Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Acts 8:15
Who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost:
15. who, when they were come down, &c.] It is clear from the whole history that the special gift of the Holy Ghost, bestowed at this period on the Christian converts in various places, was not given except through the Apostles. The case of Ananias, sent by God’s special command to Saul, differs from all others. Peter could promise it (Act 2:38) to those who should repent and be baptized, but the Samaritan converts whom Philip had made received no share of such powers till the arrival of Peter and John. But the Apostles make it manifest by their prayer that the gift was not theirs either to impart or withhold, but was “of God,” as Peter calls it ( Act 8:20).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Were come down – To Samaria. Jerusalem was generally represented as up, or higher than the rest of the land, Mat 20:18; Joh 7:8.
Prayed for them – They sought at the hand of God the extraordinary communications of the Holy Spirit. They did not even pretend to have the power of doing it without the aid of God.
That they might receive the Holy Ghost – The main question here is, what was meant by the Holy Spirit? In Act 8:20, it is called the gift of God. The following remarks may make this plain:
- It was not that gift of the Holy Spirit by which the soul is converted, for they had this when they believed, Act 8:6. Everywhere the conversion of the sinner is traced to his influence. Compare Joh 1:13.
(2)It was not the ordinary influences of the Spirit by which the soul is sanctified; for sanctification is a progressive work, and this was sudden.
(3)It was something that was discernible by external effects; for Simon saw Act 8:18 that this was done by the laying on of hands.
(4)The phrase the gift of the Holy Spirit, and the descent of the Holy Spirit, signified not merely his ordinary influences in converting sinners, but those extraordinary influences that attended the first preaching of the gospel – the power of speaking with new tongues Acts 2, the power of working miracles, etc., Act 19:6.
(5)This is further clear from the fact that Simon wished to purchase this power, evidently to keep up his influence among the people, and to retain his ascendency as a juggler and sorcerer. But surely Simon would not wish to purchase the converting and sanctifying influences of the Holy Spirit; it was the power of working miracles. These things made it clear that by the gift of the Holy Spirit here is meant the power of speaking with new tongues (compare 1 Cor. 14) and the power of working miracles. And it is further clear that this passage should not be adduced in favor of the rite of confirmation in the Christian church. For, besides the fact that there are now no apostles, the thing spoken of here is entirely different from the rite of confirmation. This was to confer the extraordinary power of working miracles; that is for a different purpose.
If it be asked why this power was conferred on the early Christians, it may be replied that it was to furnish striking proof of the truth of the Christian religion; to impress the people, and thus to win them to embrace the gospel. The early church was thus armed with the power of the Holy Spirit; and this extraordinary attestation of God to his message was one cause of the rapid propagation and permanent establishment of the gospel.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 15. When they were come down] The very same mode of speaking, in reference to Jerusalem formerly, obtains now in reference to London. The metropolis in both cases is considered as the centre; and all parts, in every direction, no matter how distant, or how situated, are represented as below the metropolis. Hence we so frequently hear of persons going up to Jerusalem: and going down from the same. So in London the people speak of going down to the country; and, in the country, of going up to London. It is necessary to make this remark, lest any person should be led away with the notion that Jerusalem was situated on the highest ground in Palestine. It is a mode of speech which is used to designate a royal or imperial city.
Prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost.] It seems evident from this case, that even the most holy deacons, though full of the Holy Ghost themselves, could not confer this heavenly gift on others. This was the prerogative of the apostles, and they were only instruments; but they were those alone by which the Lord chose to work. They prayed and laid their hands on the disciples, and God sent down the gift; so, the blessing came from God by the apostles, and not from the apostles to the people. But for what purpose was the Holy Spirit thus given? Certainly not for the sanctification of the souls of the people: this they had on believing in Christ Jesus; and this the apostles never dispensed. It was the miraculous gifts of the Spirit which were thus communicated: the speaking with different tongues, and those extraordinary qualifications which were necessary for the successful preaching of the Gospel; and doubtless many, if not all, of those on whom the apostles laid their hands, were employed more or less in the public work of the Church.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
They; Peter and John.
