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Now when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them, who, when they had come down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. For as yet He had fallen upon none of them. They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

And when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money, saying, “Give me this power also, that anyone on whom I lay hands may receive the Holy Spirit.”

But Peter said to him, “Your money perish with you, because you thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money! You have neither part nor portion in this matter, for your heart is not right in the sight of God. Repent therefore of this your wickedness, and pray God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you. For I see that you are poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity.”

Then Simon answered and said, “Pray to the Lord for me, that none of the things which you have spoken may come upon me.”

So when they had testified and preached the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans. (NKJV)

Dearly Beloved Fellow Believers,

There are many kinds of power in this world. There is the power of the railroad locomotive and the jet engine: power to propel. There is military might that can destroy cities and subdue entire nations and peoples: destructive power. There is the power of a dynamic personality that can get people to follow and do things: power to persuade. There is power in nature: the power of waterfalls, of thunder and lightning, of tornados and hurricanes.

But all of these kinds of power, awesome as they may be, have their limits. A mighty locomotive can pull only so many tons of freight. Mighty nations and rulers can become weak. Dynamic leaders come and go. Even destructive storms cover only small parts of the world, and they finally spend their energy and dissipate.

However, in our text and today’s Scripture lessons we meet a power that has no bounds, that is spread throughout the world, and that never loses its force. This is the power of God the Holy Spirit. The power of the Spirit has kept on working mightily through the gospel and has never stopped. The Spirit’s power continues undiminished in our own day. The Holy Spirit poured out on Pentecost remains the “Spirit of Power.“

Power that has no bounds

In the epistle lesson for today we heard once again of the astonishing events of Pentecost: the sound of a rushing, mighty wind; tongues of fire that appeared on the heads of the believers; the sudden ability to speak in foreign languages; and, most amazing of all, the boldness of the apostles, the mighty preaching of Peter, and the thousands of hearts that were moved to repentance and faith. All of this was a demonstration of the power of the Holy Spirit.

And this was no mere burst of energy; this was no force that was soon diminished and spent. The Holy Spirit continued to work through the gospel of Jesus Christ. The book of Acts is the record of what the Spirit did through the gospel in those early years of the Christian church. The power of the Spirit was also no mere local phenomenon; it was not confined to Jerusalem, nor to Judea or Galilee. The Spirit’s power accompanied the gospel wherever the apostles and other believers took it, even “to the uttermost parts of the earth,” as Christ Himself had directed (Acts 1:8).

One of the first places outside of Jewish territory to hear the gospel was Samaria. Jesus Himself had already preached to some of the Samaritans at Jacob’s well (John 4), and He had named Samaria as one of the first places where the gospel should be proclaimed (Acts 1:8). And so it wasn’t long after Christ’s ascension that the evangelizing of the Samaritans began. Yet it doesn’t seem to have been part of any planned mission program, at least at its beginning. The impetus for mission work in Samaria came from the persecution of believers that was led by Saul and that began with the martyrdom of Stephen (Acts 8:1-3). Believers in Jerusalem were being arrested and imprisoned, so many of them left the city and went to various places in Judea and Samaria. There was nothing wrong in their fleeing persecution; Jesus had not said that His disciples had to stay where they were being threatened and mistreated. And wherever they were scattered they proclaimed Christ.

One of those who left Jerusalem in those days was a man named Philip. This was not Philip the apostle, but another believer with the same name. He is known as Philip the Evangelist because the Holy Spirit had given him the gift, the ability to proclaim Christ. This he did in a city of Samaria. And the Holy Spirit worked mightily through the gospel proclaimed by Philip. He opened the hearts of many of the people of that city to Christ.

When the apostles got word of this back in Jerusalem, they sent Peter and John, who prayed that these new believers would receive the Holy Spirit. And they did receive the Holy Spirit.

