Atos 8

Atos 8

Vernon McGee: "Philip preached the gospel in Samaria, and many men and women believed. Simon came in contact with Philip, and apparently he made a profession of faith under the ministry of Philip. I believe that Simon is the first religious racketeer in the church—but, unfortunately, not the last. He professes to be a believer during the sweeping revival in Samaria under the ministry of Philip. Simon believes, he is baptized, and he becomes a friend of Philip. You would certainly think he was a real child of God. However, he is not converted. We will see that there are also others who are professing believers, but they are not born again. They have the head knowledge, they go along with the crowd, but they are not saved. Although they have been baptized with water, they have not been baptized into the church of Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit. There are a great many people like that today. I receive many letters from people who have told me that since they have been studying the Bible along with our program, they have begun to examine their faith. Many have come to realize that they have just been following along with someone else and that they have not been genuinely, personally converted. Paul says, “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves …” (2Co13:5). It is a very good thing to check yourself. See whether you are in the faith or not. This man Simon had all the outward trappings. He answered that he did believe in Jesus, and so he was baptized. But it was not a genuine faith." John Calvin favors that Simon was "authentic": "But I do not agree with those who think he was only pretending to believe. Luke plainly says that he believed, adding the reason. How then does he come to betray himself as a hypocrite shortly afterwards? The answer is that there is a middle ground between faith and mere dissimulation. The Epicureans and Lucianists profess to believe while laughing inwardly, because they think the hope of eternal life is meaningless; in the end they are no more godly than dogs or swine." William Larkin in the IVP NT Commentary: "Peter declares Simon unregenerate. He has no part or share. For Luke this can refer to either salvation (Acts 26:18) or ministry (Acts 1:17). Peter’s further references to a heart … not right before God (Acts 8:21) and being full of bitterness and captive to sin (Acts 8:23), as well as his call to repentance (Acts 8:22), which the early church normally addresses to the unregenerate (Lk 24:47; Acts 2:38; 3:19; 17:30; 26:20), and the earlier mention of destruction (Acts 8:20), all support the view that Simon is not regenerate." Kent Hughes in Preaching the Word: Acts: The Chruch Afire: "Fascinated, he made a public profession of faith and was publicly baptized, but it was not a genuine conversion of the heart....Instead of asking for the Holy Spirit, Simon asked for the power to bestow the Spirit....Unfortunately, Simon may have never repented. His reply was insipidly lame: “Pray to the Lord for me so that nothing you have said may happen to me” (v. 24). Only slightly moved by Peter’s stern rebuke, he did not pray for forgiveness but rather asked Peter to do it for him. He did not repent as he was enjoined to do. So now his name lives in infamy." Longenecker suggests that "Simon’s belief in Jesus seems to have been like that spoken of in John 2:23–25—i.e., based on miraculous signs and thus inferior to true commitment to Jesus." (EBC) A T