Prayed for them; in this particular they did not pray for all that believed, amongst whom there were several women, Act 8:12.
That they might receive the Holy Ghost; those extraordinary gifts of tongues, of prophesying of working miracles, &c. See Act 10:45.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
15, 16. prayed . . . they mightreceive the Holy Ghost. (For only they were baptized in the name ofthe Lord Jesus)As the baptism of adults presupposed “therenewing of the Holy Ghost” (Tit 3:5-7;1Co 12:13), of which theprofession of faith had to be taken for evidence, this communicationof the Holy Ghost by the laying on of the apostles’ hands was clearlya superadded thing; and as it was only occasional, soit was invariably attended with miraculous manifestations (seeAc 10:44, where it followedPeter’s preaching; and Ac19:1-7, where, as here, it followed the laying on of hands). Inthe present case an important object was served by it”thesudden appearance of a body of baptized disciples in Samaria, by theagency of one who was not an apostle, requiring the presence andpower of apostles to perform their special part as the divinelyappointed founders of the Church” [ALFORD].Beautiful, too, was the spectacle exhibited of Jew and Samaritan, onein Christ.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Who when they were come down,…. To the city of Samaria, where Philip was, and these converts dwelt:
prayed for them; for some of them, unto God:
that they might receive the Holy Ghost; the extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost, as to be able to speak with tongues, to prophesy and work miracles: they might pray for them all, that they might have a larger measure of grace, and more spiritual light and knowledge; and that they might be established in the doctrines of the Gospel, and hold fast the profession of their faith unto the end; but it can hardly be thought that they should pray for them all, both men and women, that they might have the above extraordinary gifts, which were not necessary to them all: and that these are meant by the Holy Ghost is clear from what follows, since he was not yet fallen on any of them, which cannot be understood in any other sense; and seeing it was something visible, which Simon could discern, and therefore cannot mean internal grace, and an increase of that.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
That they might receive ( ). Second aorist active subjunctive of , final clause with . Did they wish the Samaritan Pentecost to prove beyond a doubt that the Samaritans were really converted when they believed? They had been baptized on the assumption that the Holy Spirit had given them new hearts. The coming of the Holy Spirit with obvious signs (cf. 10:44-48) as in Jerusalem would make it plain.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
1) “Who, when they were come down,” (oitines katabantes) “Who going down, or having gone down,” down to help the believers in Samaria. The “they” who went down to Samaria were Peter and John, Act 8:14. The term “down” refers to the lay of the land area lower then Jerusalem, though located north.
2) “Prayed for them,” (proseulksanto peri auton) “They prayed concerning them,” concerning those who had received the word of God and been baptized in Samaria, Act 8:12.
3) “That they might receive the Holy Ghost:” (hopos labosin pneuma hagion) “So that they might receive the Holy Spirit,” or the manifestation-gift of the Holy Spirit which came upon the church at Pentecost, which gift was thereafter conferred by the laying on of the hands of the Apostles, Act 8:17; Act 6:6; Act 19:6, preceded always by prayer. All who are saved have, hold, or possess the Holy Spirit, and then possessed the Spirit, but after the Special Empowering of the church by or in the Special Sanctifying of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, the Apostles conferred certain manifestations (gifts) of the Holy Spirit by prayer and laying on of the hands, till the Bible was completed; These gifts were divinely bestowed credentials, confirming the trust-worthiness of the testimony of the Baptized believers, Mar 2:10-11; Joh 3:2; Act 2:38; 1Co 12:1; 1Co 12:4-11; 1Co 12:28-31; 1Co 13:9-10; 1Co 13:13.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
