Scripture
Peter answered: “May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God. Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord. Perhaps he will forgive you for having such a thought in your heart. For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin.” Acts 8: 20-23
Observation
Simon was a powerful magician that had the hearts of the people for a long time. When the Apostles came, he saw within them a power even greater than his so-called powers. When he saw that they were handing out this power through the laying of hands and the passing on of the Holy Spirit, he offered to buy this power from them.
Application
Like Simon, we are jealous when someone has something that we don’t have. He was immediately so jealous of their power, and through his offer to “buy” the power, he removed his only chance to get the power. Simon’s story can teach us patience, because our gift may not have come yet, and we must wait on it. Simon’s story also shows us that God’s power is not something that can be used for our selfish motives. The Holy Spirit enables us to do God’s will, not our own.
Prayer
“Lord, please show me the areas in my life where impatience is harming my chances to receive blessings from You. Please help me to realize that Your power is not for my will, but rather for Your will.”
(This is an open question and not meant to cut down Justin’s post)
I very much believe the HS can and does work through people today, and even in miraculous ways that defy logic and “rational” thought that has unfortunately permeated the modern day church. But I feel like in our discussion of the early church and the HS, we might be neglecting the fact that not all the believers seemed to have the same power of the HS that the apostles and a few other disciples had. Acts 5:12-16 points out this contrast between those with and those without the HS, or at least they misunderstood the workings of the HS. Paul clarifies the purpose of the HS in Galatians 5 and I Corinthians 12-14.
So were the early thoughts on the HS by Luke, Peter, John and others misguided, or were some converts not receiving the HS, or are we just not given the whole picture in Luke’s account (Acts)? And how do we reconcile spiritual gifts today with those described in Acts?
I think that there are different “levels” of the spirit given to different people, based on their faith and the purpose God has assigned them. I was commenting more on Simon’s view of the Spirit, and not the Spirit itself. I appreciate your comment and I wish I would have conveyed some of that in my post! I believe the Spirit is still very much alive and moving in the body.
You had a great post Justin! Thanks for taking the time to write. I just like dialogue and discussion on such an important topic. It is my prayer that as disciples we see the HS as a gift from God to be used humbly, not like Simon, but also not ignored and written off because of fear or laziness. Keep up the good work!!