage it must have took for the devout men mentioned in verse 2 to bury Stephen and grieve openly for him.

Andy

Yeah, there’s obviously a guilt by association aspect, and this is going to be all the more clear. We definitely see it in the Book of Hebrews where the author urges them to remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners. And he says, also, “Remember those early days with the gospel when you joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property” (Hebrews 10:34), and where publicly, publicly stood with those who were being persecuted. So, it’s definitely a guilt by association thing. And then frankly, the authorities would use this as a means of gathering out of hiding true Christians by arresting some key leaders. Whoever showed up to feed them in prison or bring blankets to them or care for them, they’re Christians too.

And so, to go and publicly take the corpse of Stephen out of that pile of rocks and openly mourn for him, they’re identifying themselves as Christians.

Wes

What does verse 3 teach us about Saul and his position with the Sanhedrin, and what effect do you think it had on Saul to drag off men and women and put them in prison?

Andy

Saul began to destroy the church, it says, and he goes from house to house. And this image of him dragging men and women, dragging anybody, it’s so degrading. And Paul calls himself a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man. So, he’s a violent person here. And what was involved in dragging women, doesn’t say he dragged their children. So, he separated mothers from their children who must have been crying out and wailing as their mother was being arrested for being Christians. And to see what effect did that have on him.

In Acts 26 when Jesus in the third accounting of his conversion, yet one more detail, which was true in all cases just not reported in Acts 9 and in Acts 22, but it was, it’s hard for you to kick against the goads. So, the goads are inducements leading Saul to be converted. And the searing effect it must have had on his conscience and the painful effect of these innocent, godly, simple, loving people, Jewish people who believed that Jesus was the Messiah must have had eventually a converting effect on Saul.

Wes

In verses 4-8 we’re introduced to Philip and his ministry to Samaria. What does verse 4 teach us about the effect of the persecution on the church as a whole and who is doing the preaching in this verse? You mentioned a little bit earlier the significance of the apostles staying in Jerusalem, but who’s doing the preaching here?

Andy

Well, it’s the other side of the equation, and I assumed it in the answer I gave, but here it is. It’s those who had been scattered (who) preach the word. And we know from the earlier verse that was not the apostles. So, this was a lay person’s evangelistic explosion, and they were preaching the word wherever they went. And now Philip who was one of the seven that we met at the beginning of Acts 6, the second in greatness to Stephen. So, Stephen was full of the Holy Spirit and full of faith and had this zealous ministry, but now along comes Philip, and he also had a very powerful ministry.

Wes

Yeah. So, it’s amazing. This persecution that’s meant to quell this Christian movement, in fact has the opposite effect and scatters the Christians with Philip among them. Let’s talk a little bit about Philip. What can we learn from the fact that now that Stephen is dead, another of the seven of Acts 6 gets raised up in his place?

Andy

Right. So, the ministry that they did in making certain that the Greek-speaking widows were not being overlooked in the daily distribution of food, that was not all they did, clearly. Stephen had a very powerful ministry. He went to the synagogue of the freed men, Jews from Cyprus, Cyrene, Cilicia, other places, and he reasoned with them and proved from the scriptures that Jesus was the Christ. He had a very doctrinal, powerful gospel presentation, Stephen did.

But Philip also has this powerful ministry. And he’s going to a city in Samaria and he’s proclaiming the Christ there. He’s proclaiming the messiahship of Jesus of Nazareth. He’s preaching the gospel. And he’s going to Samaria. And it’s just very, very interesting because we know from John 4 very plainly that Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. But Philip was willing to go and preach the gospel there in Samaria.

Wes

Andy, tell us a little bit more about the division between Samaritans and Jews that we see in this chapter because it’s a big deal for them, and it might be lost on us, how significant it really was that the gospel was breaking into this place.

Andy

All right, so the clearest statement, as I said, John 4, Jews have no dealings with Samaritans, but there’s a lot of backstory. It has to do with the two different exiles of the Jews. And the first exile was by the Assyrians. And the northern, the more apostate kingdom of the Jews was taken off by the Assyrians. They were unbelievers for the most part from the get-go. When Jeroboam son of Nebat set up the golden calves or whatever were their gods so to speak, and they set up their own priesthood, it was not Levitical priesthood. It was anybody who wanted to be a priest would be paid by the king to be a priest. And they just set up their own idolatrous religion. They went apostate immediately.

