Taught by
Stephen ArmstrongActs of the Apostles
Acts of the Apostles - Lesson 8A
Chapter 8:1-17
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At the beginning of our study, I explained that the book of Acts has many features that provide structure and divide the book into clearly identifiable parts or sections
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Without reviewing all those divisions again, let me point out one such division taking place here as we leave Chapter 7 and enter Chapter 8
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To this point in the story of Acts, the message of the Gospel has been preached exclusively to the Jews in Jerusalem
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Peter has led this charge together with John
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And now these early believers are experiencing the beginning of persecution from the very same Jews who were offered the message of hope
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God always intended that the message of the Gospel would be delivered to Jews first, since “salvation is of the Jews” as Jesus says in John 4
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Paul reiterates this priority in Romans 1:16
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Rom. 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
- The events of Chapter 7 become the justification and the means by which God moves the Gospel outwardly to the next intended audience, the Samaritans
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After the death of Stephen, persecution of Christians in Jerusalem began a new phase
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The trial and stoning of Stephen was a turning point, and the event itself was somewhat unusual
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The Jews lacked the power of the sword under Roman authority, so stoning Stephen could have resulted in the participants being charged with murder under Roman law
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The fact that so many were willing to engage in the stoning indicates that they were operating under different rules at the time
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One explanation is that the Roman Senate had removed the right for Jewish execution under all circumstances except one
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Offenses against the Temple could be punished by death in Israel
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This was the charge against Stephen
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Another explanation is that this event occurred during a short window in AD 36 between the departure of Pilate and the arrival of his replacement, when Roman rule wasn’t present in the city
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But as the city saw and heard of the stoning of a Christian, the attitude of the city toward the new movement changed dramatically
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Jews within the city turned on the believing Jews, particularly the Hellenistic Jews, the group to which Stephen belonged
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Essentially, the Jewish population had heard the testimony of Stephen at his public trial and had rejected it soundly
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And for the most part, the rest of the city followed suit in that rejection
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Where before the people of Jerusalem were flocking to the church in great number, now they turned away out of fear or disapproval
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So naturally, this changed the nature of ministry in the early church
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First, it moved the disciples outward from the city to safer areas of Palestine and the diaspora
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Secondly, it caused the disciples to direct their message to non-Jewish audiences who were not already opposed to the message
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God was justified in moving the Gospel away from the Jews and toward a Gentile audience on the basis of the sign of Jonah
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When Jesus declared that the Jewish nation had rejected Him and lost their opportunity to receive him (in Luke 13:34-35), he told the Pharisees that the nation would only receive the “sign of Jonah” henceforth (see Matthew 12)
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The sign of Jonah is the sign of a resurrection
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Jesus’ own resurrection was the fulfillment of that sign, and here we see that sign repeated through Stephen’s testimony of that resurrection
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As Stephen testified in the trial concerning Jesus and His resurrection, the crowd rejected that testimony
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Rather than receiving the sign of resurrection, they stoned the messenger
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The Lord will again give Israel the sign of resurrection in the last days during Tribulation
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The two witnesses will undergo a visible resurrection following their deaths
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And this resurrection will be a sign to that future generation of Israel of the truth of the two witnesses’ testimony concerning Jesus
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Of course, that future generation of Israel will also reject the sign in the moment it will be given
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Now since the nation of Israel has rejected the sign of resurrection given in Stephen’s testimony, the gospel will move away from them and to a new people group: the Samaritans
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But first, we begin Chapter 8 with three verses to bridge us into the rest of the chapter
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Acts 8:1 Saul was in hearty agreement with putting him to death.
And on that day a great persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.
Acts 8:2 Some devout men buried Stephen, and made loud lamentation over him.
Acts 8:3 But Saul began ravaging the church, entering house after house, and dragging off men and women, he would put them in prison.
