Monday, December 4, 2017

Acts 19:11-20 - ”Powerful versus Powerless Religion “

Vv. 11-12  The powerful,  God -ordained ministry of the apostle  Paul
Vv. 13- 16  The powerless, man -initiated  ministry  of  the Jewish exorcists
Vv. 17-20  The verdict :  The Gospel  triumphs over   Witchcraft 

This text not only makes entertaining reading, but it is also deeply relevant for the times in which we find ourselves.  Truly life transforming, powerful, biblical Christianity  has always  found  itself  challenged  by  imitation, Pseudo -   Christianity, which has the appearance of godliness, but denying it’s power (2 Tim 3:5). It is rotten at the core. Paul counsels Timothy to avoid such people, who are ‘always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth’. (2 Tim 3:7).  

Christianity’s greatest enemy is not Islam or Hinduism, even though these religions are contrary and opposed to the Christian faith. The greatest enemy of biblical faith is that which subtly corrupts her from the inside.   

The history of the Bible   from  the beginning  in Genesis  3, outlining the fall of man  by  the agency of Satan  who puts himself in the place of God,  to the  very end  in the book of Revelation  by the work of the anti-Christ, who puts himself in the place of the Lord Jesus Christ shows this very clearly. Satan puts himself in the place of God. The anti-Christ puts himself in the place of Christ.The true God is suppressed (Rom. 1:18ff). He is substituted for lesser gods.   This history of Israel shows this.  Apostasy from the true faith occurs time and again as Israel chooses to serve the gods of the nations. It always starts with a lack of vigilance   on the part of the shepherds of the nations.  When the prophets, priests and kings failed to watch as shepherds over Israel, Israel very quickly turned aside to other gods, making Israel in effect powerless against her enemies.

Our text reveals  these two  systems.  The Book of Acts   presents us with a fresh, dynamic, powerful, pure  Christianity, but  it also shows  the rottenness  of  a religion that claims  to be of Yahweh, but which in reality  relies on men’s  opinions and men’s  systems (such as the Pharisees promoted), and often it also relies on esoteric, occultic powers, such as  was possessed  by Elymas the  Jewish sorcerer (Acts 13:6ff)  and  the 7 sons of Sceva.

There is a fundamental difference between these two. In our chapter we find them both.  The  apostle Paul  exhibited the true power of God
11 And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, 12 so that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick, and their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them. 

It is important that we keep   what is happening here in perspective. Many modern Christian teachers expect such things to happen in our age. On the basis of such a text some modern TV evangelists invite their hearers to lay their hands on the TV to receive their healing. Others sell oil and water anointed by  some modern prophet, promising to bring healing, prosperity or whatever else is desired. The Roman Catholic church has long been in the forefront of all this, believing  that sacred sites such as Fatima  in Spain or  Lourdes in France could be visited, relics and oils  could be bought to effect healing. Many thousands of pilgrims to Lourdes have followed the instruction of Our Lady of Lourdes to "drink at the spring and wash in it". Many people supposedly have claimed to have been cured by drinking or bathing in it[1].

So, what is happening here  in  Ephesus   through the instrumentality of the apostle Paul   needs to be understood. The apostle Paul was bringing the gospel to  Ephesus,  which  in the words of  the commentator   William Larkin, was  ‘a city most hospitable to magicians, sorcerers and charlatans of all sorts. Attached to the statue of Artemis (Diana) , the city's chief goddess, were certain symbols, ‘ta Ephesia grammata’ [2], which had been turned into a magical formula [3]. According to our African way of describing  this, it was a city filled  with witchcraft. Witchcraft  is an  attempt to manipulate spiritual forces via magical incantations, ritual acts and paraphernalia in order to ward off evil and bring well-being.  Well, Ephesus was  riddled with these elements.

Do you see what the apostle Paul is up against?  He is  preaching  the gospel in an area in which Satan had a stronghold.   And  God had planned it that a church should be established in this  city. Therefore   was uniquely endowed by God for this work  with  apostolic  authority [4]. He was given the power  in word and deed  to conquer hostile territory,  doing the same work as Jesus in advancing  the kingdom of God in a midst of a troubled, confused, demon possessed world.  He did this firstly by engaging  in synagogue preaching (Acts 18:19; 19:8 ). For three months he speaks boldly in the synagogue through "reasoning and persuading".  In this he would have used formal rhetoric and dialogue,   using  arguments from the OT  promises and NT eyewitness reports of  Christ’s ministry. He  left no stone unturned  trying to persuade Jews  and Greeks (18:4).  And ultimately  his message was "repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ", “the gospel of the grace of  God" (20:21, 24).

