NOTES for Act 8:9-11

Simon Magus is a very contemporary figure. Even today, it is not difficult to encounter magicians and psychics who pass themselves off as someone great, whose power many mistake for the power of God. For many, it has become customary to place Christianity on a par with other systems of thought and to “enrich” it by combining it with occult and other “paranormal” practices.

Simon Magus believed and was baptized. But his example shows the first instance of how the inertia of a former spirituality continues to manifest itself and even intensify after conversion. It is understandable that the powers to which a person has long appealed do not want to let that person go; but such a person also needs to distinguish clearly between the newly found faith and former pursuits. Simon thought that the power of the Holy Spirit was like the powers with which he had dealt until then, only much greater. It seems that Simon’s error lay in this, and not only in the desire to obtain the gift of God for money, in the attempt to introduce relations of buying and selling into spiritual life.

Later, many legends arose about Simon Magus, according to which he returned to the practice of magic; but the book of Acts breaks off its account of him with words about the possibility of his repentance. He had such an opportunity, and it remains open to his present-day imitators, if only they come to their senses. But whether he did repent is likewise not stated. Simon asks the apostles to pray for him, evidently considering them stronger than himself, but does not pray himself. Something, apparently, prevented him...