Why did the Holy Spirit come through the laying of hands by the apostles

Acts Part 1, Lesson 6

Acts Chapter 8

 

 

I read the passage in Acts 8:14-16:

Now when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent them Peter and John,  who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit.  For He had not yet fallen upon any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.



A thought came to me - why did the apostles have to lay their hands on the believers for them to receive the Holy Spirit?  Now, of course, as soon as we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior, we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  And earlier in Acts, the Spirit came on soon after believing/baptizing.(Acts 2:2-4, Acts 4:31).

Let's look at location:
Acts chapter 1-6 - Everything was taking place in Jerusalem;
But in Acts Chapter 7 - the Gospel is spread into Samaria, at first through Philip.

So back to Acts 8:14 - the apostles heard that people were hearing the Gospel, believing, and being baptized. So the apostles sent Peter and John to Samaria, so that by the laying of hands, they could give the Holy Spirit to the new believers.

We do not know the answer to this from the text (at least through Acts Chapter 8).  The only thing that I thought of is that generally, things were done a little differently in the early church.  So I looked at John MacArthur's commentary and here's what he said:

"This was a transitional period in which confirmation by the apostles was necessary to verify the inclusion of a new group of people into the church.  Because of the animosity that existed between Jews and Samaritans, it was essential for the Samaritans to receive the Spirit, in the presence of the leaders of the Jerusalem church, for the purpose of maintaining a unified church.  The delay also revealed the Samaritan's need to come under apostolic authority.  The same transitional event occurred when Gentiles were added to the church. (Acts 10:44-46; Acts 15:6-12; Acts 19:6).