Ephesian Magic | AdventAI

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jun 26, 1884

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 10, No. 25.

Ephesian Magic.

THE city of Ephesus was renowned throughout the world for the worship of Diana and the practice of magic. Though it was a Greek city, like Athens or Corinth, the manners of its inhabitants were half Oriental. The image of the tutelary goddess resembled an Indian idol rather than the beautiful forms which crowded the Acropolis of Athens; and the enemy which Paul had to oppose was not a vaunting philosophy, as at Corinth, but a dark and Asiatic superstition. The worship of Diana and the practice of magic were closely connected together. Eustathius says that the mysterious symbols called "Ephesian Letters" were engraved on the crown, the girdle, and the feet of the goddess. These Ephesian letters or monograms have been compared to the Runic characters of the North. When pronounced they were regarded as a charm, and were directed to be used especially by those who were in the power of evil spirits. When written, they were carried about as amulets. Curious stories are told of their influence. Crœsus is related to have repeated the mystic syllables when on his funeral pile; and an Ephesian wrestler is said to have always struggled successfully against an antagonist from Miletus until he lost the scroll, which before had been like a talisman. The study of these symbols was an elaborate science, and books, both numerous and costly, were compiled by its professors.

This statement throws some light on the peculiar character of the miracles wrought by Paul at Ephesus. We are not to suppose that the apostles were always able to work miracles at will. An influx of supernatural power was given to them at the time and according to the circumstances that required it. And the character of the miracles was not always the same. They were accommodated to the peculiar forms of sin, superstition, and ignorance they were required to oppose. Here, at Ephesus, Paul was in the face of magicians, like Moses and Aaron before Pharaoh; and it is distinctly said that "God wrought special miracles by the hand of Paul," from which we may infer that they were different from those which he usually performed. We know in the case of our blessed Lord's miracles, that though the change was usually accomplished on the speaking of a word, intermediate agency was sometimes employed, as when the blind man was healed at the Pool of Siloam. A miracle which has a closer reference to our present subject is that in which the hem of Christ's garment was made effectual to the healing of a poor sufferer and the conviction of the by-standers. So on this occasion garments were made the means of communicating a healing power to those who were at a distance, whether they were possessed with evil spirits or afflicted with ordinary diseases. Such effects, thus publicly manifested, must have been a signal refutation of the charms and amulets and mystic letters of Ephesus. Yet this was no encouragement to blind superstition. When the suffering woman was healed by touching the hem of the garment, the Saviour turned round and said, "Virtue is gone out of me." And here at Ephesus we are reminded that it was God who "wrought miracles by the hands of Paul," and that "the name," not of Paul, but "of the Lord Jesus, was magnified." —Conybeare and Howson's Life of Paul.