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Saul approved of what he saw happening to Stephen
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The Greek word for hearty agreement means that Paul didn’t instigate the action against Stephen, but he liked it and decided to make it his own cause
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So Saul becomes a self-appointed vigilante to find and eliminate the Jewish Christians
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Many disciples leave the city and go into Samaria
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But the apostles, we’re told, remain behind in the city
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This fact becomes important later in Chapter 8
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Stephen we’re told is buried by devout Jewish men who mourn his death
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The Jewish customs and rabbinical law forbid public lamentations for anyone who was put to death by stoning
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So Luke’s mention of these lamentations seemed intended to reflect that not all Jews within the city were in agreement with the verdict and execution of Stephen
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This statement stands in contrast with Saul’s hearty agreement
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We can’t help but notice that Saul has become the catalyst God is using to move the Gospel outward from Jerusalem
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It’s likely that had persecution never come to the early church, the leaders may have never ventured far from the city in preaching the Gospel
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They certainly wouldn’t have considered going outside Judea
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And the fact that the Apostles aren’t willing to leave even now that persecution has begun indicates their reluctance to move outward
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Consider this interesting fact: Saul later becomes Paul, the man credited to be the single greatest evangelist in the history of church
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God used Paul’s ministry to preach the gospel to Gentiles in many new places and explain the full doctrines of the church
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And yet here we see Saul – who has not yet come to faith himself – being used by God in exactly the same way!
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Saul is responsible for moving the Gospel outwardly from Jerusalem
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Perhaps Paul was thinking of this very irony when he wrote Romans 8:28:
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Rom. 8:28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.
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- Whether as Saul persecuting or as Paul preaching, this man was used by God to move His word to the nations
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Now we move forward looking at a second one of the early deacons
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First we had Stephen, now we have Philip, and notice Luke’s connecting verse:
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Acts 8:4 Therefore, those who had been scattered went about preaching the word.
- Do you remember on the first night of the class I mentioned that the main thrust of Luke’s account is not the work of the apostles
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Rather, Luke emphasizes the work of the Spirit and power and importance of God’s word in building the Church
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Here’s one of those moments when Luke pauses to make clear that the instrument God uses to move His church outward from Jerusalem is the preaching of His word
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Had the disciples merely scattered without preaching the word, perhaps instead trying to persuade men with human wisdom
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The scattering would have accomplished nothing
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The Greek word for scattered is diaspeiro, which is the same word used for the scattering of seed on a field
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It may cause you to remember the parable of the sower and the seed, where the spread of the Gospel is compared to the scattering of seed
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This scattering led to many important changes in the early church
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For example, the Gospels were written because of this movement away from Jerusalem
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While the church was largely centered in Jerusalem with the apostles nearby, no one had need of a written Gospel account
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And questions regarding Jesus’ teaching or the events of His ministry were handled in person during church services or in one-on-one questioning
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Once the saints began to spread out into Judea and beyond, the need for a written record became obvious
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Since the early church was mostly Jewish, the first Gospel account was written by the Apostle Matthew so that a Jewish audience could understand how Jesus was the Messiah
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Later, other apostles write their Gospel accounts to serve different, non-Jewish audiences
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Secondly, the apostles began to write letters to newly founded churches to encourage and instruct new believers in the absence of personal visits
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As with the Gospel, the earliest epistles were the Jewish epistles (James, I & II Peter, Hebrews, and Jude) written to the dispersed Jewish believers
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Third, church leadership was decentralized as local, non-apostolic leaders were established in each city to steward their congregations
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Finally, formal doctrines and creeds of the Christian faith belief emerged from out of the apostles’ writings
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These doctrines bound the dispersed congregations together in spirit, and to contend with false teaching whenever it emerged
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Against that backdrop, we begin the story of Philip now
Acts 8:5 Philip went down to the city of Samaria and began proclaiming Christ to them.
Acts 8:6 The crowds with one accord were giving attention to what was said by Philip, as they heard and saw the signs which he was performing.
Acts 8:7 For in the case of many who had unclean spirits, they were coming out of them shouting with a loud voice; and many who had been paralyzed and lame were healed.
Acts 8:8 So there was much rejoicing in that city.
