POST OVERVIEW. This post will examine Acts 8:13-24 and the interesting episode of Simon the magician.

Baptism is one of the most prominent features of the book of Acts. Peter preaches the original gospel message in Acts 2 and then calls his listeners to “repent and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ” (2:38). As the church grows into Samaria, Philip “preaches the good news about the name of Jesus Christ” (8:12) and men and women believe and are baptized. As soon as Paul believes, he is baptized (9:18), even before he takes food. Peter commands Cornelius and his family to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ (10:48) as soon as there is evidence that they have believed in Jesus and received the Holy Spirit. When Paul begins to go to the Gentiles in “the remotest part of the earth” (Acts 1:8, the theme verse of Acts), he baptizes those who believe (Acts 16, 18, 19). The risen Lord Jesus commanded His commissioned church to make disciples of all the nations by going to the lost, baptizing those who have believed, and teaching those who have been baptized (Matthew 28:19-20), and in Acts we see the apostles doing exactly that. Baptism is prominent in Acts because it is the sign that Jesus commanded to identify His disciples.

THE BAPTISM OF SIMON THE MAGICIAN

One of the most interesting and instructive episodes in Acts about baptism is found in Acts 8:13-24, where we meet Simon the magician from Samaria. Simon listens to Philip’s preaching and professes to believe the good news about the name of Jesus Christ (Acts 8:13). Then, upon that profession, Philip the evangelist baptizes him, as he has baptized the other professing believers in Samaria (8:12). The apostles Peter and John then come from Jerusalem to investigate this amazing new phenomenon. Can non-Jews be saved? Is this a new move of the Holy Spirit or is this a false and heretical development? Are non-Jews among those who are recipients of the gospel?

What we will discover is that most of the Samaritans were genuine believers, but Simon was not a true believer at all. It is not entirely clear whether he intentionally deceives Philip for his own selfish purposes or if he thought he genuinely believed in Jesus but did not truly understand what that meant. Regardless of which of these is true, the theological and practical problem is that an unbeliever here receives baptism which is intended only for those who are true believers. We will see that there are lessons to be learned here.

PHILIP. We begin by considering Philip. When we see the problem of Simon, we are inclined to ask, “Was Philip too zealous in his baptism and too quick to baptize Simon? Should he have been more cautious in his approach to Simon’s faith and his baptism? My assessment is that there was nothing wrong with Philip’s actions. The persecution in Jerusalem sent Philip down to Samaria and there “he proclaimed Christ to them” (8:5). He went to an unreached people-group and proclaimed Christ. The Holy Spirit attested to his preaching by allowing him to perform signs (attesting miracles) such that unclean spirits are cast out and remarkable healings took place (8:6-7). “When the Samaritans believed Philip preaching the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were being baptized, men and women alike” (8:12). So far, everything is going according to the same pattern we saw in Jerusalem. Philip preaches the gospel and Samaritans believe in Jesus and are baptized as a sign of their faith in Jesus Christ. So far, so good.

Now along comes Simon the magician. “Even Simon himself believed and was baptized” (8:13). As we read carefully about Simon, we begin to see a problem. Although he has professed faith in Jesus and been baptized as a result, he continues to be fascinated by Philip’s signs and great miracles (8:13). His focus is on the signs, not on the Person to whom the signs point. Philip, on his part, heard a profession of faith from Simon, assumed that the profession was genuine, and baptized the one making the profession. Now the question becomes, “Was Simon’s profession of faith a true one?”

PETER AND JOHN. Why are Peter and John sent by the apostles from Jerusalem? They are sent to Samaria because this startling new move of the Spirit needs apostolic validation. During the apostolic era, one of the roles of the apostles was to give their stamp of approval on doctrine and practice and new developments. We see examples of this in Acts 2 at Pentecost, here in Acts 8 in Samaria, later in Acts 10 when the Holy Spirit is poured out upon Gentiles in Caesarea, with the Jerusalem council in Acts 15 and with the apostle Paul as he races to the ends of the earth to reach the Gentiles with the gospel. Each new move of the Spirit must be sanctioned by the apostles. So Peter and John go to Samaria to make sure this thing is real.

