Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Acts 8:24
Then answered Simon, and said, Pray ye to the Lord for me, that none of these things which ye have spoken come upon me.
24. that none of these [the] things which ye have spoken come upon me ] Simon shews by the character of his petition that he is not moved by a true spirit of repentance. He utters no word of sorrow for the evil of his thought, but only petitions that he may suffer no punishment. Yet we can see that he had not taken the expression of St Peter in Act 8:20 as a curse invoked upon him by the Apostle, but only as a declaration of the anger of God, and of the certainty of a penalty upon wilful continuance in such sin. His entreaty may be compared with that oft-repeated petition of Pharaoh to Moses (Exo 8:8; Exo 8:28; Exo 9:28; Exo 10:17) “Intreat the Lord for me,” extorted by fear and followed by no change of conduct.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Pray ye … – Here remark:
(1) That Simon was directed to pray for himself Act 8:22, but he had no disposition to do it, but was willing to ask others to do it for him. Sinners will often ask others to pray for them, when they are too proud, or too much in love with sin, to pray for themselves.
(2) The main thing that Peter wished to impress on him was a sense of his sin. Simon did not regard this, but looked only to the punishment. He was terrified and alarmed; he sought to avoid future punishment, but he had no alarm about his sins. So it is often with sinners. So it was with Pharaoh Exo 8:28, Exo 8:32, and with Jeroboam 1Ki 13:6. Sinners often quiet their own consciences by asking ministers and Christian friends to pray for them, while they still purpose to persevere in iniquity. If people expect to be saved, they must pray for themselves; and pray not chiefly to be freed from punishment, but from the sin which deserves hell. This is all that we hear of Simon in the New Testament; and the probability is, that, like many other sinners, he did not pray for himself, but continued to live in the gall of bitterness, and died in the bond of iniquity. The testimony of antiquity is decided on that point. See the notes on Act 8:9.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 24. Pray ye to the Lord for me] The words of Peter certainly made a deep impression on Simon’s mind; and he must have had a high opinion of the apostle’s sanctity and influence with God, when he thus commended himself to their prayers. And we may hope well of his repentance and salvation, if the reading of the Codex Bezae, and the margin of the later Syriac may be relied on: Pray ye to the Lord for me, that none ( ) OF ALL THOSE EVILS which ye have spoken () TO ME, may come upon me: ( ) WHO WEPT GREATLY, and DID NOT CEASE. That is, he was an incessant penitent. However favourably this or any other MS. may speak of Simon, he is generally supposed to have “grown worse and worse, opposing the apostles and the Christian doctrine, and deceiving many cities and provinces by magical operations; till being at Rome, in the reign of the Emperor Claudius, he boasted that he could fly, and when exhibiting before the emperor and the senate, St. Peter and St. Paul being present, who knew that his flying was occasioned by magic, prayed to God that the people might be undeceived, and that his power might fail; in consequence of which he came tumbling down, and died soon after of his bruises.” This account comes in a most questionable shape, and has no evidence which can challenge our assent. To me, it and the rest of the things spoken of Simon the sorcerer appear utterly unworthy of credit. Calmet makes a general collection of what is to be found in Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Tertullian; Eusebius, Theodoret, Augustine, and others, on the subject of Simon Magus; and to him, if the reader think it worth the pains, he may refer. The substance of these accounts is given above, and in Clarke’s note on “Ac 8:9“; and to say the least of them they are all very dubious. The tale of his having an altar erected to him at Rome, with the inscription, Simoni sancto deo, “To the holy god Simon,” has been founded on an utter mistake, and has been long ago sufficiently confuted. See the inscriptions in Gruter, vol. i. p. 96, inscript. No. 5, 6, 7.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Simon Magus was convinced that he was indeed such as the apostles had spoken him to be; and knowing them to be powerful with God, he desires this of them. He feigns himself to be a true penitent, being terrified with the threatening of St. Peter, Act 8:20, and probably fearing the punishment of Ananias and Sapphira might befall him, which it is likely he had heard of.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
24. Pray ye to the Lord for mePeterhad urged him to pray for himself: he asks those wonder-working mento do it for him; having no confidence in the prayer of faith, butthinking that those men possessed some peculiar interest with heaven.
that none of these thingsdome upon menot that the thought of his wicked heart might beforgiven him, but only that the evils threatened might be avertedfrom him. While this throws great light on Peter’s view of hismelancholy case, it shows that Christianity, as something divine,still retained its hold of him. (Tradition represents him as turningout a great heresiarch, mingling Oriental or Grecian philosophy withsome elements of Christianity.)
