The church’s greatest threats are persecution from the outside, apathy that lulls believers to sleep, the hunger for spiritual power, and division between believers. In Acts 8:1-25, a violent wave of persecution scatters the Jerusalem church, a famous sorcerer named Simon tries to buy the power of the Holy Spirit, and God makes sure Jewish and Samaritan believers become one church. In every case, God turns the threat into an opportunity, and the gospel keeps spreading.
Setting the Scene in Acts 8:1-25
This chapter opens at a graveside. In the previous lesson, Stephen boldly confronted the Sanhedrin and became the first Christian martyr (Acts 6:8-7:60). The men who stoned him laid their coats at the feet of a young Pharisee named Saul (Acts 7:58), and Luke now tells us that Saul approved of the killing.
Up to this point, the church in Acts has been living in a kind of honeymoon season. Thousands believed and were baptized (Acts 2), a lame man walked (Acts 3), believers shared everything they had, and the apostles taught daily in the temple courts. There was opposition, but the church stayed together in Jerusalem. Acts 8 changes the vocabulary completely: great persecution, scattering, prison. Yet it also marks the moment the gospel finally moves beyond Jerusalem, exactly as Jesus said it would.
The Threat of Persecution
Stephen’s death unleashed a storm on the young church.
Acts 8:1-3 And Saul approved of their killing him. On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison.
The word Luke uses for Saul’s attack on the church is a violent one. It was used for ravaging or laying waste, the kind of word you might use for a wild animal tearing apart its prey. Saul went house to house, dragging off men and women alike. Notice that the apostles stayed in Jerusalem while ordinary believers fled. Some scholars suggest the persecution fell hardest on Greek-speaking Jewish believers like Stephen, whose critique of the temple had stirred up so much anger.
But with God, a threat is also an opportunity.
Acts 8:4-8 Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went. Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah there. When the crowds heard Philip and saw the signs he performed, they all paid close attention to what he said. For with shrieks, impure spirits came out of many, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. So there was great joy in that city.
Put Acts 1:8 side by side with Acts 8:1. Jesus told his followers they would be his witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth. Now the believers are scattered through Judea and Samaria. What looked like a disaster was the next stage of Jesus’ plan. As Joseph told his brothers, what people intend for harm, God can intend for good (Genesis 50:20).
Philip was not the apostle Philip but one of the Seven chosen to serve tables (Acts 6:1-7). Later Luke calls him Philip the evangelist (Acts 21:8). He went to Samaria, the last place a Jewish preacher was expected to go. The Samaritans were descended from northern Israelites who had intermarried with foreigners after the Assyrian conquest in 722 BC. They accepted only the five books of Moses and worshiped on Mount Gerizim instead of in Jerusalem. Jews and Samaritans had despised each other for centuries (John 4:9). Yet the city was filled with joy.
The Threat of Apathy
Does the church still face persecution today? In many places, yes. Iran consistently ranks among the countries where Christians face the most severe persecution, and the documentary Sheep Among Wolves tells the story of its underground church. Remarkably, observers report that the church there is growing quickly, largely through house churches, despite arrests and imprisonment. Like the believers in Acts 8, persecuted Christians tend to share their faith wherever they are scattered.
But in countries without real persecution, the church faces a quieter threat. There’s a story told of an Iranian Christian couple who moved to the United States. Before long, the wife pleaded with her husband to take her back to Iran. “There’s a satanic lullaby here,” she said. “All the Christians are sleepy, and I’m feeling sleepy.” Spiritual apathy may be a greater threat than persecution. Comfort can make us careless about the lost and casual about our pursuit of God, simply because we feel like we don’t have to be serious.
The Threat of Power
Luke then introduces a man named Simon, who had amazed Samaria with sorcery for years. People called him “the Great Power of God” (Acts 8:10). Think of him as a popular influencer. When Philip arrived, Simon’s audience switched to Philip, and even Simon believed, was baptized, and followed Philip around, astonished by the miracles. Simon had magic. Philip had miracles. To an outsider, they may have looked similar, but Simon would soon reveal what he was really after.
First, the Jerusalem apostles sent Peter and John to Samaria.
Acts 8:14-17 When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to Samaria. When they arrived, they prayed for the new believers there that they might receive the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit had not yet come on any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.
There’s a beautiful irony here. John, who once wanted to call down fire from heaven on a Samaritan village (Luke 9:54), now prayed for the Holy Spirit to come down on Samaritans. Then Simon saw the Spirit given through the apostles’ hands and reached for his wallet.
Acts 8:18-22 When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money and said, “Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” Peter answered: “May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God. Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord in the hope that he may forgive you for having such a thought in your heart.”
Simon thought of the Spirit as a power to control and sell, not a Person to receive. His name gave us the word “simony,” the buying and selling of spiritual offices. In medieval Europe, church positions were sometimes bought and sold like political titles, and the related sale of indulgences helped spark the Protestant Reformation. Early church writers such as Justin Martyr and Irenaeus remembered Simon as an early false teacher, though Luke simply leaves him asking Peter to pray for him (Acts 8:24).
The same threat appears whenever someone claims exclusive spiritual authority, as if the Holy Spirit can be dispensed only through a special office or line of succession. But in Acts, the Spirit came without any laying on of hands at Pentecost and at Cornelius’s house (Acts 2; 10), and through Ananias, who was not an apostle (Acts 9:17). The Spirit is God’s gift to give, not ours to control.
The Threat of Division
So why did God wait to give the Spirit until Peter and John arrived? Christians have answered differently. Some Pentecostal believers see a second experience after conversion, often called baptism in the Spirit. Some liturgical traditions see a pattern for confirmation. Many evangelical scholars see a unique moment in salvation history. For a topical overview, see What Is Baptism of the Holy Spirit?
The context points strongly to unity. Samaritans had run a rival religion for centuries. If they had received the Spirit independently, the old schism could easily have carried over into the church. Instead, the Samaritans saw that the apostles were the real deal, and the apostles saw that the Samaritans were fully accepted by God, with the same Spirit. One church, not two. Soon the same door would open to Gentiles.
What This Means for Us
Persecution, apathy, power, and division still threaten the church. You could probably add others to the list. But notice where Luke ends this section: Peter and John preached in many Samaritan villages on the way home (Acts 8:25). Threats will come, and our job is to keep sharing the good news in every generation.
We can do that with confidence, because the church doesn’t ultimately belong to us. Jesus made a promise about it long before the first stone hit Stephen.
Matthew 16:18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.
Whatever threat you face in your own walk with God, whether pressure, comfort, pride, or conflict, Jesus is still building his church, and he can use it for good.
The Takeaway
What are the church’s greatest threats? Persecution from outside, apathy within, the hunger for spiritual power, and division between believers. In Acts 8:1-25, God used persecution to spread the gospel, exposed Simon’s grab for power, and united Jewish and Samaritan believers in one Spirit. Threats will come, but Jesus is building his church, and nothing can stop it.
