Acts 8:18-19 18Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money, 19saying, “Give me also this power, so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.”
The story of Philip’s time in a Samaritan city makes a surprising turn with verse 18, returning to the story of Simon the Sorcerer, as he became known in church history. Simon was fascinated by Philip’s miracles, which attracted him to the message about Jesus and prompted him to be baptized. Then he became further intrigued by the filling of the Holy Spirit when Peter and John laid hands on the new Samaritan believers. From the outside, someone of Simon’s background in illusions and magic would have been fascinated and tried to figure out how it all happened. He wanted the secret to the tricks so he could do what they did.
Simon came up with the plan of buying the information from Peter and John. He was blind to the difference between a genuine movement of God and fake, human trickery. He thought the power of God was something that could be purchased or manipulated, like he had done for many years. The extent of Simon’s participation in the baptism and reception of the Holy Spirit is difficult to know, but he appears more as a curious onlooker. He wanted to be able to dispense the Holy Spirit like handing out candy to anyone he wanted. He thought he could control this intriguing power or authority (exousian). The Holy Spirit cannot be put into a box of human fabrication or be manipulated for human purposes. We must be discerning about fake healers who claim to be filled with the Spirit but are only charlatans, like Simon.
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