NOTES for Act 8:1-25
It is interesting that the Gospel that the disciples preach, when separated from the gift of the Holy Spirit given to believers through the apostles, can easily turn into yet another esoteric magical teaching. That is exactly how Simon the Magician understands it. Not knowing the freedom and grace of the Holy Spirit, or relationships with God built entirely on mercy and the free gift of communion, he thinks that in Christian life something can be bought or sold. This error is very universal. As soon as we lose (or forget) this experience of joy in God and stop living by the Spirit, we immediately begin to think that something can be earned from God, that we can force Him into something, or somehow bribe Him.