God’s Word for You
Acts 19:13-16 Paul I understand
by Pastor Timothy Smith on Tuesday, November 17, 2020
13 Now there were some vagabond Jewish exorcists who tried to use the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “I command you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims.” 14 Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this. 15 But an evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I understand; but who are you?” 16 Then the man with the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered all of them. He beat them up so badly that they fled from the house naked and wounded.
The New Testament has many accounts of demon possession. There are several specific stories in the Gospels of Jesus driving out demons, and several other references to Jesus and his disciples driving out demons in general at this or that place. The same is true of the apostles here in Acts. It would seem that two things were happening at the same time. First, the devil was sending in his forces to try to turn aside the plan of God through Jesus and his disciples, and second, God allowed this in order to reveal his power and to give glory to himself and to his Holy Word.
It would seem natural, then, that some people would rise up to try to make a profit or gain recognition for themselves through this proliferation of possessions. Here we meet seven “vagabond Jewish exorcists.” I have translated “vagabond” (reflecting the King James term) for the participle perierchomenon “those who travel here and there” because vagabond seems a more understandable word today than itinerant. As for “exorcist,” that’s simply the Greek word before us: exorkistes, “one who drives out evil spirits (with magic).” It does not occur elsewhere in the Scriptures, although some translations insert the term in Matthew 12:27 and Luke 11:19 for the Greek word “sons, fellows.”
Most commentaries point out that although no Jewish high priest named Sceva appears in any Jewish writing or list, the term “high priest” was often applied to the family members of high priests as well as the heads of the twenty-four priestly families (1 Chronicles 24:7-18).
One demon-possessed man was unimpressed when these Jewish boys tried to use Jesus’ name like a magical formula. It knew who Jesus was, and it recognized who Paul was. We should pause to recognize that Paul was the guy whose very handkerchiefs and sweaty aprons were driving out this thing’s fellow demons in the name of Jesus Christ. So, yes, it knew about Jesus, and yes, it understood about Paul. It was deathly afraid of them both. It would have screamed at Jesus, “I know who you are—the Holy One of God!” (Mark1:23; Luke 4:34). It had no power where Jesus or his true servants were concerned. But now these boys showed up with no more understanding of Christ than most people who dare to say Hocus Pocus!
Allow me to explain: “Hocus Pocus” is an old corruption of the words that Catholic Christians thought they were hearing when the priest would say in Latin, ‘Hoc Est Corpus (Meum),’ (Matthew 26:26), which is “This is my Body” in Latin. Since most parishioners didn’t speak Latin, they began to think that saying those ‘magic’ words transformed one thing (bread) into another (the body of Christ), and that this might work with other things. That doctrine, called transubstantiation, is not what we believe. We confess that in the Lord’s Supper, what happens is simply this: when the bread is received in the sacrament it is also the body of Christ, and that the wine is also the blood of Christ. As Luther explained: “‘Is’ is ‘is.’” “Is” does not mean “represents” or “becomes,” but “is.”
Back to the demon and the sons of Sceva. When he overcame them and beat them up, he tore at their pricey robes and left them as naked as the young man in the Garden of Gethsemane (Mark 14:52) and as bloody as the traveler beside the road to Jericho (Luke 10:30), perhaps so bad that they were even “stained with footprints of blood” (Hosea 6:8). Fooling around with a demon apart from the Word of God is like trying to put out a wildfire with a hoe or a squirt gun. Or like trying to pay off your extortionist with Monopoly money. An honest business man or tax collector might be amused and wait for you to produce real currency, but the criminal, like the demon, would just as soon kill you as look at you.
“Paul I understand.” Those words of the demon should resonate in our hearts. The true servant of God, armed with the Word of God, has exactly what Jesus promised. We aren’t shorthanded. We don’t have insufficient funds. We have everything that we need in the gospel of Christ crucified for our sins. We put our trust in Jesus, and the devil just might say the same thing about you: “I know about Jesus, and I understand you. And I’m scared of you both.” Don’t let go of that Word of God. “Submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7). Blessed be the name of Jesus our Lord.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in New Ulm, Minnesota. To receive God’s Word for You via e-mail, please visit the St. Paul’s Lutheran Church website.