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).

How God uses people who don't believe in Him to fulfill his Word.

Precept Acts Part 1

Lesson 6 - Acts Chapter 8

So, I was doing my homework for Acts Chapter 8 (lesson 6) and I had an "a-ha" moment.   When I read the verse in Acts 8 that talks about how Saul was persecuting the church, I realized that even though Saul was not a believer at that time (obviously),  God still used him to fulfill Jesus' command in Acts 1:8.

 

Command or Prophecy	Fulfilled by
In Acts 1:8, Jesus told his disciples "but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”	Acts 8:4 - "But Saul began ravaging the church, entering house after house, and dragging off men and women, he would put them in prison.  Therefore, those who had been scattered went about preaching the word."

After this "A-ha" moment, it brought to mind a few other times when God used unbelievers to carry out His Word.

 

Command or Prophecy	Fulfilled by
Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for 400 years.” (Genesis 15:13)	We know from later Scripture in Exodus that the Israelites did leave Egypt.  We’re all familiar with the facts of the Exodus, Pharaoh wouldn’t let them go, Moses was the deliverer.  Pharaoh eventually did let them go, even though he was not a Jew. Ex 12:29-32
Isaiah 44:28: “It is I who says of Cyrus, ‘He is My shepherd! And he will perform all My desire.’ And he declares of Jerusalem, ‘She will be built,’ And of the temple, ‘Your foundation will be laid.’” (Note: This was written by the prophet Isaiah about 740-700bc)	This fulfillment is recorded in 2 Chronicles 36:22-23, Ezra 1:1-8, Ezra 3:7, Ezra 4:3.  Cyrus the Great became king of Persia in 559bc and conquered the Medes in 550bc.  In 538bc, Cyrus granted to the Jews (whom King Nebuchadnezzar had taken to Babylon in captivity in 586bc) to return to Palestine and rebuild Jerusalem and the temple. So this prophecy was roughly 150 years before Cyrus was even born.  That’s why Bible skeptics claim that Isaiah was written much later than it actually was.
In Acts 2, Peter gives a sermon to the crowd who had gathered on the day of Pentecost.  He states very eloquently about Jesus: “Men of Israel, listen to these words:  Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know— 23this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. 24“But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power.” So God had a predetermined plan, before the creation of the world, to bridge the gap between himself and man that happened during the first sin in the Garden of Eden.  God knew He had to sacrifice His Son, Jesus, the Messiah, to die for our sins.  By Jesus dying, a perfect white lamb without spot or blemish, to be our Passover Lamb.  But this plan, was in fact, carried out by the Jews and Roman rulers, who were not believers in the Son of God.

 

 There are obviously, many hundreds and probably thousands of times in Scripture about when God used those who did not believe to carry out His will.  These were just a few that came to mind while we've been studying Acts.

The Lesson of Simon

Precept Acts Part 1, Lesson 8

Acts Chapter 8

In Acts chapter 8:9-24, there is a recounting of an encounter with a man from Samaria named Simon.  Our homework asked us whether, from the text, if we can tell whether Simon was a true follower of Christ.   Our homework says "does 'he believed" mean that he was saved"?  After reading this passage many times, I think this is a very difficult passage to answer. 

Let's make a list of what we learn about Simon:

8:9 - man named Simon;
8:9 - formerly practiced magic in the city (Samaria)
8:9 - astonished the people of Samaria;
8:9 - claimed to be someone great;
8:10 - they all gave Simon attention, saying that this man is what is called "the great power of God";
8:11 - they gave Simon attention because Simon astonished them with his magic arts;
8:13 - Simon believed (Philip preaching the good news about the kingdom of God and name of Jesus Christ) and was baptized;
8:13 - Simon continued on with Philip and observed signs and miracles taking place, being amazed;
8:14 - 17 - Peter and John (apostles) were sent to Samaria to lay hands on the believers, so the Spirit could come upon them;
8:18 - Simon offered Peter and John money for the power to lay hands on believers to receive the Holy Spirit;
8:20-23 - Peter saw through Simon's actions (through the Holy Spirit) and observed about Simon:
i - your heart is not right before God;
ii - you are in the gall of bitterness;
iii - you are in the bondage of iniquity;
8:24 - Simon asked Peter to pray to the Lord themselves for him so that nothing of what Peter said would come upon him.



