One day, I needed to fill up my car with gasoline, so I pulled into the gas station. After putting in my credit card, I absent-mindedly reached for the nozzle, and was surprised when it didn’t fit into the car’s gas tank. I eventually realized that I was trying to use the diesel pump, and was thankful for the fact that something (probably an industry standard) had designed diesel dispensers to be larger than their gasoline counterparts, to prevent drivers like me from ruining their cars’ engines with the wrong fuel!
In this mini-series of articles from Acts 8, we meet someone new in Acts 8:9-13. We might call him “Simon the Sorcerer”. (After all, that’s the heading for this section in the NIV.)
Now for some time a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great,
Acts 8:9 NIV
Before we get too much farther, let’s differentiate between a couple of things that we might call “magic” (ref. verse 9, NASB).
- There are illusionists, who use sleight of hand, manufactured devices, and psychological tricks to make it look like they are doing the impossible. There are scientific reasons why these tricks work, and we try to figure out “how did they do that”.
- Then, there are those who work through the power of Satan to achieve something beyond what we know of science (i.e., how things normally work, when not manipulated by forces outside of the physical world). We know that Satan’s reach is limited by God, but there are times when it appears that God allows Satan to do some things beyond the scope of human abilities.
I’m not sure which category Simon’s practices fell into, and we could wonder the same things about Pharaoh’s magicians (see Exodus 7-9). Another example of those who had demonstrated this behavior appears in Acts 19:19, where it says, “A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly.…” There is also an account of another “sorcerer” or “magician” in Acts 13:6-12. That one, named Elymas, was struck blind, and does not appear to have become a believer before causing trouble for Saul / Paul.
Regardless of whether the source of his power was deception or demonic, though, Simon apparently had quite a following. Today, we might say that he was “trending”. He even had a title: It wasn’t “Carnac the Magnificent”, or the “Amazing Kreskin”, but it was pretty significant, and possibly a little blasphemous, whether he was accepting credit for being the power – or (per Reese, p.321) an angel or messenger – of God, or even if he was taking credit as if he was a messenger for merely “a god” (with a lowercase “g”).
Imagine the amazement of someone like Simon who had been faking it for a long time (or even working with the inferior power of evil forces), and then encountering the actual power of the Holy Spirit in action, testifying to the truth about Jesus Christ. That could come as quite a shock.
Note that Simon appears – to me, at least – to have become a genuine convert. Verse 13 says that he “believed and was baptized”. This does not appear to be a case where Simon was faking it, or was just trying to follow along. The text suggests to me that he was an actual believer in Jesus Christ.
Let’s pray today for the rescue of those who are ensnared by the attraction of power that comes from forces who wish to pull people away from God. Our goal in life is not to become a star through channeling evil spirits, but rather to become a part of a greater plan by submitting our will to the Holy Spirit. God will reign supreme in the end, and there will be no award for being a general in the army of the losing side. Don’t fill your life up with the wrong fuel that can destroy you in the end.
From Sunday School lesson prepared for October 22, 2023
References:
- The Lookout, October 22, 2023, © 2023 Christian Standard Media.
- Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
- Scripture quotations taken from the NASB. Copyright by The Lockman Foundation.
- New Testament History: A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Book of Acts, by Gareth L. Reese. © 1976, College Press Publishing Company.
- The College Press NIV Commentary – Acts, by Dennis Gaertner. © 1993 College Press Publishing Co.
Those Who Sin Differently 