The Gospel in Samaria (Acts 8:1-25) | 4/3/22
Acts 8:1-25 | 4/3/22 | Will DuVal
I wanna begin this morning with a little QUIZ. It’s a 1-question quiz; I’m going to describe a NATION for you, and I want YOU to tell me which nation I’m describing. Okay?
This nation used to be “God’s people”. It was committed, as a country, to the God of the Bible. In fact, many would argue that the nation itself was FOUNDED upon faith, upon the principles and values of Scripture. So God blessed and flourished this nation. But as the years turned into centuries, the comforts associated with their prosperity began to deceive and distract people, and the nation drifted from their original passion for the Lord. Foreign, worldly influences crept in too, and the people were led astray into idolatry. And TODAY, this nation appears to have totally turned its back on the Lord, preferring the darkness to the Light, and has even become HOSTILE to the faith.
Who am I talking about?
If you answered 21st c America, you’d be correct.
And if you answered 1st c SAMARIA, you would ALSO be correct. And that’s just the point.
This morning we are continuing our study through the book of Acts, and we come to ch8, and a turning point in the story: Is the gospel for NON-Jews?
In ch1, Jesus commissioned his followers to be his witnesses“in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
In ch2, the Holy Spirit descended on the Church and filledthem with power for the job.
And in chs3-6, they started DOING it: preaching the gospel and working miracles in Jesus’ name, and the Church spread like wildfire.
But not everyone was excited about it, and in ch7, persecutionof the Church ramped up, as Stephen, the first Christian martyr, was killed for the faith.
And as ch8 opens now, we read that “there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem”, and this church that had been growing like gangbusters in Jerusalem is now SCATTERED; v1: “and they were all scatteredthroughout the regions of Judea and Samaria” – the very same regions Jesus had TOLD them they would witness for him, back in ch1.
Skip Heitzig says this about persecution: “If you’re an Acts 1:8 Christian, you should expect to be an Acts 8:1 Christian as well.” (Heitzig, “Acts 8”). If you are faithfully WITNESSING FOR Christ (Acts 1:8), then you should expect to be PERSECUTED FOR Christ (Acts 8:1) as a result. Jesus promised as much: Jn 15:20 – “If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also.”
And as we put a bow on STEPHEN’S story from last week, v2: “Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him”; that’s a good reminder to us to mourn our deceased loved ones, yes, even the CHRISTIANS. Are they in a better place? Yes – praise God! So “we do not grieve as those who have no HOPE” – 1 Thess 4:13. And YET, we still GRIEVE. We grieve WITH hope. “Devout men… made great lamentation over Stephen.” “Jesus WEPT”, over Lazarus.
“But,” v3, “Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.” And we will pick up SAUL’S story 2 weeks from now, on Easter Sunday.
But this morning, we’re going to focus on the spread of the gospel to SAMARIA. Samaria was the region located in middlePalestine, between Galilee in the north and Judea in the south. You may remember from OT history that the nation of Israel existed for a century as a “United Monarchy”, under Kings Saul, David, and Solomon. But after Solomon, around the year 930 BC, the Kingdom was SPLIT into the northern Kingdom of ISRAEL, and the southern Kingdom of JUDAH. Well, Solomon had built his TEMPLE in the southern and capital city of Jerusalem. So over time, the northern Israelites decided to build their OWN temple, in their OWN capital city, SAMARIA. And the division between the southern “Jews” and the northern “Israelites” only grew over time. And especially after 722 BC, when the Northern Kingdom was invaded and conquered by ASSYRIA. And the best and brightest Israelites were exiled to Assyria. But those left behind in Samaria were pushed to integrate, to assimilate into their new Assyrian overlords’ culture. This was a common practice in antiquity, that conquering empires used to keep vassal states in submission: forced assimilation. It’s much harder to subjugate a people who still have their own distinct language, food, music, currency, religion, gods, etc. So Assyria even sent some of their own citizens into Israel to infiltrate and indoctrinate. And over time, the Israelites began to adopt many aspects of Assyrian culture as their own, even blending – syncretizing – their worship of Yahweh with worship of Ashur, and Ishtar, the gods of Assyria. And the Israelites began intermarrying and having babies with these Assyrian transplants, giving birth to a new, “half-breed” race of people called “Samaritans”. In the eyes of the southern Jews – who would ALSO later be conquered and exiled by the Babylonians, in the 6th c BC, but who (for the most part) REFUSED to assimilate and lose their Jewish identity – in their eyes, the Samaritans were filthy mud-bloods. Apostates.
