Simony is named after Simon Magus ( Magus, the Magician or Sorcerer). In the article about the conversions on the Day of Pentecost, we started a table that summarizes how people in the Bible responded to the gospel.Noun: using money to buy office or privileges in the church Even the spiritual leader himself, Simon, believed and was baptized. So powerful was the message of Jesus Christ that the people of Samaria abandoned their spiritual leader for the gospel. When people fled his persecution, people like Philip spread the gospel to the area around Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, just as Jesus had said in Acts 1:8. What an amazing story this is! Saul of Tarsus, who thoroughly intended to destroy the early church, which was at that time limited to Jerusalem, instead helped spread it. So powerful was this message that not only did the multitudes reject Simon for the gospel, but Simon himself believed the gospel that Philip preached and obeyed by being baptized! Notice that it's the message that the people believed: the gospel of Jesus Christ. Philip performed miracles by the power of the Holy Spirit and Simon performed his sorcery, whatever that was. The people of Samaria abandoned the sorcery of Simon and, thanks to Philip's preaching, believed the good news of Jesus and were baptized.Д«oth of these men worked wonders. They paid close attention to both, but now we read about a positive response. They also вЂњheededвЂќ Simon because of his sorcery.

They paid attention to it and gave it serious consideration. Then Simon himself also believed and when he was baptized he continued with Philip, and was amazed, seeing the miracles and signs which were done.Д®arlier we read that the Samarians вЂњheededвЂќ the gospel. Would these competing spiritual ideologies exist together, or would one triumph over the other? The Scripture tells us what happened:Д«ut when they believed Philip as he preached the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized. Simon, who had for a long time amazed the people with his tricks, now had competition: Philip, who preached the gospel of Jesus Christ and worked miracles. Now that Philip was in Samaria, the city had two men whom the people heeded. They heeded him not because of anything in particular he said, but because he astonished them with his sorcery.Д«ack to top The Gospel vs. As with Philip's preaching, all of the people of Samaria вЂњheededвЂќ Simon. Simon's sorcery, whatever that was, astonished the people and made them believe that he was a great man. Philip and the gospel of Jesus Christ were the new game in town, but there was already a man who was looked to as a spiritual leader in Samaria:Д«ut there was a certain man called Simon, who previously practiced sorcery in the city and astonished the people of Samaria, claiming that he was someone great, to whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, вЂњThis man is the great power of God.вЂќДЄnd they heeded him because he had astonished them with his sorceries for a long time. As a result, the city was filled with great joy. At this point we just know that the multitudes heeded-paid attention and gave serious consideration to-his message. According to Thayer's Greek Lexicon (number 2a in the entry), the Greek word translated вЂњheededвЂќ means, вЂњto turn the mind to, attend to, be attentiveвЂќ. Understand that we don't yet read about their response to Philip's preaching. Second, the people of Samaria вЂњwith one accord heeded the things spoken by PhilipвЂќ. First, Philip preached Christ to the people of Samaria. Let's pay close attention to two things in this passage. For unclean spirits, crying with a loud voice, came out of many who were possessed and many who were paralyzed and lame were healed. And the multitudes with one accord heeded the things spoken by Philip, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them. Notice what it is that Philip did when he arrived in Samaria:

Philip ended up in Samaria, a city around 30 miles north of Jerusalem. So intense was this persecution that Philip, along with so many others who were faithful, fled Jerusalem. Meanwhile, the notorious Pharisee, Saul of Tarsus, began persecuting Christians in the city. When he was chosen, the apostles laid hands on him and Philip was filled with the Holy Spirit. This Philip was not the apostle Philip, but a man who was chosen as a servant (we might call him a deacon these days) to the Christians in Jerusalem. Luke, who wrote the Acts of the Apostles, used quite a bit of ink writing about the work of Philip the Evangelist.

Simon the sorcerer in bible