Simon the Sorcerer (Greed)
Internal Struggle
Greed
Simon had been the most impressive person in Samaria for a long time. He practiced sorcery, amazed the crowds, and called himself someone great. Then Philip arrived and performed miracles that made Simon’s work look small, and Simon believed and was baptized. When Peter and John arrived and the Holy Spirit fell on people through their hands, Simon tried to buy the ability to do the same thing. He had converted to faith but had not converted his relationship with power.
What Happened?
Simon had practiced sorcery in Samaria for a long time and was considered great by everyone in the city. When Philip came preaching the gospel and performing genuine miracles, Simon believed and was baptized and followed Philip closely, astonished by the signs and miracles he saw. When Peter and John came from Jerusalem and laid hands on people who received the Holy Spirit, Simon offered them money and asked them to give him the same ability so that anyone he laid hands on would receive the Spirit. Peter told him his money would perish with him, that his heart was not right before God, that he was still full of bitterness and captive to sin, and told him to repent and pray that God might forgive him for the thought of his heart. Simon asked Peter to pray for him so that nothing Peter had described would happen to him (Acts 8:9-24).
How Did Greed Affect Simon?
- Simon’s attraction to Philip was initially focused on the signs and miracles rather than on the message
- He followed Philip closely in a way that looked like discipleship but may have been closer to study
- His first recorded action after baptism was an attempt to purchase spiritual authority
- He had converted his external practice but not the framework underneath it, he still saw power as something acquired through resources
- His request revealed that he understood the transaction of his old life better than the gift of the new one
- Peter’s assessment was that he was still captive to sin and full of bitterness, suggesting the conversion had not yet reached the root
The Turning Point
Simon’s potential turning point came in his response to Peter’s rebuke. He asked Peter to pray for him so that nothing of what had been described would come upon him (Acts 8:24). It is a small response that has been interpreted as either genuine fear or continued self-interest. The text does not tell us what happened next. His name became permanently attached to the practice of buying or selling spiritual offices, called simony. What he did with the rebuke remains unknown, but he had the correction delivered directly, clearly, and with full specificity, and the ball was in his court.
The Pattern That Led to Destruction
- Built an identity and an income around the appearance of spiritual power
- Was drawn to genuine spiritual power when he encountered it
- Went through the outward forms of conversion without a transformation of the underlying framework
- Tried to apply the logic of his old world, buy the ability, keep the advantage, to his new one
- Received a clear and direct correction and left a response that the text does not confirm as genuine change
Practical Steps for Facing Greed
- Ask whether your attraction to something spiritual is about the message or about the power that comes with it
- Notice when you are trying to acquire through resources something that is only available as a gift
- Be honest about whether a change in your external practice has reached the framework underneath it
- Receive a direct correction without immediately redirecting it toward the consequences for yourself
- Ask what your first instinct tells you about the values that are still running underneath your stated beliefs
- Do not mistake familiarity with the people who carry something for possession of the thing itself
- Let the rebuke go all the way to the root rather than stopping at the behavior that was called out
