Acts 8:14-25 Simony

Acts 8:14-17 The apostles travel to Samaria so that new converts will receive the Holy Spirit. It is ironic that the apostles were the "sent ones" in name, but it was a deacon, Phillip, who is the first recorded missionary who went outside of his home town to carry the gospel to others. The apostles came from Jerusalem after hearing of Phillip's success in leading people to Christ. Apparently Philip either did not have the authority, or the calling, to minister the filling of the Holy Spirit, so the apostles came and the Samaritans received the Holy Spirit.

Acts 8:18-25 Simon the sorcerer tries to buy the ability to bestow the Holy Spirit. We don't know what Simon saw or understood, but he obviously misunderstood the way God works. He thought he could buy authority or capability to bestow the Holy Spirit. The evidence of the Holy Spirit must have been tangible, so that an unspiritual person like Simon would be impressed. Perhaps it was speaking in tongues and exalting God, as is recorded in Acts 2 and Acts 10. Regardless, when he offered money to the apostles, Peter rebuked him harshly. In the context of the Deuteronomy passage, Peter knew that this man in his former way of life was detestable to God. His offering of money indicated that he did not yet have a changed heart - he still wanted power and recognition for supernatural ability. The intention of his heart was still focused on himself, not on Jesus. He may have believed the good news in the sense of a set of doctrines, but he had not yet received Christ to be changed by him. At least at the conclusion of Peter's rebuke, Simon asked for prayer, to be delivered from what Peter had warned him of: the gall of bitterness and the bondage of iniquity. It is interesting that Peter told Simon to repent, but Simon requested prayer, rather than making any statement regarding repentance.

          The term Simony is derived from this passage. It refers to the practice of paying money for spiritual benefits. The modern usage is broader than the act of offering money to obtain the power to impart the Holy Spirit through the laying on of hands. Modern usage is to apply this to any situation in which money or other earthly valuables are offered in exchange for any spiritual benefit. There are several variations on this. For example, a church office such as elder or bishop or pastor may not convey with it any divine unction of power, so trying to buy an appointment to such a position does not bring what Simon was seeking. Because God sovereignly gives His gifts (described in I Cor 12 & 14), man's response should be to recognize what God has done. Trying to buy the office to gain authority in the spiritual world is exactly backwards. Another example would be to pay money to the church in exchange for forgiveness for some sin, either past or planned. There is no Biblical basis for granting an indulgence for a planned sin. And when Jesus told the rich young ruler to give all that he had to the poor and follow Him, it was not that the young man would be buying forgiveness with his wealth. In fact, the conversation suggests that the young man did not have any glaring sins, just a recognition of a spiritual need. Rather, it was his wealth that kept him from close communion with God, and Jesus said he could only resolve that by getting rid of the dead albatross of wealth hanging from his life (to mix metaphors).

          There is an aspect of the connection between the world and spiritual things, but it is the way of the disciple - walking the Jesus road. Jesus said, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it. For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits himself?"  (Luke 9:23-25) This is not Simony, this is discipleship.

          Our world is filled with people craving things supernatural. It is a desire that is in the heart of every person, because God created man with a God-shaped vacuum, as Pascal worded it (see also Ecclesiastes 3:11). In the modern world, nonbelievers attempt to fill this vacuum with innumerable substitutes, including all of the things mentioned in Deuteronomy. The names have changed slightly in the modern world. Examples include: transcendental meditation, Tarot cards, mediums (haven't changed much), innumerable religious cults and sects (both Western and Eastern), New Age spirituality....  The sad thing is that the gospel is usually presented without enough power so that the sorcerers of this age will recognize that the power is real and true, comes from God, and trumps their attempts to find spiritual experience apart from God. Evidently Phillip demonstrated the power of the gospel; would that we could similarly do so.