But what exactly was this receiving of the Holy Spirit? Didn’t these people already receive the Holy Spirit when they were “baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus,” as the text says they were? Certainly, the Spirit had already been at work in their hearts, since no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:3). The text says of these Samaritan believers that the Holy Spirit had not “fallen” on any of them. That expression refers to what happened at Pentecost when the Spirit was “poured out” (Acts 2:33; 10:45) on believers with certain outward and visible signs, that is, the tongues of fire, the rushing mighty wind, and the speaking in foreign languages. This hadn’t happened to the Samaritans who had come to faith in Jesus, nor did it happen to everyone who heard the gospel and believed. But after the apostles prayed for it for the Samaritans, they did receive these visible gifts of the Spirit.

By giving these special gifts the Holy Spirit demonstrated clearly that it was His power that was at work in these Samaritans. The Samaritan believers were on the same plane with the Jewish believers. All of them were disciples of Christ and children of God through faith in Christ. All of them had the forgiveness of sins and eternal life. By giving the Samaritans the same kinds of gifts as were given to the Jerusalem believers at Pentecost the Holy Spirit was giving His witness that He had come to spread the blessings of Christ throughout the world, to all nations and peoples

Think what a remarkable development this was. The division between the Jews and the Samaritans was a deep and enduring one. The Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well was amazed that Jesus should even ask her for a drink of water. Yet here with the gospel the Spirit does away with the old divisions and brings Jews and Samaritans together in Christ.

The Spirit’s power has no boundaries. He works throughout the world, and wherever He brings people to faith He brings them into the “one holy Christian and apostolic church.” The Christian faith transcends divisions of nationality, language, and ethnic heritage. This is great power indeed.

All of us who trust in Christ today are living testimonies to the power of the Spirit. We live nearly two thousand years after Pentecost, yet the Spirit brought us to faith in Jesus Christ through the gospel in the word and in the Sacrament of Holy Baptism. He has caused us to grow in faith and knowledge through instruction in the word. He has moved us to repent of our sins, to confess Christ as our Savior, to follow Christ and make sacrifices for Him.

We are also seeing the power of the Holy Spirit at work wherever the gospel is preached in our day. The power of the Holy Spirit is undiminished and still knows no bounds.

Power that is to be received with awe and reverence

One of those present when the Spirit fell on the Samaritans was a man named Simon. Before Philip came to this Samaritan city this man had been practicing sorcery and had gathered a large following. But when Philip preached Christ among them many of the people who had been so impressed with Simon’s sorcery came to faith and were baptized. And Simon himself became a believer and was baptized. He gave up his sorcery and accompanied Philip (Acts 8:13). But when Simon saw how the apostles prayed and the Holy Spirit fell on the Samaritans he fell back into his old ways. He wanted the kind of honor and fame that he had once had as a sorcerer. He offered the apostles money for the power to bestow the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Peter’s response to Simon’s offer was no mere refusal. It was no mere rebuke. It was a denunciation in the strongest of terms. The idea that the gifts of the Spirit could be purchased with money had to be rejected as blasphemy. What Simon had suggested was that the works of the Holy Spirit were on the same level as the sorcery that Simon had previously practiced; that they were an art that could be learned for a price.

Here too we see the power of the Holy Spirit. We see that He is God the Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Holy Trinity. His power is divine power. His power is a holy power that delivers souls from the domination of sin and the devil by bringing them to faith in Jesus Christ. Peter’s denunciation of Simon’s proposal teaches that the Holy Spirit, because He is God, is not to be trifled with, not to be treated lightly. The Scriptures warn against grieving the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:30). We are to be careful not to resist the Spirit as He works in our hearts through the word.

Let us not fight against the Holy Spirit but follow His leading. Let us not drive Him from our hearts but welcome Him by gladly hearing and learning God’s word and receiving the Sacrament. By these channels for His grace the Holy Spirit will continue to work in us for our good: to keep us believing in Jesus, to strengthen us in that faith, and finally to bring us to eternal life. Amen.

—Pastor John Klatt

Watertown, SD

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All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.