And though there were occasionally godly people and occasionally godly prophets like Elijah and all that, that would go and minister in the northern kingdom, for the most part they were apostate. And sooner or later the patience of God ran out. The Assyrians came in, and they went into exile.

Then the Assyrians willingly settled some Jews with gentiles, and they all mixed together, and they worshiped many gods. And it became a kind of a hybrid mongrel race. And that included some that claimed to be Jews. There were Samaritans who only accepted the first five books of the Old Testament, the Books of Moses, did not accept any of the history after that, did not accept any of the prophets. They were basically like apostate liberal types, but still claimed to be Jews.

We also know from John 4 that they worshiped at Mount Gerizim in a city in Samaria, whereas the Jews said, the only place to worship, the one place to assemble must be the City of David, must be at the temple, where? Jerusalem. So, they had that division.

So, there was a great deal of animosity and hostility. For Jesus to give the ultimate example of that horizontal second great commandment, love for neighbor as the good Samaritan must have been scandalous. That he would choose, I mean what good could ever come out of Samaria? But here’s this good Samaritan caring for somebody. And Jesus himself ministering to the Samaritan woman and to the Samaritan village, leading them all to Christ. He’s laying the groundwork.

We also have this interesting encounter with James and John who are called Boanerges, which means sons of thunder. And one of the reasons it seems they were called that, at one point like Elijah, they wanted to call down fire on a Samaritan village that would not allow Jesus to come in. And the reason they would not allow Jesus to come into their village is that he was determined to go from there on to Jerusalem. And so, they didn’t want any part of this Jewish man. And so, James and John, they wanted to go full Elijah on them. Let’s call down fire like 2 Kings 1, which Elijah did on a successive series of 50 men and a captain. It’s like, “Oh, let’s do that.” So, there was a lot of animosity, a lot of hostility, a lot of hatred between Jews and Samaritans.

Wes

So, with this backdrop in mind, Philip boldly goes into Samaria and proclaims Christ; he makes Christ known to the Samaritans. What does verse 6 teach us about the relationship between miracles and gospel preaching, and what was the effect of the miracles Philip performed in verses 6-8?

Andy

looking at the miracles of Jesus, they had a temporal function, but they served eternity,… by proving the identity of Jesus

Sure. It’s a great question and one of the most important things we have to learn, even as we’re walking through on Sunday mornings, the Gospel of Mark. And looking at the miracles of Jesus, they had a temporal function, but they served eternity, if you could put it that way. They served eternity by proving the identity of Jesus, that he was God in the flesh.

They also serve eternity here in the Book of Acts by getting a hearing for the gospel. They were temporal. The miracles that were done were generally healings, and people, demons were cast out or healings were done as we’ll see in verse 7. So, the healings definitely provided temporal relief for suffering people and showed the compassion of God. But what they did here plainly is they get a hearing for the gospel.

We’re going to see the same thing with Paul and Barnabas on their missionary trip, Paul and Silas on their missionary trip. These guys come in and do signs and wonders and huge crowds gather, and now it’s time to preach. And the same thing happened earlier in Acts 4 with Peter and John as they heal the lame beggar in the Acts 3. And so, he is walking, leaping, praising God and a huge crowd gathers. So overtly with Philip here, when they saw the signs and wonders, they paid close attention to what he said.

Wes

So, in verses 9-25, we come upon this encounter that you mentioned as the apostles deal with this Simon the sorcerer who we’re introduced to. Who was Simon, and how does Luke describe his life and effect on the people before Philip came?

Andy

So, he was a practitioner of the dark arts. I mean, you think about the sorcerers in Egypt during the time of Moses who were able to replicate some signs and wonders, the early plagues, and then at some point they couldn’t. They knew this was the hand of God. So, they’re able, I think, through demonic power to do supernatural things. And so, demons from time to time are permitted by God. You think about that hedge of protection where God puts up that sluice gate and allows some evil to flow in a certain direction. And so, from time to time, demons are permitted to do some mischief and they’re permitted to do some supernatural things.

