Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost.
After the ascension the gospel was welcomed in Samaria, where many received the word and believed and were baptized. When word of this reached Jerusalem, Peter and John were sent to them, and their labor there had wonderful results in a harvest gathered. Those Samaritans who received the messengers had once been bitter enemies of the disciples.
By the laying on of the apostles' hands the Samaritan believers received the Holy Ghost, the Holy Spirit. Their reception of the Holy Ghost showed that the gospel embraced them as well as the Jews and was not confined to one people. The event shows the Spirit of God waiting to enlighten souls and convert them to the truth. That baptism with the Holy Ghost is still given to truly converted men who give themselves wholly to God, and the Holy Spirit then cooperates with them.
The verse belongs to the account of Simon Magus, a sorcerer with a spirit of divination who had practiced sorcery and sought supernatural power by welcoming satanic influence. He is thus distinguished from those who suffer conflict with demons or suffer under demonic control, since he welcomed such influence to obtain power. In that account Peter later exposed Simon's deceptions, and his opposition to the gospel continued in Rome. Simon had been baptized and had joined himself to the disciples as a baptized member of the early church, yet he was an unworthy believer and false brother, showing that false and unworthy believers may remain among true disciples even from the beginning of the church.
The verse belongs to the work of going where God sends to guide and teach those who are reading the Scriptures without understanding. It is to be carefully studied by physicians and other workers because it teaches spreading out into unworked cities with division and subdivision of workers instead of centering in a few places. Earnest missionary effort of that kind makes the truth a power so that thousands are converted.
After the ascension the gospel was welcomed in Samaria, where many received the word and believed and were baptized. When word of this reached Jerusalem, Peter and John were sent to them, and their labor there had wonderful results in a harvest gathered. Those Samaritans who received the messengers had once been bitter enemies of the disciples.
By the laying on of the apostles' hands the Samaritan believers received the Holy Ghost, the Holy Spirit. Their reception of the Holy Ghost showed that the gospel embraced them as well as the Jews and was not confined to one people. The event shows the Spirit of God waiting to enlighten souls and convert them to the truth. That baptism with the Holy Ghost is still given to truly converted men who give themselves wholly to God, and the Holy Spirit then cooperates with them.
The verse belongs to the account of Simon Magus, a sorcerer with a spirit of divination who had practiced sorcery and sought supernatural power by welcoming satanic influence. He is thus distinguished from those who suffer conflict with demons or suffer under demonic control, since he welcomed such influence to obtain power. In that account Peter later exposed Simon's deceptions, and his opposition to the gospel continued in Rome. Simon had been baptized and had joined himself to the disciples as a baptized member of the early church, yet he was an unworthy believer and false brother, showing that false and unworthy believers may remain among true disciples even from the beginning of the church.
The verse belongs to the work of going where God sends to guide and teach those who are reading the Scriptures without understanding. It is to be carefully studied by physicians and other workers because it teaches spreading out into unworked cities with division and subdivision of workers instead of centering in a few places. Earnest missionary effort of that kind makes the truth a power so that thousands are converted.