The temptation of spiritual power

Acts 8:18-24 is one of today’s liturgical readings. In this passage, Simon offers to pay the apostles money if they will show him how to get the spiritual power of the Holy Spirit for himself.

As Dr. Craig Keener notes, “Sorcerers could buy magical formulas; no one could buy the Spirit” (IVP Bible Background Commentary).

It seems to me that an attitude of ‘magical thinking’ is still a concern today.

At first glance, they seem particularly prevalent in prosperity and charismatic circles.

For instance, ‘seed faith’ teachings, where a prosperity preacher promises that if you make a ‘seed gift’, he (or she) has an anointing with God that will multiply what you get in a return.

In some circles, there are spiritual warfare packages. One website offers holy oil, a shofar, and a prayer shawl that will help “protect your family form (sp) spiritual attacks.”

Other variants include prophetic consultations, spiritual impartation conferences, and some schools of ministry that make it sound like they are training spiritual Navy SEALS.

But while these claims strike me as outlandish, and in some cases, to be schemes run by con artists, I think that magical thinking is part of the default approach of the human heart.

We can believe that if we read enough books, we will unlock the secret knowledge contained within them, and be able to rightly interact with God. Of course, this is true, to a point!

Or we could think that if we have daily devotionals, then we are entitled to God’s blessings. We might hang up a cross in our car to protect us from accidents. We can try to find the ‘right’ sequence of spiritual disciplines that keep us on God’s good side.

At the heart of this is a transactional approach to God’s power. “If I give God this, then he’ll give me that.”

John Polhill comments, “…one can never manipulate the Spirit; he is always God’s “gift” (v. 20) and never subject to the human will” (New American Commentary).

As I reflect on these verses, I confess my need for the work of the Holy Spirit in my heart. May God stifle the desire to gain spiritual power that I might impress, serve, or take advantage of others. Instead, may I be a humble recipient of God’s work, that I might serve others.

1 Like

Thanks for these insights, Carson. In my journey of faith, I too have encountered preachers who encourage others to give sacrificially to their ministry, promising that God will bless them abundantly in return. A verse frequently cited to support this is Luke 6:38. Sadly, this led many to give with the hope of receiving financial relief or, even worse, motivated by greed. However, this is a complete misapplication of what Jesus was actually teaching.

The verse is spoken in the context of living out the values of the kingdom, such as love, forgiveness, kindness, and generosity toward others. The reward promised may be immediate but it doesn’t have to be. Just a few verses earlier, in Luke 6:27-35, Jesus spoke about giving to our enemies without expecting anything in return. The rewards Jesus speaks of are not material but heavenly.

It’s so troubling that some believe they can acquire spiritual power or protection by paying a so-called prophet for consultation, impartation, or through the use of prayer shawls and oils. How brazen for these individuals to think they can monetize spiritual power! If they are doing this, it suggests to me that their so-called power is not from God.

That said, I wonder if there is a legitimate place for spiritual impartation and the laying on of hands considering many believe spiritual gifts continue today. In Acts 9:17-18, we see that Paul regained his vision only after Ananias laid hands on him, showing God can work through the laying on of hands. We are called to pray for the sick in James 5:14-15 by laying hands and use of oil.

Paul himself speaks of spiritual gifts and their impartation in 1 Timothy 4:14 and 2 Timothy 1:6, urging not to neglect the gift given through the laying on of hands. In 1 Corinthians 14:1, Paul encourages believers to follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy. In Rom 1:11, Paul seeks to impart a spiritual gift in person.

As for me, I think there is a place for seeking God’s power to build up the ministry, as we have nothing within ourselves that can establish someone in the faith apart from the Holy Spirit. Do you think there is a biblical way of seeking spiritual power? Through prayer and possibly the laying on of hands? I would love to hear your thoughts. Thanks.

1 Like

The one question that I always ask is: does the preacher give sacrificially? I’m sure they say they do. But publish your tax returns. Let’s see how much you gave and how much you made.

Of course, the usual practice is the pretense of transparency or none at all.

Con artists aside, I do think there’s a real spiritual power that they are attempting to counterfeit.

I think the Biblical way of seeking spiritual power is to grow in dependence/submission to God so that we might serve others. Our desire is to glorify God by loving our neighbors.

Or, to put it another way, we want spiritual power so we can partner with God to empower others.

The theme I’m getting at is how Peter rebuked Simon the magician: your heart is not right before God (Acts 8:21). First, let’s get our hearts right before God. Then, whatever spiritual power God entrusts to us, we use it for God’s purposes. After all, any empowerment by the Holy Spirit can only be used for holy purposes.

As soon as we are using ‘spiritual power’ to harm others, we are participating with another spirit - one that hates God.

1 Like

Yes, there is nothing we can do to attain God’s power but submit our heart to God and let Him work in us. Your post got me thinking on how to discern between false and true teachers and the biblical way of growing in spiritual gifts. Paying attention to the heart rather than how someone operates in spiritual power is important in discerning false teachers and false spirits. We can be misled if we focus only on external appearances like charisma, the number of followers, or even supernatural experiences. What I have seen consistently is that false teachers and spirits always draw attention to self, but true disciples point to God, drawing people toward humility, to love God and others.

Thanks for clarifying. So if we keep the love of God and submission to God’s will as our primary goal, we will not be drawn to false spiritual power. What sometimes happens for a sincere believer who is open to supernatural spiritual gifts is that they may start off with the right intentions of seeking to love God but somewhere along the way, they get sidetracked. Its often a result of unchecked ungodly motives such as a need for significance, need for someone’s approval, or some other advantage. It leads to them imagining they have received some spiritual gift when they truly haven’t. For example, they may experience a dream or see a vision when praying, and think its from God, because they are so eager for God to use them in a supernatural way and dont evaluate it properly. When these dreams/visions fail to come true, they may later realize they are not walking in God’s power but the damage to the community is already done.

1 Like

Yes, I’m in agreement with you.

Your comments help me recognize something else.

Why would someone think that spiritual power would help them be significant, approved, or get some other advantage?

… We have a role to play in this as well.

If someone has spiritual power from God, that’s great. We should anticipate this person will be growing in humility, service, and love for others.

But we should not be thinking, “Wow, God gave them spiritual power. I’ll bet they’ll be wealthy, famous, physically attractive, charismatic, and powerful.”

If someone is all of those things, and is claiming to have spiritual power, I suppose it is possible. It’s just that what we should not expect to see is someone using spiritual power - the power that comes from the crucified Christ - to make a big deal out of themselves.

So, as Christians, how can we help people who are using the appearance of spirituality to boost themselves realize that they are missing out on the identity that Jesus gives them — forgiven, beloved, valued?

And second, how can we be more discerning, so that we avoid getting starry-eyed by ‘successful’ people who claim to be channels of divine authority?

I want everyone to be empowered by the Holy Spirit! If we are, as Paul says, “…the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The law is not against such things. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (Galatians 5:22-24).

1 Like

It can be because of sinful desires like envy, greed, vainglory but it is also a lack of understanding of all the spritual blessings we have in Christ and the purpose of these blessings which is to live a life of godliness. When we dont fully understand these blessings, we thirst for more, and we can be impatient to wait. This may cause a person to try to walk in a spiritual gift like prophecy that they don’t yet possess (though they may have prayed for it), offering false hope to others which helps no one. I agree we have a role to play, both individually and corporately. Individually, we grow in our understanding of scripture, God, our new identity and pursue a devotional life. Corporately, we can do more in helping build a culture of belonging and brotherly love not based on giftings, appearances or status but on the knowledge that we are all one in Christ.

1 Like