THAT THEY MIGHT RECEIVE THE HOLY GHOST

Once again, we find Peter and John together. The circumstances are these.

Following the death of Stephen there had been a great persecution of the church at Jerusalem and the believers had been scattered abroad. In the dispersion Philip had gone to Samaria. Philip had been a companion of the martyred Stephen. He was one of the seven chosen for that ministration of relief to the poor in chapter 6. He was later known as Philip the evangelist, 21. 8. Philip preached Christ in Samaria and as the people heard his preaching and saw the miracles that he did, many believed and there was great joy in the city. How interesting it is to remember that but a few years earlier a woman had brought to them the message of the same Christ, and many had believed then also, John 4. 28-30, 39.

When the apostles heard in Jerusalem that Samaria had received the word of God, they then sent Peter and John who immediately recognized that these Samaritan believers had not yet received the Holy Spirit. They prayed for them, laid hands on them, and they received the Spirit. Why was the gift of the Spirit delayed until the coming of the apostles?

We must remember that the Samaritans were not true Jews. They were a half-caste race, part Jewish, part Gentile, see 2 Kgs. 17. 24. They had their own temple on Mount Gerizim and their own system of worship, and the Jews had no dealings with them, John 4. 9. Had they received the Holy Spirit as Philip was preaching to them, they might well have been tempted to think that this was their own distinctive form of Christianity, as different to that of Jerusalem as their Samaritan religion was different to Judaism. There was a potential danger of an early division in the work, almost like two churches being established.

The coming of Peter and John from Jerusalem to pray for them demonstrated that the work was all one. This was an identification of believing Samaritans with believing Jews, and a sharing in unity of the blessing of Pentecost. God is never out of time in the working out of His purpose, and those who pray in His will, as did the apostles, are privileged to work with Him in His dealings with men.