Atos 8

Atos 8

Wuest explains aphiemi from God's perspective noting that "It refers to the act of putting something away. God did that at the Cross when He put sin away by incarnating Himself in humanity in the Person of His Son, stepping down from His judgment throne, assuming the guilt of man’s sin, and paying the penalty, thus, satisfying His justice, and making possible an offer of mercy on the basis of justice satisfied. When a sinner avails himself of the merits of that atoning sacrifice, he thus puts himself within the provision God made. His sins were put away at the Cross, and he comes into the benefit of that when he believes. Jack Arnold sums up Simon - The tragedy is that Simon thought he was a Christian. He had given intellectual assent to Christ but had never committed his life to Christ. He was religious but not regenerated. He had gone through all the external things to be a Christian but (internally) his heart was unchanged. He was near the kingdom but far from it. He was almost a Christian but was Christless. He was nearly persuaded, but was not persuaded. Simon had his faith in miracles, in baptism, in Philip and even in himself but he did not have genuine faith in Christ and never committed his life to Him. There are many people today in churches who have their faith in baptism, confirmation, church membership and good works but this faith does not save a soul from destruction. Men may also have faith in the doctrine of eternal security (a biblical truth) and not in Jesus Christ. Doctrine does not save; only Christ saves. Those who truly believe in Jesus Christ will have a changed heart and desire the things of God. The mark of a regenerate heart is a changed life. (Sermon) Acts 8:23 "For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bondage of iniquity." KJV Acts 8:23 For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity. you are in the gall of bitterness Dt 29:18-20; Dt 32:32,33; Job 20:14; Jeremiah 4:18; 9:15; Lamentations 3:5,19; Hebrews 12:15 the bondage of iniquity Ps 116:16; Pr 5:22; Isaiah 28:22; John 8:34; Ro 6:17-22; Titus 3:3; 2 Peter 2:4,19 Acts 8 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries GALL OF BITTERNESS BONDAGE OF INIQUITY For (gar) - Term of explanation. Peter is explaining why Simon is in desperate need of God's forgiveness. I see (present tense - continually) that you are (present tense - continually) in the gall of bitterness - Peter has a discerning spirit. He discerns that Simon is "poisoned by bitterness." (NKJV) and that this was not just a passing problem, but a present tense (habitual) problem! Louw-Nida explains that the gall of bitterness is "an idiom, literally ‘to be in the gall of bitterness’) to be particularly envious or resentful of someone - ‘to be very jealous, to be terribly envious, to be bitterly envious." Zodhiates adds that gall of bitterness "denotes extreme wickedness, highly offensive to God and all good men, likely to be hurtful and destructive to others, for which much suffering is reserved in the world to come for unbelievers [cf. Dt. 32:32 - describes the wickedness of Israel's enemies was described as having its roots in Sodom and Gomorrah.]) A similar phrase (gall and bitterness) is found in the Septuagint of Deuteronomy 29:18-20 associated with a frightening "curse" on anyone who went after false gods and led others to do the same... So that there will not be among you a man or woman, or family or tribe, whose heart turns away today from the LORD our God, to go and serve the gods of those nations; that there will not be among you a root bearing poisonous fruit and wormwood (LXX = chole kai pikria = "gall and bitterness"). 19 “It shall be when he hears the words of this curse, that he will boast, saying, ‘I have peace though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart in order to destroy the watered land with the dry.’ 20 “The LORD shall never be willing to forgive him, but rather the anger of the LORD and His jealousy will burn against that man, and every curse which is written in this book will rest on him, and the LORD will blot out his name from under heaven. (Deuteronomy 29:18-20) The writer of Hebrews warns his Jewish readers of the deadly effect of bitterness - See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness (pikría) springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled (miaino) (Heb 12:15+) Comment - Notice that the "antidote" for bitterness is the grace of God (and not falling short of it!). Peterson comments - The Lord’s punishment for such people is severe (Dt. 29:20–21; Heb 10:26–31). There was a bitter poison in Simon that needed to be extracted. (Pillar NT Commentary-Acts) Gall (5521)(chole from cheo = to pour or from chole = yellow; English - cholecystectomy) means literal gall offered to Jesus on the Cross (Mt 27:34, cf Messianic passage Ps 69:21). It was customary to mix wine with cholē to form a sedative. This