{"id":11008,"date":"2021-05-28T11:39:14","date_gmt":"2021-05-28T15:39:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pathway2truth.com\/wp\/?p=11008"},"modified":"2021-05-28T11:39:14","modified_gmt":"2021-05-28T15:39:14","slug":"acts-820-24-did-simon-lose-his-salvation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pathway2truth.com\/wp\/acts-820-24-did-simon-lose-his-salvation\/","title":{"rendered":"Acts 8:20-24 – Did Simon lose his salvation?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Problem:<\/strong> Luke records that Simon believed in Christ\u2014along with the rest of the people in Samaria. But when he tried to gain the power of giving out the Holy Spirit, Peter tells him, \u201cMay your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! 21 You have no part or portion in this matter, for your heart is not right before God. 22 Therefore repent of this wickedness of yours, and pray the Lord that, if possible, the intention of your heart may be forgiven you. 23 For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bondage of iniquity 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. (Acts 8:20-24).” Did Simon lose his salvation?<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Solution:<\/strong> There are two ways of understanding this passage:<\/p>\n

Option #1: Simon never received salvation
\nLuke records that Simon \u201cbelieved\u201d (v.13), and he was even baptized. Yet Luke might include this story as an example of a false conversion. Peter clearly discerns that something is wrong with Simon when he wants to pay for the ability to give out the Holy Spirit to others. Simon was filled with jealousy and bitterness that he didn\u2019t have this ability (v.23). In other words, while Simon professed belief (and even believed on some level), this wasn\u2019t true saving faith.<\/p>\n

Critics of this view note that Simon\u2019s faith is indistinguishable from the Samaritans who came to faith around him. The text doesn\u2019t say that Simon professed belief in Christ, but simply that he believed. Some commentators note that there is a conspicuous lack of an object for Simon\u2019s faith. It doesn\u2019t say, \u201cHe believed in Christ,\u201d but simply, \u201cHe believed.\u201d Could Simon have believed in an abstract sense, without having true, saving faith?<\/p>\n

Option #2: Peter\u2019s threat was not actual\u2014but uncertain
\nThe mood of the verb is in the optative, which is a mood of possibility. In fact, this is the only use of the present optative in the NT.[1] Since Peter couldn\u2019t see Simon\u2019s heart, he wasn\u2019t sure if he was going to face judgment, but he warned this as a distinct possibility. Note that Peter\u2019s reaction here is far different from his reaction in Acts 5, where Ananias and Sapphira merely drop dead. With Simon, Peter gives a warning of judgment, and he calls him to repentance.<\/p>\n

We read Peter\u2019s response negatively. J.B. Phillips translates verse 20, \u201cTo hell with you and your money!\u201d[2] Simon doesn\u2019t listen to Peter\u2019s advice to pray for himself. Instead, he asks Peter to intercede for him. This is the last we read about Simon. Did he ever repent? Luke seems to leave this open to the reader.<\/p>\n

[1] Bock, D. L. (2007). Acts (p. 333). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic.<\/p>\n

[2] Marshall, I. H. (1980). Acts: an introduction and commentary (Vol. 5, p. 168). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Problem: Luke records that Simon believed in Christ\u2014along with the rest of the people in Samaria. But when he tried to gain the power of giving out the Holy Spirit, Peter tells him, \u201cMay your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! 21 You have noContinue reading →<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[22,9,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11008","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible-errors","category-church","category-history","no-thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pathway2truth.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11008","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pathway2truth.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pathway2truth.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pathway2truth.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pathway2truth.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11008"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pathway2truth.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11008\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pathway2truth.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pathway2truth.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pathway2truth.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}