Have you received the Holy Spirit?
[Acts 8:14-25]
Here, we must consider the correct attitude towards the Holy Spirit. Pastor A. W. Tozer advises in his book "Speaks to Students" not to grieve the Holy Spirit with a single word. What causes one to grieve the Holy Spirit? It is when we resist the guidance of the Holy Spirit dwelling within us, even though we may sense it. Pastor Tozer says, ‘Cease immediately from any act of resistance against God. Do not further resist what you believe to be right. If your conscience enlightens you from the Word of God, do not go against it. Follow the teachings of the Bible. If we continue to resist the will of the Holy Spirit as expressed in the Scripture He has authored, it grieves the Holy Spirit’ (Tozer). May the indwelling Holy Spirit guide us and lead us with the truth of His word. May that word enable us to hear God's voice and, further, to obey it. Particularly, may the word that God places in our hearts convict us, pierce our hearts, and lead us to repentance, ultimately leading us to obedience to that word of God.
Indeed, those with ears to hear should listen to the voice that the Holy Spirit is desiring to share with us through Acts 8:14-25.
First, what does it mean to have received the Holy Spirit?
This statement does not mean that the Samaritans who believed in Jesus through Philip did not have a proper reverence for the Holy Spirit when they believed in Jesus. They had already received the grace of regeneration and had a proper reverence for the Holy Spirit. They had all been baptized and become members of the church. Look at Acts 8:16 - "For He had not yet fallen upon any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus." What then was the issue? They had received baptism but not yet received the Holy Spirit. So, when the Bible says that Peter and John laid their hands on the Samaritans, and they received the Holy Spirit, what does this mean? It refers to the special grace of the Holy Spirit received through the laying on of hands in prayer, which Peter and John, when they came from Jerusalem, administered to them. This laying on of hands is signified in three ways in 1 Timothy 4:14 (Park): (1) It indicates entrusting a task to the person, (2) It signifies the person being consecrated to God, (3) It indicates that God gives the grace to bear the responsibilities associated with the task. Therefore, when Peter and John came to Samaria and prayed for the believers through Philip, this was a sign that they were receiving the special grace of the Holy Spirit (Acts 8:17). Now, the responsibility of the Samaritan believers is to use the grace they have received for God and His church. Since God has entrusted to them the task of being members of the church, which is the body of Christ, they must diligently use the gifts He has given them for the edification of the church. The reason Peter and John were sent from Jerusalem to Samaria to lay hands on the believers is because although the Samaritans received the gospel through Philip, they had not yet been recognized by the Jerusalem church as members of the community (Bruce). In other words, the laying on of hands by the apostles served as a confirmation and proof that the Samaritan believers were members of the community possessing the Holy Spirit. Before this, even though the believers in Samaria were a community of those who believed in Jesus, when viewed from a broader perspective of community, they had not yet been recognized by the Jerusalem church. Therefore, Peter and John coming from Jerusalem to lay hands on them resulted in the Samaritan believers becoming members of the church, a community recognized by the Jerusalem church. In other words, the laying on of hands by the apostles was a confirmation and proof that the Samaritan believers were members of the community that possessed the Holy Spirit, having received the special grace of the Holy Spirit through Philip. This is an interesting interpretation. By coming down from Jerusalem to Samaria and laying hands on the Samaritans, Peter and John conveyed that the Samaritans had now become members of the church recognized by the Jerusalem church. This means that the Samaritan believers were no longer just a local community of those who believed in Jesus, but they were now members of the larger community, recognized by the church in Jerusalem. In other words, the laying on of hands by the apostles confirmed and proved that the Samaritan believers were members of the community possessing the Holy Spirit, having received the special grace of the Holy Spirit through Philip.
