ACC ~ Acts 19 v11 - 17

OVERVIEW:

Some modern commentators see this episode as legend and suggest that its source is folklore. A good number however, see this as a narrative of an actual event. Many see the inability of Sceva’s sons to cast out the spirit, even after adding Paul’s name to that of Jesus, as an insistence by Luke that Christianity has nothing to do with magic. The ancients comment on the event as showing the need for faith (CHRYSOSTOM, DIDYMUS). Chrysostom also discusses how the life of Christ is manifest through the body of believers as well as how exorcism proves the resurrection of Jesus. Bede discusses exorcisms before Christ and seeks to discern the meaning of numbers in the sacred text.

19:12 | Aprons Carried from Paul’s Body to the Sick

THE GREATEST PROOF OF THE RESURRECTION. CHRYSOSTOM: What Christ is saying is this, “Whoever believes in me will, in my name, do greater signs than I have done.” And these are the greater signs that they did: their shadows raised the dead. Thus was the power of Christ especially proclaimed, since it was not so marvelous that he performed miracles while living, as it was that, when he had died, others were able to do greater than [Christ] in his own name. This itself was the most irrefutable demonstration of the resurrection. He would not, even had he been seen, have been believed to such an extent, since they could have said that he was a phantasm, but should someone see greater signs occur from the mere mention of his name—even when he was among humankind in the flesh—that one, unless terribly shameless, would not have refused to believe. CATENA ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 19.11-12.

19:13 | Pronouncing the Name of Jesus

THE NAME HAS POWER ONLY WHEN SPOKEN BY FAITH. CHRYSOSTOM: Look, they had no intention to believe but wished to cast out demons by the name. … Therefore in secret they did this, but their weakness was then paraded in public. … So the name has no power unless it is spoken by faith. … Look how they turned their weapons against themselves. … So far were they from thinking of Jesus as something great that they added Paul as well, because they thought that he was something great here. One may justly wonder at this point why the demon did not cooperate with the exorcists’ deception but refuted them completely and exposed their stage act. It seems to me that he was very angry, just as if he were someone in the gravest danger, who is being refuted by a pitiful wretch and wants to vent all his rage against him. For, to prevent any slight on the name of Jesus, he first acknowledges him and takes this acknowledgment as permission. HOMILIES ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 41.

EXORCISM BY PERSONS UNFIT. BEDE: Josephus reports that King Solomon devised and taught to his people methods of exorcism by which unclean spirits which were driven out of a person would not dare to return anymore. This happens sometimes, even through the agency of those who are reprehensible, either for the condemnation of those who do it or for the benefit of those who see and hear, so that although people may despise those performing the signs, they may nevertheless honor God, through whose invocation such great miracles are done. COMMENTARY ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 19.13.

THE DEMON IS MORE RIGHT-MINDED THAN THE EXORCISTS. CHRYSOSTOM: But here, as if the demon did not know him, the exorcists added, “I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches.” For the reply he gave shows that he knew. The exorcists said simply “Jesus,” when they should have said, “the savior of the world, he who rose again.” They did not wish to acknowledge his glory. For this reason, the demon censures them. He leaps on them and says, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know.” It is as if he had said, “You do not believe, but you abuse the name when you say this. Therefore the temple is desolate, the vessel easy to overcome. You are not preachers, but you are mine.” Great was the demon’s anger. The apostles had the power to do this to them, but they did not do it as of yet. For the apostles, who had power over the demons who did this to people, had even greater power over the people themselves. HOMILIES ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 41.

19:14 | Seven Sons of Sceva

THE SEVEN SONS OF SCEVA. BEDE: Therefore, since “Satan himself disguises himself as an angel of light,” [Satan] has no fear of covering his ministers as well with the same false appearance. It is customary to represent the gifts of the Holy Spirit by the number seven. As a figure of this, the Lord after his resurrection took food with seven disciples, and seven of the brothers came to preach the gospel to Cornelius, who was to be baptized with the Holy Spirit. Hence the sons of Sceva, as men who would drive out evil spirits, are reckoned as seven in number. Because they called upon the name of Christ and the apostles not out of belief in them but to put them to the test, they were rightly condemned for the cunning deceitfulness, not only by God but also by the demons themselves. Thus they were called sons of Sceva, which means “a yelping little fox.” This animal, which is very shrewd with respect to deceit and craftiness, represents one, whether Jew, Gentile or heretic, who is always plotting against the church of God, and, as it were, continuously making a racket with their babbling voices. Concerning them the command is given to the guardians of the church, “Catch for us the tiny foxes that are wrecking the vineyards.” COMMENTARY ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 19.14.

19:15 | Who Are You?

THERE IS A GREATER POWER THAN POWER OVER DEMONS. CHRYSOSTOM: There may be someone among you who, on hearing this, wishes he were in possession of this power, so that the demons should not be able to look him in the face, and he considers those holy men fortunate because they had such power. But let him listen to Christ, who says, “Do not rejoice because the demons are subject to you.” He knew that all people especially rejoice in this because of vainglory. For if you seek what pleases God and what is for the common good, another road is greater. For to free people from a demon is not so great as to rescue them from sin. It is not demons that prevent one from attaining to the kingdom of heaven. On the contrary, they assist, albeit unwillingly, by making him who has the demon more sensible. Sin, on the other hand, expels him. But perhaps someone will say, “God forbid it should befall me to be sensible in this way!” I, too, do not wish this for you, but rather that you should do everything because of something else, namely, the love of Christ. But if, God forbid, this should happen, I would comfort you with this. If the demon does not leave, but sin does, to free one of the latter is a greater good deed. HOMILIES ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 41.

19:16 | The Evil Spirit Leaped on Them

KNOWING JESUS. DIDYMUS THE BLIND: As one confessing God in word alone, he denies him with his deeds. This is “knowing Jesus” according to mere opinion. Therefore, it is no paradox if the evil spirit says to the Jewish exorcists, “I know Jesus” and the following, just as other demons used to say, with a loud cry, to Jesus himself, “I know who you are, the Holy One of God.” To these you can add the passage, “even demons believe and they tremble,” for it provides no evidence that evil spirits have faith accounted as righteousness. We must also say with regard to our current passage that just as those who receive cures from Jesus do so according to their faith, so those calling on Jesus for the expulsion of a demon or for another cure accomplish this in accord with the faith they have. Here, however, the evil spirit says, “Who are you that call on Jesus, for I do not perceive the power that I have often experienced when his name is called.” CATENA ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 19.13.