Now, I SHARE all that history, because the whole premise of this sermon is gonna be that in MANY ways, 21st c America is MUCH like 1st c Samaria: A once-favored, God-blessed, some might even say divinely-ordained nation – we can debate all day long whether a majority of the Founders were Christians or really Deists, we can debate how much of the Bible truly shaped the writing of the Constitution – but what is BEYOND debate is that regardless of whether or not America may have ONCE been accurately described as a “Christian nation”, we are NOT that any longer. The most recent polls show that while 63% of Americans still self-identify as Christian (down 12% in just the last decade), but as soon as you ask them the follow up question – “Do you believe you will go to heaven solely by confessing your sins and embracing Jesus as your savior?”, the number plummets to 33% of Americans, only ⅓ of our population even PROFESS to believe the biblical gospel, to say nothing of how many of them have actually been BORN AGAIN – and have not just the head knowledge, but heart-transformation. (Joe Carter, “Survey”, https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/survey-a-majority-of-american-christians-dont-believe-the-gospel/)
Much like Samaria, over time, most Americans began to notice the new, foreign gods of the surrounding culture – gods like Mammon, Wealth. Success. Status. Comfort. Entertainment. Sex. And of course, the most popular god of ALL in our country today: SELF; have you seen the new ad for Nair, the hair removal product line? Their tagline says it all: “WORSHIP YOURSELF”. Here’s your Golden Calf, America – “here is your god, who brought you up out of Egypt”: it’s YOU! You don’t even need to construct an idol; just find a MIRROR!
But here’s the question for you and me this morning, Church: how will we respond? LIVING in such a nation. At least the Jewscould AVOID the Samaritans; they used to take the LONG road to get from Galilee in the north, down to Judah in the south, to AVOID having to travel through Samaria. Everyone except for JESUS, of course, who went out of HIS way to travel deep into the HEART of Samaria just to chat with a prostitute at a well. And offer her Living Water, Eternal Life.
Will we be like JESUS, and PHILIP, and go TO the “Samaritans” all around us, or like the Pharisees with upturned noses, will we AVOID them for the sake of our church’s perceived “purity”. That’s the FIRST question we’re confronted with this morning in Acts 8, but I’ve got 5 more for you, so I suppose we should get going!
Would you stand… Acts 8:4-25
“4 Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word. 5 Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Christ. 6 And the crowds with one accord paid attention to what was being said by Philip, when they heard him and saw the signs that he did. 7 For unclean spirits, crying out with a loud voice, came out of many who had them, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. 8 So there was much joy in that city.
9 But there was a man named Simon, who had previously practiced magic in the city and amazed the people of Samaria, saying that he himself was somebody great. 10 They all paid attention to him, from the least to the greatest, saying, “This man is the power of God that is called Great.” 11 And they paid attention to him because for a long time he had amazed them with his magic. 12 But when they believed Philip as he preached good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. 13 Even Simon himself believed, and after being baptized he continued with Philip. And seeing signs and great miracles[b] performed, he was amazed.
14 Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John, 15 who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, 16 for he had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit. 18 Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money, 19 saying, “Give me this power also, so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” 20 But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! 21 You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right before God. 22 Repent, therefore, of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you. 23 For I see that you are in the gall[c] of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity.” 24 And Simon answered, “Pray for me to the Lord, that nothing of what you have said may come upon me.”
25 Now when they had testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans.” This is the word of the Lord… Thanks be to God…
If Jesus’ followers were going to be effective witnesses for him in Samaria in the 1st c., if WE are going to be effective witnesses for Christ HERE, in OUR OWN “Samaria” – 21st c. America – there are 6 questions we must ask ourselves as a church. And the church in Acts answers all 6 of them here in ch8:
Will we GO?
Will we SHOW?
Will they BELIEVE?
Will we CONFIRM?
Will we SAFEGUARD?
Will we PERSEVERE?
