Amazed

Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word. Acts 8:4

Acts 8:4–25 – The Story of the Church: Living Into This Drama in the 21st Century
Trinity Sunday – May 30, 2021 (am)

We come to the place in Luke’s story of the early church where the gospel (25), the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ (12), the Word of God (14), the word of the Lord (25), was beginning to spread throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria (1), just as Jesus had said it would (1:8).

As we saw last week, that spread was happening due to the persecution of the church (1). The opposition that was kicked up against these new believers in Jesus in the wake of the stoning of Steven scattered them throughout [these areas] (1). Don’t miss that: persecution was God’s means of moving His people out in witness to the places He was sending them! And any number of those who weren’t fleeing, or couldn’t flee, were getting dragged off… to prison by an angry Saul (4).

This sounds terrifying, wouldn’t you say? 4 [And yet] those who were scattered went about preaching the word. All along the way as they were running for their lives, they were [proclaiming] the gospel! 5 Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Christ. Philip—likely a Hellenist (cf. 6:1), one of the seven who were [chosen] by Jerusalem church to handle the daily distribution of food so that the apostles could devote [themselves] to prayer and to the ministry of the world (6:3-5)—went down to the (capitol) city of [the despised Samaritans, those half-breeds], and [preached Jesus] to them! It is hard for us to conceive the boldness of [this] step Philip took…; the hostility between Jews and Samaritans had lasted a thousand years (Stott 147), even before the northern exile, all the way back to the divided kingdom.

We need to track with this occurrence just for the enjoyment of hearing what happened! It’s a great story! But then we also need to see and hear what it’s showing us and telling us, because much is at stake here which is of pretty significant importance to us. Let’s walk through this story in three steps.

Philip’s Ministry in Samaria – 4-13

Philip is one of those scattered by persecution who is preaching the word. And [he] went down the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Christ. 6 And the crowds with one accord paid attention to what [he] was [saying], when they heard him and saw the signs that he did. Why? 7 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. Philip, this servant of the church just like Steven had been, was doing the very same miracles Jesus had done and now the apostles were doing—just like Steven had done! (6:8) These messengers were enabled by God to validate His message with miracles! 8 So there was much joy in [this] city.

But that was about to be tested because, when the only true expression of spiritual life and power enters a new region that has previously been saturated with false expressions of those things, a power encounter will necessarily ensue! And here in Samaria, that happened as Philip met Simon the Magician, or Simon Magus as he is called in [later] writings (Longenecker 839). Justin Martyr, in his second-century Apology, described ‘a Samaritan, Simon’, who ‘did mighty acts of magic’, so that ‘he was considered a god’ and was worshipped not only by ‘almost all the Samaritans’ but even by some in Rome who erected a statue in his honour (Stott 149). According to Irenaeus, Simon is depicted in post-apostolic times as the father of Gnostic heresies (Bruce 166). Here we’re told of his own assertion that he himself was somebody great (9). And the Samaritan people bought it! 10 They all paid attention to him, from the least to the greatest, saying, “This man is the power of God that is called Great.” 11 And they paid attention to him because for a long time he had amazed them with his magic.

But then Philip came to town and showed them something [greater]; he preached the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ (12) and they believed [him] (12)—they were baptized, both men and women (12). And Luke records: 13 Even Simon himself believed, and after being baptized he continued with Philip. And seeing signs and great miracles performed, he was amazed. The tables had turned! Simon Magus had never seen anything like this! He and the others were now amazed (9, 11, 13) and [paying] attention (6, 10, 11) to Philip and to the power of the gospel!

Peter and John’s Ministry in Samaria – 14-25

And the word spread: 14 … when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John. We’ll see this again in Acts, where representatives from the Jerusalem church are dispatched to check out the work in other places (11:22), or where an account of their work has to be given when the apostles return to Jerusalem (11:1-4ff.; 15:1-3ff.). Here it’s Peter and John—John, who, with his brother James, had once offered to call down fire from heaven to consume the Samaritans for their failure to receive Jesus (Luk.9:52-55). Now, here, 15 [they] came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit—the true fire from heaven!

—16 for he had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. This is a challenging statement—they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus? In what other name did they need to be baptized? Calvin (339-340) explains this best, I believe, when he says that surely these Samaritans had received the Spirit in the sense that they had received Christ; they’d been born again of the Spirit. But they had not yet received those manifestations of the Spirit that confirm and adorn and display the presence and work of the gospel. That affirmation awaited the arrival of the apostles. 17 Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit. All at once this confirmed two things: (1) the Samaritans’ genuine saving belief and (2) full continuity of this work in Samaria with the work that was now happening in Jerusalem.

But it also touched off a problem because it awakened some old desires in Simon, or maybe it revealed that his profession of faith in Christ was never real. We don’t know which, but 18 … when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money, 19 saying, “Give me this power also, so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” I’ve never seen magic like this! 20 But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could [buy] the gift of God with money! 21 You have [no] part… in any of this…, for your heart is not right before God. 22 Repent… and pray to the Lord that, if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven…. But he asked Peter to pray for [him] instead. Then they returned [home], preaching the gospel to many [more] Samaritans (25).

Two Matters of Importance to Us

(1) Meeting Simon Magus in this passage introduces us to a real-life example of a type of person we need to meet and understand. Jesus said some chilling words near the end of His Sermon on the Mount that trouble many. Mat.7:21 Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?” 23 And then will I declare to them, “I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.” We hear Jesus’ words and think, how can this be? Simon Magus might just show us.

At least he shows us one way this could happen. There are many people who see and appreciate the presence of God and the power of the gospel in the lives of believers. And that causes them to sidle up alongside the church where they try to get faith to work to their advantage—to achieve some desired end, or to eliminate some undesired pattern of life, or even just to feel better about themselves.