15. They prayed. Undoubtedly they taught first, for we know that they were no dumb persons; but Luke passeth over that which was common to them and Philip, and declareth only what new thing the Samaritans had by their coming, to wit, that they had the Spirit given them then.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(15) Prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost.The prayer clearly pointed to such a gift of the power of the Spirit as had been bestowed on the Day of Pentecost. It assumed that such gifts had been received by the disciples generally at Jerusalem, and that they were distinct from the new birth of water and the Spirit (Joh. 3:5) which was given through baptism. The Apostles looked on the Samaritans as qualified for that higher gift as well as for admission into the kingdom, and it was given to them, and not to Philip in his subordinate position as an evangelist, to be the channels of communicating it.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Act 8:15-17. Who, when they were come down, Hence it appears very probable, that the Spirit, in some or other of his miraculous powers, had been conferred upon all the Christian converts hitherto; and it was highly proper that the Samaritans should have that divine gift, both as a confirmation of the truth of the Christian doctrine in general, and as an evidence to them in particular, that however they had been formerly hated by the Jews, yet, under the gospel, they might be equally acceptable to God with the Jews, and be as openly and fully entitled to all the privileges of the church, and of the people of God. From what follows it is plain, that the Holy Spirit was here conferred in his supernatural and miraculous influences; for Simon the magician saw some of the wondrous effects of that divine gift immediately, by the new converts speaking languages which they had never learned, or prophesying, or working miracles; and it was this which made him so earnestly covet that apostolic power. They who fancy that the apostles at this time conferred only those which have been commonly called the standing, or the sanctifying influences of the Spirit, surely cannot deny, that if their power had been so limited, their bestowing of the gift of the Holy Ghost would have been otherwise expressed; as the whole work of grace, from the first dawning of the divine light to the perfection of it, originates in the influences of the Holy Spirit. Nor would that magician, very probably, have given any thing, either for the sanctifying influences of the Spirit, or for the power to confer them upon others, supposing God would have bestowed such an extraordinary favour upon him.
The apostles, who alone had a power of imparting them, appear to have conferred some or other of the miraculous gifts upon all adult Christians wherever they came. Upon the apostles themselves, and the rest of the hundred and twenty, the Spirit was poured down immediately from heaven, and without the laying on of the hands of any man; but upon the other Jewish converts, the apostles laid their hands, and thereby conferred that divine gift. As the Samaritans were now Jews by religion, and many of them even descended from Jewish parents, and as our Lord himself had during his own personal ministry treated them as Jews, there was no occasion for the pouring down of the Holy Spirit, in any of his miraculous gifts, upon them before baptism, to prepare the way for their being received into the Christian church: as there manifestly was afterwards in the case of the first-fruits from among the Gentiles: and, on the other hand, supposing the Samaritans had not been favoured with any spiritual gifts and miraculous powers; that is, neither before baptism nor after it; they would have come behind other churches, and might thereupon have been ready to question, whether they who had been so peculiarly odious to the Jews, were now accepted of God equally, and to like privileges with the Jews, from among whom came the Saviour and salvation to mankind. The two apostles, therefore, went down, and conferred upon them the extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost. Thus, accordingto the wise and beauteous scheme of raising the new creation, the Jewish and Samaritan Christians were both treated alike; and how great soever their mutual aversion had been, the benign spirit of Christianity laid the foundation for abating their mutual prejudices, for healing their unhappy differences, and for making them lookupon one another as brethren in Christ Jesus, and equally acceptable to God; who is in the gospel most plainly declared to be the God and Father, in a peculiarly eminent sense, of all who believe in and obey Christ, whether Jews, Samaritans, or Gentiles.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
15 Who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost:
Ver. 15. The Holy Ghost ] That is, those extraordinary gifts of tongues, healing, &c.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