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Philip goes down to the city of Samaria
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Samaria was not actually a city in Philip's day, but rather a region directly north of Jerusalem
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Luke says Philip went “down” because any direction away from the Temple mount is considered “down” to a Jew
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This reference is one reason some believe Luke may have been Jewish rather than Gentile
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Secondly, Luke says the “city” of Samaria to indicate some population center within the region, not to mean a specific city called Samaria
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In the Greek, Luke says that Philip was continuously preaching or proclaiming Christ to the people in Samaria
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In other words, Philip was preaching to Samaritans
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Samaritans were an interesting group historically
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In a sense we could say they were neither entirely Jewish nor entirely Gentile
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They were a people who descended from Jews who escaped the Assyrian captivity of the Northern Kingdom of Israel and remained in the land
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While living in the land, they began to inter-marry with the surrounding Gentile peoples
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When the Jews were led back into the land by Zerubbabel after the Babylonian captivity, they encountered these halfbreed Jews still living in Samaria
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The returning Jews no longer regarded these descendants of the Northern Kingdom to be true Jews
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And they were correct: Samaritans aren’t Jews any longer
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In defiance to the returning Jews, the Samaritans tried to recreate their Jewish heritage in a counterfeit manner
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They created a distorted version of the Mosaic Law and built their own temple and established their own priesthood and worship
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Meanwhile, they became bitter enemies with the Jews
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Jews hated Samaritans even more than other Gentiles because they were impostors pretending to be Jewish
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You can see this rivalry throughout the Gospel accounts
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The woman at the well in John 4 is a classic example
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As the Gospel moves outward from Jerusalem, we said earlier in the study that it will move through three distinct phases
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First it goes to the Jews in Jerusalem
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Secondly, it moves out of Judea and into Samaria and to Samaritans
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Lastly, it reaches Greek Gentiles across the entire world
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Since Samaritans are simply a unique group of Gentiles, why are they given a unique status in the progression of the Gospel?
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The reason is connected to their historic role as impostors of the Jewish faith
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The Samaritans had made a practice of counterfeiting everything of significance within Jewish religious practice
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With each counterfeit, the Samaritans reinforced the notion that they were the true practitioners of the Jewish faith and the rightful heirs to the promise given to Abraham
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Now that the long-awaited Jewish Messiah had come in fulfillment of that promise, it was likely that the Samaritans might concoct another counterfeit
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They might propose the arrival of their own ”messiah” and complicate the spread of the Gospel among the citizens of Judea and Samaria
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At this early vulnerable stage of growth, the Lord saw fit to bring Samaritans into the church rather than compete with their false message
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With each new movement of the church, we are going to see a repeating of the pattern that was established in the beginning
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When the church first arrived to Jews, the message of the Gospel was accompanied by:
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Signs & miracles
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Power over the demonic realm
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The delayed indwelling of the Holy Spirit
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Large numbers of converts in a brief time
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Therefore, we shouldn’t be surprised to see that pattern repeat when the Gospel first arrives for this new group in Samaria
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Interestingly, the signs are performed by a delegate of the Apostles rather than by an Apostle personally
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Because the Apostles had not yet understood the necessity of moving beyond a Jewish audience in spreading the Gospel
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This issue comes to a head in Acts 10–11
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Looking at the text, Philip preaches and the crowds respond
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Specifically, the crowds were of “one accord” or one mind in their response
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In contrast to the resistance seen in Jerusalem, here the crowds were uniformly receiving the Gospel message
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This is similar to the way the crowd in Jerusalem received the Gospel at Pentecost and immediately following
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Naturally, their attention was directed on Philip because he was performing miraculous signs accomplished by the Spirit in confirmation of the truth of his message
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So the signs were used to attract attention for Philip’s message
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And the message was received in part out of a recognition that it came by the power of God
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At this point we’re introduced to a new character, Simon
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Acts 8:9 Now there was a man named Simon, who formerly was practicing magic in the city and astonishing the people of Samaria, claiming to be someone great;
Acts 8:10 and they all, from smallest to greatest, were giving attention to him, saying, “This man is what is called the Great Power of God.”
