Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, “In the name of the Jesus whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.” Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. One day the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?” Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding.
Acts 19:13-16 NIV
bible.com/bible/111/act.19.13-16.NIV

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These Jews who had observed that God was exercising great power to drive out evil spirits thought that they could replicate this by saying Jesus name.

If we want God to truly work miracles in our life... for instance to drive away an evil spirit who may be causing us harm or pain or endangering a loved one... we must give ourselves to Christ. Anything we ask we must ask in the context of God's will.

God only works through his chosen. His power cannot be invoked like a witch invokes a magic spell.

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1 And it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the inland country and came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples. 

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This section of scripture, and my comments on it, are about how to engage our non-Christian culture. It is an immensely important text for us to understand and apply.

Chapter 19 should have begun in 18:23, when Paul set out on what is usually referred to as referred to as his 3rd missionary journey. (“After spending some time there, he departed and went from one place to the next through the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples”).

Paul had traveled to Corinth with Priscilla and Aquilla, then left them there to develop the Ephesian church while he took off for what today is called Turkey (Asia Minor).

Aquilla and Pricilla did the job well. They met Apollos (whom many scholars believe later wrote the book of Hebrews), an eloquent disciple of John the Baptist.

Apollos believed Jesus was the Messiah. He also knew John the Baptist had told his disciples “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I… He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. (Matthew 3:11).”

What Apollos didn’t know was that that prophecy had been fulfilled almost 30 years earlier.

So Aquilla and Priscilla filled Apollos in on Jesus’ death, burial, resurrection, Pentecost and the Holy Spirit’s coming. Now that He knew salvation had come, his evangelistic teaching shifted from “this will happen” to “this has happened.”

Paul went back to Ephesus for a 3-year visit.

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2 And he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” 3 And he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” They said, “Into John's baptism.” 4 And Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus.” 5 On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying. 7 There were about twelve men in all. 

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There was obviously some sort of teaching gap. Apollos was a believer who didn’t realize the Holy Spirit had come, and now the believers in Ephesus didn’t know it either. The text is not clear… These Ephesian disciples may have never heard of the Holy Spirit, or they may have been aware that the Holy Spirit would come but, like Apollos, not realized He had already come. Since John the Baptist taught about the coming Spirit, the latter is most likely.

Regardless, they had never been baptized into Christ, so Paul took care of that.

Chapters 17 and 19 easily apply to our modern American lives. Our country is full of “religious” people. These chapters show us how we should minister to them.

In Chapter 17, Paul encountered people who worshipped several gods, including an “unknown god.” Similarly, we have a country full of people who would call themselves “spiritual” but couldn’t easily name a particular god they worship and live for. If pressed, they’d likely say they believe in the goodness and power of the Universe, or something like that. Paul didn’t criticize them. He didn’t belittle their gods. He didn’t engage in polemics or apologetics. He started where they were and showed them the way and introduced them to their “unknown god.”

In Chapter 19, Paul encountered a group described as “disciples” who were had baptized by John the Baptist but had not received the Holy Spirit, similar to Apollos. Paul didn’t preach hellfire and brimstone. He didn’t condemn their faith. He started where they were and showed them the way to know God.

Similarly, our country is full of people who would say they are Christians but appear to have very little depth or understanding of what that means. They don’t spend time in scripture, probably couldn’t explain the Good News with any depth of understanding, might pray if they want something, etc. Many of these, like my wife’s family, I call “et cetera believers” because they rarely pray except on Easter, Christmas, and Thanksgiving (ETC).

Though it has calmed down some in the last couple of decades, too many high-profile Christians and high-profile Christian wannabees directly attack misguided believers, agnostics, atheists, adherents to other faiths, etc. Others completely avoid people of other faiths or no faith at all.

That is not the model. We aren’t called to the church… we are the church. We are called to the world, to the unregenerate, to Satan’s realm, to those in need of salvation in the context of their living – and that with broken hearts and a mission to change the world. We need to stop looking at the corruption of today with disdain and look at it with tears. We must cease criticizing those who elevate and bask in the desires of their flesh and instead show them the way to radical spiritual transformation.

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8 And he entered the synagogue and for three months spoke boldly, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God. 9 But when some became stubborn and continued in unbelief, speaking evil of the Way before the congregation, he withdrew from them and took the disciples with him, reasoning daily in the hall of Tyrannus. 10 This continued for two years, so that all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks. 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. 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?”

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Travelling Jewish exorcists were common in those days. It was one way to make a living, and ancient texts describe the events to be performance-oriented like we might watch a magic show. “Jesus” became their abracadabra.*

Interesting little tidbit:
No one knows for sure, but one theory about the origin of the word “abracadabra” is that it was derived from the Hebrew words “ab ben ruach hakodesh,” which means “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit].


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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. 

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Obviously, the possessed man didn’t overpower Paul. “Them” refers to the 7 sons of Sceva, who were invoking the name of Jesus Whom they didn’t know – taking God’s name in vain.

