¹⁴Now when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent them Peter and John, ¹⁵who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. ¹⁶For He had not yet fallen upon any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. ¹⁷Then they began laying their hands on them, and they were receiving the Holy Spirit.

The book of Acts records for us the historical transition from Law to grace. Christians tend to think that when Christ died on the cross and was raised again, theological understanding became instantly clear to all believers. It is true that God’s dealing with humankind immediately changed. Believers are no longer “under” the Law; it simply condemns us, showing our complete failure to be holy or righteous. Therefore, we cannot attain a righteous relationship with God through the Law. When Christ died, He freed us from the condemnation of the Law through grace. That all took place on the cross, we might say “instantaneously.” But the full implications of that event took some time to understand.

Jesus had told the twelve disciples,

“I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.” (Matt. 16:19)

And He also gave them an outline of progression for their testimony:

“[Y]ou will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)

We see in the book of Acts the apostles metaphorically unlocking doors—that is what keys are for. Their door-opening involves not just the preaching of the gospel (as is the case here with Philip) but also the phenomenological outpouring of the Holy Spirit. We saw that on the day of Pentecost with Peter’s preaching (with all the apostles present), we see it here in Samaria (with Peter and John sent from the apostolic group in Jerusalem), and we will see it again in the Gentile world (with Peter bringing the gospel and an outpouring of the Spirit to Cornelius). In each case, the apostles were validating the work of God in each of those ethnic groups, through the same experience as happened on the Day of Pentecost. This was one movement, one baptism, one gospel. The normative experience is that all believers receive the Spirit at the moment of salvation, for as Paul writes later, “[I]f anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him” (Rom. 8:9).

Lord, thank You for baptizing me in the Spirit; I now belong to You.