Here, the important point is that the Samaritan believers who received Philip's preaching and believed in Jesus did indeed receive the Holy Spirit when they believed in Jesus (Calvin). When we accept Jesus as our Savior and Lord, the Holy Spirit comes into us. Look at Romans 5:5 - "And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us." Therefore, the statement in the passage that they received the Holy Spirit through the laying on of hands by the apostles means that they received the special grace of the Holy Spirit. So, what lesson should we take from today's passage? The Lord has given each of us the gifts of the Holy Spirit (Eph. 4:7). We should not neglect these gifts but diligently use them for the edification of the body of Christ. Furthermore, those who have received the gifts of the Holy Spirit should use them within the boundaries of the truth of His word. In other words, we should use the gifts that God has given us in accordance with His word. Look at Acts 8:14 - "When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them." Here, "accepted the word of God" means that the Samaritans received Philip's preaching (v. 6) and believed in Jesus (v. 12). This statement teaches us that we should use the gifts God has given us for God and His church in accordance with the truth of His word and not in a way that goes against it. We must actively participate in the ministry of the Lord, who is building His church, using the gifts given to us by God.
Second, receiving the Holy Spirit is a gift from God.
The Holy Spirit cannot be bought with money. In today's passage, we see that Simon, who was previously a sorcerer, saw that the Samaritan believers who had believed in Jesus through Philip received the Holy Spirit through the laying on of hands by Peter and John (Acts 8:18) and he wanted to buy this power with money (v. 19). At that moment, Peter said to Simon, "May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money!" (v. 20). What sin is Simon being exposed for here? Dr. Yoon-sun Park mentioned three things:
- It is the sin of evaluating the power of God as something equivalent to the value of money.
It is blasphemous to think that the almighty power of God, which is infinitely valuable, can be equated with money. We must remember that gifts are things that God has given us freely, and they are never conditional on our own merits or worthiness.
- It is the pride of wanting to exalt oneself using God's grace.
Although Simon claimed to believe in the gospel (v. 13), his heart was still worldly. A worldly person seeks to exploit religion for personal gain.
- The act of laying on of hands itself cannot be mistaken as the means by which the Holy Spirit comes.
That would be a delusion, treating even heavenly matters as something to be purchased. Dr. Park goes on to say, ‘Often among believers, there is an excessive elevation of certain charismatic leaders, thinking that they must receive their laying on of hands to receive grace. This is an unwarranted thought. It hinders receiving the grace of the Holy Spirit’ (Park). Ultimately, the consequence of Simon's sin is as Peter's words state, "May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money!" (v. 20). Simon wanted to buy the power to give the Holy Spirit to whomever he pleased in exchange for more money. Thus, in his greed for more profit, he would ultimately perish along with his money, as Peter admonished him in his anger (Yoo). Apostle Peter pointed out that Simon's heart was not right (v. 21). In other words, Simon did not truly repent. He had a heart desiring power. Therefore, Peter rebuked him for his greed, warning him that trying to buy more with money would lead to his destruction. In addition, Peter advised him: "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" (v. 22). In other words, Peter urged him to repent of the wickedness in his heart, which was a major issue, and to seek forgiveness. However, instead of repenting to receive forgiveness, Simon was more concerned about avoiding the curse pronounced on him, and he pleaded with Peter: "Pray to the Lord for me so that nothing you have said may happen to me" (v. 24).
Apostle Paul spoke about the gifts of the Holy Spirit given to us by God, saying, "But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it" (Eph. 4:7). This statement reminds us that each of us has received gifts, and these gifts are indeed grace as Christ apportioned. Furthermore, a "gift" is something received, not earned. Why has God given us the gifts of the Holy Spirit? What is the reason? Look at Ephesians 4:12 - "to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up." In other words, God has given us the gifts of the Holy Spirit as a grace to equip us for service, with the ultimate goal of building up the body of Christ, which is the church. And in the process of building up the church, a crucial element is love. Look at Ephesians 4:16 - "From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work."
In today's passage, Acts 8:14-25, we have witnessed how the Lord, who is the head of the church, used His disciples Peter and John to establish the church. These two apostles, after laying hands on the believers in Samaria who received the word of God, testified faithfully to the Lord's message (v. 25). The Holy Spirit dwelling within them continued to proclaim the Lord's word through these two apostles. As they returned from Samaria to Jerusalem, they preached the gospel in various villages of Samaria (v. 25). Why is the proclamation of the gospel by these two apostles in Samaria important? It is because it fulfills the prophecy of Jesus in Acts 1:8, where He said, "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." May you and I, like these two apostles, exert our efforts in proclaiming the gospel, and thereby participate in the fulfillment of Jesus' prophetic words.
Received as a gift through the grace of God,
James Kim
(Praying for us to live according to the guidance of the Holy Spirit)