Acts 8:1-25

Welcome back to the Book of Acts on the listeners commentary. The listeners commentary seeks to provide down to earth clear Bible teaching straight through the books of the New Testament so that we can be rooted in those books and in the scriptures and thus follow Jesus right where we live every single day. The listeners commentary is a crowd-funded Bible teaching project made possible by the generosity of folks just like you. So thanks to Tonne to all of you who donate to support this work and if you've been blessed in some way by it would you prayerfully consider joining the team of supporters who make this ministry possible so that more and more people can be reached by the listeners commentary. Alright in this session we're going to be looking at Acts chapter 8 verses 1 through 25 and this snapshot is set up with the fallout from the preceding scene. In the preceding scene Stephen, one of the seven was executed by the Sanhedrin, the Jewish Supreme Court, after a speech that he gave really they seized him and I guess you could say arrested and they seized him brought him before the Sanhedrin and Stephen gave a speech that showed that God isn't limited to their land. He isn't limited to the temple. It's really a speech that challenged their very Israel-centered Jerusalem-centered view of God and God's plans and purposes and so Stephen's story is the transition really to a new section in Acts one that we're calling the church begins to move outward. For the first six seven chapters of Acts all the action is focused in Jerusalem even Stephen's speech happens in Jerusalem but it lays the foundation for the outward expansion of the church and his execution actually resulted in Christians being forced to leave Jerusalem and thus they were scattered like seeds of the gospel and they went out preaching Jesus wherever they went and so both his speech and the fallout really began to leave the church to move outward into new areas and in fact in keeping with the geographical breakdown of Acts 1-8 you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and even to the ends of the earth that geographical breakdown well the snapshot here in Acts chapter 8 1-25 focuses on Samaria. Here's the way it unfolds it begins with the immediate fallout from Stephen's speech and Stephen being stoned to death it says this now Saul approved of putting Stephen to death now recall that at Stephen's execution Saul was there and in fact the people who were stoning Stephen took off their outer garments so that they could be ready to throw rocks at Stephen and they laid those outer garments at the feet of Saul. So Saul was in hearty agreement he approved of putting Stephen to death and Luke tells us then that as a result of Stephen's execution 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 for the apostles and so a bunch of the Christians in Jerusalem were forced to flee town because of the persecution that arose in connection with Stephen and notice where they went they were scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria just recall Acts 1-8 right that geographical breakdown this is Luke's way of telling us that we're moving the story forward and we're beginning to move outward and it's coming about as a result of Stephen's execution God's going to use this hostility and this persecution for his purposes to move his church forward into new areas and so that there can be witnessing to Jesus in Judea and Samaria what's interesting here is it says that they were all scattered through Judea and Samaria except for the apostles and it doesn't specify why the apostles were able to stay behind in Jerusalem maybe it's because they had so much popularity with the people and thus the Sanhedrin was afraid of touching them maybe it was let's work on all the other people and maybe that'll squelch it who knows why why that was the case but somehow the apostles were able to stay in Jerusalem but Christians in general were forced to scatter out from Jerusalem and they went out preaching the gospel wherever they went let's keep reading it says this in verse 2 some devout men we don't know whether those are devout believers or just devout Jews who disagree with putting Stephen to death it's not specific enough for us to know but some devout men buried Stephen and mourned loudly for him which is a bit surprising because rabbinic tradition in the mission that tells us that it was not permitted to give public loud lamentation and mourning for an executed criminal you could give him a proper burial but no formal public lamentation like his common in the Middle East and so whoever these devout men are they took a great risk in showing their support for Stephen and thus tacitly disagreeing with his execution by mourning loudly for him but they did that they mourn for him and they buried Stephen and verse 3 says but Saul began ravaging the church entering house after house he would drag away men and women and put them in prison and so Saul not only approved of Stephen's death he began spearheading the persecution against Christians there in Jerusalem in fact as you read through later accounts in Saul's conversion Acts chapter 9 or Paul's own testimony about his conversion in 22 and 26 you get a few more details he he had no problem tying people up he had no problem voting for their execution and their death Saul was a very much a violent aggressor and that word ravaging therefore is very appropriate Saul began ravaging the church that word is used save a wild boar and a vineyard or some other wild animal animal destroying or even ravaging a carcass right like this is the idea Saul violently ravaged the church in his hostility and we know from his later testimony that he did this because he thought he was being zealous for God but he was wrong more on that when we get his conversion in chapter 9 so Saul's leading this persecution it's forcing all these Christians out of Jerusalem verse 4 tells us here's what happened therefore those who had been scattered went through places preaching the word and so as people are forced out of Jerusalem they are now like seeds of the gospel in the wind being forced out into new towns new areas new villages all throughout Judea and Samaria and they're sharing