And so, this man Simon had some power of sorcery, the ability to do some black magic. And so, he amazed the people of Samaria, and as it said, he boasted that he was someone great. He’s got this tremendous power and he’s able to do amazing things. And so, everybody paid attention to him. And what does your translation say in verse 10? It’s interesting, mine’s a little different, but go ahead.

Wes

Verse 10 says, “They all paid attention to him from the least to the greatest, saying, ‘This man is the power of God that is called Great.'”

Andy

Yeah. So, what a slogan. All right, this man is the power of God that is called Great. And so, he basked in this adulation. As we’re going to see later in Acts 12, where Herod gives a speech to some people who are beholden to him and want to suck up to him so that he continues to benefit them. And they say, “This is the voice of a God, not of a man,” this kind of thing. So, Simon is, he’s getting adulation from the people.

Wes

So that may help to answer why Simon’s career before Philip came would make him want the power of the Holy Spirit. His motivation is to maintain this appearance of greatness, this appearance of power, and to have the people continue to pay attention to him.

Andy

Right. And he was humble enough to recognize that the power of the apostles, and we’ll get to them in a moment, they’re going to come from Jerusalem for a certain purpose, but the power of the apostles was greater than his power. And he also saw Philip’s miracles, the things he was doing. He was attracted by the spectacle. He was attracted by the amazing signs and all that. Jesus was always negative toward people who only were attracted to the wonder working and not to the kingdom behind it. But Simon seems to be that kind of a person. What’s really challenging here is to understand his belief or his faith in verse 12.

Wes

One author has spoken of power encounters in which practitioners of evil or demonic arts, like you mentioned, like witch doctors for an example, are powerfully displaced by the miracle working power of the gospel. Would you characterize this encounter between Simon and the gospel preachers as a power encounter?

Andy

Yeah, I think so. I think those things are seen in Third World countries where demons run amok and where you’ve got witch doctors, you’ve got a very spiritual way of looking at life. Just understand, demons are every bit as active everywhere on earth. They just use different strategies. Generally, they want to hide. Generally, I liken them in one sermon in Mark recently, as Jesus is driving out demons everywhere to cockroaches. You flip on the light in the middle of the night, and there they are running, skittering through the kitchen. They’re nasty. Jesus turned on the light. He was the light of the world, but generally they operate in darkness. They’re hiding.

But yeah, I think that’s fine. It’s a power encounter where the gospel comes, and Simon sees the greater power of the gospel through Philip’s miracles and then later through the apostles who came down from Jerusalem.

Wes

What evidence does verse 12 give us for believers’ baptism?

Andy

Well, yeah, I mean, it says this is going to be the rhythm again and again and again in the Book of Acts. There’s no other. Belief first and then water baptism next. So, you never see anywhere in the Bible in the New Testament, any example since you only see baptism in the New Testament. But you never see anywhere in the New Testament an example of infant baptism. So those would be individuals who are baptized first and then later come to faith. You just don’t see that. It’s always they hear, they believe, and they are baptized. That’s what we see. And so, Philip’s an example of that as well, although we don’t know the nature of his faith.

Wes

Yeah. You mentioned Simon’s belief a moment ago. What insights does Simon’s case give us on perhaps relying on water baptism as proof of salvation? And how should we understand the statement that Simon believed that we see there in verse 13?

Andy

Well, we got numbers of those examples of Simon believing, I said Philip earlier, sorry, but Simon believing. And we don’t know what he believed. We get this in John 2. Many saw the signs and wonders Jesus was doing in Jerusalem at the feast early, early, early in his ministry. But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, he says, the text says, because he knew all men. He did not need men’s testimony about what was going on inside a man for he himself knew what was going on inside every man. Like in John 1 with Nathaniel, where he said, “Here is a true Israelite in whom there is no guile,” nothing false.

And so truly Jesus can read people’s hearts and minds. And so therefore, the language of believed, it’s not as simple. I mean, we do believe in justification by faith alone. So, where faith is genuine, where faith is genuine, there is always justification. But James clearly in James 2 brings up a kind of faith that cannot save you.

Suppose someone has faith but has no works. Can such a faith save him? So that implies there are different kinds of faith. James openly says it, “Even the demons believe, and they shudder” (James 2:19). So that doesn’t save them. There is no gospel for demons, but there are just different kinds of faith.