Let’s examine each in turn:
#1 – “Will we GO?” (vv4-5)
As I mentioned already, this is the first and most important question: will we even GO? Will we be FAITHFUL, and OBEDIENT, in taking the gospel where Jesus has commanded us to take it – to difficult places, places we’d honestly rather not GO?
Jesus calling his disciples to Samaria reminds me of GOD calling the prophet JONAH to go preach to the Ninevites, in the OT. You remember how JONAH answered THAT calling? He boarded the first boat leaving for Tarshish, due WEST, the exact oppositedirection God had called him. And it didn’t work out so well for Jonah.
But not PHILIP. You’ll remember Philip from 2 Sundays ago, ch6, v5; he was one of the 7 Hellenist DEACONS chosen by the church. But like Stephen, last week, who proved that evangelism isn’t just for the “experts”, the apostles, and who therefore “deaconed” not just the widows’ tables but God’s WORD by boldly proclaiming the GOSPEL, even unto death, so too Philip here is obedient to that call as well. So much so that by ch21, Philip will earn himself the nickname “Philip the Evangelist” (21:8). And in vv4-5, we read, “Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word. Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Christ.” And thus, The gospel ARRIVES in Samaria.
Let’s also note who DIDN’T go – the APOSTLES. Why? Because they knew they were actually in more danger by staying put in Jerusalem, the center of the Church’s persecution, and YET Jerusalem still needed the gospel too. This is exemplary, sacrificial leadership from the apostles. They risked their lives to stay and keep preaching amidst the persecution.
But we must ALSO commend PHILIP, for his faithfulness. In spite of ALL the reasons NOT to go to Samaria, that “mongrel nation of half-breeds.” (Hughes, 111) Of whom, the Jewish rabbis used to say, “he who eats the bread of the Samaritans is as he who eats swine’s flesh.” Abominable. A popular prayer in those days was, “…Oh Lord, do not remember the Samaritans in the resurrection.” That’s how HATED the Samaritans were, by the Jews.
There’s a lot of HATRED for our surrounding culture coming out of the American Church these days. And to be sure, there’s a lot going on out there that’s WORTH being concerned about! But what’s the ANSWER… to WITHDRAW? Boycott Disney? I’m not gonna tell you NOT to boycott Disney; I’m just saying if you wanna be consistent about boycotting EVERY company that espouses ANY unbiblical values, you’re going to find it VERY difficult to survive in America today; where you gonna bank? Shop? Eat? Work? Play? Brothers and sisters: we are living in Samaria – America is all-BUT fully syncretized.
But here’s something interesting to consider: have you ever heard of the Essenes? The Essenes were a popular, Separatist sect of Judaism in the 1st c., who became increasingly concerned with the syncretism they saw coming not ONLY from the Samaritans, but from their fellow JEWS as well. The Pharisees and Sadducees were compromising their beliefs in order to peacefully coexist within and actually PROFIT from the surrounding ROMAN society of their day. So you know what the Essenes did? They LEFT. They boycotted Rome, and Jewish assimilation SO hard, that they actually exiled themselves out of town, to the caves of Qumran, and they lived in their own little separatist, purist community.
Why do I bring up the Essenes? To remind us that JESUS was NOT an Essene. And he didn’t command his followers to be Essenes either. He didn’t bestow on us the gift, the power of the Holy Spirit, so we could all just stick to the safety of our insular, bubble-wrapped, STERILE Christian community. I like that word “STERILE”, cuz it can mean “free of germs”, but it can ALSO mean “incapable of REPRODUCING”. And you know what – that’s exactly what the Church BECOMES – impotent, fruitless – if we are soobsessed with being “unstained” by the “germs” of our surrounding culture, that we totally pull away. Church: Jesus calls us to be light and salt, in this dark and decaying world; light does no good under a bushel. Salt does no good until it’s pressed INTO the meat. We are called to be IN the world, yet not of the world.
Would Jesus boycott Disney? I don’t know. He might just buy a season pass, and hang out every day in the theme park with a t-shirt that says, “I love you” on the front, and “Can we talk?” on the back.
#2 – “Will we SHOW?”
Will we show the world the gospel, not just in WORD, but in tangible ACTIONS?
We’ve seen this recurring theme throughout Acts now, of Christians, aka “little Christs”, following in Jesus’s footsteps, who came not ONLY preaching the gospel and meeting peoples’ spiritual needs but working healing miracles to meet their physical needs as well. So too here Philip performed “signs”; v7: “For unclean spirits, crying out with a loud voice, came out of many who had them, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed.”
