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Context No. 11 of 4322 · Acts

Context · Reflection

Acts 8:14-23: in context

14Now when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them, 15who, when they had come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Spirit; 16for as yet he had fallen on none of them. They had only been baptized in the name of Christ Jesus. 17Then they laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. 18Now when Simon saw that the Holy Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money, 19saying, “Give me also this power, that whomever I lay my hands on may receive the Holy Spirit.” 20But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! 21You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart isn’t right before God. 22Repent therefore of this, your wickedness, and ask God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you. 23For I see that you are in the poison of bitterness and in the bondage of iniquity.”

Acts tells how the young church spread out from Jerusalem into the wider world. After the first believers were scattered by persecution, one of them, Philip, carried the message into Samaria, a region whose people shared a heritage with the Jews but had been estranged from them for centuries. A local magician named Simon, who had amazed the Samaritans with his arts, believed and was baptized with many others. This passage is what happened when the apostles back in Jerusalem heard the news.

They sent Peter and John, who prayed and laid their hands on the new believers so they would receive the Holy Spirit, the gesture the church later called confirmation. Simon saw the Spirit given through the apostles' hands and offered them money for the same power. Peter's answer is furious. May your silver perish with you, he says, you thought the gift of God could be bought, and your heart is not right before God.

The church never forgot it. Simon's name became a word. Simony, the buying or selling of holy things, was one of the besetting sins of the medieval church, when offices and pardons carried a price. The gift Simon wanted was real. His error was thinking a thing can be purchased and still be a gift. What have I tried to buy my way into that is only worth anything when it is freely given?

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