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Then answered Simon, and said,…. Whose conscience might be touched, and smote with what Peter had said; and he might be terrified with the wrath of God, and filled with fear of his judgment coming upon him for his wickedness, and might now stand trembling before the apostles: and if this was not his case, he was a most hardened and audacious wretch; and his following words must be understood in a different sense, from what they might seem to have, when they came out of his mouth:
pray ye to the Lord for me; the Arabic version reads, “pray ye two”; the words are addressed both to Peter and John; for though Peter only spake to him, yet John joined with him, and assented to what he said, and approved of it; and which he might signify either by word or gesture; wherefore Simon desires both of them, that they would pray to the Lord for him; but whether he was serious, and in good earnest in this, is a question; since there is no reason to believe he truly repented, from the accounts given of him by ancient writers; who always represent him as an opposer of the apostles and their doctrine, as the father of all heresies, as a blasphemous wretch; who gave out that he was the Father in Samaria, the Son in Judea, and the Holy Ghost in other places; and as a very lewd and wicked man, who carried about with him a whore, whose name was Helena; whom he called the mother of the universe, and gave out the angels were made by her, and the world by them; with many other errors, blasphemies, and impieties: so that it should rather seem, that though Peter was serious in his advice to Simon, yet he was not so in his request to him; but in a sarcastic sneering way, desired his prayers for him; suggesting, that he was not in any pain about what he had said: and if he was in earnest, he did not take Peter’s advice to pray for himself; nor did he declare any repentance for his sin; and his desire that the apostles would pray for him, might not be from any sense he had of the evil of his sin, but from a slavish fear of the evil, or mischief, that was like to come upon him for his sin, as appears by what follows:
that none of these things which ye have spoken come upon me; as that his money should perish with him, and he with that; or that he should go into destruction; that everlasting destruction and ruin would be his portion; and that he should have no part nor lot in eternal life, unless he repented, and his sin was pardoned: and this confirms what has been before observed, that John assented to what Peter spoke, or said the same, or such like things to Simon as he did.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Pray ye for me ( ). Emphasis on (you). First aorist passive imperative. Simon is thoroughly frightened by Peter’s words, but shows no sign of personal repentance or change of heart. He wants to escape the penalty for his sin and hopes that Peter can avert it. Peter had clearly diagnosed his case. He was an unconverted man in spite of his profession of faith and baptism. There is no evidence that he ever changed his life at all.
Which (). Genitive by attraction of the accusative relative to case of the unexpressed antecedent (of those things), a common Greek idiom.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
1) “Then answered Simon, and said,” (apokritheis de ho Simon eipen) “Then responding Simon appealed,” to Peter and John as follows:
2) “Pray ye to the Lord for me,”(de-ethete humeis huper emou pros ton kurion) “You all pray (earnestly beseech) to the Lord in behalf of me;- It appears that the sharp, direct rebuke Peter gave shocked Simon with great fear that an immediate Divine judgement might befall him similar to that upon Ananias and Saphira, Act 5:1-11. He had much better repented and prayed for himself, Rom 14:11-12; Act 17:31.
3) “That none of these things,” (hopos meden) “So that not one thing,” none of all those judgmental-things, his having neither part or parcel in any gift of the Holy Spirit manifestation, his existing on and on in the venom of bitterness, and slave chains of lawlessness.
4) “Which ye have spoken come upon me, ‘(epelthe ep eme hon eirekate) “Of which you all have spoken may come upon me,” The fear of God hit Simon at the sharp reproof of Peter as if an heathen-hex had been cast over him that could be removed only by the compassionate prayers of Peter and John.
a) Pharaoh had pled thus with Moses and Aaron, Exo 8:8.
b) Murmuring, Israel pled thus with Moses when fiery serpents had been sent among them, Num 21:7.
c) Jeroboam pled to God’s Prophet to restore his hand that had withered when he lifted it against God, 1Ki 13:6.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
24. Simon answered. Hereby we gather that he did not so take that which Peter had threatened unto him, but that he did consider that his salvation was sought. And though Peter alone spake, yet he attributeth the speech unto all by reason of the consent. Now ariseth a question what we ought to think of Simon. The Scripture carrieth us no farther, save only unto a conjecture. Whereas he yieldeth when he is reproved, and being touched with the feeling of his sin, feareth the judgment of God; and that done, flieth unto the mercy of God, and commendeth himself to the prayers of the Church; these are assuredly no small signs of repentance; therefore we may conjecture that he repented. And yet the old writers affirm with one consent, that he was a great enemy to Peter afterward, and that he disputed with him by the space of three days at Rome. The disputation is also extant in writing under the name of Clement, but it hath in it such filthy dotings, that it is a wonder that Christian ears can abide to hear them. Again, Augustine, writing to Januarius, saith, that there were divers and false rumors spread abroad in Rome in his time concerning that matter. Wherefore, nothing is more safe than bidding adieu to uncertain opinions, simply to embrace that which is set down in the Scriptures. That which we read elsewhere of Simon may justly be suspected for many causes.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(24) Pray ye to the Lord for me.There is something eminently characteristic in the sorcerers words. (1) His conscience reads between the lines of St. Peters address what was not actually found there. That if perhaps is to him as the knell of doom. (2) He prays not for deliverance from the bond of iniquity, but only from the vague terror of a future penalty. (3) He turns, not, as Peter had bidden him, to the Lord who was ready to forgive, but to a human mediator. Peter must pray for him who has not faith to pray for himself.
