No matter how we twist it with some “history of redemption” approach, and no matter how hard we try to “preach Christ from all of Scripture,” the passage exists in a definite context that we cannot escape from. If the conditions surrounding the text are absent in our day, then a direct application is hardly reasonable, and can amount to only empty talk and unfulfilled expectations.

When it comes to the modern church, things do not look good. Except for some sects that appear problematic in theology and that are vilified by other traditions, almost all the conditions that come before our passage have been rendered irrelevant. Christians usually do not lay hands on people (v. 6a). Although the Acts of the Apostles records a number of examples in which the Holy Spirit is received as a second experience subsequent to conversion (v. 6b), they say that all those instances were exceptions, and except for all the exceptions, the Holy Spirit is received at conversion. This way of reasoning is the foundation of several major traditional doctrines, and it is an awfully convenient way of doing theology. Except for all the instances where I am wrong, I am always right. Except for all the instances where the Bible says something different, the Bible always agrees with me. Wonderful.

Here I have no intention to discuss this topic of the Holy Spirit. At this moment, for all I care, you can even believe that conversion is a second experience subsequent to the endowment of the Spirit. However and whenever they obtain it, Christians are supposed to have the power of the Holy Spirit. Do we? Tell me! Do we? Modern Christians exhibit almost none of the signs of power, faith, wisdom, and grace that the early disciples possessed. They have no tongues and no prophecy (v. 6c). They do not speak boldly (v. 8a). They do not argue persuasively (v. 8b). They perform no miracles, let alone extraordinary ones (v. 11). They depend almost exclusively on medical science to cure sicknesses (v. 12), and some of them think that all evil spirits have disappeared (v. 12). Before people were possessed, now they are just crazy.

So it is difficult to teach from this passage how the same effect can be produced in this generation, how to cause the unbelievers to be “seized with fear” (v. 17b), and for the name of the Lord Jesus to be “held in high honor” (v. 17c), and to compel those who believe to openly confess their evil deeds (v. 17d). In fact, it is easy to teach it, to tell what it says. Even a child can understand it. But it is hard to make Christians believe it. Instead, we have the opposite effect on the world: non-Christians are seized with disdain for us, and even Christians do not hold the name of Christ in high honor.

The result is that it is difficult to make any application at all except to show how modern Christians are weak, faithless, and impotent. I am sure that dishonest and imaginative preachers can extract some historical-redemptive principle from this, not that the approach is always a problem, but the text itself is plain – miraculous power, in a frightening measure, accompanied the testimony of the early Christians, so much so that the people were terrified and held the name of Christ in high esteem. This is what the text says.

Nevertheless, since this power is now denied, I will do the best I can. Let me think about this. Aha! At least we still know how to make fire to burn some books (v. 19). We still believe in fire, do we not? Fire did not die with the apostles. Alas, now we have powerful shredders and an advanced system of trash disposal. Still, consider the advantages of burning non-Christian books:

First, it reflects God’s disapproval of non-Christian religions, occult teachings and practices, and all kinds of magic, divination, and esoteric doctrines. These ancient evils have persisted to this day, and it is disappointing to see the number of professing Christians who dabble, or more than dabble, in astrology, witchcraft, necromacy, and all kinds of forbidden arts, even if only in the form of milder derivatives. If you are a pastor, ask how many in your congregation have consulted with psychics after their profession of faith. Do not ask for a show of hands – unless you have the power of Acts 19:4-16, do not expect the honesty of Acts 19:18. But if you will pay attention, perhaps you will see some of them squirm in their seats.

Second, it depicts God’s punishment for those who study and practice the forbidden materials. Revelation 21:8 says that, along with unbelievers and idolaters and murderers, those who practice magical arts will be thrown into a lake of fire. A ceremony where non-Christian materials are burned with fire provides an image of what God will do to those who do not relinquish these into the flames. Either they give up their books to be burned with earthly fire, or they give up their souls to be burned with endless hellfire.

Third, it testifies to our agreement with God on this matter, that there is no goodness and no salvation, but only evil, deception, and blasphemy, in non-Christian teachings, especially in their spiritual and occult materials, and that those who believe and practice them deserve to be punished by the fire of hell, which never weakens and never relents.

Although many of us reject the ancient power of the apostles, and thus do not share in it, all the ancient sins and manifestations have remained with us. We deny that occult powers are real, and if things get out of control, we ask non-Christians to save us by locking the people up in mental institutions. When it comes to the really scary stuff, we will let the Pentecostals handle them. We will let our crazies deal with their crazies. The apostles demonstrated a better way.

Due to the mighty displays of divine power, the word of the Lord “spread widely and grew in power” (v. 20). For those who call themselves Christians, but who reject this power, or at least this extent of power, my advice is to pray for as much of it as you dare, and then stretch your thinking to accept a little more. If you cannot throw off the religious tradition that forbids you to obey Christ, who through Paul commanded you to covet spiritual gifts and powers, then for the sake of the church, covet as much as you can get away with before they call you a heretic. And as you petition the Lord for greater power and effectiveness in the ministry of the gospel, it might be that he will also grant you the humility to say, perhaps at the privacy of your home, when no one is listening, “Lord, I believe, help my unbelief!”