Argument for Simon not being saved:

After my first few readings, it seemed that perhaps Simon wasn't saved.   Before Simon encountered Philip, he performed many magic arts.  He liked being the center of attention.  Philip came to town and Simon believed.   So Simon stayed with Philip and wanted to be around those who were performing signs.  He was putting on a show of hanging out with the right crowed.  John MacArthur says "his belief was motivated by purely selfish reasons and could never be considered genuine.  Simon saw it as an external act useful to gain the power he believed Philip possessed.  By following Philip, he also was able to maintain contact with his former audience."

We know that Scripture tells us we can tell someone's true heart by their actions and words.  By asking to pay for the power of the Holy Spirit, that shows us Simon's true heart.  That Simon had not been saved - he was still in the grip of his addiction to the magic arts.

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 My Precept leader guide says the following:

Peter's answer to him tells Simon's true spiritual condition:
* He was perishing;
* He had no part or portion/lot in the matter;
* His heart was not right before God;
* He needed to repent and be forgiven;
*He was in the gall of bitterness and bondage/bond of iniquity.
This is a description of an unsaved man.

John 2:23-25 - True salvation is a matter of the heart - what is inside a person.  Jesus didn't entrust Himself to some who believed in His name because He knew what was in them.

Compare this with those who believed in van in 1 Corinthians 15:1-2.  Verse 2 says some believe in vain as they don't hold fas the word preached to them.  These are not truly saved.

Romans 8:9.  If there is no Spirit of Christ within, there is no salvation - that one does not belong to Christ.  Simon, like Ananias and Sapphira, was not truly saved because he had not repented and been forgiven.  He was still in wickedness and iniquity.
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Argument for Simon being saved:



But there are a couple really good arguments for Simon being saved. 

1)  The text says in Acts 8:13 "Simon believed".  We know from John 3:16 that says ""For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.  The text says "Simon believed".  If he believed, then he has eternal life and was saved.

2)  Many times, new or baby Christians are not immediately able to eliminate an addiction.  It's clear that Simon was addicted to magic and being proud of performing these acts.  So when he says he believed, he could still sin.  We know from Scripture that only Jesus was sinless.  

3)  Next, let's look at Acts 8:20:  But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money.".   Let's look back at the Greek word for "perish".  This is Strong's #684.ἀπώλεια apōleia.  It means "utter destruction".  

Let's look at another place in Acts where there was an incidence of perishing.  We just studied Acts 4:32 - 5:11 - the story of Ananias and Sapphira.    In that Scripture, we learned that Ananias lied to the Holy Spirit and God.  Sapphira put the Spirit of the Lord to the test.  Both were killed instantly by God and the Spirit.  The penalty for lying to the Holy Spirit was death.  This was the first recorded event of this happening in the new church - this was discipline in the early church.   It was very important in the early church that punishment be swift and all evil rooted out immediately.  The early church had to have a firm foundation.

When we studied this 2 weeks ago in Acts 5, we learned that this pattern of the death penalty was probably based on the Old Testament, right after the children of Israel left Egypt.  This is the incident of the first sacrifice and the death of Aaron's sons for not following God's commands. 

So in Acts 8:20, when Peter said "May your silver perish with you..."  Peter may have been talking about actual physical death.  Physical death as a form of punishment or discipline for breaking God's laws.  So in Acts 8:24 when Simon says “Pray to the Lord for me yourselves, so that nothing of what you have said may come upon me."  Simon is asking Peter to intercede on his behalf so that God would not terminate his life.

Conclusion:

So aside from the issue of whether Simon was saved or not - what is the point of this passage?  I think it shows us 3 things:

1)  The Gospel of Christ was being proclaimed and people were believing, being baptized and the church was growing.
2)  You can't obtain a spiritual gift by paying money;
3)  God decides which gifts He gives and to whom;
 

People have been debating this passage of scripture for 2000 years.  John MacArthur & Precepts leader guide says he was not saved.  I think you can decide for yourselves.