20
Journal of Adventist Mission Studies
Sceva were closer to using the name of Jesus as a magic formula that they
thought would work ex opere operato. One clear dierence between Jesus’s
exorcisms and those of pagans and Jews is that Jesus did not use incanta-
tions and magic. To cast out a demon he simply said: “Come out!” Ma
8:16 says that Jesus cast out the demons “with a word.” Disciples expelled
the demons in the name of Jesus (Luke 9:17). What was important was not
the words used, but the spiritual state of the exorcist. When the disciples
were not able to cast out the demon from an epileptic boy and asked Jesus
why they had suered such a humiliating failure, he replied, “This kind
cannot be driven out by anything except prayer [some manuscripts add
“and fasting”]” (Mark 9:29).
Since casting out demons was such an important part of the apostolic
mission, it is surprising that this function is never explicitly listed among
the spiritual gifts (charismata) in the Epistles. It may quite legitimately be
asked whether exorcism is subsumed under the gift of healing (charismata
iamatōn) in 1 Cor 12:9, 28. The answer is not completely clear, because the
distinction between naturally occurring illness and the disability arising
from demons is often unclear, as will be noted below. In some texts the
casting out of demons and the healing of diseases and inrmities are
mentioned side by side as if distinct activities, as for example in Ma 8:16,
10:8, and Luke 13:32. In other texts the casting out of the demon is called
a healing, as in Luke 7:21, 8:2, and 6:18. For example, in Ma 15:28 the
Syrophoenician woman says that her daughter “is severely possessed by
a demon,” but in v. 28 it says “her daughter was healed instantly.” Luke
6:18 tells of people who came to be healed (iaomai) of their diseases,” and
“those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured (therapeuomai).”
Notable also is Acts 10:38, where Peter declares that Jesus went about
“doing good and healing (<iaomai) all that were oppressed by the devil.”
Sometimes the healing and the exorcism may be yoked together like a
hendiadys. In view of all this the inclusion of exorcism within healing is
not certain but certainly possible. It is also worth noting that among the
gifts of the Spirit is the ability to distinguish between spirits (1 Cor 12:10),
something also mentioned in 1 John 4:1, where believers are admonished
to “test the spirits” (cf. 1 Thess 5:21).
This section cannot end without giving special aention to Mark 3:22–30
and especially its parallel in Ma 12:24–32. The Pharisees declared, “It is
only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons.”
Beelzebul, originally a title for the Canaanite god Baal, had come to be a
name for Satan, the supreme demon. Jesus had healed a blind and dumb
demoniac, and the response of the people was amazed admiration. The
assertion of the Pharisees was their response to that. Then Jesus responds,
rst making the argument that it is illogical to think that Satan would
aack his own realm, for a kingdom divided against itself cannot stand.
4
Journal of Adventist Mission Studies, Vol. 11 [2015], No. 2, Art. 4
https://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/jams/vol11/iss2/4
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.32597/jams/vol11/iss2/4/