The verse you cite doesn't prove your point. If you feel that is doctrinal error, keep in mind that Paul corrected a lot of error among those who were genuine believers, not followers of a false Gospel.
I am saying that that is only one test in determining a believer is abiding in Him when they confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. The devil believes Jesus is God... what does that prove?
In Acts 8, those Samaritans Philip preached to had received the Gospel. They had believed. They had been baptized. Given what Paul writes about soteriology and the Holy Spirit, can you really say these believers did not have the Holy Spirit? Can you say that none of them had the seal of the Spirit? The issue here was not their salvation. But the Spirit had not come upon them. Luke uses 'receive' the Spirit, that type of terminology for this experience. After they had believed, the apostles laid hands on them and the Spirit fell on them.
Romans 8:[SUP]9 [/SUP]But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
So let's really look at Acts 8 with His help..
That is a long one to explain.
Acts 8:[SUP]5 [/SUP]Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them.[SUP]6 [/SUP]And the people with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did.[SUP]7 [/SUP]For unclean spirits, crying with loud voice, came out of many that were possessed with them: and many taken with palsies, and that were lame, were healed.[SUP]8 [/SUP]And there was great joy in that city.
Philip got a following; a group of fans that was following him hearing & seeing the miracles which he did. They gave "heed" unto those things Philip had spoken, but they were not believing in Jesus Christ yet.
[SUP]9 [/SUP]But there was a certain man, called Simon, which beforetime in the same city used sorcery, and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one:[SUP]10 [/SUP]To whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, This man is the great power of God.[SUP]11 [/SUP]And to him they had regard, because that of long time he had bewitched them with sorceries.
Luke had given the background on Simon as one being responsible for all those unclean spirits vexing the Samaritans.
[SUP]12 [/SUP]But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.[SUP]13 [/SUP]Then Simon himself believed also: and when he was baptized, he continued with Philip, and wondered, beholding the miracles and signs which were done.
The people, including Simon, believed the "things" concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, but whoever heard of a saved believer that believes in the "things" about what Philip was preaching as opposed to believers that believes in Him personally? They believed, beholding the miracles and signs which were done.
[SUP]14 [/SUP]Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John:[SUP]15 [/SUP]Who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost:[SUP]16 [/SUP](For as yet he was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.)[SUP]17 [/SUP]Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost.
Why didn't they receive the Holy Ghost when they were water baptized? Why was it necessary for the laying on of hands by the disciples? Think about it for a moment. Simon was among them; and they have been vexed by that man with unclean spirits. To receive the Holy Spirit the way the Gentiles had done in Acts 10th chapter, would have been disastrous because fear would have arisen that the supernatural event was the unclean spirits coming back & Simon was up to no good, doing his evil again in vexing them. The laying on of the hands by the disciples had to remove any doubt as to what was happening that this was not from Simon.
And as it turned out, Simon's heart was not quite right with the Lord even though he was among them as someone that believes in the things Philip was preaching that he was water baptized in His name.
[SUP]18 [/SUP]And when Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles' hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money,[SUP]19 [/SUP]Saying, Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost.[SUP]20 [/SUP]But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money.[SUP]21 [/SUP]Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart is not right in the sight of God.[SUP]22 [/SUP]Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee.[SUP]23 [/SUP]For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity.
So this gall of bitterness was responsible in motivating Simon in vexing the Samaritans with sorcery in the past and that sin or iniquity still had him in its bondage.
[SUP]24 [/SUP]Then answered Simon, and said, Pray ye to the Lord for me, that none of these things which ye have spoken come upon me.[SUP]25 [/SUP]And they, when they had testified and preached the word of the Lord, returned to Jerusalem, and preached the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans.
So if you look at the whole situation, God had to work at the pace that these sensitive and sin bonded people could receive as they were fans of what Philip was doing for why they were following Philip where eventually, their mentality shifted from Philip & the disciples to the Lord because that was when Simon's focus had shifted as well. Jesus Christ became personal to him to believe in Him and not just believe in the "things" about the kingdom of Heaven and the name of Jesus Christ.