So Philip’s gospel was not only proclaimed in word, it was ATTESTED in action. (vv6-8) To attest means “to give proof or evidence of; to manifest or bear witness to; to certify”.
The truth of the gospel message must be ATTESTED in power. Paul wrote to the Thessalonians: “our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit” (1:5).
For Philip, in the case of these Samaritans, it was the power to heal, and to cast out, to exorcise demons. There was a need forexorcism, as we’ll discover in vv9-11, because the Samaritans had strayed SO far from a pure worship of God that they had become caught up in SORCERY, in the dark magic of Simon Magus. And OT law was clear that any kind of dabbling in the occult – sorcery, witchcraft, divination, fortune-telling, astrology, etc. – is strictly forbidden, biblically (Deut 18:10-12), as it opens a door to demonic influence. And the Bible doesn’t deny that there is real POWER in such practices, but it is Satanic power.
Which makes the significance of exorcism here, Philip’s power to cast out the unclean spirits, all the more remarkable. Interestingly, it’s a power found NOWHERE in the OT. There are no exorcisms in the Bible… until JESUS shows up. And there was no doubt an explosion of demonic activity at that time, to try and OPPOSE Jesus, all in VAIN of course. But here we see that the power of exorcism wasn’t UNIQUE to Jesus; he actually SHARED it with his followers; Mark 16:17 “these signs will accompanythose who believe: bin my name they will cast out demons”.
Now, maybe you haven’t cast out any demons lately. Maybe you haven’t even performed any miraculous HEALINGS. But the principle here – that our proclamation of the gospel in word should be attested in POWER and action as well – that principle still stands. Y’all know how I feel about that famous, terrible quote from St. Francis of Assisi – that we ought to “Preach the gospel at all times, and when necessary, use words.” The more biblical rendering would be “Preach the gospel at all times, necessarilyusing words, and in whatever ways possible, backing it up with your actions.” Because what’s true of FAITH in James ch2 (v26) is equally true of the propagation of that faith: “evangelism without works is dead”.
#3 – “Will they BELIEVE?” (vv9-13)
You’ll notice that this is the only one of the 6 evangelistic questions where WE are not the subject of the sentence. THEY are. “Will WE go, will WE show,” but now we ask: “will THEY believe?”
The gospel ARRIVED, it was ATTESTED, and now it is ACCEPTED in Samaria, in vv9-13. In SPITE of their former idolatry, even their OCCULT, demonic idolatry.
Samaria must have seemed like impossible, impenetrable soil for the seed of the gospel. When Philip got to town, “from the least to the greatest”, they were all worshiping a SORCERER! V10: “This man [Simon] is the power of God that is called Great.” Not “this man HAS the power of God”; no, he IS the power of God! ‘God in the flesh’; we might rightly label Simon an “anti-Christ”. Talk about insidious idolatry!
But, v12: “when they believed Philip as he preached good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized…” v13: “Even Simon himself believed”! Praise the LORD!
Simon’s conversion reminds me of that beautiful line from the hymn “Jesus There’s No One Like You”: “There is NO sinner beyond the infinite stretch of [Christ’s] mercy”. Not even a false teaching, sorcerous, demonic, anti-Christ like Simon Magus! Not even YOU; not even ME. “Amazing grace how sweet the sound / that saved a WRETCH like even me”.
If Philip had used many of the evangelistic strategies taught these days, about how to identify a “person of peace”, and target specifically the folks in whom God’s Spirit appears to be already at work, softening their hearts, hearts with fertile soil for the seed of the gospel, then he NEVER would have gone to Samaria. Philip CERTAINLY wouldn’t have bothered preaching to Simon Magus! If Philip had read Jesus’ “Parable of the Sower” from Mark ch4, and gleaned from it that some people’s hearts are HARD, like the road; other hearts are okay, like the rocky soil; other soil SEEMS good at first, but later thorns grow and kill it; but then there’s the GOOD soil. And OUR job, as evangelists, is to look for the GOOD soil, and plant strategically there – Philip would have NEVERplanted in Samaria.
