ACTS 19:
..and the evil spirits went out of them.
Acts of the Apostles 19:12c KJV
Acts of God, evil spirits and exorcists
In his account of Paul’s third missionary journey the physician Luke now records signs YOU may find hard to believe.
DO YOU BELIEVE THIS, 21st Century believer in the Lord Jesus Christ?
..they were healed of their diseases, and evil spirits were expelled.
Acts of the Apostles 19:12b NLT
Previously, in Luke’s account:
Powers of Preaching
Apollos had preached the word with power prior to departing Ephesus for Corinth. Paul then arrives in Ephesus and proclaims the Gospel in the local synagogue for three months.
BUT in the meantime, some itinerate Jews have heard ot these men attracting a following and so sought to imitate their techniques and powers of persuasion.
As you may know it doesn't go so well for them, even as some time ago on Paul's first missionary journey Bar-Jesus lost his evil influence on events in Cypress. AND you probably have a Hollywood-tainted image of a ritualistic Roman Catholic ceremony.
Jewish Exorcists
But there were some itinerant Jewish exorcists who attempted to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus when dealing with those who had evil spirits. They would say, “I command you in the name of Jesus whom Paul preaches.”
ACTS 19:13- J.B. Phillips New Testament paraphrase – The violence of evil and the power of the “name”
“I command you in the name of Jesus!
CAN ANYONE DO THIS? OR CAN A PRIEST OR PREACHER COMMAND EVIL SPIRITS?
YOU probably have your 21st century of the Common Era doubts.
But what happened to these exorcists?
Mostly nothing at all — just like the Pentecostalism preached on some 20th century television stages. AND of course no authentic healing of the sick like JESUS had done so often.
Luke’s account however does give us one powerful example of what did happen:
Acts 19:
14 Now seven sons of one named Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. 15 And the evil spirit answered and said to them,
“I recognize Jesus, and I know about Paul, but who are you?”
16 And the man, in whom was the evil spirit, leaped on them, subdued all of them, and utterly prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.
Acts 19:14-16 Legacy Standard Bible
Don't YOU just want to say, 'GOOD!' They got their just due?
BUT WAIT A MINUTE!
IF WE ACKNOWLEDGE WHAT LUKE TELLS US ABOUT SEVEN PRIESTS RUNNING OUT OF A HOUSE NAKED AND DEFEATED BY AN EVIL SPIRIT, THEN WE MUST ACCEPT AN IMPACT OF EVIL SPIRITS ON ORDINARY MEN AND WOMEN.
Miracles and Power!
Luke now moves on from the ethereal teaching of Tyrannus and Mars Hill to the aetheris winds beyond that which is seen by man.
Most of us don’t really believe in miracles, do we?
WE know of the unexplainable, but rare is any occasion of seeing the unseen.
Sinful men and women want power!
Seven priests talked a good game, but when the higher unseen truth is told, they were humiliated and exposed as frauds.
POWER has a source — as does life and spirit.
And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, so that cloths or aprons were even carried from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out.
Acts of the Apostles 19:11-12 LSB
THEOS (Greek word for God) was performing extraordinary MIRACLES! — dynamis, from which (in English) we get DYNAMITE!
NOT Paul, but God by the hands of Paul.
And as a consequence of GOD using these lifeless items and Spirit-filled Christians, the Lord Jesus Christ became known for HIS MIRACLES among the Gentiles of Ephesus.
KJV Translation Count — Total: 120x
The KJV translates Strong’s G1411 in the following manner:power (77x), mighty work (11x), strength (7x), miracle (7x), might (4x), virtue (3x), mighty (2x), miscellaneous (9x).
Strong’s G1411 – dynamis – BlueLetterBible.org
inherent power, power residing in a thing by virtue of its nature, or which a person or thing exerts and puts forth; power for performing miracles; moral power and excellence of soul; the power and influence which belong to riches and wealth; power and resources arising from numbers; power consisting in or resting upon armies, forces, hosts
evil spirits
Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the LORD your God.
And the soul that turneth after such as have familiar spirits, and after wizards, to go a whoring after them, I will even set my face against that soul, and will cut him off from among his people.
Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy: for I am the LORD your God.
Leviticus 19:21; 20:6-7
confronted by Jesus
“Aw, let us alone! What to us and to you, Jesus the Nazarene? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!” But Jesus rebuked it, saying, “Be quiet and come out of him!” And when the demon had thrown him down in the midst of the people, it came out of him without doing him any harm. And amazement came upon them all, and they were talking with one another saying, “What is this word, that with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits and they come out.” And the report about Him was spreading into every place in the surrounding district. Gospel of Luke 4:34-37
So you say you don't believe in evil spirits? The Law of Moses addresses them AND JESUS *cast them out of possessed men [*exorcism] and commanded unseen spirits with Authority.
confronted by Paul
And certain of the wandering exorcist Jews, took upon them to name over those having the evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, ‘We adjure you by Jesus, whom Paul doth preach;’
Acts 19:13 Young’s Literal Translation
and the evil spirit, answering, said, ‘Jesus I know, and Paul I am acquainted with; and ye — who are ye?’
Acts of the Apostles 19:15 YLT
SPIRIT – pneuma – from ‘breath’ or ‘of the wind‘
Holy or unholy? Good or evil?
Can the HOLY SPIRIT or an EVIL SPIRIT indwell a mortal man [anthrōpos]? (OR perhaps influence intellectual reasoning or affect any actions of a man or women of flesh?)
By what POWER may a mere mortal become an EXORCIST of EVIL (ponēros) and healer of diseases?
Questions of the first century Ephesians.
Yes, even questions for 21st century christians of the Common Era, perhaps skeptical of Scripture and miraculous signs through the Apostles which God gave to witness the Lord Jesus Christ.
And this was known to all the Jews and Greeks also dwelling at Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified.
Acts of the Apostles 19:17 KJV
ACTS of the Apostles — To Be Continued…
NEXT:
and fear fell upon them all
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