At this point Simon disappears from the history of the Acts, and this seems accordingly the right place for stating briefly the later traditions as to his history. In those traditions he occupies a far more prominent position than in St. Lukes narrative, and becomes, as it has been said, the hero of the romance of heresy, as given in the Homilies and Recognitions of the Pseudo-Clement. Born at Gittom, in Samaria (Justin, Apol. i. 26), he received his education at Alexandria, and picked up the language of a mystic Gnosticism from Dositheus (Hom. ii. c. 22; Constt. Apost. vi. 8). He had for a short time been a disciple of the Baptist (Hom. c. 23). He murdered a boy that the soul of his victim might become his familiar spirit, and give him insight into the future (Hom. ii. c. 26; Recogn. ii. 9). He carried about with him a woman of great beauty, of the name of Luna or Helena, whom he represented as a kind of incarnation of the Wisdom or Thought of God (Justin, Apol. i. 6; Hom. ii. c. 25; Euseb. Hist. ii. 13). He identified himself with the promised Paraclete and the Christ, and took the name of He who stands, as indicating divine power (Recogn. ii. 7). He boasted that he could turn himself and others into the form of brute beasts; that he could cause statues to speak (Hom. iv. c. 4; Recogn. ii. 9, iii. 6). His life was one of ostentatious luxury. He was accompanied by the two sons of the Syro-Phnician woman of Mar. 7:26 (Hom. i. 19). After the episode related in the Acts, he went down to Csarea, and Peter was then sent thither by James, the Bishop of Jerusalem, to confront and hold a disputation with him on various points of doctrine. From Csarea he made his way to Tyre and Tripolis, and thence to Rome, and was there worshipped by his followers, so that an altar was seen there by Justin with an inscription, SIMONI DEO SANCTO (Apol. i. 56). Peter followed him, and in the reign of Claudius the two met, once more face to face, in the imperial city. According to one legend, he offered to prove his divinity by flying in the air. trusting that the demons whom he employed would support him; but, through the power of the prayers of Peter, he fell down, and had his bones broken, and then committed suicide (Constt. Apost. ii. 14; 6:9). Another represents him as buried alive at his own request, in order that he might show his power by rising on the third day from the dead, and so meeting his death (Irenus, Adv. Hr. vi. 20).
In the midst of all this chaos of fantastic fables, we have, perhaps, one grain of fact in Justins assertion that he had seen the altar above referred to. An altar was discovered at Rome in 1574, on the island in the Tiber, with the inscription SEMONI SANCO DEO FIDIO. Archologists, however, agree in thinking that this was dedicated to the Sabine Hercules, who was known as SEMO SANCUS, and it has been thought by many writers that Justin may have seen this or some like altar, and, in his ignorance of Italian mythology, have imagined that it was consecrated to the Sorcerer of Samaria. His statement is repeated by Tertullian (Apol. c. 13) and Irenus (i. 20). Of the three names in the inscription, Semo (probably connected with Semen as the God of Harvest, or as Semihomo) appears by itself in the Hymn of the Fratres Arvales, and in connection with Sancus and Fidius (probably connected with Fides, and so employed in the formula of asseveration, medius fidius) in Ovid, Fast. vi. 213; Livy, viii. 20; 32:1.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
‘And Simon answered and said, “You pray for me to the Lord, that none of the things which you have spoken come on me.” ’
Simon then pleads with Peter to pray that none of these things come on him. He probably did not know the context of Peter’s quotations but recognised that they spelt awful calamity. Nothing is further said about the incident. This leaving an incident in mid-air is typical of the Bible elsewhere. When Scripture leaves something in the air like this it usually signifies that what was spoken of followed. Thus we have the right here to assume that Peter did pray for him, and that he was forgiven. He was after all new in the faith and had needed his thinking sorting out, and deliverance from what had previously gripped him. And his request for their assistance in prayer was understandable in the light of Peter’ strong language. He wanted Peter to remove the ‘curse’ he had put on him. And we may assume that as Luke remains silent on the matter he intends us to see that that is what happened.