15. . ] So laying on of hands is preceded by prayer, ch. Act 6:6 ; Act 13:3 .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Act 8:15 . : on this form of the relative see Rendall, in loco; Blass however regards it as simply = , Grammatik , p. 169, cf. Act 12:10 . , cf. Act 24:1 (Luk 2:42 ), Act 11:2 , Act 21:12 ; Act 21:15 . Wendt defends the historical character of this journey to Samaria as against Zeller and Overbeck. : here only with ; the verb is characteristic of St. Luke, and he alone has the construction used in this verse, cf. Luk 6:28 , W.H [217] The exact phrase is found in St. Paul’s Epistles four or five times (and once in Hebrews), but often in LXX, and cf. Bar 1:11 ; Bar 1:13 ; Mal 1:6Mal 1:6 ; 2Ma 15:14 . The laying on of hands, as in Act 6:7 and Act 13:3 , is here preceded by prayer, see Hooker, Eccles. Pol. , v., chap. lxvi., 1 4. . : the words express the chief and highest object of the Apostles’ visit: it was not only to ascertain the genuineness of the conversions, or to form a connecting link between the Church of Samaria and that of Jerusalem, although such objects might not have been excluded in dealing with an entirely new and strange state of things the recognition of the Samaritans in a common faith. It has been argued with great force that the expression Holy Spirit is not meant here in its dogmatic Pauline sense; Luke only means to include in it the ecstatic gifts of speaking with tongues and prophecy. This view is held to be supported by in Act 8:18 , intimating that outward manifestations which meet the eye must have shown themselves, and by the fact that the same verb, , is used in cases where the results which follow plainly show that the reception of the Holy Ghost meant a manifestation of the outward marvellous signs such as marked the day of Pentecost, Act 10:44 ; Act 10:46 , Act 11:15 ( cf. Act 19:6 ). In the case of these Samaritans no such signs from heaven had followed their baptism, and the Apostles prayed for a conspicuous divine sanction on the reception of the new converts (Wendt, Zckler, Holtzmann, and see also Hort, Ecclesia , pp. 54, 55). But even supposing that the reception of the Holy Ghost could be thus limited, the gift of tongues was no mere magical power, but the direct result of a super natural Presence and of a special grace of that Presence speaking with tongues, prophesyings, and various gifts, 1Co 14:1 ; 1Co 14:14 ; 1Co 14:37 , were no doubt the outward manifestations, but they could not have been manifested apart from that Presence, and they were outward visible signs or an inward spiritual grace. In a book so marked by the working of the Holy Spirit that it has received the name of the “Gospel of the Spirit” it is difficult to believe that St. Luke can mean to limit the expression here and in the following verse to anything less than a bestowal of that divine indwelling of the spirit which makes the Christian the temple of God, and which St. Paul speaks of in the very same terms as a permanent possession, Gal 3:2 , Rom 8:15 (Gore, Church and the Ministry , p. 258). St. Paul’s language, 1Co 12:30 , makes it plain that the advent of the Holy Spirit was not of necessity attested by any peculiar manifestations, nor were these manifestations essential accompaniments of it: “Do all speak with tongues?” he asks, “Are all prophets?” See further on Act 8:17 .
[217] Westcott and Hort’s The New Testament in Greek: Critical Text and Notes.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
prayed. Greek. proseuchomai. App-134.
for = concerning. Greek. peri, as in Act 8:12.
the Holy Ghost = holy spirit. Greek. pneuma hagion. No article. App-101.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
15. .] So laying on of hands is preceded by prayer, ch. Act 6:6; Act 13:3.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Act 8:15. , prayed) In the ministry of the Gospel prayer has not less power than preaching. He therefore who cannot pray, cannot be a perfect minister. For the things of GOD ought to be laid before men, and the things of men ought to be laid before GOD.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
prayed: Act 2:38, Mat 18:19, Joh 14:13, Joh 14:14, Joh 16:23, Joh 16:24, Phi 1:19
Reciprocal: Num 27:18 – lay Joh 20:22 – Receive Act 8:5 – Philip Act 10:44 – the Holy Ghost Act 11:1 – the apostles Act 13:3 – General Act 19:2 – Have ye Rom 1:11 – that 1Co 14:13 – pray Gal 3:2 – Received
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Act 8:15-17. On the whole question of this laying on of the apostles hands in Samaria, see the Excursus at the end of this chapter.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
See notes on verse 14
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
Verse 15
For them; for the Samaritan converts. This account of the visit of Peter and John to the new converts, supported by other cases somewhat similar, which are hereafter recorded, is made, by the Episcopal church, the basis of their rite of confirmation.–Receive the Holy Ghost. There is some difficulty in determining how much is implied in “receiving the Holy Ghost,” in the various connections in which the expression occurs. It would seem that, in this case, it must have been attended by some visible and extraordinary manifestation, in order to attract so strongly the attention of Simon.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
8:15 Who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the {d} Holy Ghost:
(d) Those excellent gifts which are necessary, especially for those that were to be appointed rulers and governors of the Church.