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Sermon Notes of Rev.Dr.I.J.W.Oakley (7-8-94 Guisborough Evangelical Church)
As persecution grew, early Christians moved out of
Jerusalem into Judea and Samaria. Philip went to the city of Samaria (probably
the capital city), now called Nablus, and he preached there. There were many
miracles and conversions. The story of Simon the sorcerer will be dealt with
another time.
Peter and John came from
Jerusalem, and laid hands on Samaritan believers. As a result they received the
Holy Spirit because they had not received Him at the time of their conversion
and baptism. This is an extremely difficult and controversial passage, raising
the question, are there two stages in the Christian experience, or was the
Samaritan situation an exception because of special circumstances?
Roman Catholics and Charismatics
argue for the two stages, though their experiences are quite different. The mass
of evangelical opinion is that there is one stage in Christian experience, i.e.
we receive the Holy Spirit at conversion, and the case of the Samaritans was an
exception.
We are going to look first of all at the background, then at Philip and his message, and finally the reasons for the Samaritan’s special experience.
It is essential to grasp the
significance of what happened in the story. We are aware from the New Testament
that there was a bad relationship between the Jews and the Samaritans. Jews
have no dealings with the Samaritans (John 4:9). Jews despised the
Samaritans as half-breeds and half-casts, semi-Gentiles. Bitterness had gone on
for hundreds of years.
It began when the Kingdom was
broken up after Solomon’s time. The ten defeated tribes made Samaria their
capital, and the two tribes loyal to the south kingdom of Judea made Jerusalem
their capital. There was constant warfare between the two. Then Israel was
conquered by Assyria in 722 BC. There was mass deportation, and repopulation by
foreigners, hence they were deemed half-breeds through intermarriage. Jews went
into exile in Babylon in 566 BC. On their return, they rebuilt the Temple,
refusing the help of the Samaritans. The Samaritans had their own Temple in the
4th century BC, on Mount Gerazim. They held only the Pentateuch to be
the Bible. So the Jews held the Samaritans to be heretics in belief and
schismatics, who had departed from the true religion of the Jews.
The bitterness continued in New
Testament times. James and John wanted to call down fire because the Samaritans
did not welcome Jesus (Luke 9:54). Luke shows them in good light, as in the
parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25ff). He records that the one leper out
of the ten, who returned to thank Jesus, was a Samaritan (Luke 17:11ff). The
Lord Himself had sympathy and compassion on Samaritans, which most Jews lacked.
We can see from this background what an enormous step needed to be taken if the divide between Jew and Samaritan was to be crossed and they were to hear the Gospel.
Philip is the key man in this situation and in the step
forward to taking the Gospel to the despised half-breed heretics. In the
providence of God, he was well prepared. He was one of the seven “deacons”
appointed with Stephen to care for the widows who claimed they were neglected in
the daily distribution of food and money. He was a man of practical sympathy and
compassion.
He was a Greek-speaking Jew,
with a more open and sensitive outlook than the more rigid Aramaic-speaking
cousins who had spent all their lives in Jerusalem or the surrounding area. He
is described in Acts 6:3 as being full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, vital
qualifications for the dangerous and difficult situation he was going into. The
least false step or unwise move could have caused a major upset. Yet led by the
Lord and filled with compassion for the Samaritans, he took the bold step to
bring the good news to them. Philip went down to a city in Samaria and
proclaimed the Christ there (Acts 8:5). The Samaritans believed
in the Messiah. They called him the Taheb, or “the Comforter”, stressed in
Deuteronomy 18:15: The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me
from among your own brothers. You must listen to him.
So like all the other Apostles,
Philip’s message was that the one prophesied to be the deliverer of God’s
people had come. His name was Jesus. He had died on the Cross for sins, and had
been raised to life. He is now in glory at His Father’s right hand, and will
return again. Man must repent, believe and be baptised. This is what is meant
when it says Philip preached the good news of the kingdom of God and the name
of Jesus Christ (Acts 8:12). God’s saving rule had come among men through
the coming of Christ. This message was the word of God (Acts 8:14),
God’s message, God’s Gospel.
Philip’s message then is the
same message men need to here today – the Gospel of God’s saving grace. All
have sinned, but God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,
that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life (John
3:16). Men’s need is always the same. God’s provision is just the same.
Then, as often in New Testament
times, preaching was accompanied by miraculous signs, and demons were exorcized,
paralytics and cripples were healed. The result was great joy in the city.
Wherever the Gospel is preached and responded to, wherever God draws near to
men, wherever believers obey God’s revealed truth – joy is always the
result. There was joy when Christ came, joy at the resurrection, joy at the
ascension, joy when the shepherd found his lost sheep (Luke 15:5ff). After Jesus
spoke about abiding in Him, He said, I have told you this so that my joy may
be in you and that your joy may be complete (John 15:11). You will fill
me with joy in your presence (Psalm 16:11). For the kingdom of God is not
a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy
Spirit (Romans 14:17).
