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About Jesus Steve Sweetman This Section - Chapters 8 Next Section - Chapters 9 and 10 ch. 8:1-4 ch. 8:4-9 ch. 8:9-26 ch. 8:26-40 The Church Persecuted And Scattered (ch. 8:1 - 3) The
day Stephen was killed was a watershed day in the life of the church.
Their situation changed drastically after Stephen’s death.
Earlier we noted that the church had favour among the people, and so they
did, but not among the Sanhedrin. What
Stephen had to say, totally infuriated the Jewish leaders.
There
was a large gap between the ordinary Jew and their leaders.
The leaders were wealthy and intellectual.
The ordinary people weren't so wealthy.
They did not have the opportunity
to advance intellectually. Such a
gap between leadership and the people seems to be the way it is in all cultures.
Verse
1 says, “on that day, (the day of Stephen’s stoning) a great persecution
broke out against the church at So
why didn’t the apostles leave the city along with the other Christians?
I have often heard it said that the persecution was a means to get
Christians moving out of town in order to spread the gospel.
Those who say this suggest that the apostles are slow in following the
Acts 1:8 mandate, and that they are actually slower than the ordinary Christian
who fled the city. I
do not accept this way of thinking. For
one reason, the ordinary Christian was most likely fleeing out of fear, not out
a motivation to spread the gospel, although they did.
The 12 apostles, as we have already seen had little or no fear, thus for
this reason they did not run. They
were there to evangelize their Jewish brothers and sisters, and that is what
they would do until the Lord told them otherwise.
There should be no put-down of the apostles for not leaving Luke
tells us that Godly men buried Stephen.
The Jewish practice in those days was to bury the dead the same day they
died. Usually there was great
moaning and cries associated with the burial.
In those days people actually hired professional mourners who would cry
at funerals. We don’t know who
these men were that buried Stephen. I
suppose if they were the apostles Luke would have told us so.
So I speculate that these men were ordinary Christians, or even perhaps
some of the six administrators of food to the poor that Stephen would have
worked with, since he was one of them Contrasting
these Godly men, Luke mentions Saul, beginning to “destroy the church”.
He seemed greatly motivated by watching Stephen die.
He went from house to house dragging out as many Christians as he could
find and locked them up in jail. In
this second mention of Saul, you can see his great zeal, something that would
one day be redeemed and used by our Lord. One
thing to note here is that Saul, later to be known as Paul, did not play
favourites. He dragged out both men
and women, and put them both into prison. This
shows you how fierce Paul was in his attempt to destroy the church. Philip
In In
verse 4 Luke records that “those who were scattered preached the word wherever
they went”. We must remember that the 12 apostles stayed in The
next verse says that Philip “went down to preach the word in You
also see this Philip mentioned in Acts 21:8 where Luke calls him an evangelist,
having four daughters who prophesied, and living in Cesarea. Philip,
like Stephen, and like the 12, was used by God in performing many miracles,
which included casting demons out of people.
For this reason Luke says that the people “paid close attention” to
him. Once again, the miracles were
“a sign”, to draw people’s attention to the preaching of the gospel.
Verse
8 says that there was “great joy in that city”.
This would only be natural since many sick and demon possessed people
were made well. Thus there was an
open door for the gospel in Samaria. Simon The Sorcerer (ch. 8:9 - 25) In
When
Philip came to the area “preaching the The
people were so taken with Philip and his preaching that they “believed”
Philip, (ch. 8:3) and were even baptized. Luke
says that even Simon himself believed Philip and was water baptized.
Luke states that Simon was so taken by Philip and the miracles that he
followed him around in astonishment. Later
we will really see what was in the heart of this man.
We might want to question the
validity of Simon’s conversion. I
really don't think Simon gave his life to Jesus in true faith.
I think Peter's words later on show that Philip didn't think Simon was a
true believer as well. Now
what is to follow is very interesting. Let’s
back-track a bit and state what has happened so far in When
the apostles learned of this (ch. 8:14) they sent Peter and John to What
makes this event interesting is that there was a time period
between these people believing and receiving the Holy Spirit.
Some suggest that these people actually did receive the Holy Spirit when
they first believed Philip’s preaching, but this is not the case.
These same people suggest that what happened when Peter and John came was
the second experience called the “Baptism in the Spirit”.
That's not the case either. Luke
clearly states that these people did not receive the Spirit at first. They only
believed and were water baptized. The Spirit had not yet fallen on them.