And so, Simon believed something about Jesus. And he makes the profession of the faith and gets the water baptism, but it’s pretty clear that Peter and John do not think he’s converted. “May your money perish with you,” et cetera. He said, and clearly, they say, “We can see that you’re full of bitterness and captive to sin.” That’s not something you would say to a convert.

faith is complex. God knows what genuine faith is because he’s the one that gives it.

So, what we need to understand is faith is complex. God knows what genuine faith is because he’s the one that gives it. And so, there are numbers of people who can make verbal assents. They might even receive water baptism, and then later they apostasize. And we don’t change our theology thinking, “Oh, I guess you can be justified, then later lose your justification.” No, we just think that they made some kind of an assent. They believed something, they had an initial joy, but it wasn’t saving.

Wes

In verses 14-17, we read of the apostles coming to Samaria. What’s the purpose of this account of the apostolic visit to Samaria and how do we explain the delay between the Samaritans’ belief and their receiving the Holy Spirit in light of a verse like Romans 8:9 that says, “Anyone who does not have the spirit of Christ does not belong to him?”

Andy

Right. So, some different things happen in the Book of Acts that you get the feeling they really never happen again. And we’re going to see this especially with the giving of the Holy Spirit.

And so here what’s going on is the center of the Christian church in the world at that point, no doubt about it is Jerusalem. The apostles were not scattered but continued their ministry in Jerusalem and they are the leaders, they’re the apostles, and so they have authority. And they want to be sure that what’s going on is accurate and right.

I think they knew and trusted Philip. They’d entrusted him obviously along with the other six to that important role of making certain that the Greek-speaking widows were cared for in the daily distribution of food. They knew who Philip was, but they wanted to be sure that the work was genuine. They’re later going to do the same thing in Antioch in Acts 11 when they send Barnabas to be certain what’s going on there. And so, it’s just a maintaining of a certain level of control and accuracy and health, making certain that the churches are healthy.

So, they send Peter and John. And the issue here is the giving of the Holy Spirit. When they arrived, they prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit because they hadn’t yet received the gift of the Holy Spirit. It says that they had simply been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. So, they genuinely repented. They genuinely confessed their faith in Christ. They were genuinely water baptized, but they didn’t have the gift of the Holy Spirit yet.

Now we need to understand what this means. We’re going to see the same thing in Acts 10 with Cornelius. The giving of the Holy Spirit came with outward and visible signs, usually the speaking in tongues. It was the way that everyone knew that the Spirit had come and that these people were genuinely converted. So that’s how Peter and those with him knew that Cornelius, the Roman centurion and his gentile family and friends had become genuine members of the body of Christ, not having been circumcised. They just had received the gift of the Holy Spirit. We’ll get to all that.

So, I think it is very similar to today of Pentecost, a rushing, outpouring, powerful display of the Spirit that was obvious to everyone looking, and they began to speak in tongues. Now, the theological problem is Romans 8:9 says, “If you have not received the Spirit,” if you don’t have the Spirit, you don’t belong to Christ. So, this was a temporary kind of one-off thing that happens here that is not the norm now. So, Pentecostals, those that talk about second blessings, yeah, you’re a Christian, but you haven’t received the Holy Spirit. That’s just not biblical. And this is not to be cited here as the normal pattern.

So why did it happen this way this time? Well, I think it’s pretty obvious that that terrible rift between Jerusalem and Samaria is now being closed and healed by the gospel of Jesus Christ. There are Jews and gentiles who will be together worshiping by the power of the Spirit. And so, the Spirit had to be given through the laying on of Jewish apostle’s apostolic hands to the Jew first and after that to the Gentile.

And so, this is the end of the hostility between Jewish Christians and Samaritan Christians. There would not be separate churches. It’s going to be the same problem in the Book of Romans with a Jewish church and a Gentile church. That cannot be. They have to stay united. And so, Paul works very hard in Romans 14 and other places to keep unity between Jewish Christians and gentile Christians.

Wes

Yeah, it’s such a powerful backdrop when you think about all that Paul will write. I was just thinking about Ephesians as you were mentioning that, and that dividing wall of hostility being broken down, and those who are far off being brought near. Just a beautiful picture of the power of the gospel to-

Andy

It is. It is-

Wes

… provide reconciliation.

