Acts 8:14-17 14 Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John, 15 who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, 16 for He had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit.

Samaritans who received the word of God had not yet received the Holy Spirit: Is this prescriptive for all Christians or descriptive of an unique incident in the NT?

Context: Absolute earliest days of the Church

• Paul still Saul → not yet appointed apostle to the Gentiles
• Peter yet to receive God’s declaration of acceptance of Gentiles (Acts 10)
• Apostles (and really the Church) still gathered in Jerusalem among Jews
• Philip teaches in Samaria, many profess faith, Peter & John sent to verify what was happening

Themes of Acts

• Role & authority of Apostles as witnesses: bearing witness to the resurrection of Jesus was a prerequisite and commission for apostolic office (Acts 1:8, 21-22; 2:32; 3:14-15; 10:39-43). “Apostles were chosen and appointed to authenticate the historicity of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.” - Geoff Ashley
• Jewish Church learning to understand relationship with non-Jewish believers: struggled with full acceptance/early criticism of Gentile inclusion; addressed in other letters in NT (Galatians 2:11-14; Ephesians 2:11-22).

Possibility 1:

God chose to not have the Samaritan believers receive the fullness of the Holy Spirit at the moment of conversion so appointed apostles would go and bear witness to the authenticity of their faith, and legitimize the Samaritan Church (same thing happens in Acts 10 & 11 with Peter and the Gentiles) so the Jewish Church would accept them.

Possibility 2:

Samaritans weren’t true believers initially. In Acts 8:10-12: they readily, wrongly, ascribed God’s power/legitimacy to Simon the magician; it says they believed Philip, even Simon professes faith, but we immediately see his faith wasn’t genuine, vv13-21). Romans 8:9 “Any one who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him.” If this, Peter and John didn’t pray for a 2nd experience but the first work of converting grace.

Conclusion

Either explanation of this incident does not equate it to prescriptive for the whole Church throughout time, but rather descriptive of a unique situation. Ephesians 4:4-5 “There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism.” All genuine believers are indwelt by the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:37-39) and do not need a second baptism to receive the Spirit.