To: Springfield Reformer
So here, when Peter has a perfect chance to grant forgiveness on his own initiative, instead he does two things, neither of them a grant of forgiveness. First, he publically exposes Simon for the spiritual fraud and lost soul he truly was, though he had tried to come into the church. Perhaps this is one form of shutting. The other act of Peter here is to invite Simon to seek forgiveness from God directly, not through Peter as an intermediary. This is consistent with the approach of any Gospel minister. Sin must be exposed, so that the sinner knows his need of forgiveness. But then forgiveness does not come through the magisterium, or the sacerdotal rituals of a defunct and obsolete priesthood.
This is not the model for evangelism you imply. This is more along the lines of what happened to Ananias and Sapphira. There were three, not two, points. - Peter rebukes Simon and essentially threatens him with death for sinning against the Holy Spirit.
- Peter gives Simon a chance to repent, telling him to ask God, if perhaps he might be forgiven and not die.
- Simon asks Peter to pray for him that his judgment may be averted.
The text is silent on what happens to Simon. It was not so for Ananias and Sapphira so I assume Peter and the Hoky Spirit accepted Simon's repentance. We will find out.
415 posted on
05/09/2014 7:24:19 PM PDT by
af_vet_1981
(The bus came by and I got on, That's when it all began)
To: af_vet_1981
416 posted on
05/09/2014 7:30:36 PM PDT by
af_vet_1981
(The bus came by and I got on, That's when it all began)
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