Jesus wherever they go now with that description of the fallout from Stevens execution Luke then is going to play off of that and give us a snapshot from one of those people who was forced out of Jerusalem and how that's going to bring the gospel to Samaria he's going to focus on Philip Philip was one of the seven one of those chosen along with Stephen initially to oversee the distribution of food and goods to the needy widows but both Philip and Stephen's ministry went beyond that and they had really significant ministries of teaching and preaching the word that led to Stephen being arrested and executed well here it's going to leave Philip as he's forced out of Jerusalem to sharing the gospel in Samaria and so Luke's going to focus on here's how the gospel got to Samarian to understand this story we need to make sure we don't forget who the Samaritans are before we look at the details of it the Samaritans were in the course of history one way to describe them were like half-breed Jews if you know your Old Testament history then you know that part way through the King period of the Old Testament Israel split into two kingdoms north and south the southern kingdom called Judah the northern kingdom frequently by the name Israel and in the course of history that northern kingdom was conquered by the Middle Eastern superpower of its day the kingdom of Assyria and the Assyrians foreign policy was one of exporting some of the people importing other people from parts of their kingdom so that the peoples would intermarry and it would basically obliviate their own distinctive cultures as they intermarried with others that was what the Assyrian foreign policy operated like for their conquered kingdoms well they brought in foreigners into that northern area and those foreigners married with intermarried with some of the remaining Israelites in that northern kingdom and those remaining Israelites that intermarried now their descendants became known as the Samaritans and thus they were Jews sort of of mixed race here's the thing though they had their own temple they had their own distinctive scriptures that supported them and thus there was great hostility between the Jews and the Samaritans Jews living in Galilee and and traveling down to Jerusalem for feast time. If they at all could help it, they would take the long route and they would go east to the Jordan River and they would travel along the eastern edge and then they would cross the river and up through Jericho into Jerusalem rather than having to travel through Samaria. There was constant friction, intention, and even combative moments between the Samaritans and the Jews. So though they share a lot of the same history and they share similar ideology, they are not like long lost cousins. They hate each other, they despise each other. From the Jewish perspective, there's not a single good Samaritan. If you remember from some of the episodes in the gospels where Jesus intentionally encountered Samaritans because he had a heart for the lost and the left out, right? And so Jesus reached out to the Samaritans and his disciples didn't know what to do with it. There were times where Samaritan villages rejected Jews 'cause he was a Jew and you get some of his disciples. For example, James and John saying, "Should we call down fire on the Samaritans and burn them up?" Right? And so this was the setting and the tension between the Jews and the Samaritans. All that's important for what happens here because when the gospel goes to Samaria, it's going into really if you want to think of it properly, foreign territory. This is like the first time the gospel goes cross-cultural. It goes to people who are in a very real sense, not Jewish foreigners. That's at least how the Jews would view them. So let's pick up in 8.5 and here's what happens. Philip went down to the city of Samaria and began proclaiming Christ to them. Now the Greek text is not quite as clear as this translation makes it seem. We actually don't know what city it was. They make it seem like it's definitively the city of Samaria, which was in this time period called Sebastian. But it's not that clear. It's just A city of Samaria. And it seems therefore it could be any of those cities. And Sebastian is just as likely as any other since it was sort of the formal official capital city of Samaria. It may have been that. It may have been Sikhar. It may have been-- right, there's a number of cities. And we're not sure which one. It's just an important prominent city of Samaria. Philip goes and he's proclaiming the Christ. And he's proclaiming Jesus as Messiah to them. Verse 6, "The crowds were paying attention with one mind to what was being said by Philip, as they heard and saw the signs which he was performing. And then it goes on to describe the signs in verse 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 or limped on crutches were healed. So there was much rejoicing in that city. What's important to notice is that Philip is the second non-apossal in the book of Acts to perform signs or miracles. The first was Stephen. The second is Philip. It's interesting to me that both Stephen and Philip were members of that group of seven that were officially commissioned to ministry by the laying on of hands and the prayers and appointment of the apostles. And so it seems like there's a connection between that being appointed to ministry by the apostles and this, but it's not totally clear. At any rate, he's performing signs and miracles in the city as he's preaching. It's gathering attention. People are listening to Philip as he preaches Jesus. Next, Luke introduces us to a specific man in the crowd, one of these people that's part of the city, a little local celebrity who's been having his own kind of crowd gathering experience because he's practicing magic. His name is Simon. Look at verse nine. Now, a man named Simon had previously been practicing magic in the city and astonishing the people of Samaria claiming to be someone great. And all the people from small to great were paying attention to him saying, this man is the power of God that is called great. And they were paying attention to him because for a long time, he had astounded them with his magic. Now, Luke interrupts the