Acts 8:11 And they were giving him attention because he had for a long time astonished them with his magic arts.
Acts 8:12 But when they believed Philip preaching the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were being baptized, men and women alike.
Acts 8:13 Even Simon himself believed; and after being baptized, he continued on with Philip, and as he observed signs and great miracles taking place, he was constantly amazed.
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Simon the magician is a curious and often debated fellow
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His may be the first religious charlatan to infiltrate the Christian church
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If there had been cable TV, “prayer cloths,” and toll-free donation phone lines in this day, Simon probably would have been the first to employ them
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Luke says he was performing magic, astonishing the people, and claiming to be someone great
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In fact the people were calling Simon, the Great Power of God
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It’s interesting to see right from the beginning how Luke juxtaposes Simon and Phillip
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Phillip is astonishing the people, as is Simon
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But Phillip’s work is the result of God’s power
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While Simon’s work is the result of magic, dark arts
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Real power, but demonic
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Simon’s work is intended to make himself look powerful and important before the people – and it was working
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While Phillip’s work causes the people to rejoice and give God glory
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Based on Philip’s preaching, the church has been established in this place and is starting to grow
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And the re-emergence of miracles for the sake of the Samaritans was intended to affirm the truth of Philip’s teaching in the same way that it did in Jerusalem
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The Holy Spirit is not yet seen to indwell the new believers though
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Why does the arrival of the Spirit wait under these circumstances?
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In the case of Jerusalem, the Spirit’s arrival was delayed until a certain day in order to fulfill the Feast of Pentecost
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Here the delay is different
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The primary purpose for a delay here was to make an impression on a different audience – the apostles themselves
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Keep in mind that the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is the mark of faith
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So it served as a powerful sign to anyone of where true faith was present
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Now speaking of powerful signs, Simon has a pretty good thing going here
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Within his community he is the leading spiritual attraction
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And like the Pharisees in Jerusalem, anything that contends with his prominence is a threat
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So the arrival of a competitor wielding even greater power bothers Simon greatly
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Simon, we’re told, is so impressed by Philip that he “believes” and submits to water baptism
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Even after the baptism, he continues to follow Philip around “observing” the miracles
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The word for observing is theoreo, which carries the sense of studying or examining something
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Simon was following Philip out of professional curiosity
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It causes us to wonder about what Luke means when he says “believes”
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Could Simon have made a confession without actually accepting the Gospel truly?
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The news of Philip’s ministry soon reached the apostles in Jerusalem, and of course they were surprised to hear of it
Acts 8:14 Now when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent them Peter and John,
Acts 8:15 who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit.
Acts 8:16 For He had not yet fallen upon any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
Acts 8:17 Then they began laying their hands on them, and they were receiving the Holy Spirit.
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Peter and John are not assigned the duty of going to Samaria and investigating this news
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The fact that they go at all tells us how concerned they were by this news
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Don’t read v.14 and v.15 together too quickly
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If you do, it will sound as if the purpose of their travel to Samaria was to lay on hands, as if that was the expected function of the Apostles
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This isn’t the proper reading
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They came to investigate and validate that the Samaritans were actually being called into the truth faith
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Rather than simply mimicking the Jews once again
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Once they arrived, then they performed these activities in response to the faith they found
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The apostles were an important part of this event, because their presence validated their experience
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It also confirmed again that Peter had the keys to the Kingdom
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And he was now enlisted to recognize the expansion of the church beyond Jews and the entry of Samaritans into the Kingdom by faith
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This is why the baptism of the Holy Spirit had not yet occurred
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Peter is always involved in the first faith experience for every new group (Jew, Samaritan, Gentile) because he held the “keys” according to Jesus direction
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This also ensured that Peter was able to personally witness God’s work through the Spirit and understand himself that these new groups were joining the church
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Finally, John is included here as well, perhaps because of his early desire to destroy the Samaritans when they rejected Jesus during the Gospel account
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After this moment, John is never mentioned again in the book of Acts
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