If I were to ever be mentioned in holy religious writing, I hope that the word but doesn’t precede my name. There are a lot of buts in both the Old and New Testaments. What comes after the but is seldom good.
In the Old Testament we find a long string of buts dubbed by scholars as the cycle of apostasy. God said do this but the Israelites did that instead. As one of many examples, God told the Israelites that they should have no other gods but they built a golden calf to worship (Exodus 32). Over and over again, the children of God were instructed how to walk with the Lord but “chose to do what was evil in the sight of the Lord” (Judges 3:7).
The biblical people with but in front of their name are cautionary tales, real life lessons in the consequences of walking in the ways of the world. Biblical authors may have told their stories as factional, historical information. Possibly, their stories were retold to teach young believers that our choices in life matter.
“But one of His (Jesus) disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was going to betray Him…” (John 12:4).
A Big But in Acts
Luke’s letter now known as the Acts of the Apostles tells the exciting story of the development of nascent Christianity in the weeks, months, and years following the ascension of the Lord Jesus. Jesus told the disciples they would carry the gospel message to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8).
In Acts 8, Philip was the first to preach the gospel of the risen Lord Jesus in Samaria. Samaritans were not gentiles. They were Israelites who had intermarried with other cultures and intertwined worship of God with worship of the gods of other cultures. Hatred and animosity existed between Jews and Samaritans since the days of Babylonian captivity roughly 600 years before.
In Samaria lived a man named Simon the magician. Whether by astrology, sorcery, or other ability, the people were amazed by Simon and believed that he had the power of God. Simon made a name for himself among the Samaritans and enjoyed a large following.
As Luke tells the story, Philip preached the story of Jesus with signs and miracles, healing the sick and casting out demons. The people were again amazed and many men and women were baptized into the Christian faith. Simon followed Philip around watching him perform miracles and was then himself baptized as a Christ follower.
The Jewish Christians in Jerusalem heard what was happening in Samaria and sent Peter and John, as leaders of the church, to check it out. Peter and John could see that the Samaritans had not received the Holy Spirit yet, so they laid hands on people to receive the Holy Spirit.
When Simon saw that the disciples had the power to lay hands on people to give them the Holy Spirit, he offered to pay the disciples to give him that power. This earned Simon a harsh rebuke from Peter.
(Read Simon's story at this link: https://www.biblica.com/bible/niv/acts/8/nvi/).
The Trouble with Simon
Simon didn’t ask to receive the Holy Spirit or for the wisdom of God or for the power to heal the sick. Simon asked to be able to lay hands on people and gift them with the Holy Spirit. Peter’s rebuke was harsh but accurate. Peter told him he had no part in the gospel, his heart was not right before God, and that he needed to repent. Simon asked Peter to pray that he wouldn’t suffer consequences. But he expressed no remorse and admitted no wrongdoing.
Simon was a charlatan, a manipulator, and an opportunist. He wanted the people to be as amazed with him as they had been with Philip and the power of the Holy Spirit. He wanted people to continue to think of him as a great man of God. He had gone through the motions of giving his life to Christ but experienced no transformation. He loved to be worshipped by religious people but had no concern for the physical and eternal well-being of those he manipulated.
Early Christian writings paint Simon as a notorious figure. Some scholars believe that he went to Rome and continued his act as a false teacher for hire. Other writings suggest that he became a prominent teacher of Gnostic heresy. The most telling legacy of Simon is his appearance in the English language. If someone in the church is accused of simony, they are accused of the practice of buying and selling ecclesiastical privileges.
Three Take Aways for Today
1) Miracle working, fast talking false teachers will always be around. They take advantage of people’s natural curiosity and attraction to flashy, exciting spiritual experiences. They say all the right things, copy all of the right behaviors, but are not right with God. They claim to have the power of God but bear no fruit of the Holy Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, self-control. Gal 5:22-23).
Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. Matt 24:4-5
2) Rebuke is a form of tough love and is necessary for the church to be healthy. Peter was rebuked by Jesus (Mat 16:17) and by Paul (Gal 2:11-13). Rebuke takes place at the prompting of the Holy Spirit between believers. It’s easy to speak truth from a platform or on the internet while hiding behind a keyboard, but many lack the courage to speak truth to the members of a family, a friend circle, or faith community. For Peter to remain silent in the face of Simon’s sin would be to allow Simon to manipulate the people of God and send the message that sin is tolerated in the body of Christ.
For there are many rebellious people, full of meaningless talk and deception… They must be silenced, because they are disrupting whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach—and that for the sake of dishonest gain… Therefore, rebuke them sharply, so that they will be sound in the faith and will pay no attention to Jewish myths or to the merely human commands of those who reject the truth. Titus 1:5-9
3) All believers are called to live a life of repentance. It’s not enough to feel bad about something. It’s not enough to mentally acknowledge sin. True transformation requires change. For Simon to demonstrate that he had truly become a Christ follower, his lifestyle, habits, and love of power and money would have been surrendered to Christ and transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit. When rebuked, a follower of Christ humbly repents.
See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end. Hebrews 3: 12-15
Peter challenged Simon to repent but Simon chose to live his life for the love of money and power. May the Holy Spirit grant each of us the gift of repentance that proves the presence of Christ in us.
The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:9
Copyright @ TA Boland 2024
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