The Faith That Doesn't Save

The middle of Acts 8 recounts the first impact of the Gospel in Samaria, paying particular attention to Simon the Magician. Simon had bewitched the locals with his magical powers, which led them to ascribe to him the power of the 'great god.' Then Phillip showed up, started preaching, and Simon was apparently saved a baptised. Great right? Well love hearing and telling those sorts of stories. The great Gospel opponent in the town has been baptised. Except here, all is not as it seems. Luke's account ends with Peter saying, in effect, 'to hell with you and your money.' Not a textbook way to handle a new convert. Luke ends to story without telling us whether or not Simon was really saved, but there are a couple of reasons to belief that his profession was false.

Simon was more concerned with power than holiness.


You get the impression that Simon was the only show in town. Certainly he was the biggest and best show in town. Then here comes Phillip preaching the Gospel, and performing signs and miracles, and his head is turned. He's amazed by thew power that flows from Phillip's hands. Perhaps this is why he came forward at the end of one of Phillip's messages. He wanted to be where the power was, he wanted to be a leader of the pack. So, like the rest of them, he got baptised. Then when Peter and John showed up it got even more impressive. he laid his hands on some guys, and they received the Holy Spirit. This is a power that Simon had to have!

Simon wanted the show, he wanted the power to make people say wow. Nowhere does Luke tell us he wanted to honour God, nowhere do we read about him wanting to grow in holiness. He wanted to draw and impress a crowd. That desire never changed, just the source of the power.

Simon was more concerned with Earth than Heaven.


Simon offers to buy the power of the Holy Spirit, and Peter does not mess with him. He even tells him 'your heart is not right before God.' So what does Simon do? He doesn't repent, he just asks Peter to pray for him, that none of the dreadful stuff that Peter just mentioned would befall him. He didn't tear his clothes, he didn't fall to his knees, he even seems quite casual about it. 'Just pray for me Peter, that doesn't sound like much fun.'

We can so easily fall into that trap can't we? If i'm getting a raise, making my car payments on time and going on vacation it must be because God is pleased with me right? It's a crazy thing to think since one of the ways the Devil tempts Christ is with riches! The Devil will give us the easiest, richest life we can imagine, as long as it keep our hearts away from Christ. We must fight tooth and nail every day for Heavenly reward, forsaking Earthly reward when we need to. Simon missed this. He wasn't humbled by his sin, he didn't understand the role of the Holy Spirit and he never grasped his need for salvation.

Ultimately, Simon's problem was that he considered faith to be an outward thing, not an inward thing. Repentance was adding Jesus to what he already had, not turning from one thing to God, which is fully orbed, Biblical repentance. This is the faith that does not save. A faith that strives for earthly reward, a faith that minimizes sin and isn't interested in holiness.

The Gospel coming to Samaria was a great and glorious chapter in the history of the church. But the church still had to be on the look out. There was still a faith that didn't save, and Luke was good to warn us about it...