preaching of Philip to introduce us to Simon because of what's going to happen in the remainder of this scene. And let me just note one important thing about magic here. Simon has been practicing magic right as his celebrity status. He's known as the power of God called great, the great power of God, right? Because of his magic practices, we need to understand that magic in the ancient world isn't referring to like the sleight of hands, sort of card trick type stuff or the great illusionist, like maybe we see on our TV shows and some of that sort of thing. The goal of magic in the ancient world was to be able to use the writing plantation, the right spell, the right formula, the right amulet to really control the spiritual powers so that they would do what you wanted them to do. Whether there was a spiritual power, you were afraid of and you wanted to kind of keep them at bay so they didn't harm you, whether it was wanting to get the spiritual powers to do some benefit for you so that you could get this girl to be attracted to you, you could get this business deal, you could win this battle or whatever it was. The goal of magic was to manipulate the spiritual powers so that you would be protected from them or you would be benefited by them. That was the goal. And apparently Simon had some magical ability and thus he had this celebrity status as the great power of God and people were paying attention to him 'cause they were astonished by his magic arts. So Luke introduces him to us and then contrast what happens. So people have been paying attention to Simon. Here comes Philip, Philip is healing people, he's casting demons out of people and his power now seems greater than Simon's and thus people are paying attention to Philip. And here's what happens, verse 12. But when they believed Philip as he was preaching the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus, just notice that description that summary of Philip's ministry and his preaching. He's preaching the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus that to preach the gospel is to declare news about what's happened. It's not a new moral code, it's not a new religious expression, it is news about what God has done in and through Jesus. So God's kingdom has broken into the here and now through Jesus the Messiah. That's what Philip is preaching. And so people are believing this. They're believing that indeed Jesus is the Messiah, God's kingdom has come in him. And so both men and women were being baptized. Not only that, now even Simon himself believed and after being baptized, he continued on with Philip as he observed the signs and great miracles taking place. And he was repeatedly amazed. And so people are believing they're being baptized. Simon himself is so impressed by Philip and Philip's power and Philips preaching that he himself puts his faith in Jesus and he himself is baptized. Now step back for a second. And even though there was tension between the Jews and the Samaritans, even though we noted there was even some hostility or tension between some of Jesus' disciples early on in the Samaritans, here we see the Samaritans believing in the name of Jesus. And that's because there was also some positive encounters with Jesus through his ministry. And so in some ways there's already at least the ground has somewhat been broken up and tilled and made ready for the gospel through Jesus' ministry, right? John chapter four when he meets the Samaritan woman at the well, she goes back into the city. She tells people about Jesus. All these people come out of the city to hear him and he was staying there with him for a few days sharing the gospel to them. And so there's been some positive interactions with Jesus during his ministry. Now when Philip comes, he finds at least a certain amount of ready soil for the seeds of the gospel. And people are believing and even Simon himself is believing and they're being baptized into the name of Jesus. Here's what happens from that then, verse 14. Somehow word gets back to the apostles in Jerusalem about Phil's ministry and how people are believing in Jesus and being baptized. And so verse 14 says, "Now when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them who came down and prayed for them that they would receive the Holy Spirit. For he had not yet fallen upon any of them, they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. This is quite fascinating. Word travels back to the apostles in Jerusalem about the Samaritans receiving the gospel, receiving the good news about Jesus, about people believing and being baptized into Jesus. And yet in some sense it seems there was some sort of deficiency. The way Luke describes it is, the Spirit hadn't fallen on any of them, they had simply or only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Luke states this as if this is somewhat not normal, right? This is not the way normally worked. And so there was lacking something in their experience of the Spirit and it was in some sense obvious or not. known. And the response of the apostles in Jerusalem was to send Peter and John down to Samaria to address this issue. And Peter and John come down, they begin investigating the work and seeing what's going on and confirm indeed that these guys have faith in Jesus. And so they come down and they pray for them that they would receive the Holy Spirit. Here's what I think is happening. When you read the New Testament letters, one of the key aspects of the work of the Spirit is to serve as really a unifier among God's people. There is one spirit and one body, Paul says in Ephesians 4, or 1 Corinthians chapter 12, that you were baptized into one spirit, into one body. And so the Spirit is a unifier. He's a mark of unity and he works for unity among God's people in Christ. So here in Samaria, you have the first time the gospel is going outside of the Jews. It's going in a sense cross-cultural. We're welcoming the first non-Jews into the family. And we can't have that happen without the presence of the apostles, can we? Or else the church would be divided, fractured at one of the very same lines that the Jews were fractured. Like the Samaritans had a lot of the same history, but there was hatred and hostility between the