It’s entirely possible to move in among the church only in order to broaden your client base, or improve your prospects of finding a spouse, or access a trustworthy array of children’s activities. You may be willing to serve here and there to retain the privilege of these advantages —to purchase them, so to speak. You may even go the full route and participate in the rituals of [baptism] and Membership, just because the church feels like a significant or safe or even just appropriate/proper involvement in a well-rounded life. So, you just pay your dues.

But there’s been no inescapable awareness of the depth of your personal sin before a holy God, or of your utter helplessness in that state apart from His intervention. There’s been no time when you’ve pled for His forgiveness and embraced like a lifeline the death of Christ as your Substitute sin-Bearer and His resurrection as your only hope of true life. And even if there has, it was so long ago and far away that you can barely remember the encounter. And it surely isn’t repeated each time you experience you sin and your need afresh.

Instead, you just manage life, and stress—make sure you get enough time to yourself, enough trips to the spa, downtime to recoup and recover and hopefully refresh. And your Christianity, your engagement with Christ, fits right in with these. It’s primarily for you. It helps you enjoy life, feel better about yourself by giving back a bit, by serving a non-profit, a charity. Church serves you, not vice versa. It improves your life, makes you feel more whole, more well-rounded, even more [powerful].

This is a whole lot like Simon Magus’ approach. At crunch time it became clear that he was more interested in improving his own life, increasing his own power, than in a solution for his sin or reconciliation with a holy God. So, he heard words from Peter that sound a lot like those we hear from Jesus. Peter said: 21 You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right before God.

This is the first matter that it is of importance to us. We can live and move in and among the church; we can enjoy the fellowship, and even be amazed at the presence of God and the power of the gospel, without ever having savingly believed in Jesus! That is the matter of first importance to us here.

(2) And second, the solution to this, is to notice and attend to the primary player in this passage, the predominant presence! It shows up in varying wordings in vv.4, 5, 6, several in v.12, then v.14, by inference in vv.15 and 17, then a couple more times in v.25. I’m talking about the word of God (14, cf. 4), the word of the Lord (25), the message of Christ (5), the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ (12). This is that entity whose spread is being traced by Luke here in Acts as it goes out into all the world. It’s that means by which we hear and believe and are saved and therefore receive the Holy Spirit (15, 17).

Paul made a couple of key observation to the Romans sandwiched around a series of question. First, He said, everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved (Rom.10:13). Then he asked: Rom.10:14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? Then he concluded: 17 … faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

That’s just what we’re seeing here in Act.8. The word of Christ is being preached and the Samaritans [receiving] it, getting saved in fulfillment of God’s sovereign work. But we’re also seeing that it’s possible to respond to the gospel in ways other than faith and repentance.

We can embrace the gospel because it works well with the sort of person we want to perceive ourselves to be. And it can maybe help others perceive us that way as well. But that [receiving] of the gospel doesn’t save us! It just leaves us hearing Peter’s words to Simon, Jesus’ words in His sermon.

The right way to respond to the gospel, the saving way, is to see and acknowledge our sin, and our helplessness to do anything about it. We’re not impressed with our [greatness] at that time, but with the crushing nature of our need. We’re grieved, truly grieved by our sin. Paul wrote of this to the Corinthians (2Co.7:8-11), distinguishing this grief from the sort of self-promoting grief that just wants to keep up public impressions, perhaps the very grief Simon shows here (24). Paul wrote: 2Co.7:10 … godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.

We need to know the difference between these two, and Peter and John’s encounter with Simon can helps us see it.

Conclusion

Let’s close today by taking a few moments to talk to the Lord about our own profession of faith—that we really don’t want to treat the gospel as though it’s given to exalt our sense of self us or to fulfill will and purpose. We don’t embrace God’s gift of faith or receive His gospel in order to build our self-worth or strengthen our self-esteem. We embrace faith and receive the gospel because our sin has separated us from God for all eternity, and this is the only way possible for us to be reconciled to Him! We receive the gospel to the glory of God and the exaltation of Christ, which is all achieved by the Spirit!

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Resources

Beale, G. K. and D. A. Carson, eds. 2007. Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament. Acts, by I. Howard Marshall, 513-606. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic.

Beveridge, Henry, ed. Commentary upon the Acts of the apostles, vol. 1, by John Calvin. Translated by Christopher Featherstone.

Bruce, F. F., ed. 1988. The New International Commentary on the New Testament. The book of Acts, revised, by F. F. Bruce. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.

Carson, D. A., R. T. France, J. A. Motyer, and G. J. Wenham, eds. 1994. New Bible Commentary 21st Century Edition. Acts, by Conrad Gempf, 1066-1114. Leicester, Eng.: InterVarsity.

Dockery, David S, ed. 1992. New American Commentary. Vol. 26, Acts, by John B. Polhill. Nashville: Broadman & Holman.

Grudem, Wayne, ed. 2008. ESV Study Bible. Study notes on Acts, 2073-2156, by John B. Polhill. Wheaton: Crossway.

Longman III, Tremper and David E. Garland, eds. 2007. Expositor’s Bible Commentary. Vol. 10, Acts, by Richard N. Longenecker, 665-1102. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

Morris, Leon, ed. 1980. Tyndale New Testament Commentaries. Vol. 5 Acts, by I. Howard Marshall. Downers Grove: InterVarsity.

Stott, John, ed. 1990. The Bible Speaks Today. The message of Acts, by John Stott. Leicester, Eng.: InterVarsity.

Next Week: Acts 8:26–40, Tyler Patty