opium mixed with wine caused a deep sleep, a sustained state of unconsciousness. The recipient became oblivious to his surroundings, and his pain was quickly numbed. Figuratively in the only other NT use of chole in Acts 8:23 Vine says "gall of bitterness stands for extreme wickedness, productive of evil fruit." Friberg on chole - (1) as a bitter digestive fluid stored in the gall bladder in the body gall, bile; (2) as a bitter substance made from wormwood, a plant yielding a bitter-tasting dark-green oil that is alcoholic in its effect gall (Mt 27.34); (3) idiomatically, of a person be full of bitter poison, i.e. be very jealous, be bitterly envious (Acts 8.23) (Analytical Lexicon) Vine - In the OT chole is used (a) of a plant characterized by bitterness (probably wormwood), Deut. 29:18; Hos. 10:4; Amos 6:12; (b) as the translation of the word mererah, "bitterness," Job. 13:26, e.g.; (c) as the translation of rosh, "venom;" in Dt. 32:32 "(grapes) of gall." In Job 20:25, the gall bladder is referred to (the receptacle of bile). The ancients supposed that the poison of serpents lay in the gall (see Job 20:14). Chole - 10 verses in the Septuagint Dt. 29:18 ("poisonous"); Dt. 32:32 ("poison"); Job 16:13; Job 20:14; Ps. 69:21; Pr 5:4 ("wormwood"); Jer. 8:14 ("poisoned"); Jer. 9:15 ("poisoned water"); Lam. 3:15; Lam. 3:19 Gilbrant - Cholē can be found in classical Greek from the Eighth Century B.C. meaning “gall, bile.” Metaphorically it had the meaning of “giving one a disgust for a thing.” For example, it was the custom of mothers to put gall on their nipples in order to wean a child (Liddell-Scott). The Septuagint uses cholē to translate the Hebrew word rō’sh, “head.” In some instances where cholē translates rō’sh the NIV translates it as “poison” or “poisonous” (see Dt 29:18; 32:32; Jeremiah 8:14; 9:15). Cholē is also used to translate two additional Hebrew words: la‛ănāh, which literally means “wormwood” but figuratively means “bitterness,” and mᵉrōrāh which means “bitter things, gall,” or “poison.” (Complete Biblical Library Greek-English Dictionary) Bitterness (4088) (pikría from pikrós from pik- = to cut, prick) originally meant pointed or sharp, e.g., of arrows then more generally of what is “sharp” or “penetrating” to the senses, and so literally a bitter, pungent taste or smell. It was used of plants that produce inedible or poisonous fruit. Figuratively what is “painful” to the feelings (animosity, anger, harshness). The Septuagint - bitter waters (Exodus 15:23), bitterness of the soul that results from external circumstances (Job 3:20; 7:11; 9:18, et al.), man’s attitudes of bitterness (Jer 2:21; 15:17). Pikria was used literally to describe plants that produced inedible or poisonous fruit. Greeks defined this word as long-standing resentment, as the spirit which refuses to be reconciled. So many of us have a way of nursing our wrath to keep it warm, of brooding over the insults and the injuries which we have received. In the NT pikria is used in a metaphorical sense to describe animosity, resentfulness, harshness or an openly-expressed emotional hostility against an enemy. Pikria defines a settled hostility that poisons the whole inner man. Somebody does something we do not like, so we harbor ill will against him. Bitterness leads to wrath, which is the explosion on the outside of the feelings on the inside. Rich Cathers on Bitterness, a "Root" Issue - When I was a kid, my parents would sometimes assign me the chore of weeding out in the backyard. When a kid weeds, they usually tend to just pluck off the leaves on top, leaving the root. And the weeds always grow back. We have a plant in front of our house that I chopped down a few years ago, but was unable to get all of the root system. Every six months or so, some new stalks pop their head up, and the plant re-emerges. Bitterness produces lots of things in our lives, lots of things that defile many people. It can give us a quick temper with people. It can make us a grouch to be around. It can make us be a person who takes revenge on others. You can take care of those problems individually, but if you don’t deal with the root, you’ll still keep having problems. Bitterness is the result of unforgiveness. That’s the root of bitterness. We must learn to forgive others....Corrie Ten Boom shares this true story in her book, The Hiding Place: "It was a church service in Munich that I saw him, the former S.S. man who had stood guard at the shower room door in the processing center at Ravensbruck. He was the first of our actual jailers that I had seen since that time. And suddenly it was all there -- the roomful of mocking men, the heaps of clothing, Betsie's pain-blanched face. He came up to me as the church was emptying, beaming and bowing. "How grateful I am for your message, Fraulein," he said. "To think that, as you say, He has washed my sins away!" His hand was thrust out to shake mine. And