In Samaria, there is an influential and respected man named Simon who uses magic powers. However, his motivation is not to serve the people, but to gain power and honour. Simon is enthusiastic about the power that emanates from Philip. That is why he is baptised with others (Acts  8).

Simon does not seem to have received the Holy Spirit. It is possible to believe with the head without the heart being touched by the Holy Spirit. A renewal of the heart is needed.

By Simon, it is clear that his thinking has not been renewed. He remains in his magical thinking. He wants to use God. He is jealous and wants to buy spiritual gifts with money. But Jesus teaches: ‘Freely you have received, freely give’ (Matthew 10:8). Simon is not interested in serving, but in earning.

When Peter uncovers his misbehaviour, Simon only wants to be spared the consequences of his transgression. Although he is baptised, he does not repent. Justin, the martyr (100-165 from Samaria), later reports that Simon separated from the church and founded his own movement.

Faith is more than intellectual acceptance. Faith means receiving the Father and the Son through the Holy Spirit and being changed by him.

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The kingdom of God does not spread through planning and strategy, but through persecution (Acts 8:1-25).

Philip is one of the seven deacons (Acts 6:5) who were expelled from Jerusalem.

Philip comes to an important city in Samaria. It is possibly Sebaste, the capital of Samaria, or Sychar, the “religious capital” of the Samaritans on the eastern slope of Mount Ebal. Jesus was also received there a few years earlier (John 4:5-42). It is an area shunned by the Jews, where believers in Jesus find peace from their persecutors. Others probably go to relatives in Judea.

Instead of resigning and doubting God’s love, the exiles see their persecution as an opportunity to proclaim their faith.

Wherever they are, they live and proclaim their faith.

Jesus’ promise is fulfilled: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses (martyrs) in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

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Stephen’s vision of an open heaven is the straw that breaks the camel’s back. For the high council, Jesus standing at the right hand of God was blasphemy.

Jesus was rejected because he claimed to be one with God and thus made himself equal to God. For them, Jesus was in league with the devil (Matthew 12:24) and, in their view, could not stand next to God.

That is why they dragged Stephen out of the city and stoned him to death. He says: “I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” Jesus stands up to receive Stephen. When we die, someone is waiting for us.

Stephen prays: “ Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” and “ Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” Acts 7:59.

This is one of the few known prayers to Jesus in the Bible. The second is found in Revelation 22:20. It is a characteristic of the first followers of Jesus to pray to Jesus (Acts 9:21 and first Corinthians 1:2 / 12:3).

The certainty that not everything ends with death was one reason why the Jesus movement grew so quickly in the first centuries. People went to their deaths for their faith without hating their tormentors. This brought other people into question.

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Stephen is a Hellenistic Jew filled with the Holy Spirit. Other Jews from the Greek-speaking world accused him of blaspheming God and insulting Moses (Acts 6:11). The accusation is that he should be said that Jesus would tear down the temple and change the law of Moses (Acts 6:14).

Stephen uses a history lesson to show that it is not he who is acting against the temple and the law, but the accusers, by not recognising the promised prophet and acting in the same way as their ancestors. Continue reading Stephen – faithful unto death →