5 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
6 And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, THE HOLY GHOST CAME ON THEM;
and THEY SPAKE WITH TONGUES, and prophesied.
7 And all the men were about twelve.
Fourth Witness: The Samaritan Believers
Now let's look at the two Biblical accounts which do not say specifically that the believers
spoke with other tongues when they received the Holy Spirit, but which do infer that speaking
in tongues was the initial evidence.
In Acts chapter 8 we read the account of the Samaritans receiving the Holy Spirit.
ACTS 8:14-18
14 Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the
word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John:
15 Who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy
Ghost:
16 (For as yet he was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of
the Lord Jesus.)
17 Then laid they their hands on them, and THEY RECEIVED THE HOLY GHOST.
18 And WHEN SIMON SAW that through laying on of the apostles' hands THE HOLY
GHOST WAS GIVEN, he offered them money.
Notice the Bible says, ". . . when Simon SAW. . ." (Acts 8:18). That phrase indicates there had
to be some kind of a sign or evidence that registered on Simon's physical senses for him to
know that the Samaritans had received the Holy Ghost.
Some people say that what Simon saw was the great joy of the new Samaritan believers. But
Simon must have seen more than just the joy of the believers. For in reading Acts chapter 8:58, we find there was already "great joy in that city" because of the message of salvation or the
new birth (Acts 8:8).
Likewise, the sign or evidence Simon saw couldn't have been devils being cast out or healings
taking place, because these things had also occurred previously, as mentioned in this same
chapter in Acts (Acts 8:7,8).
We cannot see the Holy Ghost with our physical eyes for He is a Spirit. But there had to be
some physical evidence that registered on Simon's physical senses for him to know that the
Samaritans had received the Holy Spirit. And it is only logical to assume that it is the same
evidence of believers receiving the Holy Spirit that is recorded elsewhere in the Scriptures, that
is, speaking in tongues.
And, in fact, Bible students know the Samaritans did speak with tongues, for every one of the
Early Church fathers say they did. One does not need to be a student of church history,
however, to realize this because the Bible itself gives conclusive proof that tongues are the
evidence of receiving the infilling of the Holy Spirit, as we have seen in the three accounts in
Acts 2,10, and 19.