City Life Starter

Written by Stefan Johnsson

The Word

³ Therefore, brothers, select from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and wisdom, whom we can appoint to this duty. ⁶ They had them stand before the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them. -Acts 6:3,6 (HCSB)

¹⁴ When the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had welcomed God’s message, they sent Peter and John to them. ¹⁵ After they went down there, they prayed for them, so the Samaritans might receive the Holy Spirit. ¹⁶ For He had not yet come down on any of them; they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. ¹⁷ Then Peter and John laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. -Acts 8:14-17

Reflection

If you have not read the prior devotional regarding the laying on of hands, you can read it here.

In these verses on Acts 8, we have a second scenario regarding the use of the laying on of hands. In Acts 6, we get the concept that the laying on of hands has to do with commissioning of a person to do a specific ministry, and we saw how it correlated to the story in Numbers 27 when Moses laid his hands on Joshua. Here though, we have another example of the laying on of hands and how it is used.

The question that I want to pose to you all before we continue is: Is the laying on of hands a necessary component for salvation?

Now, if you answer correctly by stating that it is not, – as we note by the definition of salvation that Paul gives in Romans 10:9, “If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” – then we need to look further into this text to truly understand it.

Philip comes to Samaria, preaches the Words of God and there is great joy that comes on the people through the miracles, which is a confirmation of the message Philip is sharing. People believe in God and are baptized. This comes with the understanding, as the writer Luke is inferring, that the Samaritans are saved through Philip’s preaching, but there is an important component missing.

The Samaritans were not able to do the mighty miracles like Philip did because there was no anointing and no outward appearance of the power of the Holy Spirit in their lives. So this is where Peter and John come into the picture. They lay their hands on the believers in Samaria and these believers receive the power of the Holy Spirit, or in other words, they were filled with the Holy Spirit. This provides us further context into why Simon the Sorcerer wanted to get this same power. He saw what the Holy Spirit could do, but his heart posture was wrong and he was bound by sinful behaviors from his old life.

Context matters when reading Acts because the only other way you could interpret this passage in chapter 8 is to say that one needs the laying on of hands to be saved, and that is simply not the case.

Application

There is a difference between being saved and sealed with the Holy Spirit (See Ephesians 1:13) for eternity and being filled with(receiving the power of) the Holy Spirit. The first is for salvation and the latter for receiving God’s power to do His works on this earth.

The gift to be filled with the Holy Spirit is what God wants to give those who believe in Him. Though, you need to first look inward at your own heart and be right before God, then pray for God to give you this gift. You can then also ask for an Elder/Pastor to lay their hands on you to receive this power. God gives to those who ask and who asks with the correct heart posture.

One can go their entire Christian life without having the power of the Holy Spirit. The question is, why don’t you want what God can freely give?

Prayer

Father in heaven, I understand that You want to give good gifts to Your children. My heart hasn’t been in the right place, but I am open and willing to receive what You are able to give. Help me to have the right heart posture, to trust in You, and to ask for the gifts You can grant me. Let me be a willing and able servant in Your kingdom. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.