And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?
Paul's work at Ephesus belonged to his missionary labor in a major commercial center that was a promising field for missionary effort. Ephesus was the home of the temple of Diana and of many magicians, and there God worked special miracles and manifest miraculous power through Paul so the people could see a power above all the powers of the magicians. That work raised a large church in a stronghold of heathenism, and this episode is part of the evidence that God's power was working through Paul's ministry among the Gentiles.
Seven vagabond Jewish exorcists, the sons of Sceva, took it upon themselves to imitate the miracles wrought through Paul by calling the name of the Lord Jesus over those with evil spirits and in their own curious arts and sorcery, adjuring them by Jesus whom Paul preached. Evil spirits are subject to Christ, who gives His servants authority over them. The evil spirit answered by declaring knowledge of Jesus and knowledge of Paul as His servant, but denying knowledge of the exorcists, not recognizing them and challenging and rejecting their authority and exposing that they had no authority over it because they had no genuine connection to Him. The same answer is understood by others as the spirit recognizing Jesus and Paul but rejecting the seven exorcists who tried to use Jesus' name as a charm.
Their attempt treated the holy name as a charm and profaned it by invoking it without faith in the divinity of the Saviour's mission. The name of Jesus is sacred and cannot be mixed with sorcery; invoking it without faith is perilous and does not give power merely by being spoken. The man in whom the spirit was leaped on them and overcame them, leaving them beaten and bruised, so that they fled out of the house naked and wounded, bringing shame and defeat. The answer gives unmistakable proof of the sacredness of the name of Christ and the peril of invoking it without faith, so that fear fell on all and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified.
The exposure of the counterfeit led those converted to burn their magic books at great cost, destroying them completely so every temptation to return to sorcery would be cut off and no future desire for their study or beauty could draw them back. The speaking of evil spirits at Ephesus was not harmless superstition but part of Satan's deception, like the voices attributed to the dead in modern Spiritualism. The episode illustrates that evil spirits were active in the ancient practice of magic, which connects with deceptive spiritual powers still at work.
Paul's work at Ephesus belonged to his missionary labor in a major commercial center that was a promising field for missionary effort. Ephesus was the home of the temple of Diana and of many magicians, and there God worked special miracles and manifest miraculous power through Paul so the people could see a power above all the powers of the magicians. That work raised a large church in a stronghold of heathenism, and this episode is part of the evidence that God's power was working through Paul's ministry among the Gentiles.
Seven vagabond Jewish exorcists, the sons of Sceva, took it upon themselves to imitate the miracles wrought through Paul by calling the name of the Lord Jesus over those with evil spirits and in their own curious arts and sorcery, adjuring them by Jesus whom Paul preached. Evil spirits are subject to Christ, who gives His servants authority over them. The evil spirit answered by declaring knowledge of Jesus and knowledge of Paul as His servant, but denying knowledge of the exorcists, not recognizing them and challenging and rejecting their authority and exposing that they had no authority over it because they had no genuine connection to Him. The same answer is understood by others as the spirit recognizing Jesus and Paul but rejecting the seven exorcists who tried to use Jesus' name as a charm.
Their attempt treated the holy name as a charm and profaned it by invoking it without faith in the divinity of the Saviour's mission. The name of Jesus is sacred and cannot be mixed with sorcery; invoking it without faith is perilous and does not give power merely by being spoken. The man in whom the spirit was leaped on them and overcame them, leaving them beaten and bruised, so that they fled out of the house naked and wounded, bringing shame and defeat. The answer gives unmistakable proof of the sacredness of the name of Christ and the peril of invoking it without faith, so that fear fell on all and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified.
The exposure of the counterfeit led those converted to burn their magic books at great cost, destroying them completely so every temptation to return to sorcery would be cut off and no future desire for their study or beauty could draw them back. The speaking of evil spirits at Ephesus was not harmless superstition but part of Satan's deception, like the voices attributed to the dead in modern Spiritualism. The episode illustrates that evil spirits were active in the ancient practice of magic, which connects with deceptive spiritual powers still at work.