Receiving the Holy Spirit in Acts 8

Acts 8 tells us something that at first might sound puzzling. The people in Samaria heard the Gospel, they believed it, and they were baptized in the name of Jesus. But the Holy Spirit doesn’t come upon them until Peter and John show up from Jerusalem and lay hands on them.

So… were they really Christians before the apostles arrived? Did their baptism “not work”? Was there something missing? It’s important to take a close and faithful look—not only at the story itself but also at what God tells us elsewhere in Scripture and through the Church’s teaching.

The Spirit Comes Through the Word and Baptism

First, we start with what we know clearly. The Holy Spirit is given through the means of grace—the Word and the Sacraments. That’s a consistent and repeated teaching in Scripture and in our Confessions.

The Augsburg Confession, Article V, states: “Through these means, as through instruments, the Holy Spirit is given, who works faith where and when it pleases God…”¹ So, when someone hears the Gospel and is baptized in the name of Jesus, the Holy Spirit is at work—calling, enlightening, and creating faith. That would have been true for the Samaritans, too. Their baptism wasn’t faulty. It wasn’t “missing the Spirit.” The Spirit was already present—because faith doesn’t exist without Him. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12:3: “No one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except in the Holy Spirit.”

So Why the Delay?

In Acts 8, God chose to hold back the visible signs of the Spirit until the apostles arrived. One might wonder why. What we see here is an exceptional moment in Church history.

Martin Luther and later scholars like R.C.H. Lenski help us understand that this was a special situation, not the regular pattern. The Church was just getting started, and God wanted to make it clear that the Samaritans were not forming a breakaway group. They were part of the one, holy, apostolic Church. Unity needed to be made visible.

Lenski explains:

“This was the reason why God waited until two apostles arrived before He bestowed the special charismatic gifts of the Spirit… lest a Samaritan Church arise alongside and apart from the Church of Jerusalem.”²

Had Philip (who preached and baptized) also laid hands and brought about visible manifestations of the Spirit, people might have started to follow him instead of staying connected to the apostolic Church. So, Peter and John come down from Jerusalem to lay hands on the believers. The Spirit comes in a visible way—not because God had forgotten them, but because He was showing the Church’s unity and order.

As the Bethlehem Lutheran Ferrin study notes put it:

“The delay served to demonstrate clearly to both Jews and Samaritans that there was but one Church, founded on the apostolic Word, not multiple regional versions of Christianity.”³

In other words, this moment is not about salvation, but about fellowship and unity.

What About Simon the Sorcerer?

Right in the middle of this story we meet Simon the Sorcerer, a man who had believed and been baptized, but who soon reveals a distorted understanding of God’s gifts. When he sees the Holy Spirit given through the laying on of hands, he offers the apostles money so he can have that power too.

Peter’s sharp rebuke makes clear that Simon's heart was not yet in the right place:

“May your silver perish with you… for your heart is not right before God” (Acts 8:20–21).

Simon’s example shows us that even someone who hears the Word and receives baptism can still misunderstand the Spirit if they approach faith as a means to personal power. The Spirit is not a force to manipulate or control. He is the Third Person of the Trinity, who calls us to repentance, trust in Christ, and humble service. His story reminds us that the presence of the Spirit isn’t proven by power or performance—but by repentance and trust in Christ.

What About Today?

Some Christians today use this passage to teach that there’s a “second baptism” of the Spirit—that you become a Christian at one point, and then later you really receive the Spirit through some dramatic sign like speaking in tongues or a powerful emotional experience.

But Acts 8 is not teaching that. It describes a unique, transitional moment in early Church history, not a template for how every Christian should experience the Spirit.

As Rev. Dr. Curtis Giese explains in The Lutheran Witness:

“The Spirit always works through the means of grace to bring people to faith and to keep them in the faith. The Samaritans’ experience was extraordinary, not normative.”4

The Bible teaches that the Holy Spirit is given through Word and Sacrament. You don’t need to wait for a second event. You don’t need a spiritual “upgrade.” When you were baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the Spirit came to dwell in you. Whether or not you felt anything dramatic, God was at work. That’s His promise—and that’s where our confidence rests.

God’s Work, Not Ours

This is good news: God doesn’t leave us guessing. You don’t have to wonder if the Spirit is really in you based on how emotional or passionate your experience is. You simply look to what God has promised: “Be baptized… and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38). That promise is rock-solid. It means that even when you don’t feel strong, even when your emotions waver, the Spirit is still present—because He is tied not to your feelings but to God’s Word.

This doesn’t mean God can’t stir up powerful emotions, or that Christians never experience moments of deep joy, clarity, or renewal. He certainly can and does. But the presence of the Holy Spirit in Christian life is not measured by feelings, but by His promises.

One Church, One Spirit, One Baptism

Acts 8 gives us a glimpse into a turning point in the life of the Church. God was doing something unique to bind together two groups—Jew and Samaritan—into one Body under the apostles’ teaching. It’s a reminder that the Church is not a scattered collection of spiritual experiences, but a unified fellowship grounded in Christ’s Word and Sacraments.

So no, we don’t have to chase after the Holy Spirit. We don’t have to wait for a second baptism. Having been baptized into Jesus Christ, we have received the Word, we have believed, and now—we belong.

Which means:

The Spirit is with us.

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Footnotes

1. Augsburg Confession, Article V, in The Book of Concord, ed. Robert Kolb and Timothy J. Wengert (Fortress Press, 2000), 40.

2. R.C.H. Lenski, The Interpretation of the Acts of the Apostles (Augsburg Publishing House, 1961), 326.

3. Bethlehem Lutheran Ferrin. “Acts 8:1–40 – Appendix 1.” https://www.bethlehemlutheranferrin.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Acts-8-v.1-40-Appendix-1.pdf

4. Curtis P. Giese. “What About the Holy Spirit?” The Lutheran Witness, August 2019. https://witness.lcms.org/2019/what-about-the-holy-spirit

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