We see the apostles interaction with the genuine believers in 8:15-17. They “prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. For He had not yet fallen upon any of them; they had simply been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus.” Let’s press pause on Simon here for a minute to see what is going on here with the Samaritan believers.

Question: Does the fact that these Samaritans had believed in Jesus and had been baptized but had not received the Holy Spirit mean that this can happen today? Can a genuine believer today not have the Holy Spirit? The answer to that question is an emphatic “no.” Romans 8:9 declares that if we do not have the Holy Spirit (“the Spirit of Christ”), we do not belong to Christ. In other words, Rom. 8:9 says that all believers have the Holy Spirit. Eph. 1:13 teaches that when we believed in Jesus, we were “sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise who is given as a pledge of our inheritance.” Not only do all believers receive the Holy Spirit at the moment of initial faith (“sealed with the Holy Spirit”), but the Holy Spirit is the believer’s down payment (“pledge”) which guarantees him a glorified body on resurrection day. The teaching of the New Testament, then, is that all believers are indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God.

Question: Then what was going on in Samaria with Peter? The reason that the Holy Spirit had not yet fallen upon the Samaritans was because this radical move of the Holy Spirit had not been validated by an apostle. Philip had done the work of an evangelist by proclaiming Jesus to the Samaritans, but Philip was not an apostle. Up till now, only Jews had received the Holy Spirit based on Peter’s apostolic authority on Pentecost (see Acts 2:38). At this stage in redemptive history, the Holy Spirit only falls upon new groups (like Samaritans) when an apostle is present. Now that the apostles Peter and John have arrived and have verified that this is indeed a work of the Holy Spirit and that these Samaritans are indeed genuine followers of the Lord Jesus, they can begin laying hands on the Samaritan believers so that they can receive the Holy Spirit.

To summarize what we have learned so far, Peter and John have verified that the Samaritans who believed and were baptized in Acts 8:12 were genuine believers. The apostles therefore laid hands on them so that they would receive the Holy Spirit (8:17).

SIMON THE MAGICIAN. Now we return to Simon the magician to see how the apostles are going to respond to him. In Acts 8:16-17, as Peter and John are laying hands on the believing Samaritans, observe that there is nothing in the text about the apostles laying hands on Simon. This is probably intentional, indicating that the apostles already had their doubts about Simon’s faith. After watching the proceedings with curiosity, Simon concludes that the Holy Spirit is a (magical) power that is passed on by the laying on of hands. He thus offers the apostles money so they will give this power to him (8:18-19). Simon’s request to pay for Holy-Spirit power receives a withering rebuke from Peter, revealing that the magician is not a believer in any sense and is in urgent need of repentance to rescue him from condemnation (8:20, “perish”).

Then the magician receives a direct command from the apostle Peter: “repent of this wickedness of yours and pray to the Lord that the intention of your heart may be forgiven you” (8:22). At this precise moment, Simon is lost, he is in danger of perishing and his “heart is not right before God” (8:21). But, in a display of God’s mercy, he is given another opportunity to repent. If he will obey the apostle’s command; if he will repent and pray to the Lord, even this Simon will truly be saved. But instead, alas, the magician does not repent and he will not pray to the Lord. Rather, he tells Peter to pray to the Lord for him. Thus Simon has squandered his last opportunity for salvation. As the curtain closes on this scene in Samaria, we sadly realize that Simon the magician will indeed perish.

SUMMARY. Philip preached the good news of Jesus Christ to the Samaritans and many Samaritans believed the gospel and consequently were baptized. Even Simon the magician “believed and was baptized,” but his profession of faith was proven to be false. That is, Simon professed a faith in Jesus that he did not possess. Philip properly baptized Simon based on his profession of faith, but the apostle Peter determined that Simon’s profession of faith was false.

So, in Samaria, the gospel crossed another threshold. Not only Jews, but also Samaritans could be saved by the gospel. This was validated by the apostles.

From this episode, we can conclude that it is appropriate to baptize a person upon that person’s profession of faith in Jesus Christ as Lord. (This assumes the person has heard the gospel and has believed the gospel. Romans 10:14-17.)

Because of human limitations, not all those who are baptized are truly born-again followers of the Lord Jesus. Some professions of faith turn out to be false.

Soli Deo gloria            rmb                 6/16/2026                   post #721