I, who had preached so often to the people in Bloemendaal the need to forgive, kept my hand at my side. Even as the angry, vengeful thoughts boiled through me, I saw the sin of them. Jesus Christ had died for this man; was I going to ask for more? Lord Jesus, I prayed, forgive me and help me to forgive him. I tried to smile, I struggled to raise my hand. I could not. I felt nothing, not the slightest spark of warmth or charity. And so again I breathed a silent prayer. Jesus, I cannot forgive him. Give me Your forgiveness. As I took his hand the most incredible thing happened. From my shoulder along my arm and through my hand a current seemed to pass from me to him, while into my heart sprang a love for this stranger that almost overwhelmed me. And so I discovered that it is not on our forgiveness any more than on our goodness that the world's healing hinges, but on His. When He tells us to love our enemies, He gives, along with the command, the love itself." (Sermon) And in the bondage of iniquity - "Handcuffed to wrong doing." Peter uses the phrase bondage of iniquity to picture Simon as having falling into iniquity as when one is placed into fetters (shackles for the ankles or feet). Notice the tense Peter uses when he declares to Simon you are...in the bondage of iniquity - this is the present tense which could be paraphrased you are continually, habitually enslaved to sin. That is not the state of a true believer. Yes, sadly we give ourselves over to the power of sin at times and even more sadly even for a season, but sin is not our habitual practice for our the rest of our lives, "For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace." (Ro 6:14+). Paul goes on to add "But thanks be to God that though you were (PAST TENSE) slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. (Ro 6:17-18+) Simon had never been freed from sin! If sin is a person's lifestyle, and they have no power to say "No" to sin, then that person is not born again, not eternally safe in Christ, for when the Son sets you free you are free indeed. Swindoll on Bondage of iniquity - that Simon’s capacity for free choice had been so compromised by his dependence upon evil that he could not escape without help. In other words, if one seeks repentance, God will certainly grant it; the question is whether Simon actually wanted to repent. Bondage of iniquity reminds me of Solomon's words (in the context of a stern warning regarding the dangers of sexual sin) in Proverbs 5:22 His own iniquities will capture the wicked, and he will be held (Lxx = sphiggo = bound tight) with the cords of his sin. Bondage (4886)(sundesmos) describes that which binds together (used of a ligament in Col 2:19 which holds together the Body of Christ), "bond of unity" in Col 3:14, and "bond of peace" in Eph 4:3. It denotes a close, firm bond. BDAG says sundesmos describes "a bond that confines/hinders," (cf "to loosen the bonds of wickedness" in Isa 58:6, NET has "to remove the sinful chains"). Simon is pictured as a man in fetters, the fetters being wickedness. This does not sound like a man who has ever been saved, because Jesus came to set the captives free (quoting Isa 58:6) (Lk 4:18) and as Jesus says below to the "unbelieving believers" when "the the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed." This does not describe Simon -- if he were a new believer, it is very unlikely he would have sought to buy the gift of the Spirit. In fact, Peter would have laid his hands on him and he would have received Him, but that is not described in this section. In sum, Simon is almost certainly not a genuine believer. Bondage of iniquity appears to be an allusion to Isaiah 58:6 Is this not the fast which I choose, To loosen the bonds of wickedness (Lxx = sundesmon adikias - identical to Greek in Acts 8:23), To undo the bands of the yoke, And to let the oppressed go free And break every yoke? Iniquity (93)(adikia from a = not + dikê = right) is a condition of not being right, whether with God, according to the standard of His holiness and righteousness or with man, according to the standard of what man knows to be right by his conscience. It is worth noting that the only other use of adikia in Acts is in the description of another counterfeit Judas Iscariot who "acquired a field with the price of wickedness (adikia)." (Acts 1:18+). Peter's use in his description of Simon hardly seems to be a coincidence, and again serves to substantiate the premise that Simon was an "a false professor" as the Puritans would say. Larry Richards writes that adikia "means "wrongdoing," "unrighteousness," "injustice." Its focus is on the concept of sin as conscious human action that causes visible harm to other persons in violation of the divine standard. (Expository Dictionary of Bible Words: Regency) It is interesting that Jesus like Peter also addressed a group of Jews who professed to have believed in Him but eventually