Simon is Denied the Gift of Healing

Acts 8:14–25
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When persecution hit the church in Jerusalem, scattering the believers, the apostles were spared, remaining in Jerusalem (v. 1). Eventually word reached them of the work Philip was doing in Samaria (v. 14). The Samaritans had received the Word of God (v. 14), but strangely they had not yet received the Holy Spirit (v. 15). The Holy Spirit had come upon the first believers, including the apostles, in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2). Each subsequent believer up to that point had been Jewish. And each had immediately received the Holy Spirit upon salvation. The situation in Samaria, however, was different. Samaritans were half-Jews, the descendance of both Jews and Gentiles. They had different religious customs and beliefs from the Jews. The acceptance of the Samarians into the church marks a major step forward in the expansion of the gospel. It was therefore appropriate and necessary for Peter and John to travel to Samaria to pray for the Holy Spirit to come upon the Samarian believers (v. 15). It speaks to the power of the gospel in the apostle John’s life that he was now willing to make such a journey. Previously he had asked Jesus for permission to call down fire from heaven to consume a village of Samaritans (Luke 9:54). 

As the two apostles laid their hands on them, the Samaritans received the Holy Spirit (v. 17). The sorcerer, Simon, seeing this great miracle, and perhaps eager to expand his influence in the Samaritan church, offered to buy the power to bestow the Spirit onto others (vv. 18-19). His request was of course ludicrous. Such an outpouring of the Spirit was a special event, always performed by an apostle, only occurring four times throughout the book of Acts, each time marking the expansion of the gospel to a new group of people (Acts 2:1-4; 8:17; 10:44; 19:6). Peter rebuked Simon severely because of the evil intent of his heart (vv. 20-23), and Simon begged Peter to pray for him to be spared of any judgement for his wickedness (v. 24). It appears that Simon was more concern­ed about avoiding judgment then in getting right with God. There is no evidence that he repented and sought forgiveness.

Application

We have just seen how close a person can come to salvation, and still not be truly saved. Simon heard the Gospel, saw the miracles, gave a profession of faith in Christ, and was baptized, but was never born again.