Why did the Samaritans not receive the Spirit until the
apostles came from Jerusalem? . . .The separation ensured that the Samaritan
believers were recognized by Jerusalem believers as genuine, since two leading apostles
had had a hand in their initiation into the community of Jesus and had seen God
act in sending the Spirit on the Samaritans. . . . Luke is thus legitimating the
Samaritan mission and the Samaritan believing community. It is unlikely, given
that Luke regards the exalted Jesus as the believing community’s center, that Jerusalem
is being seen as a “mother church” to which new communities must relate. Green notes
that when water and Spirit baptism are separated in Acts, the believing
community needs particular conviction that it is appropriate to incorporate the
new people, for their incorporation leads to a metamorphosis of the believing community.
This principle applies both here and with Cornelius (10:44-48). The comparison with
the twelve “disciples” in Ephesus (19:1-7) is also instructive, for there is no
significant interval between water and Spirit baptism there since those Jewish
people’s incorporation as believers is not in question. (Steve Walton, Acts
1-9:42 [Word Biblical Commentary 37A; Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan,
2024], 519-20)
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