I understand why those followers of Philip had not received the promise of the Holy Spirit yet because they were being fans of Philip, being an oppressed people that just come out from under the terror of Simon the sorcerer. They saw Philip as the one doing God's work of casting the unclean spirits out; until the disciples came to see that it is God that is working; for assuredly, Simon needed to see that as well, because he thought he could buy what the disciples were doing, and then the rebuke lifted his sights higher that this was only something God can do that the disciples and Philip were not the actual ones doing these supernatural deeds that Simon was accustomed in doing so when vexing the people.
I point out that these Samaritans did not speak in tongues when they had received the promise of the Holy Ghost, because all that was among them were just Samaritans and so there was no need to speak another language to declare the wonderful works of God to foreigners among them because there were none among them at that time.
That's the long winded explanation of it as it lines up with all the scripture in the N.T. and so you cannot say they were believers in Jesus Christ or that they had believed in Him when they only believed in the "things" Philip was preaching.
The Gentiles in Acts 10 received the Holy Ghost before they had confessed Him with their mouths, before they had been water baptized in His name, and before they even came forward or whatever. It was after they had heard the word that they will receive remission of sins for all those that believe in Him, and that was why they had received the promise; and they spoke in tongues because the believing Jews were among them as well as other foreigners & mayhap non-believing Jews as well as a testimony unto them that the Good News has come to the Gentiles as well.
So look at the difference between the two events and ask yourself why Luke had written the things that he did in the way that he did for why these "followers" of Philip had not received the Holy Ghost yet, because the Gentiles were receiving Him right after they believed in Him Whom they had heard whereas the Samaritans believed in the "things". I can understand how the Samaritans would be overly sensitive with Simon among them for the necessity of the laying on of hands so that fear and false accusations do not fly; but it also shows these people as starting to believe in Him and wanting to believe in Him, but not yet. Sort of like...this father for the help of his child whom was possessed.
Mark 9:[SUP]23 [/SUP]Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.[SUP]24 [/SUP]And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.
So you cannot use Philip and the Samaritans as a clear cut support for preaching a baptism of the Holy Spirit as separate from salvation. Believers that experience the supernatural phenomenon later in life after having been a believer tends to fit that experience into the Book of Acts just as you did with Acts 19 when those certain disciples were not believers nor disciples of Jesus Christ. Wayward believers tend to read what they want to read, and ignore what is actually written so as to support this phenomenon that happens later in life as when they had received the Holy Ghost.
This is where the preaching of "another baptism with the Holy Ghost with evidence of tongues comes from also where they believed they have the Holy Ghost when they were saved, but promote this as a second phenomenon in order to get tongues which never comes with interpretation.
This is also where some preach that if you do not speak in tongues, you do not have the Holy Spirit, and thus you are not saved comes from too.
Everybody trying to fit what they believe into the events in Acts in the Bible, like in Acts 8 as the last group of believers in error have done even though I would point out that the Samaritans did not speak in tongues in that event.
I point out what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 12:13 and that was in relations to the gifts of the Spirit to dispel all notions that one has to get another drink of the Spirit in order to get any gift from the Holy Spirit.
1 Corinthians 12:[SUP]10 [/SUP]To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues:[SUP]11 [/SUP]But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.[SUP]12 [/SUP]For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.[SUP]13 [/SUP]
For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been
all made to drink into one Spirit.
So once again... 2 Corinthians 11:1-4 warns believers to beware those that preach another gospel, another Jesus, or another spirit to receive as it reproves what you are preaching for you would separate the baptism with the Holy Spirit as being separate from salvation, and that can never be, for that would be preaching another gospel. Believers are saved when they have received the promise of the Spirit & not before.
to be continued.. God be willing