Note the term “fallen on them”. The
phrase “fallen upon” is one of a few and similar phrases meaning the same
thing. Other such phrases are,
filled with, shall be baptized, and come upon.
These terms are only used to show the way in which one receives the
Spirit. These phrases are also used
for those who have already received the Spirit but have had subsequent
encounters with Him. There
is no hint in this event that what happened when Peter and John laid their hands
on these people was a second work of grace, meaning, they had already received
the Holy Spirit, and this was the Baptism in the Spirit.
These people did not have the Spirit until Peter and John laid hands on
them. Thus
the conclusion is that one can be a believer without the Holy Spirit.
If this was not the case, then you can’t call these people true
believers when they were water baptized. It
is clear from the text that these people, except for Simon, were true believers
when they were water baptized but did not have the Spirit of God residing within
them. Thus
to me, salvation is a package made up of 3 parts, repenting, believing and
receiving the Spirit. This may take
place all at once or over a period of time.
Yet one’s salvation package (as I call it) is not fully complete until
the Spirit comes to live in the person. Prior
to this point, if one is a believer only, he is on shaky ground, because you
cannot live the Christian life outside of the Holy Spirit.
This is most likely why Peter and John had to come to these people.
They had to make sure they received the Holy Spirit, and not a second
work of grace called the baptism in the Spirit. Yet
even as I say these words I am reminded of what Paul says in Rom. 8:9, where he
says that if you do not have the Spirit of God, you do not belong to God.
This is a large subject and all Scriptures must be incorporated into our
thinking. For this reason I
see that salvation, or initial salvation as I call it, is a package.
You repent, you believe, and you receive the Holy Spirit.
This may be spontaneous for some, or take a while for others.
Why
the Holy Spirit was not given when Philip preached is beyond my understanding.
Philip was a man who lived by the power of God.
Why did Peter and John have to come and lay hands on these people to
receive the Spirit? I can only
guess. We must conclude from this
that if this happened once, it can happen again.
Thus not everyone who believes necessarily receives the Spirit at the
moment of first belief. Samaritans
were Jews who had intermarried with Gentiles.
So you might call them half Jew and half Gentile.
We don't know for sure if all these people fit into this category.
There might well have been some full fledged Jews among them.
I say this to note the progress of how the Holy Spirit was given in the
young church. First, in Acts 2, the
Holy Spirit was given to Jews. Here
in Acts 8 He is given to Samaritans, who were half Jews.
Later, in Acts 10, He was given to Gentiles.
There seems to be some kind of progression here concerning the giving of
the Spirit. This fits into the
Biblical thinking that says, "to the Jew first, and then to the
Gentile".
Concerning
the water baptism of these people, some believe that since there was little deep
water in this area, they most likely were not immersed.
I can’t say for sure, because I don’t know this to be factual.
Many Bible scholars say that water was poured over these believers. In
verse 18 “when Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the
apostles’ hands, he offered them money, and said, ‘give me also this ability
so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit’”.
There
are a couple of points to be made concerning Simon’s response and request.
First of all he saw something dramatic when the Holy Spirit came to these
people. If nothing visible had
happened, he would not have seen anything to make such a request.
It is my opinion that an Acts 2 experience came to these people.
For the first time in their lives they received the Holy Spirit in
dramatic fashion. Secondly,
you might want to question the validity of Simon’s faith.
Why did he believe Philip’s preaching in the first place?
Was he like those who followed Jesus for the loaves and fish?
Was he only believing to get some kind of power to maintain his
popularity among the people? It
certainly looks like that to me. Therefore,
if I am right, his faith was a false faith.
This is the kind of faith that James speaks about in his letter.
A false faith does not produce good works.
You can tell that someone has real faith by the way they live. True
faith, true belief will result in Godly works.
Such works were not evident in Simon’s life.
This tells me that not everyone who claims faith has true faith.
Unless one sees works of faith, that is good works resulting from their
trust in Jesus, they most likely do not have real faith. Peter’s
response in verse 20 is interesting. He
says, “may your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the
gift of God with money! You have no
part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God.
Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord.
Perhaps He will forgive you for having such a thought in your heart.
For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin".
From
Peter’s words, it is quite clear that he felt Simon did not have true faith.
Peter says that Simon’s “heart was not right with God”.
He also told Simon to repent. One
must repent before one can truly believe in Jesus.
There is no logic in the idea that there can be faith without repentance.
Simon never repented. His words and
actions proved that sufficiently for Peter.
