The Spirit was given by laying of hands, not baptism. However, in Acts 19 Luke shows Paul differentiating between baptism and receiving the Holy Spirit. He got up and was baptized, 19 and after taking some food, he regained his strength. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord-Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here-has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” 18 Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Paul’s conversion experience in Damascus also appears to demonstrate a single baptism. Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. In Acts 2, Peter indicates that believers will receive the Spirit at baptism. Acts even reports of instances where people received the Spirit before baptism. Yet another time the Spirit was received through laying on of hands after baptism. In some cases people received the Spirit at baptism. However, it’s very difficult to find a pattern in the book of Acts for how people receive the Holy Spirit.
Very few churches have a practice of two different baptisms, other than the Pentecostal denominations. The question of two different baptisms is a bit more difficult to understand. Thus, while Philip seems to be absent from Simon’s story, it would be logical to conclude that Philip was working with Peter and John to lay hands on the people and preach the good news. One might also assume that it was Philip who sent word back to Jerusalem to let the apostles know that many Samaritans accepted the gospel. Regarding the matter of Philip’s location during Peter and John’s ministry in Samaria, one could easily assume that since Simon had started following Philip that Peter and John’s introduction to Simon would have due to Philip’s influence.
First, was Philip with Peter and John when they laid hands on the people and spoke with Simon? Second, what is the difference between baptizing in the name of Jesus and baptizing in the Spirit? Lastly, whatever became of Simon after his rebuke from Peter? A number of questions arise from this passage that need to be addressed. Sandwiched between Philip’s ministry is an interesting story about Peter, John, and a sorcerer named Simon.
BIBLE COMMENTARY ON SIMON THE SORCERER FULL
23 For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin.”Ģ4 Then Simon answered, “ Pray to the Lord for me so that nothing you have said may happen to me.”Ģ5 After they had further proclaimed the word of the Lord and testified about Jesus, Peter and John returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many Samaritan villages.Īcts 8 opens and closes with the Apostle Philip. 22 Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord in the hope that he may forgive you for having such a thought in your heart. 17 Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.ġ8 When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money 19 and said, “Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.”Ģ0 Peter answered: “ May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! 21 You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God. 15 When they arrived, they prayed for the new believers there that they might receive the Holy Spirit, 16 because the Holy Spirit had not yet come on any of them they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And he followed Philip everywhere, astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw.ġ4 When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to Samaria. 13 Simon himself believed and was baptized. 12 But when they believed Philip as he proclaimed the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. He boasted that he was someone great, 10 and all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, “ This man is rightly called the Great Power of God.” 11 They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his sorcery. 9 Now for some time a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria.
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