Acts 8:9-13 - Simon had practiced sorcery

8:9-11

We now come to the incident of Simon the Sorcerer. His activities would probably have included predicting the future, healing people and casting out demons. People were amazed at him and he had a very high opinion of himself. However, people’s admiration for him, and his own self-esteem seem to have been very shallow, even though they called him “the Great Power of God”. This does imply that he did do some miracles of sorts, and he had been doing these things for a considerable length of time.

8:12,13

However, when Philip came along the people’s attention quickly changed. We read earlier that Philip performed various signs (8:6). There it says that “they all paid close attention to what he said”. Now we read that he preached the good news of Jesus Christ. This was the key difference between Philip and Simon the Sorcerer. It really doesn’t matter whether Simon actually did miracles or not, the key difference was that he was just doing stuff, and no doubt earning money for himself. Philip proclaimed the gospel, this told the people about themselves, and what God had done in Christ. The Holy Spirit would be with him and would open the eyes of many. So many people, men and women, were baptised. Simon also believed and was baptised. This raises the question of whether or not his “believing” was genuine or not. We do read that it was the “great signs and miracles” that attracted him, but that does not in itself mean his faith was shallow. It could be that because he himself worked in the area or miracles, seeing these done in the name of Jesus particularly struck him.