But friends, Philip knew the point of the parable is that the faithful sower scatters seed EVERYWHERE! In every kind of soil! Because the good sower knows his job isn’t to grow the crop; that’s GOD’S job – 1 Corinthians 3:6, Paul says, “I planted, Apolloswatered, but GOD gave the growth.” PAUL’S job, MY job, OUR job, Church, is simply to SOW. To PLANT. And then pray and trust GOD with the growth.
So how do we answer question #3 here – “Will they believe?” Well, on the one hand, we CAN’T. Because only GOD knows the hearts of the unbelievers to whom we are called to preach. But on the other hand, Jesus promised, “I WILL build my Church” (Matt 16:18). God promises “My word shall NOT return to me void” (Isa 55:11). Paul encourages us, “in due season we WILL reap, if we do not give up.” (Gal 6:9) Just keep sowing, just keep sowing, just keep sowing…
Because If God can save a MURDERER like Paul…
If He can save a SORCERER like Simon Magus…
If He can save a WRETCH like you and me…
Then who CAN’T He save?! Who, in YOUR life, has a heart that’s TOO hard, for our omnipotent God, to touch and transform, with His power and His grace?
#4 – “Will we CONFIRM?” Once they’ve BELIEVED in the gospel, “Will we CONFIRM that they’ve TRULY believed it?”
This is an interesting, important point. The gospel gets AUTHENTICATED in Samaria. (vv14-17) – to Authenticate means “to establish as genuine”.
Vv14-17 here trip a lot of Christians up. A lot of the “second baptism” theology of Pentecostalism gets argued from this passage. Do we need to pull [Teddy… Raissa… Brian Loebs…] back up here and lay hands on them so they can receive the baptism of the HOLY SPIRIT, now that they’ve been water baptized?
I found my Study Bible’s explanation helpful here; we ALL need a good study Bible: “This was a [unique,] 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 presenceof the leaders of the Jerusalem church, for the purpose of maintaining a unified church. The delay also revealed the Samaritans’ need to come under apostolic authority.” (MacArthur Study Bible, 1605)
And while it WAS unique, and the church can no LONGER claim “apostolic authority” – you hear a pastor refer to himself today as “apostle”: run as FAST as you can in the other direction! – yet I would argue BIBLICALLY that it is STILL important today for the Church to confirm a person’s testimony of faith in the gospel – to the best of our admittedly FALLIBLE ability to discern – that their testimony is CREDIBLE. To authenticate that testimony. I believe that’s at least a PART of “the power of the keys” that Jesus refers to in Matthew 16, when he says, “I will give you [THE CHURCH] the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bindon earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (v19) – and that’s at least PART of what we’re doing when we baptize a person. Or admit them into church membership. We’re not SAVING them. God’s already DONE that, we think. We’re just confirming it. Jonathan Leeman uses this analogy for the Church: we’re like an EMBASSY. Your true citizenship lies in Heaven. But since we live as sojourners in this world, as exiles, the closest thing you got to Heaven here is the CHURCH; this embassy, this outpost. And baptism and church membership, then, are like your PASSPORT, confirmation of citizenship.
So church confirmation is important. Some of you will say, “Well, isn’t it ENOUGH to simply believe in Jesus, in my own heart?” And I think the BIBLICAL response would be, “Enough… for WHAT?”
To get you into HEAVEN. Sure. It’s by grace alone you are saved through faith alone in Christ alone. No certificate of baptism or membership is necessary.
But is it enough “to fulfill ALL righteousness? To walk in obedience to the Lord, and follow His OWN example?” No, if you’ve refused baptism and membership then you’ve NOT yet met THAT criteria.
I’m officiating 3 weddings this summer – isn’t it enough for those couples to simply covenant, privately, before God and to one another, in their own hearts, that they’ll stick it out for better or worse, richer and poorer? I mean, there’s nowhere in Scripture that says they HAVE to get all dressed up and stand up in front of all their family and friends and take formal, public vows. But is a wedding a GOOD and RIGHT thing for a couple to do, who want to honor God in their marriage? YES.
