ACC ~ Acts 8 v14 - 24

OVERVIEW:

Two aspects in particular of this passage attract an abundance of patristic notice. First is the fact that Peter and John were sent to Samaria and that it was by the laying on of their hands that the Samaritans received the Holy Spirit. Only through the apostles can hands be laid so as to confer the Holy Spirit (BEDE). Conversion occurs within the one church to which alone it has been granted to give the grace of baptism and to loose sins (CYPRIAN). The new converts had not yet received the spirit of miracles (CHRYSOSTOM). The Spirit visibly shows himself in his gift of himself (AUGUSTINE). Saving baptism is not complete except when performed with the authority of the triune God (ORIGEN). The baptism by Philip did not need to be repeated (CYPRIAN). Their second focus was upon the person of Simon, his desire for power and his attempt to buy the apostolic power of conferring the Holy Spirit. Simon was washed in the font but not cleansed (ARATOR). Simon sought power, not grace (CYRIL). The simplicity of Peter is contrasted with the malice of Simon (CHRYSOSTOM), whose heart was not like the dove (BEDE). Peter interiorly perceived God’s unerring judgment (BEDE, following GREGORY THE GREAT). Note that though Peter condemned Simon, he did not exclude him from the hope of forgiveness (AMBROSE). But his subsequent career shows his destiny (EUSEBIUS).

The power of the Spirit is not for sale (CYRIL OF JERUSALEM). Those who sell what they have received as a gift will be deprived of its grace (BASIL). It is not money that the Spirit seeks but a right heart (ARATOR), the very center of the person (CASSIODORUS). Faith is not acquired by compulsion but received as a gift. It was the power to work signs that the apostles received, not the power arbitrarily to give the Spirit to others. The episode provided a twofold sign—the giving to those whose hearts are ready and the not giving to those who are not (CHRYSOSTOM).

8:14 | Peter and John Sent to the Samaritans

ONLY APOSTLES CAN CONFER THE HOLY SPIRIT. BEDE: Arator explains it beautifully, “Peter frequently made John his comrade because a virgin is pleasing to the church.” It must be noted that the Philip who preached the gospel to Samaria was one of the seven, for if he had been the apostle [Philip], he would have been able to lay hands on them himself so that they might receive the Holy Spirit. “For this is reserved only to those of pontifical rank. When priests baptize, whether in a bishop’s presence or not, they are permitted to anoint those who are baptized with chrism, but because it was consecrated by a bishop, they are not allowed to make the sign of the cross on the forehead with this same oil. This is reserved to the bishops alone when they transmit the Spirit, the Paraclete,” to those who are baptized. COMMENTARY ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 8.14.

8:15 | Receiving the Holy Spirit

THE PREROGATIVE OF THE APOSTLES. CHRYSOSTOM: Why were these not in receipt of the Holy Spirit? It may be that Philip kept this honor for the apostles, or that he did not have this gift or that he was one of the seven. The last is most likely. Thus, I take it, this Philip was one of the seven, the one after Stephen, while the Philip in the story of the eunuch was one of the apostles. Notice how the seven did not go forth. It was part of God’s plan of salvation for those to go forth and for these to be lacking because of the Holy Spirit. For it was the power to work signs that they received, not the power to give the Spirit to others. This was the prerogative of the apostles. And note [how they sent] not just anyone but the leaders, Peter [and John]. HOMILIES ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 18.

8:16 | The Samaritans Had Not Yet Received the Spirit

THE NEW CONVERTS DID NOT RECEIVE THE SPIRIT OF MIRACLES. CHRYSOSTOM: And great signs occurred. How was it then that they did not receive the Spirit? They had received the Spirit of remission of sins but not the Spirit of the signs. … “For it had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit. . . .” To show that this was the case and that it was the Spirit of signs that they had not received, notice how Simon, once he saw the result, came and asked for this. HOMILIES ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 18.

THE SPIRIT MANIFESTS HIMSELF. AUGUSTINE: For the Holy Spirit was at that time given in such sort, that he even visibly showed himself to have been given. For those who received him spoke with the tongues of all nations, to signify that the church among the nations was to speak in the tongues of all. So then they received the Holy Ghost, and he appeared evidently to be in them. SERMON 49 (99).10.

