We need to learn from the pattern presented here not to be independent of the Body in our gospel work. Suppose some migrate to a particular locality and begin a work there. If these saints think that they can do everything, they may become independent of the Body. This means that they actually become a division, a sect.
The pattern in chapter eight reveals that the Head of the Body is sovereign. He gave many things to the believers in Samaria, but He did not give the economical Spirit until the apostles came and laid their hands on the believers. Only then did the economical Spirit come upon these new believers.
The situation among most believers today is very different from that in Acts 8. Often Christian workers have the attitude that they are qualified to do everything. It seems that today it is as easy to open a so-called church as it is to open a restaurant, if not easier. Concerning this, the situation is deplorable.
When the migrants went out from Jerusalem in Acts 8, they did not establish churches of their own. On the contrary, they spread the Body of Christ. The work done in Samaria needed to be confirmed by the apostles. Therefore, Peter and John confirmed the new believers and identified them with the Body by laying their hands on them. Then the Spirit came upon these believers economically for their identification with the Body of Christ. From this we see that the work done in Samaria was not an independent work, a separate work. Rather, what was produced in Samaria was truly the spreading of the Body of Christ. The church in that locality did not belong independently and separately to the migrated saints. Neither was it a work belonging to Philip in a separate, independent way. No, it was part of the Body. This means that what came out through the migration and through Philip’s gospel preaching was part of the Body of Christ. Spontaneously, unlike the situation today, the oneness of the Body was maintained.
Acts 8:16 says that before the apostles came to Samaria the believers there “had only been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus.” Notice that this verse does not say “in the name”; it says “into the name.” The name denotes the person. To be baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus is to be baptized into the Person of the Lord, to be identified with the crucified, resurrected, and ascended Christ, to be put into an organic union with the living Lord.
In Matthew 28:19 the Lord charged the disciples to baptize the believers into the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. But later, in practice, the believers were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus, both in Acts 8:16 and in 19:5, and into Christ in Romans 6:3 and Galatians 3:27. This indicates that to be baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus is equivalent to being baptized into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, because the Lord Jesus is the embodiment of the Triune God (Col. 2:9). This also indicates that to be baptized into the name of the Triune God or of the Lord Jesus is equivalent to being baptized into the Person of Christ.
Since the Samaritan believers had been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus, that is, into the Lord Himself, they surely must have received the Spirit of life essentially within them so that they might not only be born of the Lord but also joined to Him (1 Cor. 6:17).
Acts 8:17 says, “Then they laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.” Peter and John were sent to Samaria not only to confirm the preaching of the gospel by Philip, one of the seven appointed to serve tables, but also to bring the church in Samaria, composed of Samaritans whom the Jews had no dealings with, into identification with the Body of Christ by laying their hands on them. The Holy Spirit honored this and fell upon them, signifying their identification with the Body of Christ. In this way the Samaritan believers received the Holy Spirit economically in addition to their receiving the Holy Spirit essentially when they believed in the Lord Jesus.