Again, many in our modern society use “Jesus” as a lucky charm. From professional mediums who recite the Lord’s prayer before reading tarot card fortunes to their clients, to everyday people who refer to the Holy Spirit as a personal incantation when they want something in particular to happen. Others believe in the god of the “Spirit Universe.”

Brothers and sisters, we need to engage - rather than reject - the culture around us. We must not live as separatists who spend time with only their own kind. Our mission given by our Lord is to “go into all the world” with the gospel. If we will do this, Acts 19:17-20 (below) should be similar to our experience…

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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.

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Repentance! That’s what repentance looks like! These professional magicians destroyed their own sinful livelihoods in submission to our Lord. The immediately rid themselves of everything unclean. The result? God’s word “continued to increase and prevail mightily.” Repentance born of Holy Spirit conviction multiplies the spread of the Word. Just imagine the impact when each of these individuals went back home and shared the gospel with everyone who knew their former professions. Just imagine the stories they told about getting beaten up by the demoniac because they sinfully said the name of Jesus by whom they were now saved!

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21 Now after these events Paul resolved in the Spirit to pass through Macedonia and Achaia and go to Jerusalem, saying, “After I have been there, I must also see Rome.” 22 And having sent into Macedonia two of his helpers, Timothy and Erastus, he himself stayed in Asia for a while.

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Paul planned out his travel for the next four years or so:

1. Go to the churches in Macedonia and Achaia to collect money for the church in Jerusalem (which was experiencing very hard times)
   
2. Deliver the money to the Jerusalem church
   
3. Visit Rome on his way to Spain (see Romans 15:24-28)

You can see his trip report from these journeys in 1 Corinthians 16:1-10.

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23 About that time there arose no little disturbance concerning the Way. 24 For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought no little business to the craftsmen. 25 These he gathered together, with the workmen in similar trades, and said, “Men, you know that from this business we have our wealth. 26 And you see and hear that not only in Ephesus but in almost all of Asia this Paul has persuaded and turned away a great many people, saying that gods made with hands are not gods.

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Once again, Paul’s fearless preaching of the hard truths of the gospel caused people to lose their sinful jobs, just as with the magicians above (vv.13ff) and the demon possessed psychic slave girl in Acts 15.

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27 And there is danger not only that this trade of ours may come into disrepute but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis may be counted as nothing, and that she may even be deposed from her magnificence, she whom all Asia and the world worship.” 28 When they heard this they were enraged and were crying out, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” 29 So the city was filled with the confusion, and they rushed together into the theater, dragging with them Gaius and Aristarchus, Macedonians who were Paul's companions in travel. 30 But when Paul wished to go in among the crowd, the disciples would not let him. 31 And even some of the Asiarchs, who were friends of his, sent to him and were urging him not to venture into the theater. 32 Now some cried out one thing, some another, for the assembly was in confusion, and most of them did not know why they had come together. 33 Some of the crowd prompted Alexander, whom the Jews had put forward. And Alexander, motioning with his hand, wanted to make a defense to the crowd. 34 But when they recognized that he was a Jew, for about two hours they all cried out with one voice, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”
 35 And when the town clerk had quieted the crowd, he said, “Men of Ephesus, who is there who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is temple keeper of the great Artemis, and of the sacred stone that fell from the sky? 36 Seeing then that these things cannot be denied, you ought to be quiet and do nothing rash. 37 For you have brought these men here who are neither sacrilegious nor blasphemers of our goddess. 38 If therefore Demetrius and the craftsmen with him have a complaint against anyone, the courts are open, and there are proconsuls. Let them bring charges against one another. 39 But if you seek anything further, it shall be settled in the regular assembly. 40 For we really are in danger of being charged with rioting today, since there is no cause that we can give to justify this commotion.” 41 And when he had said these things, he dismissed the assembly.

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This section speaks for itself.

How shaken up is our 21st century American culture by our ministry?
How hard to they fight against us?

I wanted at first to say they fight against us very hard, but I don’t think that is true. They mock us. They do things to counter our beliefs. They normalize sin. They do things that occasionally inhibit our freedom to worship.

But I don’t often see violent, direct attacks on the church.

What wrong are we doing?
What right are we not doing?
Let’s talk about it.

Eric,

Why is the church n America so impotent today? Why do we not see the display of the Spirit's power and lives taken from Satan's clutches and into Jesus' arms on a daily basis as Paul and his disciples did? How do we get back there?

John, It was certainly awesome that all of Asia heard the word of the Lord! However, from that point on the Asian churches certainly had their struggles. Remember, the sometimes scathing letters John wrote on behalf of Christ in Revelation were written to "the 7 churches of Asia."

For a very interesting but quick read, go to the following link, which is simply search results of "Asia" in the New Testament. It won't take long to read down the list, and it truly is fascinating to see the struggles and successes of the Asian churches  (which again are modern day Turkey, not Asia as we know it today).

www.biblegateway.com/quicksearch/?quicksearch=asia&qs_version=ESV

jb