Andy

It’s the answer to all the divisions there are in the world, including racism, black, white issues in our country. All of those things are solved, genuinely solved by the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Wes

Now, Simon sees all this. What was Simon’s response and what does it show us about his heart and his motives?

Andy

His eyes are bugging out. He’s like, “Wow.” And it’s a big display, baptism of the Spirit, speaking in tongues, maybe some signs and wonders, some other things. He’s like, “Wow, that’s far beyond anything I’ve ever seen or could do. I want in. So, you guys have a good gig going here, and I’d like to be part of it.”

So, what does it show about his heart? Well, we can see very clearly from what Peter and John say to him, what it says about his heart, that he’s an unconverted man. So, look what he does. He says, “I’m going to offer them money.” And this became known as simony. It was named for this. This was a regular pattern in the medieval Roman Catholic Church where people paid money for bishoprics or other significant positions in the … I mean, these were like franchises to be the Archbishop of Mainz or to be the archbishop of whatever, you are going to be rolling in the dough. So, in order to get that franchise, you had to pay Rome for it. And so, it was simony, and it’s disgusting that from the get-go, the Lord sets that aside and says, “No, these things are not given with the payment of money.” It’s absolutely apples and oranges. Money has a role to play. It alleviates hunger, it alleviates certain things. We can build some buildings and all that. But it has nothing to do with the gift of the Holy Spirit or spiritual power and ministry.

Wes

Why was Peter so severe then in his response to Simon? And what do we learn about Simon further in verse 23?

Andy

Well, I mean, he curses him. He says, “May your money perish with you.” That’s a curse. “May this terrible thing happen to you.” All right? “May your money perish with you because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money.”

Going back to the original command that was given by Jesus to the apostles in Matthew 10, he said, “Take no money for your journey, no money bag, for a worker is worth his keep.” And then he said, “Don’t charge anything for your healings. Freely you have received. Freely give.” So, you’re not going to get any money for this. The money has nothing to do with this powerful ministry. You’re going to go do. I’ve given you the gift freely. Now you go minister it freely.

So, Peter’s just out of that same attitude saying, “You thought you could buy the gift of God with money. You have no part or share in this ministry. You are out. You are not in.” And then he calls in him to repent of his wickedness and to pray to the Lord. And then he said, “Perhaps he will forgive you for having such a thought in your heart, for I can see that you’re full of bitterness and captive to sin.”

Basically, the offer of money showed Peter this was an unconverted man, that he was full of bitterness, full of wickedness, and captive to sin, and he urged him to repent.

Wes

Andy, what do you make of Simon’s response to Peter’s stern rebuking warning? Do you think Simon was genuinely repentant?

Andy

I don’t know. We’ll find out when we get to heaven. We hope that Simon’s there. We have no further record of him at all. He just says, “Pray to the Lord for me.” And if he followed Peter’s advice that he repent of his wickedness and go to the Lord and receive forgiveness, then we’ll find the man in heaven. But we just don’t know.

Wes

What does verse 25 teach us about the apostolic ministry in Samaria and what final thoughts do you have for us on the passage we’ve looked at?

Andy

So again, we have non-apostolic leadership here, Philip, moving out in a strong direction. The apostles didn’t do it. But then the apostles piggybacking on it and saying, “Okay, I see God at work here.” They’re humble enough to say it doesn’t matter that we weren’t the trailblazers here. Philip was. But they preached the word in many Samaritan villages.

I mean, must have brought back memories. Jesus went through Samaria. Remember in John 4, the whole Samaritan village with the Samaritan woman went out, and so they were ready for this, but maybe they’re holding back until the time was right. So, they’re preaching the gospel in many Samaritan villages and they’re winning many people to the Lord.

So again, what we get out of this section of Acts 8? We get the spread of the gospel. We get people being saved. We get a purification of the gospel methodology. It’s not going to be money. Power of the Holy Spirit coming in a very unusual way to maintain unity between Jews and Samaritans and make sure there’s just one church of Jesus Christ. All of this is the marvelous work of the Holy Spirit in building the true church of Christ from Jerusalem through Judea and Samaria to the ends of the earth.

Wes

This has been Episode 16 in our Acts Bible Study Podcast, and we want to invite you to join us next time for Episode 17 entitled Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch, where we’ll discuss Acts 8:26-40. Thank you for listening to the Two Journeys podcast and may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.