In this difficult city it pleased God to authenticate  His Word through the use of extraordinary and unusual  miracles.   Handkerchiefs (soudaria,  facecloths  for the head cf.  Jn. 11:44; 20:7) and aprons (better "belts"--simikinthia)   touched by Paul,  brought healing and release from  demonic spirits[5]. We have seen   such  divine power manifestations  before in the  book of Acts. We see it  as the gospel advances from Jerusalem into all the world in  concentric circles,  BREAKING NEW GROUND EVERYWHERE,beginning in Jerusalem (5:16) and into Samaria (8:7) and into Macedonia (16:16-18)  and  now  here in Ephesus (19:11,12)  at the climax of Paul's missionary efforts,  after  which he makes his way  back to Jerusalem.  

PLEASE NOTE !  These things  are  miraculous  and therefore  unusual and therefore not normative. These  miracles serve  a specific purpose.  They are strategic  verifications  of the evidence of the presence of the kingdom of God – the  reign of God as proclaimed by Jesus and Paul and the apostles (19:8).   God’s  ordinary will is that people should hear  the truth and believe.  If they will not hear and believe, they will not see and believe.  Miracles  are no guarantees  that  people will believe (see Luke 16: 19-31- specifically v. 31)
So, yes these healings did occur, but to imitate them as some have  suggested, is  to reduce miracle to magic, or manipulation.  The biblical way to call upon the Lord for  healing is found in  James   5:14-15.

Vv. 13- 16  The powerless man initiated  ministry  of  the Jewish exorcists
13 Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, "I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims." 14 Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this. 15 But the evil spirit answered them, "Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?" 16 And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.
Here we have an example  of  this  Jewish group of exorcists, the 7 sons of a Jewish  high-priest  named Sceva, [in the spirit of  Elymas,  the sorcerer in Acts 9] who   tried  to invoke the Name of Jesus  over those that had evil spirits.  The   OT expressly forbade dabbling in the occult[6], but there were Jews who dabbled in the occult  (Kaballah), having been exposed to the practises of the nations around them. They thought  that by invoking a name or a formula (cf "the Ephesian grammata")  they would have power over  evil forces.  William Larkin  writes:
The sons' syncretistic appropriation follows the time-honored practice of piling name upon powerful name so as to create incantations strong enough to require spirits to do one's bidding... The name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches is these men's newest and most potent "power name" [7](cf.Eph.  1:21).

But what happens now  would be funny if it were not so serious. The evil spirit knows  Jesus  and Paul[8], but the evil spirit  does not recognize the authority of these 7 sons, and  from the mouth of a demon we learn the valuable lesson that Jesus will not allow His name to be reduced to a magical formula or to be taken in vain  (Ex. 20:7). Only those  with a personal relationship with Christ and endowed with His authority  can be used in the act of God  driving  out demons.
And so the evil spirit overpowers them (Gr. ephallomai-  to leap  upon).  They receive such a beating that they barely escape with their lives.

Vv. 17-20  The Gospel  overpowers   Witchcraft 
17 And this became known to all the residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks. And fear fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled. 18 Also many of those who were now believers came, confessing and divulging their practices. 19 And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver. 20 So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily.

True  gospel power  versus false gospel manipulation, and the true gospel wins!  The result is that fear  fell upon  all who heard about this  and the  Name of Jesus was  magnified.Understanding now that Jesus' name is not to be manipulated, people  are now in a  better position to hear the  heart of Paul’s message : Repent and believe the gospel  of Jesus Christ!  This is indeed what we see here! Many that were now believers came "confessing and divulging their practises".  The culture of magic arts, instructed by their costly books (worth 50 000  pieces of silver)   burns in the fire!  Repentance is costly. Good for them!  They are removing any temptation to go back to the old life.  Mixing the pure faith as it is in Jesus with false religion, the occult or money, education, science, technology   is dangerous. Jesus cannot be mixed with these things. He must stand over and apart from these things.   
The final verse in v. 20 affirms the  triumph of the  gospel over  fake religion:  “The word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily.”  Amen.




[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_Lourdes
[2]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ephesia_Grammata  Ephesia Grammata (Greek: Ἐφέσια Γράμματα, "Ephesian words") are Ancient Greek magical formulas attested from the 5th or 4th century BC. Their name derives from their being inscribed on the cult image of Artemis in Ephesus.  Similar to the mantras of Buddhism and Hinduism, they were "meaningless words" (ἄσημα ὀνόματα) potent to protect those who could speak them correctly, their power residing in their sound, so that they were ineffective if mispronounced. Plutarch (Quaest. Conv. 706D) reports that the Magi instructed victims of demonic possession to recite the Ephesia Grammata.
[3] https://www.biblegateway.com/resources/commentaries/IVP-NT/Acts/Witness-Ephesus-Planting
[4] This was part of his credentials as an apostle (Rom. 15:19; 2 Cor. 12:12; Gal. 3:5).
[5]  See also Lk 8:43-48; Acts 5:15
[6] Lev 20:6, 27; Deut. 18:10-11
[8] compare Lk 4:34, 41; 8:28

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