sought to stone Him (Jn 8:59) for committing blasphemy (in Jn 8:58 basically saying He was God!). Here is what Jesus said to these believing non-believer Jews which is similar to Peter's statement to Simon that he was in the bondage of iniquity... As He spoke these things, many (JEWS) came to believe (pisteuo - SAME VERB DESCRIBES SIMON - Acts 8:13) in Him. 31 So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, (NOTE THIS 'IF-THEN" CONDITIONAL CLAUSE WAS NOT AN ADDITIONAL "WORK" TO MERIT SALVATION, BUT WAS FRUIT THAT WOULD PROVE THEIR "ROOT" WAS REAL!) “IF you continue in My word, THEN you are truly disciples of Mine; 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free (NO LONGER IN BONDAGE TO INIQUITY, BUT IN CHRIST FREE FROM THE RULING POWER OF SIN).” 33 They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never yet been enslaved to anyone (THESE JEWS WERE EITHER POOR STUDENTS OF THE OT OR HAD SELECTIVE AMNESIA REGARDING ISRAEL'S 300 YEARS OF BONDAGE IN EGYPTIAN!); how is it that You say, ‘You will become free’?” 34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly (AMEN, AMEN), I say to you, everyone who commits (present tense - as one's habitual practice) sin is the slave of sin. (COMPARE PETER'S DESCRIPTION OF SIMON = "IN THE BONDAGE OF INIQUITY") 35 The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever. 36 “So if the Son makes you free, *(see eleutheroo) you will be free (eleutheros) indeed. (Jn 8:30-36) ....Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.” (JESUS WAS CLAIMING DEITY AND THE JEWS KNEW IT) Therefore they (THE SAME JEWS THAT HAD PROFESSED BELIEF IN HIM IN Jn 8:30!!!) picked up stones to throw at Him, but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple. (Jn 8:58-59) Mistaken souls, that dream of Heaven, And make their empty boast Of inward joys and sins forgiven, While they are slaves to lust! Vain are our fancies, airy flights, If faith be cold and dead; None but a living power unites To Christ, the living head. A faith that changes all the heart; A faith that works by love; That bids all sinful joys depart, And lifts the thoughts above. Faith must obey our Father's will, As well as trust His grace; A pardoning God is jealous still For His own holiness. Rich Cathers on Bitterness - Bitterness is a root cause of problems in life. If I don’t deal with the root, the thing that has caused me to be bitter in the first place, then I’m going to have all kinds of problems continually popping up. Illustration - Dr. S. I. McMillen illustrates in a chapter entitled “The High Cost of Getting Even,” from his book, None of These Diseases, how physical maladies including ulcers, high blood pressure, and strokes are connected to harboring resentment and hatred toward others. He says, “It might be written on many thousands of death certificates that the victim died of ‘grudgitis.’” Dr. McMillen describes how hating a person enslaves the one who hates: The moment I start hating a man I become his slave. I cannot enjoy my work anymore because he even controls my thoughts. My resentments produce too many stress hormones in my body; I become fatigued after only a few hours of work. The man I hate may be miles from my bedroom, but more cruel than any slave driver he whips my thoughts into such a frenzy that my inner-spring mattress becomes a rack of torture. I really must acknowledge that I am a slave to every man on whom I pour out my wrath. Illustration - SILENT TREATMENT - A man and his wife were having some problems at home and were giving each other the silent treatment. The next day the man realized that he would need his wife to wake him at 5 am for an early flight to Sydney. Not wanting to be the first to break the silence, he finally wrote on a piece of paper, “Please wake me at 5 am.” The next morning the man woke up, only to discover it was 9 am, and that he had missed his flight! Furious, he was about to go and see why his wife hadn’t awakened him when he noticed a piece of paper by the bed. It said, “It’s 5 am, wake up.” (Sermon) Acts 8:24 But Simon answered and said, "Pray to the Lord for me yourselves, so that nothing of what you have said may come upon me." KJV Acts 8:24 Then answered Simon, and said, Pray ye to the Lord for me, that none of these things which ye have spoken come upon me. Pray Ge 20:7,17; Ex 8:8; 10:17; 12:32; Nu 21:7; 1 Sa 12:19,23; 1 Kings 13:6; Ezra 6:10; 8:23; Job 42:8; James 5:16 Acts 8 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries But Simon answered and said, "Pray (deomai in the aorist imperative) to the Lord for me yourselves - Some suggest that this seems to indicate repentance on Simon's part, but that hardly seems to be the case. There is no suggestion of an About, face! response as one would expect in true repentance. Where is Simon's contrition and brokenness over his sin against God? There is none! He is still in an unregenerate, unrepentant state. Alexander