THE TRIUNE BAPTISMAL FORMULA. ORIGEN: From all of which we learn that the person of the Holy Spirit is of so great authority and dignity that saving baptism is not complete except when performed with the authority of the whole most excellent Trinity, that is, by the naming of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. ON FIRST PRINCIPLES 1.3.2.

8:17 | The Apostles Laid Their Hands on Them

THE GIFT RECEIVED BY DEGREES. CHRYSOSTOM: See how many things are brought about by God’s providence through the death of Stephen and how by degrees these receive the gift. It was a twofold sign—both the giving to those and the not giving to this man. … This man should have asked to receive the Holy Spirit, but because this was of no concern to him, he asks, on the contrary, for the power to give it to others. But even those did not receive this power to give, and this man, who was only one of the disciples, wished to be more illustrious than Philip! HOMILIES ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 18.

THE SPIRIT AND THE LAYING ON OF HANDS. ORIGEN: This is why the passage fitly applies to the Holy Spirit, because he will dwell not in all people or in those who are flesh but in those whose “earth has been renewed.” Finally, it was for this reason that the Holy Spirit was bestowed through the laying on of the apostles’ hands after the grace and renewal of baptism. ON FIRST PRINCIPLES 1.3.7.

THE BAPTISM BY PHILIP NEED NOT BE REPEATED. CYPRIAN: The Samaritan believers had come to the true faith and had been baptized by Philip the deacon, whom these very apostles had sent, within the one church to which alone it has been granted to give the grace of baptism and to loose sins. Since they had already obtained the lawful baptism of the church, it would have been wrong to baptize them any more. Peter and John supplied only what they lacked. LETTER 73.9.

8:18 | Simon Offered Money

SIMON WAS NOT CLEANSED. ARATOR: Simon the magician had been here washed indeed in the fount but not clean in his heart; the subsequent punishment revealed him to the world as ignorant of the faith. He wished to liken the gifts of God to the gathering together of gold and to bring back by means of coin what a merchant buys at a price. ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 1.

8:19 | Give Me Also This Power

SIMON WANTED POWER, NOT GRACE. CYRIL OF JERUSALEM: He did not say, “Give me also the participation in the Holy Ghost,” but “Give me this power,” with a view to selling to others what could not be sold—something he himself did not possess. CATECHETICAL LECTURE 16.10.

8:20 | Seeking to Buy the Gift of God

A GIFT TO BE RECEIVED WITH SIMPLICITY. CHRYSOSTOM: Therefore Peter does well to call it a gift. “You thought,” he says, “you could obtain the gift of God with money.” Do you see how they are always free from money? “For your heart,” he says, “is not right before God.” Do you see how Simon does everything out of malice? In fact, simplicity was the thing needed. … For if it had been done with simplicity, they would even have accepted his eagerness. Do you see how having mean conceptions of great things is to sin doubly? Two things, accordingly, he urges him to do, “Repent and pray that, if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you.” HOMILIES ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 18.

EVEN SIMON WAS OFFERED REPENTANCE. AMBROSE: Then, when Simon, depraved by long practice of magic, had thought he could gain by money the power of conferring the grace of Christ and the infusion of the Holy Spirit, Peter said, “You have no part in this faith, for your heart is not right with God. Repent therefore of your wickedness, and pray to the Lord, if perhaps this thought of your heart may be forgiven, for I see that you are in the bond of iniquity and in the bitterness of gall.” We see that Peter by his apostolic authority condemns him who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit through vain magic, and all the more because he had no clear consciousness of faith. And yet he did not exclude him from the hope of forgiveness, for he called him to repentance. CONCERNING REPENTANCE 2.4.23.

THE POWER OF AN APOSTOLIC SENTENCE. BEDE: [Gregory says,] “When holy people deliver a curse as a sentence, they pronounce it not out of a desire for vengeance but out of a just consideration of the case. For they interiorly perceive God’s unerring judgment and recognize that they must smite with a curse the evils that arise exteriorly. And in the curse they do not sin insofar as they do not depart from their interior judgment. Since the one who pronounces the curse remains innocent, and at the same time the curse swallows up to the point of destruction the one who is cursed, we conclude from what happens to both parties that the sentence that has been delivered is hurled at the offender by the sole judge of that which is within.” So it is that in the present passage Simon, who received a curse from Peter, perished in eternal damnation, and below [we read that] Bar-Jesus, when he had been rebuked by Paul, was presently deprived of the light of day. COMMENTARY ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 8.20.

