Bible Questions and Answers

What is the meaning of exorcists in Acts 19:13?

Acts 19:13-20 Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists took it upon themselves to call the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, "We exorcise you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches." 14 Also there were seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, who did so. 15 And the evil spirit answered and said, "Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?" 16 Then the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, overpowered them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. 17 This became known both to all Jews and Greeks dwelling in Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified. 18 And many who had believed came confessing and telling their deeds. 19 Also, many of those who had practiced magic brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted up the value of them, and it totalled fifty thousand pieces of silver. 20 So the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed...".

Exorcist: Strong's number 1845, exorkistes from 1844, exorkizo to adjure; Translated in the KJV as exorcist once.

Meaning:

• he who extracts an oath of one;
• an exorcist;
• one who employs a formula of conjuration for expelling demons.

An exorcist is one who plays on the superstition of those who believe that ‘evil spirits’ aka ‘demons’ are the cause of mental illness. They rely upon the fiction that there is a supernatural power in this world, which is opposed to God, the machinations of which can be overcome by pronouncing certain words in a particular order.

The Catholic Church still supports this nonsense today by ordaining ‘priests’ to carry out this function.

Those who understand the Truth know that there is no supernatural power but that of God. A ‘demon’ defined in the New Testament as an ‘unclean spirit’ is the personification of mental illness, not an agent of a ‘fallen angel’.

Mental illnesses are still with us today, but we (for the most part) no longer believe that they are caused by supernatural entities. The brain is a complex organ and subject to malfunctions as are other organs of the body.

The reaction of those in Ephesus who practised ‘magic’ in burning their expensive ‘magic arts’ books shows that they realised the foolishness of such beliefs. Seeing that Paul was able to cure people without the mumbo-jumbo of incantations.

I hope you find this helpful.

God bless,
Glenn