•••• Mt 141-2. tttt Lk 848, Mk 310 680, Lk 61».
j;jt Mk 127.39; Heitmiiller, p. 241 ; Clemen, p. 234.
§§§§ Mt SIS; E. 0. Convheare, 'The Deinonology of the NT,' inJv'f viii. (1895-9G).'isU.
11 1! 11 II Mk 52»- 42, Mt 827 9» 2120. Jn 520 721 goo^ Lk 436.
«««!«i Mt 12'24- •■», Mk 3-"2, Lk ll" 18 (Mt 83« is probably » later insertion).
NAME
NAME
by ademon.* Jesus Himself, in explaininij; how He effected the cures, uses three expressions. He did tlieni ' by the Spirit of God," or ' by the fint;erof Cod,' or ' in the name ' of His Fatlier.t All these expressions indicate thnt Jesus was conscious that He had power to tnasLer and control the demons, and that Ho had this (;iven Him by God ; that, f^r from beint; dependent on any demon. He had entered their house to sjmil it.}
In accordance with the ideas of the time, this extraordinarily powerful mana exhibited by our Lord was supposed to bo lodged in His name, and immediately mapcians bejjan actually to effect cures by the invoking of ilis name.§ Jesus refu.sed to interfere with those who did so, thuUK'b they were not His professed followers, II and even intimated that some did such niinicles ' whom he knew not. * H The TwelTe after being chosen were ordained to be with Jesus, in order that they might go forth (a) to preach, (0) to have power to heal diseases, and (c) fKfidXXtiv TO ScufjLoi'ia.** When Jesus did send them forth He gave them power to cast out all unclean spirits.tt The Twelve were able to cast out the demons, though they sometimes failed in their efforts because they had so little faith.}} Jesus also sent out the Seveuty to heal, giving them power 'of trampling down all the power of the enemy,' and when they returned they reported that the spirits were subject to them in His name.§§ Finally, Jesus hecjueathed to those who should believe power to cast out demons m His name.llll
After the death of Jesns the apostles continued to cure those annoyed (or roused, 6x^ov/jUi'ow) with unclean spirits and to do other wonderful works in His name. HIT
As the Church spread through the Roman Empire it came more and more into contact with Oriental and Greek magic, and under this stimulus formulre of exorcism in His name rapidly became poj)ular. The origin of the Jewish belief in the elHcacy of the name has been sought in Babylon *** and Egypt.ttt but it possibly goes back to older Semitic ideas. Among the pagans the disciples efi'ected cures through the Name, and a similar power was exer- cised by other Christians over .spirits which came out ' shouting with a loud cry.' JJJ Heitmiiller argues : 'Not only the name, the outspoken, invoked name of Jesus, but also the name itself, as formula, was, according to the representation of these passages, the instrument of the miracles of the apostles. The idea underlying the passages is . . . belief in the m.agical potency of the name of Jesus.' §§§ Clemen is forced to admit that a magical effect is attributed to the Name in Ac 4'°, and practically in Ac 3*- '^ 47. w jQi8^ g^f,^ escapes from admitting the same thing in regard to Mt 7"=, Mk 16", Lk 10" 13=« only by declaring them unhistorical.il |||| He produces not an iota of evidence for the unhistoricity of these passages, and the history of the use of the Name gives their true meaning. HUlf The TrpeirfivTepoi in the churches of the Diaspora are instructed by St. James in cases of illness to pray over the patient, ' anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.' •*** Certain Jewish exorcists in Ephesus took upon themselves to effect cures, using the formula, 'I adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth.'tttt The stand])oint of the post-Apos- tolic Church is put thus : ' Before we believed in God the habitation of our heart was corrupt and weak . . . for it was full of idolatry, and was a habitation of demons. . . . Having received the for- giveness of sins and placed our trust in the name of the Lord, we became new creatures.' ttt$ Hernias implies a similar use of the Name when he says, ' You can be saved from the great beast by no other than by His great and glorious name. A man can- not otherwise enter into the kingdom of God than
• Mt 1118, Jn 720 8«. 62 1020.
t Mt 12'-», Lk 1120 (of. Jn 32, Ac 222 io38), Jn 1026,
}Mtl229. §Lk93»-49.
II Mk 939, Lk 950.
11 Mt 7=2 (cf. Lk 1328 ; HeitmuUer, p. 241).
*• Mk 3"- 15, Mt 101. ft Mt 108, Mk 6', Lk 91.
}} Mk 6", Lk 96, Mt 1718- '»• 20. §§ Lk 10"- li».
miMklB". HI! Ac 616.
•*' Heitmiiller, p. 18.5.
ttt lb. p. 218 ; FarneU, The Evolution of Religion, p. 189.
}}} Ac 8' 1618 191113. §§§P. 236.
mill Clemen, pp. 234-286.
IllfH P. C. Conybeare, J/y(A Magic and Morals, 1910, oh. juii.
*•♦• Ja 6H. tttt Ac 1913.
ttJt The Epistle of Barnabas, xvi. 7, 8.
by the name of His beloved .son,' for ' whosoever <loe.s not receive His name shall not enter into the kingdom of God.'* Justin is still more exj)lieit. Je.sus was conceived ' for the sake of believing men, and for the destruction of the demons.' The evidence for this is ' that numberless demoniacs throughout the whole world, and in your city many of our Christian men e.xorcize them in the name of Jesus Christ . . . rendering helpless and driving out of men the possessing devils, t The power of Jesus' name, even the demons do fear, and at this day, when tliey are exorcized in His name, they are overcome. ' flis Father has given Him so great power by virtue of which the demons are subdued by His name.'t 'God made it manifest that through Jesus . . . the demons would be destroyed and would dread His name.'§ 'And now we, who believe on our Lord Jesus, . . . when we exorcize all demons and evil spirits, have them subjected to us.' II 'Every demon, when exorcized in the name of this very Son of God, ... is overcome and subdued.' IT Origen again writes thus : 'The names Sabaoth, Adonai, and other names . . . when pronounced with that attendant turn of cir- cumstances which is appropriate to their nature, are possessed of great power ; and other names again, current in the Egyptian tongue, are effi- cacious against certain demons.'** 'It is not by incantations that Christians seem to prevail [over evil spirits] but by the name of Jesus, accompanied by the announcement of the narrative which relates to Him, for the repetition of these has frequently been the means of driving demons out of men, especially when those who repeated them did so in a sound and genuinely believing spirit.' tt ' Chris- tians employ no spells or incantations, but the simple name of Jesus, and certain other words in which they repose faith.' JJ The name of Jesus ' has expelled myriads of evil spirits from the souls and bodies of men.' §§ Tertullian observes ' that though names be empty and feigned, yet when they are drawn down into superstition, demons and every unclean spirit seize them for themselves.' nil The name of Jesus, with other biblical names, was used as an amulet in the 3rd or 4th century.HIT The Maronites still cure the insane by exorcizing the evil spirit, adjuring him in the name of God, and beating the patient on the head. *** 'In Christian rituals, from about the year 300 on, an altar, shrine, and any other sort of building, and also "the natures" of oil, water, salt, candles, even of hassocks, have been conse- crated by repeating over them the formula "in the name of Jesus Christ," or "in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost." ' ttt ' In Abyssinia, Biblical sacred names, together with a large number of fanciful appellations, . . . were magically pro- nounced for the purpose of warding otf the power