They Received the Holy Spirit

 Meditations on The Acts of the Apostles

February 10, 2021

They Received the Holy Spirit

But when they believed Philip as he proclaimed the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.

Acts 8:12

Read: Acts 8:4-25 

Samaria was the land between Jerusalem and the Sea of Galilee. The inhabitants were Jews, but had not been exiled to Babylon, and over time their forms of worship changed from that at the Temple in Jerusalem. Generally, there was great enmity between the Samaritans and the Jews. (see the parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10, and Jesus’ talk with a Samaritan woman in John 4.) Even so, Jesus included Samaria in his charge to the Apostles in Acts 1, so Phillip was off to Samaria to preach the Good News.

The description of how the Samaritans received the Holy Spirit in today’s passage is more of what God was doing in that moment than a prescription for all believers to receive the Holy Spirit. I believe because of the enmity between the Jews and Samaritans, and because Jesus specifically included the Samaria in his charge, God wanted to make it clear that the people coming to faith through Philip’s ministry in Samaria were fully included in the New Community of Believers.

My Takeaway: The story of Simon is quite interesting, and Luke doesn’t tell us how it ends. I think Luke’s takeaway for us is that the Holy Spirt is the Spirit of our sovereign God. It flows where He wants and how He wants. The Holy Spirit is not ours to control.  

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

 

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

 

Copyright © 2021 by Alex M. Knight

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.