Acts 8:5-13 Phillip and a sorcerer

Acts 8:5-13 Phillip evangelizes in Samaria. The effect of the persecution in Jerusalem was for Christians to scatter, and carry the gospel to Samaria, as Jesus had told the apostles in Acts 1:8. Philip was mentioned in Acts 6:5 as one of the deacons, right after Stephen. We find that after waiting on tables for a while, he was now empowered with a gospel of power, which included deliverance and miraculous healings. So great was his witness that a man, Simon the sorcerer, who had formerly practiced magic and astonished people, claiming to be great, not only lost his followers to Christianity, but also himself believed the gospel. This was a guy who knew how to fake magic and impress people, and yet when he saw real supernatural power, he was able to recognize it and respond.

          In Deuteronomy 18:9-22, Moses had described the stark opposition between God's prophets and other people who practiced (or pretended to practice) supernatural actions apart from God. In this section he included those who make their children pass through the fire, use divination, practice witchcraft, interpret omens, sorcerers, anyone who casts a spell, a medium, a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. In the time just before Israel enters the promised land, God warns Israel that these practices are detestable, and that even though people are looking for supernatural connection, the only connection to Him will be through a prophet that He will raise up. And that prophet will be known by the fact that what he says in God's name will come to pass. If someone prophesies falsely in God's name, i.e., what he says doesn't happen, they can ignore him. So Phillip is in this circumstance the prophet that God raised up, to tell the good news to the people of Samaria. And Simon, whether he was really a practitioner of supernatural power apart from God, or was just a fake who had learned how to trick people, would have been driven out (according to Deut 18:12). But evidently there was enough repentance in Simon's heart that he was not driven out.