Peter
appears to be a little sarcastic when he uses the word “perhaps”.
We know that there is no “perhaps” about it.
If one truly repents and then trusts Jesus, Jesus will forgive him. I
do need to stress the word repent here because this is a word that is fast being
laid aside in our generation. Repentance
is part of the initial salvation package, as I have called it earlier.
One cannot believe unless he first repents.
This is the case with Simon. I
believe we have many Simon's today, and that's partly due to the fact the church
is forsaking the basic elements of the gospel
Simon’s
response in verse 24 appears to be somewhat sincere, but probably based on fear.
He says, “pray to the Lord for me so that nothing you said will happen
to me”. Even if Simon’s response
was a little sincere, it was without knowledge.
Peter could have prayed, but Peter asked Simon to do the praying.
Simon seemed to have missed the point that he needed to repent and ask
for his own forgiveness. Peter could
not do that for him. The
story of Simon abruptly ends at this point.
We don’t know what ever happened to him.
This section closes by Luke telling us that after the baptismal service
Peter and John proclaimed the gospel and returned to Jerusalem, preaching to others on the way home. Philip And The Ethiopian (ch. 8:26 - 40) The
miracles of the Spirit continue to be seen in the early church when an angel
spoke to Philip and told him “to go south … to While
walking on this road Philip met a very influential man from The
Holy Spirit (ch. 8:29) told Philip to go up to this man’s chariot
as he was passing by.
Just how the Holy Spirit told Philip this we don’t know.
It could well have been a inner voice.
Philip
heard the man reading from the book of Isaiah and asked him if he understood
what he was reading. (ch. 8:30) The
man answered by saying, “how can I, unless someone explain it to me”.
At this point Philip was invited up into the chariot. The
portion of Scripture that the man was reading was found in Isaiah 53, beginning
with the words, “he was led like a sheep to the slaughter…”
You and I realize that this portion of Scripture was speaking about
Jesus. This was one tremendous lead
in for Philip to preach the gospel to this man.
The
Ethiopian man makes it really easy for Philip.
He asks, “tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or
someone else?” Philip then
responds by telling this man about Jesus. How
the conversation actually went we don’t know.
But Philip must have preached very clearly the gospel of repentance and
faith in Jesus, because as they passed by some body of water the man asked
Philip, “Look, here is water. Why shouldn’t I be baptized”?
It is clear that Philip must have told this man about water baptism.
In
Philip’s mind being water baptized was just a natural thing to do once one had
repented and trusted Jesus for his or her salvation.
So the two men stepped down from the chariot and Philip baptized him
right away. Many in the church today
get baptized months or years after their conversion. We
often put the baptismal candidate through hours of classes on just what baptism
means. But this does not appear to
be the case in the infant church. There
was no long and drawn explanation of the merits of baptism.
There were a few words of explanation, then the baptizing. As
soon as Philip was finished baptizing this man, “the Spirit of the Lord
suddenly took Philip away”. We
often call this being “transported in the Spirit”, although there is no such
phrase mentioned here. One moment
Philip was standing in the water with this man, and then the next moment he was
gone, never to be seen again by this man. Once
again this tells us that Philip was living and being powerfully influenced by
the Holy Spirit. This is a good
example of how important the Holy Spirit is in the process of preaching and
witnessing to the gospel. We often
are too humanistic in our approach to sharing Jesus, mainly because we are not
in tune with the Holy Spirit. We
don’t know for sure what all transpired at this baptism, but it is my thinking
that the Holy Spirit was definitely present and that this man experienced Him,
maybe in an Acts 2 type experience. I
say this because the Holy Spirit had to have been with Philip, since He took
Philip away in a miraculous way. We
also note that this man went away rejoicing.
Putting these 2 thoughts together tells me that this was a dramatic
experience with the Holy Spirit. This
event is worthy to note since this man brought the gospel into It
is also interesting to note that this man had no person to shepherd him in the
faith. Philip was gone.
He only had the Holy Spirit. I
believe that in our day, with the stress of discipleship, and there is truth in
discipleship, that we don’t depend enough on God’s Spirit to help the new
Christian. We want to provide
everything for this new Christian, yet without this person knowing and
understanding the role of the Spirit, he or she will not grow into maturity.
The early church understood the role of the Spirit in the new believer. Philip
re-appeared in the coastal city of We
lose sight of Philip in the Bible for about twenty years.
The next time we see him is in Acts 21:8.
Paul spent some time with him on this occasion.
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