Looking back at the New Testament we forget that many new converts had no background in the things of God. While the ministry was to Jews or even to Samaritans they had the background of the Law to call on, but Gentiles and men like Simon had no background in the word of God. Their thinking was fashioned by the pagan world around them. Thus when they were converted their first faltering steps would often reveal them to be at fault. Simon was no exception. The point therefore here is that he learned a valuable lesson which would hopefully completely alter his way of thinking, and was also a salutary lesson for all who would read Luke’s words.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Act 8:24. Pray ye to the Lord for me, It is greatly to be feared, that this pretence of conviction and humiliation was only to prevent Peter and John from disgracing him among the body ofChristians; for it is reasonable to suppose this conversation passed in private between them; and perhaps Simon might have some hope that if the secret were kept, he might reduce the people, when the apostles were gone, to their former subjection to him, notwithstanding their conversion to Christianity. The words, these things which YE have spoken, being plural, seem naturally to refer to the aweful things which Simon had heard in the course of Christian preaching, concerning the terrible effects of the divine displeasure against impenitent sinners in the future world. Perhaps too he might have heard of the dreadful punishment inflicted upon Ananias and Sapphira, ch. 5:
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Act 8:24 . ] whose prayer must be more effectual . On . with , comp. Psa 64:1 .
. . .] “poenae metum, non culpae horrorem fatetur,” Bengel. A humiliation has begun in Simon, but it refers to the apostolic threat of punishment, the realization of which he wishes to avert, not to the ground of this threat, which lay in his own heart and could only be removed by a corresponding repentance . Hence, also, his conversion (which even Calvin conjectures to have taken place; comp. Ebrard) does not ensue. It would, as a brilliant victory of the apostolic word, not have been omitted; and in fact the ecclesiastical traditions concerning the stedfastly continued conflict of Simon with the Jewish-apostolic gospel, in spite of all the strange and contradictory fables mixed up with it down to his overthrow by Peter at Rome, testify against the occurrence of that conversion at all.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
24 Then answered Simon, and said, Pray ye to the Lord for me, that none of these things which ye have spoken come upon me.
Ver. 24. Pray for me ] Some from these words conclude his effectual conversion. He trembleth at God’s justice, and imploreth his mercy. Haec certe non minima sunt poenitentiae signa, saith judicious Calvin; these were no small signs of sound repentance.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
24. ] Simon speaks here much as Pharaoh, Exod. (Act 8:28 ; Act 9:28 ) Act 10:17 , who yet hardened his heart afterwards (Stier). It is observable also that he wishes merely for the averting of the punishment . The words seem remarkably to set forth the mere terror of the carnal man, without any idea of the becoming another man in thoughts and aims.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Act 8:24 . : the verse is often taken (as by Meyer and others) as a further proof of the hollowness of Simon’s belief, and his ignorance of the way of true repentance he will not pray for himself, and he only asks for deliverance from fear of the penalty and not from hatred of the sin (so Bengel). But on the other hand Wendt, in criticising Meyer, objects to this further condemnation of Simon as not expressed in the text. So far as the petition for the Apostles’ prayers is concerned, it is of course possible that it may have been prompted by the belief that such prayers would be more efficacious than his own (so Blass, Wendt, see also conclusion of the story in ); he does not ask them to pray instead of himself but , on his behalf. : not used by the other Evangelists, but three times in St. Luke’s Gospel and four times in Acts, with and accusative both in Gospel (Luk 1:35 . cf. Luk 21:35 ) and Acts.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
answered, &c. App-122.
to. Greek. pros.
none = not one. Greek. medeis.
