![]() These people had that happen when they first believed but this was an extraordinary bestowal of the Holy Spirit kind of like at Pentecost (Acts 2, also see Devotional 44 for more). Were the Samaritans not saved when they believed at Philip’s initial preaching? Is this what happens nowadays or was it only then? I agree with David Guzik that this isn’t the same as the Holy Spirit coming on a person acknowledging their salvation (Source 3). There has been much debate over the millennia about what this means. Interestingly at this point the Holy Spirit had not come upon the believers here in Samaria. ![]() So it was important that the apostles recognize Samaritan believers as equal to other believers. We must note this is in Samaria and if we remember Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:29-37) and the Samaritan women at the well (John 4:9), we’ll recognize Samaritans and Hebrews were enemies (for more see Source 2). Philip the missionary went out and when this group of people believed, the church in Jerusalem sent the apostles Peter and John to officially welcome them to the family. He is convinced, professes faith, gets baptized and follows Philip around. But Simon recognized a true sign from God as opposed to Satan’s cheap tricks. We can understand it as either sleight of hand or little tricks from Satan. His magic was probably like Jannes and Jambres during the plagues of Pharaoh (read Exodus 7, they are named in 2 Timothy 3:8) or Balaam (see Numbers 22-24). Here we get the back story on a guy named Simon (known as Simon the Sorcerer, to distinguish him from other Simons in the Bible) who was popular for doing some magic. * Philip the apostle: preached the Gospel in Phrygia (west central Turkey) before dying (or being martyred) there at Hieropolis (Source 2). What about you – do you think you’re doing God’s will by teaching a Christian or non-Christian a lesson? Have you rationalized it? At this point in our lives are we more like Saul or Philip? Do we have to tear into Christians, lacking patience and love? Or do we tirelessly show them the love and mercy that Jesus has shown us? Saul had the best of intentions- he thought he was doing God’s will. I like how Luke puts this section together: we hear about Saul’s persecution of the church and in direct contrast Philip encourages and builds it up. This Philip is known as “Philip the deacon” or “Philip the Evangelist” (Source 1). So now we hear about Philip but this Phillip is different from the disciple by the same name*. They couldn’t remain in their commune forever, they had to go out and tell others about Jesus. But God uses this because it forced the church to move and spread out. The New King James Version of the Bible says that Saul “ made havoc of the church.” That is such good wording! Saul and his minions seemed to be everywhere at once tearing apart people’s homes and throwing them in prison. So the influential men of Judaism (and Saul is a ring-leader) are persecuting the Christian church. We pick up where we left off from last week: Stephen’s death. This week we hear the awesome and exciting story of Philip leading many to Christ but also the sad story of Simon, a man of questionable ends. Last week we talked about the amazing story of Stephen who after witnessing about Jesus was stoned to death.
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