Thoughts on Acts 8

Today’s reading: Joshua 20; Acts 8

I have two thoughts on Acts 8 today; the first is that what we see in Samaria is what Jesus was referring to in giving Peter the keys to the kingdom in Matthew 16, not the papacy, and the second is what it looks like to listen to the Holy Spirit.

The Keys to the Kingdom

I’m just going to say up front that this post is not intended as a full treatment on the matter of whether or not Jesus, in Matthew 16, was inaugurating Peter as the first pope. I’m happy to discuss it further though for anybody curious or interested.

But as a quick intro for anybody unaware, the teaching of the Catholic Church is that when Jesus tells Peter in Matthew 16 that He is giving him the keys to the kingdom, and what he holds bound on earth shall be bound in heaven, and wat he holds loosed on earth shall be loosed in heaven, this is Jesus setting up Peter as the first pope with the binding and loosing referring to his unique authority to declare doctrinal truth. However, two chapters later in Matthew 18, Jesus says the same thing to the rest of the apostles, only leaving out the keys of the kingdom portion. So whatever authority is entailed in the binding and loosing, it is not unique to Peter, but the keys to the kingdom bit is only ever said to Peter.

So thinking about this phrase, “the keys of the kingdom,” what do keys allow you to do? They let you open a locked door. If you have the keys, you are the one with the authority to open that door to allow others to enter. And this, I believe, is the unique role given to Peter, to open the door for new groups of people to officially enter into the Kingdom.

When the Spirit descended on the disciples at Pentecost, it only fell on those who had personally followed Jesus in His life, but then Peter was the one to preach to the Jews broadly that this salvation and Holy Spirit were available to them as well, even though they had rejected Jesus during his life. Peter opened the door to welcome in the Jews, God’s chosen people. Then when we see the Samaritans (half-Jews) start responding to the gospel and believing, in our chapter today, the Holy Spirit doesn’t descend on them right away. It isn’t until Peter comes and lays his hands on them that the Holy Spirit descends on them. Once again, it is Peter who opens the door for the half-Jews to enter the Kingdom. And soon we will see that it is Peter who first shares the gospel with the Gentiles (non-Jews) and sees the Spirit descend on them as well. With each group, spreading out further and further from God’s chosen people, it is Peter who “unlocks the door” so to speak, but then once the door is open, people from that group receive the Spirit upon believing.

As I said at the beginning, this is clearly not a full treatment of the subject by any stretch, but since I believe we see Peter exercising in Acts 8 the unique authority given to him by Jesus in Matthew 16, I wanted to take the time to talk about it a bit.

Listening to the Holy Spirit

The other thing I wanted to talk about for a minute is what it looks like to listen to the Holy Spirit.

It is easy to look at the stories of the miracles and significant movements of the Holy Spirit in the early church and assume that the apostles and leaders in the early church must have had some mystical level of access to the Holy Spirit that we just don’t get today. I mean, how could so much be happening as it does otherwise??

On the one hand, I will fully grant that there may have been ways the Spirit was moving and working in those early days of the church that are different from today, especially as the church was just growing and getting established, but while I’ll grant that’s certainly possible, it may also simply be that they were more willing to listen to the Holy Spirit.

Take a look at the account of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch. Philip is initially sent down the road by an angel, but then what is he told by the Spirit? He is told to go over and join the chariot, that’s it! And while there are times when the Holy Spirit may give more than that, in my experience, that tends to be how the Spirit works. The Spirit doesn’t give Philip the man’s name or some secret intel that will gain the man’s trust, He simply tells Philip to go to the chariot, and then Philip listens and goes. Then, when Philip arrives at the chariot, he doesn’t stop and wait for the next instructions, he pays attention and enters into the opportunity that appears to him there. And while surely the indwelling Holy Spirit is empowering Philip as he speaks to the eunuch, it is Philip’s initiative to have the conversation, and it is Philip’s knowledge of the Scriptures that lets him engage effectively as he shares the gospel with him.

I tend to want more Matrix style instructions. I want the Holy Spirit in my ear saying, “Go over there, now the third person on the left, his name is Jeff, he’s struggling with his marriage and needs help. Ask him this question to start the conversation in three… two… one… go!” But that’s not what we get. What we tend to get is the Spirit nudging us, like Philip, to enter into a situation that He desires us to enter into. And then when we listen, like with Philip, if we are watching for it, there is very often the opportunity to recognize and enter into the work the Spirit is prompting us to do.

I think we have the problem today of not listening enough. We are so distracted by our phones, games, social media, streaming platforms, and whatever other entertainment we fill our lives with that there is seldom enough silence for the Holy Spirit to even speak into. How often are we actively making ourselves attentive to the voice of the Holy Spirit to even know if He has something for us these days? The other side of it though is that even when we do hear His voice, we can be less likely to actually step out. We are so busy and so distracted that to step out in a direction we weren’t intending is just out of the question much of the time. We have also all become so focused on our phones that initiating a conversation with a stranger seems to be becoming more and more taboo, and yet, how else can the gospel spread but by people being willing to take it out to those who have not yet heard?

So while it is possible that the Holy Spirit was moving differently back in the early church, I personally think it’s a lot more likely that they were simply more attentive to His voice and more willing to step out, even into potentially uncomfortable situations, when they heard it.