I was reminded, hearing my brother-in-law’s baptismal testimony this morning, of when my FATHER-in-law shared his own last year. How after he was led to saving faith in his 20s, he felt like he was more or less abandoned, like an exposed, infant Christian, “tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine” because he hadn’t been taught the importance, the absolute necessity of being GROUNDED in a Bible-preaching CHURCH community. Brothers and sisters, this is what the Church IS, it’s what the Church DOES for you: the Church CONFIRMS, authenticates, establishes as genuine your faith, and then cultivates and GROWS that faith, “until we all attain to… a mature faith… to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Eph 4:13).
#5 – “Will we SAFEGUARD?”(vv18-24)
Once that faith has BEEN confirmed, will we SAFEGUARD it, from “cultural RE-appropriation”, from syncretism all OVER again, from drifting away from the faith.
That’s what the APOSTLES did, or at least ATTEMPTED to do, for Simon Magus in vv18-24, when he tries to BUY the power to bequeath the Holy Spirit to others; he’s already GOT the Spirit; Simon received it in v17 along with the REST of them. But he wants the power to pass it on to others, like the apostles. Now in Simon’s defense, he had probably paid someone for his formerOCCULT powers, so this is just business as usual for him.
But the apostle PETER makes it clear that once you come to Jesus, there IS no going back to “usual”; the old has GONE, the new has COME! Peter rebukes him: “May your silver perish with you”; idiomatically, in Greek, he says, “To HELL with you and your money!” And a lot of commentators think that Peter’s rebuke here must mean that Simon was never truly converted. But those commentators must have missed the story about Peter himself when Jesus called him SATAN! “Get behind me, Satan!” I don’t know about Y’ALL, but if needing to be rebuked means you’re not truly saved… if failure to be completely sanctified at the moment of SALVATION… if still having the tendency to fall BACK into your OLD ways, old patterns, sinful habits – if that is proof that you haven’t truly been SAVED, then I know I for one am in trouble!
But thank the Lord those commentators are WRONG. Simon BELIEVED in v13, and JESUS promised “Whosoever BELIEVES in me shall NOT perish, but have everlasting LIFE!” He didn’t say “whosoever believes AND NEVER SCREWS UP again”… he didn’t say, “Whosoever believes and never drifts back into old sinful habits again”; he said, “Whosoever BELIEVES”. Period!
So how are we to understand Peter’s rebuke then? When Peter declares in v21, “You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right before God”, he’s not talking about SALVATION; he’s talking about the power to bequeath the Spirit on others. Peter’s exhortation of Simon to “REPENT”, and be “forgiven” v22, to be FREED of the “bond of iniquity”, v23 – that’s a reminder we ALL need, DAILY need, throughout our LIFELONG journey of sanctification, is it not? Unless you no longer sin…
And Simon’s RESPONSE, in v24, sounds like at least the beginnings of a true repentance to me: “Pray for me to the Lord, that nothing of what you have said may come upon me.””
What’s the significance of this interaction? Peter’s making sure that The gospel is ASSURED in Samaria. To “ASSURE” can mean “to secure or confirm; to render safe or stable”. Peter knows that the gospel is on shaky, ROCKY ground here in Samaria. The most influential guy in town just tried to PURCHASE spiritual gifts. By the way, this is where the practice of “simony” (named after Simon here) came from: “the buying or selling of ecclesiastical privileges, such as pardons or positions”, that eventually led to the Protestant Reformation.
But Peter rebukes him, publicly, to assure, to secure, to “render the gospel safe and stable” from being re-appropriated and syncretized back into Samaritan false religion. Cuz if you try and add ANYTHING to the gospel, you DISTORT it…
Jesus + anything = nothing… no gospel.
Jesus + spiritual gifts and supernatural powers = NOT the gospel.
Jesus + baptism = NOT the gospel.
Jesus + church membership = NOT the gospel.
Jesus + “be a good person” = NOT the gospel.
The GOSPEL is “Jesus + NOTHING = EVERYTHING!”
That you don’t HAVE to add anything… that you CAN’T add anything to Jesus; Christ’s sacrifice was SUFFICIENT to pay for ALL your sins. That’s good news!
#6 – “Will we PERSEVERE ?”
The apostles could have just called it a day. How could ANYTHING top the conversion of the SAMARITANS?! Of even Simon the Magician!?
But instead, those salvations in Samaria only motivated the apostles all the more: “they returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans.”
And the gospel was ADVANCED in Samaria. (v25)
How could anything top that? Come back next week and find out.