Why the Samaritans did not receive the Holy Spirit as a
baptismal gift, as did the Pentecost crowds (2:38), is a notorious crux. The
explanation offered, “since they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord
Jesus” (v. 16), suggests different levels of ministerial empowerment. Philip,
as one of the Seven, could preach and baptize in the name of Jesus, but the
power to confer the Holy Spirit is an exclusive apostolic prerogative, at least
at this stage in the church’s history. (Carl R. Holladay, Acts: A Commentary
[New Testament Library; Louisville, Ky.: Westminster John Knox Press,
2016], 185)
Ver. 14: Ἀπέστειλαν πρὸς αὐτοὺς τὸν Πέτρον καὶ Ἰωάννην,
&c. They sent unto them Peter and John.] Epiphanius here very
appositely tells us, Philip, being but a deacon, had not the power of
imposition of hands, so as by that to confer the gift of the Holy Ghost. It was
the apostles’ peculiar province and prerogative, by laying on of their hands,
to communicate the Holy Ghost, that is, in his extraordinary gifts of tongues
and prophecy; for as to the spirit of sanctification, they never dispensed
that. (John Lightfoot, A Commentary on the New Testament from the Talmud and
Hebraica, 4 vols. [Bellingham, Wash.: Logos Bible Software, 2010], 4:96)
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