SOME OF SIMON’S SUBSEQUENT CAREER. EUSEBIUS OF CAESAREA: Immediately, the above-mentioned sorcerer, as if struck in the eyes of his mind by a divine and marvelous flash when formerly in Judea he had been detected for his evil deeds by the apostle Peter, set out on a very long journey overseas from east to west and went off in flight, thinking that only in this way could he live according to his wish. And when he came to the city of the Romans, the power that obsessed him cooperated with him greatly, and in short time he was so successful in his undertakings that he was honored as a god by the erection of a statue by those in this city. However, his affairs did not prosper for long. Close on him in the same reign of Claudius, the all-good and kindly providence of the universe guided Peter, the great and mighty one of the apostles, because of his virtue the spokesman for all the others to Rome, as if against a great corrupter of life. And he, like a noble general of God, clad in divine armor, conveys the costly merchandise of the light from the east to those in the west, preaching the light itself and the Word that saves souls, the proclamation of the kingdom of heaven. ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 2.14.

GREED FOR POWER. CYRIL OF JERUSALEM: He offered money to people without possessions, and that too after seeing people bring the price of what they sold and lay it at the feet of the apostles. He did not realize that they who trod underfoot the wealth offered for the sustenance of the poor would surely never sell him the power of the Holy Spirit for a price. CATECHETICAL LECTURE 16.10.

THE SPIRIT’S POWER IS NOT A BUSINESS TRANSACTION. BASIL THE GREAT: He who through ignorance wishes to buy is less guilty than he who sells the gift of God, making it a business transaction. And, if you sell what you have received as a gift, you will be deprived of its grace, as if you had been sold to Satan. Furthermore, you are introducing into the church, where we have been entrusted with the body and blood of Christ, the bartering of material for spiritual things. LETTER 53.

8:21 | Your Heart Is Not Right

A RIGHT HEART OBTAINS THE SPIRIT. ARATOR: Seeing him attempting this, Peter said, “What madness has moved you to this, wretch? Namely, that you think that what the grace of the Lord gives is something for sale. It is not gained by gold but by a [right] disposition [of mind]; nor is it permitted that corrupt money, which the person whose eyes are fixed on the earth loves, should earn heaven. Surely there remains no peace for you in this lot, nor will you, defiled by your tricks, be able to come to these things, you who seek what does not belong to you, swollen as you are with the gall of a bitter heart; for the Spirit enters those halls of the mind which are bright with honesty.” ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 1.

THE CENTER OF A PERSON IS HIS HEART. CASSIODORUS: We must, I think, investigate the fact that often in the divine Scriptures heart stands for understanding. … It may be clear to all without doubting that the source of our thoughts is there, and that good and evil are drawn from there. The seat of thought is that tiny part of the body with the appearance of fire, so that it is rightly placed in the position from which good counsel can come to us. EXPOSITION OF THE PSALMS 50.19.

8:23 | The Gall of Bitterness

FAITH COMES THROUGH REPENTANCE. CHRYSOSTOM: “For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity.” These are words of strong disapproval, but otherwise he [Peter] did not punish him [Simon], because he did not want faith hereafter to come from compulsion or to appear ruthless in his treatment of the affair, but rather to introduce the subject of repentance. It is sufficient, for the purpose of correction, to convince him, to say what was in his heart. It is sufficient for him to confess he was caught. HOMILIES ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 18.

SIMON’S HEART WAS NOT LIKE THE DOVE. BEDE: The Holy Spirit descended as a dove in order to teach those who wanted to receive him to be simple. Now one who keeps the gall of bitterness in his heart, although he may appear to be baptized, is not freed from the chains of his iniquity; but as if he was cleansed at one moment, the time of his baptism, he is soon seven times more harried by a fierce demon. In vain, therefore, did this man try to buy the gift of the Spirit, since he did not take care to rid himself of his raven-like mind. COMMENTARY ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 8.23.