upon. Greek. epi. App-104. From this incident comes the term “simony” for traffic in sacred things.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
24.] Simon speaks here much as Pharaoh, Exod. (Act 8:28; Act 9:28) Act 10:17,-who yet hardened his heart afterwards (Stier). It is observable also that he wishes merely for the averting of the punishment. The words seem remarkably to set forth the mere terror of the carnal man, without any idea of the becoming another man in thoughts and aims.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Act 8:24. , pray ye) Peter had said, Pray GOD. But Simon says, Pray ye. Therefore he felt the power of the apostolic reproof. No one ought to depend merely on the prayers of others: Heb 13:18.-, that) He confesses his fear of the punishment, not horror of the guilt. However, on account of this declaration, he seems not to have been immediately rejected by the Church.- , which ye have spoken) Here the history of Simon Magus is broken off, of which the remaining facts at the time that Luke wrote were well known, and are partly recorded in Church History in our days. The Scripture deems it sufficient to have marked the commencements: it has left the rest to the times and to the last judgment.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Pray: Gen 20:7, Gen 20:17, Exo 8:8, Exo 10:17, Exo 12:32, Num 21:7, 1Sa 12:19, 1Sa 12:23, 1Ki 13:6, Ezr 6:10, Ezr 8:23, Job 42:8, Jam 5:16
Reciprocal: Exo 8:28 – entreat Exo 9:28 – Entreat Num 11:2 – cried Num 12:11 – I beseech thee Jer 37:3 – Pray Jer 42:2 – and pray Mat 25:8 – Give
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
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Act 8:24. Simon wished Peter to pray that he be released from the guilt of these things, meaning the state of corruption in his mind and the judgment of God that such a condition of mind would deserve. The scripture does not tell us anything about the conduct of Simon after this, and secular history is uncertain about the subject.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Act 8:24. Pray ye to the Lord for me, that none of these things which ye have spoken come upon me. So Pharaoh entreated Moses to intercede for him with the Eternal (Exo 8:29; Exo 9:28; Exo 10:17), and yet hardened his heart afterwards. Bengel observes here: He confesses his fear of punishment, not horror of guilt. The history of the Acts never refers again to this episode; so, as far as the New Testament records are concerned, we are left in doubt whether or no St. Peters solemn words had any effect on the subsequent life and conduct of Simon. Ecclesiastical tradition, however, takes up the story of the unhappy life. This gifted but deeply erring man seems, after his meeting with the apostles, to have gone on from bad to worse. He persevered in his dark pursuits, and soon became notorious as one of the most bitter of the opponents of Christianity.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Act 8:24. Then answered Simon Alarmed by the solemn admonition given him; and said To the apostles; Pray ye to the Lord for me If you indeed conceive my case to be so bad, extend your charity so far as to make your supplications to the Lord on my account; that none of these things, which ye have spoken, come upon me He probably inferred, from what Peter had said, that some token of Gods wrath would soon fall upon him, which he thus dreaded and deprecated. But there is reason to fear that this pretence of conviction and humiliation was used chiefly to prevent Peter and John from disgracing him among the body of Christians: for it is reasonable to suppose this conversation passed in private between them: and, perhaps, Simon might have some hope, that, if the secret were kept, he might reduce the people, when Peter was gone, to their former subjection to him, notwithstanding their conversion to Christianity.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
24. The conclusion of the conversation between Peter and Simon leaves us in doubt as to the final fate of the latter. Peter had exhorted him to repent, and pray to God for pardon. (24) “Then Simon answered and said, Pray ye to the Lord for me, that none of these things which ye have spoken come upon me.” This response indicates very clearly that the scathing speech of Peter had a good effect. It doubtless awoke Simon to a clearer perception of his own character, filled him with more becoming awe of the Holy Spirit, and aroused some fear of the terrible consequences of his sin. As the curtain of history here falls upon him, he disappears in a more promising state of feeling, but without leaving us fully assured that he recovered from the dominion of his unholy passions. Many things are said of his subsequent career, in ancient and modern commentaries, but nothing that is sufficiently authenticated to deserve our serious attention.
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
24. From this verse we see that the Holy Spirit had not utterly forsaken Simon; but that he becomes penitent under the straight and terrible warning of Peter, so that he actually calls on him to pray for him that he might be reclaimed. Here the curtain falls, hiding forever the continued vision of an open door to reclamation to be followed by entire sanctification amid the wonderful privileges of that glorious revival, now augmented by the ministry of Peter and John, having come from Jerusalem and joined the heroic young evangelist in his arduous labors. Ecclesiastical history, corroborated by secular, gives us a legend, by some doubted, certifying that poor Simon was never reclaimed, but went on from bad to worse, becoming the founder of one of the first heresies of the Apostolic age, thus returning to Satans ministry, in which Philip found him, and there spending the remnant of his days.
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
Peter’s rebuke terrified Simon. A man with the spiritual power Simon had seen Peter demonstrate was no one to antagonize. Probably Simon’s request for prayer that God would be merciful to him was sincere.
Many interpreters believe that Simon was not a genuine believer, but he may have been. True Christians can do and have done everything that Simon said and did. His background, fresh out of demonism, makes his conduct easier to understand. I see him as another Ananias except that Ananias knew exactly what he was doing whereas Simon’s error seems to have involved ignorance to some extent. Probably that is why he did not suffer the same fate as Ananias. Both men became examples to the Christians in their respective areas of how important it is to behave under the control of the Holy Spirit (cf. Eph 5:15-21).