Samaritans and the Jews. And so God's not going to welcome the Samaritans into his family without in some sense a connection with the apostles and the Jerusalem church. We actually see the same sort of thing happening with the Gentiles, the other main group of people that are going to be welcomed into God's people, God's family, in the book of Acts. That this spirit comes in a different unique sort of way to convince Peter that indeed God wants the Gentiles to be saved in a part of his family. And so it seems as if in these transitional moments here in the early church that God's spirit acts differently as a means of bringing unity between Jews and Samaritans, Jews and Gentiles in an effort to have one family of God formed in Christ from all these different kinds of people. So why had the Holy Spirit not fallen upon them and they had not received the spirit even though they had believed in Jesus and been baptized into his name? Well, I think the reason for that is that God wanted to use the spirit in some visible sort of way to connect the Samaritans believers with the Jerusalem believers so that there would be one family in Christ. And what happens in the following bit of the story then is as the apostles pray for them, they begin to lay their hands on them and the spirit falls on them in a visible sort of way, a way that can be seen that becomes clear in the story as well. So that Peter and John can say, "Look, God wants the Samaritans to be saved." Peter and John can go back to Jerusalem and they can tell their fellow Jews, "You'll never believe it, but the spirit fell on them in such powerful, visible way that it's obvious God wants the Samaritans to be saved." And so the Samaritans now are being welcomed into the family and being united with the Jews and the Jerusalem Church by virtue of the apostles and the visible coming of the spirit. So verse 17 says, "Then they," Peter and John, began laying their hands on them and they were receiving the Holy Spirit. And as we read the rest of the story, it'll be clear that they were receiving the Holy Spirit and there was some sort of visible manifestation of that, whether it was prophecy or something. There was some way it was visible and obvious that now the spirit have been poured out on the Samaritans. In fact, verse 18 says, "Now when Simon saw, catch that, saw that the spirit was given through the laying on the apostles' hands." And so there's this sense in which somehow, through the apostles, Peter and John, as they pray for them and lay their hands on them, there's a visible manifestation of the spirit that Simon could see. And remember, Simon has been a local celebrity, Simon had all this reputation, Simon wants to be able to pass on the spirit like the apostles could. So here's what he does. He offered them money saying, "Give this authority to me as well so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Spirit." And so he wants to try to buy this God-ordained ability that God has given to the apostles to be those who welcome people into the family of God and do so by laying their hands on them and giving them the spirit. Simon wants to buy this ability. Not cool, not good. So here's how Peter responded to Simon, verse 20. But Peter said to him, "May your silver perish with you because you thought you could acquire the gift of God with money. You have no part or share in this matter for your heart is not right before God." So Peter confronts him and says, "Even though you've believed, neither do you believe in baptized, there's a problem here. Your heart is not right." And so Peter says in verse 22, "Therefore, repent of this wickedness of yours and pray to the Lord that if possible, the intention of your heart will be forgiven of you. For I see that you're in the gall of bitterness and in the bondage of unrighteousness." And so Peter calls Simon to repent to get his heart right before God to get rid of this idea of still wanting to be this great celebrity with power and be able to perform cool magic tricks and have all this attention right. Get rid of all of that and submit yourself to the Lord. Simon's response to Peter is this, "Pray to the Lord for me yourself so that nothing of what you said may come upon me." Which sounds like maybe he at least had an appropriate level of repentance of some sort and wanted to make things right with the Lord. And then with that, Luke wraps up this episode of the gospel first coming to the Samaritans in verse 25 by describing Peter and John continuing this ministry to the Samaritans. And so, verse 25, "When they had solemnly testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they started back to Jerusalem and were preaching the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans." And so Peter and John now take up this preaching ministry and they began preaching the gospel to the villages of the Samaritans on their way and sharing Jesus with them because God's made it obvious and clear he wants the Samaritans to be saved as well. And he does that by giving the Samaritans his spirit. This is such an incredible and fascinating story. It reminds us that God really does want outsiders in. He wants all people to say, "We'll see that again even in the next episode." One of the things that's fascinating to me in this episode is John, the Apostle John, who came to Samaria in this scene, his previous attitude towards the Samaritans. He's one of those who wanted to call down fire upon them in Luke chapter 9, verse 52. Here's a major shift in John's thinking in John's heart. Now here he is, sharing Jesus with him and preaching the gospel to him and laying hands on them so that they might receive the Holy Spirit. And this episode really is a beautiful portrayal of how God is forming this multi-ethnic, this multi-racial family of people from every different language and nation and tribe and tongue. And it begins here with the Samaritans. And that's why their reception of the Spirit is somewhat unique. That's why this is not normal, right? Like God wanted to make it obvious and clear that indeed I want the Samaritans to be saved and I want them to have connection with and unity with the apostles and the Jerusalem church. And so that's what we see happening here in this episode.