In the story of the Christian
church, the times when the greatest hymns of praise and joy in the Lord were
written were the times of revival. An authentic mark of the Gospel and
conversion to Christ is Christian joy.
“Come
we that love the Lord,
And
let our joys be known.
Join
in a song with sweet accord
And
thus surround the throne.”
We are called to rejoice in the Lord – not in our circumstances – but in the Lord.
Now we come to the difficulty posed by this passage. When
the Apostles heard that Samaria had accepted the Word of God, they sent Peter
and John. Peter and John prayed for the new believers that they might receive
the Holy Spirit because He had not come among them yet. They had simply been
baptised into the name of the Lord Jesus. So they laid hands on them, and then
the Holy Spirit came upon them. There were obvious manifestations of the Holy
Spirit on these Samaritans.
Now come the questions. Was
their conversion genuine in the first place? Or had they only believed in their
mind? There is no hint that their response to the Gospel was inadequate. They
had paid close attention, and had accepted the Word of God. So was their
conversion in two stages? And does this mean our conversion is in two stages
also?
There are those who would say
yes in answer to this, that there is a second stage involving “hands” and
prayer. The Roman Catholics would say the first stage was baptism as an infant,
when the Holy Spirit regenerates. Then later comes confirmation by the bishop,
the successor of the Apostles, and by the laying on of hands, the Spirit is
given. This is outward and ceremonial. At the other end of the spectrum, but
also advocating a two-stage conversion, are the Pentecostalists, who would say
the second stage is more inward and spiritual. The first stage is conversion –
repentance and faith with regeneration, the divine work of new birth. The second
stage is baptism in the Spirit with laying on of hands by the Pentecostal
leader, often accompanied by tongues. Therefore, they would say, not all
Christians have been baptised in the Spirit.
The evangelical response is that
undoubtedly the Samaritans were a special case. Theirs was a two-stage
experience, but this is not normal for Christians. The general and plain
teaching of the New Testament is that initiation into Christ is a single
experience, involving repentance, believing, baptism, the gift of forgiveness
and the Holy Spirit. After that, we grow in maturity as we are continually
filled by the Holy Spirit. During that growth, we may have richer and fuller and
deeper experiences of God, but this is not a second stage stereotype for all.
Nor is the laying on of hands a necessary element. It is a significant gesture,
strengthening assurance and accompanying prayer, but it does not actually convey
the Holy Spirit. All Christians have the Holy Spirit, and if anyone does not
have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ (Romans 8:9).
So what makes the Samaritan
situation in our passage a special case? Why were two senior Apostles sent to
inspect the situation, though this was not normal practice? Why had the Holy
Spirit been withheld at the time when the Samaritans accepted the Word? The
reason is that this was the first occasion when the Gospel was preached not only
outside Jerusalem, but also inside Samaria. The Samaritans were a halfway house
between the Jews and the Gentiles. It marked the beginning of non-Jews entering
the Church. The Samaritans had had no links with the Jews for centuries. Would
the rift continue now there were Jewish Christians and Samaritan Christians? The
Samaritans had welcomed the Gospel, but would the Jews welcome the Samaritans?
Or would there be two factions in the Christ of Christ? Would there be a new and
separate Samaritan church, and therefore the body of Christ torn apart?
Therefore the Apostles came down
to investigate, endorsing Philip’s bold plan of evangelising the Samaritans.
They prayed for the converts, and laid hands on them as a sign of solidarity and
fellowship. It was a public sign to the whole church that Samaritans were bone
fide Christians, who had entered into the redeemed community on the same terms
of entry as the Jewish Christians. The Holy Spirit came on them as God’s
endorsement, bringing them into the body of Christ, and making them one with the
Jewish Christians. The Spirit brought them into the fellowship of the whole
church. They and the Jews needed to realize that. They found Christ, and they
found one another. One Body of Christ, united by One Spirit.
This is the only explanation which sees the historical context and is consistent with the rest of the New Testament. Therefore there is no Biblical warrant for two stage experience for all Christians. The visit of Peter and John was exceptional. There are no parallels today. Today we receive forgiveness and the Spirit the moment we believe. We need more and more of His power. At the same time we recognise oneness with all who believe in the Lord and who have received the Holy Spirit.
This is another example of the
power of the Gospel. We see it in the way God prepared and gifted a man like
Philip. We see the relevance of the Gospel to all men. We see the power of the
Gospel to unite those who were deadly enemies for generations and make them one
in Christ.
A renewing of our confidence in
power of the Gospel is urgently needed. Above all, we see the power of the
Gospel to bring reconciliation between God and man, and to prepare men for
eternity. This is so relevant in the midst of this world’s ills - division,
strife on grounds of race, nation and religion. There is neither Jew nor
Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus
(Galatians 3:28).
Practical note – Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace (Ephesians 4:3).
