Passage Read: Acts 8-9
Meditation Verses: 8:38-39
Thought
Philip had just preached the Gospel in Samaria and many believed, but Luke records that none of them received the Holy Spirit. Philip had baptized them into the name of Jesus, but apparently was not authorized or didn't think to pray for them to receive the Spirit. So when the Apostles heard, they came to pray for the Samaritans to receive the Spirit and laid their hands on them to impart the Spirit. Then the Spirit sent Philip to meet the Ethiopian eunuch, preach the gospel to him, baptized him, and disappear. The Ethiopian never got a chance to receive the Spirit, and it was the Spirit who snatched Philip away as soon as the Ethiopian was baptized! So all he had was faith and baptism. Luke didn't record him receiving the Spirit. This is God's Word. After making a point of recording the necessity of the Apostles laying hands on the Samaritans for them to receive the Spirit, here it leaves the impression that the Holy Spirit decided the Ethiopian only needed to believe the Gospel and be baptized. Did the Apostles eventually bring the Spirit to Ethiopia or did He come by Himself at some other point? This makes me wonder if every believer must be filled with the Spirit in some notable fashion. It seems here that the Spirit wasn't concerned with the Ethiopian receiving Him in the same way the Samaritans received Him, but only that he heard the Gospel, believed and was baptized.
Application
Salvation is not by a significant filling with the Spirit, but by faith in Christ, confirmed by baptism into His name. Paul writes to the Ephesians that they were marked by the Spirit, sealed with Him, when they believed the Gospel. There seems, then, to be an additional receiving of the Spirit that is separate from saving faith and sealing by the Spirit. Otherwise, the Ethiopian went on his way rejoicing for no good reason! The Spirit comes not only by the laying on of hands, but can also come by His own accord. Paul urges believers to be filled with the Spirit, so I should seek His filling but not be discouraged if He doesn't fill me in some dramatic way. It is entirely up to Him and it's not an indicator of my salvation or my spirituality, because He was coming on people who had just believed the Gospel, not proven themselves in some special way.