ACC ~ Acts 8 v4 - 13

OVERVIEW:

An outline of Acts is provided by Luke’s account of Jesus’ prophecy that the apostles would be his witnesses “in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” With Philip’s coming to Samaria, therefore, we reach the next stage in the fulfillment of that prophecy. The Fathers do not comment much on the power of Philip’s preaching and his miracles, but they are fascinated by the figure of Simon (CHRYSOSTOM). Justin’s account is a good summary of the early notion that Simon was the source of heresies. Either Simon’s faith and baptism were sincere and he later reverted to his evil ways, or he was an impostor from the beginning (BEDE). According to Augustine, the exhaustive alternatives are four: When one who is good baptizes one who is good, good comes from good. When one who is evil baptizes one who is evil, evil comes from evil. When one who is evil baptizes one who is good, good may come from evil. When one who is good baptizes one who is evil, evil may come from good.

8:6 | The Multitudes Listened

THE CROWDS WERE ATTENTIVE. BEDE: The present chapter and the history of the Samaritan woman prove that these people’s souls were ready and willing to believe. COMMENTARY ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 8.6.

8:9 | A Man Named Simon

AN ACCOUNT OF SIMON. JUSTIN MARTYR: After Christ’s ascension into heaven, the devils put forward certain people who said that they themselves were gods; and they were not only not persecuted by you but even deemed worthy of honors. There was a Samaritan, Simon, a native of the village called Gitto, who in the reign of Claudius Caesar, and in your royal city of Rome, did mighty acts of magic, by virtue of the art of the devils operating in him. He was considered a god, and as a god he was honored by you with a statue, which statue was erected on the river Tiber, between the two bridges, and bore this inscription, in the language of Rome, “Simoni Deo Sancto,” “To Simon the holy god.” And almost all the Samaritans, and a few even of other nations, worship him and acknowledge him as the first god; and a woman, Helena, who went about with him at that time and had formerly been a prostitute, they say fathered this idea. FIRST APOLOGY 26.

8:13 | Even Simon Believed

AS CHRIST CHOSE JUDAS. CHRYSOSTOM: How did he come to baptize also Simon? In the same way that Christ also chose Judas. And “seeing” the “signs” that [Philip] worked, since the others did not receive the signs, [Simon] dared not ask for it. How was it then that they did not put him to death, as they did Ananias and Sapphira? The ancient saying is that he who gathered sticks was put to death as a warning to others. No one else suffered this same fate. HOMILIES ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 18.

FOUR TYPES OF BAPTISM. AUGUSTINE: The good baptized the evil, as Simon Magus was baptized by Philip, a holy man. These four types, therefore, my brothers, are well known. Look, I repeat them again. Hold fast to them, count them, pay attention to them. Beware those types which are evil; hold fast to those which are good. The good are born from the good when holy people are baptized by holy people; the evil from the evil when both they who baptize and they who are baptized live wickedly and impiously; the good from the evil when they who baptize are evil and they who are baptized are good; and the evil from the good when they who baptize are good and they who are baptized are evil. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 11.9.1-2.

STEALING BAPTISM. BEDE: It was either that he too was overcome by the power of the blessed Philip’s words so that he truly believed in the Lord, or, as is more believable, that he pretended that he believed until he could receive baptism. For he was so eager for praise that he wished to be believed to be the Christ, as histories tell, and he hoped to learn from him the arts by which he worked miracles. His followers were also taught to do this. “Trained in the evil arts of their founder to enter the church by any sort of deception,” they were accustomed to steal baptism. COMMENTARY ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 8.13.