ACC ~ Acts 19 v13

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.

Acts