Imitation Is the Severest Form of Battery

As soon as something is successful in culture, it immediately imitated. We see it all the time. A hot new product is immediately ripped off by the competition. The breakthrough new movie or TV show is followed by countless copycats. They don’t want to jump on the bandwagon. Instead they build a bogus bandwagon and hope people won’t know the difference. While many imitators make seem similar, there is nothing like the original. As a matter of fact, those who are imitators rather than innovators often don’t really understand what they are dealing with. They not only don’t have the original vision, copycats don’t comprehend the danger. Paul ran into something very much like this in Ephesus.


Before we dive into that very strange event, let’s step back and see what’s going going on in the story. During his three-year stay in the city, Paul moved from preaching in the synagogue to teaching at Tyrannus Hall for two years (Acts 20:31; 19:8-10). God and His Gospel are exploding not only in the city but the entire region. Luke tells us that “all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord; both Jews and Greeks” (Acts 19:10). Chances are that this was when Epaphras came from Colosse and came to faith in Christ, eventually returning to his city and planting a church there (Col 1:5-7).


We pick up this particular event by setting our focus back on the true source and power behind it all. “And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul” (v11). God is behind it all. This is not about Paul. This is not about the hot new teacher in town. It’s God and God alone. He is the one actually providing the power for these extraordinary things Paul was doing. This is the story of Acts: God using ordinary people to do extraordinary things.


We see it over and over again. Look back at the Sanhedrin’s investigation into miracles by Peter and John in Acts 4. “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus” (Acts 4:13). Actually, the Greek text in this verse tells us that the Jewish leaders described Pete and John as “illiterate idiots.” While Paul had a much more formal education under the rabbi Gamaliel (Acts 22:3), what God was doing through him was far beyond anything anyone could imagine.


God is working through Paul by the power of His Holy Spirit. Jesus promised His followers that they “would receive power when the Holy Spirit came upon” them (Acts 1:8). Peter tied the arrival of God’s Spirit with Joel’s prophecy and how God work signs and wonders (Acts 2:17-21; Joel 2:28-32). The Lord allowed Paul and his buddy Barnabas to do “signs and wonders” on their trip to Iconium (Acts 14:3).


We must remember the Who behind the what. It is God. It is the power of Jesus through the gift of His Spirit. He is behind it all. Unless we are plugged into His power source we can do anything (Jn 15:5). When we’re connected to Christ, He can do jaw-dropping miracles through us. If we’re unplugged, we can’t do anything of lasting value. God is behind it all. That’s what’s happening in Ephesus. “God was doing extraordinary miracles.” Paul just happened to be one He used.

Luke tells us that crazy stuff was happening in the city. “Even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick, and their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them” (v12). MacArthur speculates that these were the headbands and aprons Paul wore while tent making. They would have been sweaty and nasty. But they would have touched Paul’s skin. Apparently the apostle was so supercharged with the power of God’s Spirit that these items actually had healing powers.


I have to admit that as a protestant, this verse makes me a little uneasy. It brings to mind what seems to be an unhealthy preoccupation among my Catholic friends on relics. But clearly it happened. At least it happened in Ephesus. I have to admit that. It’s similar to the apparent healing power of Peter’s shadow (Acts 5:15-16). It is a reminder that we get ourselves into trouble when we try to put God in a box. He is God and can do whatever He pleases. If He chooses to heal through a sweaty headband, He can. But we need to be careful not turn Him or such relics into supernatural vending machines. He does NOT work that way!


Luke tells us that when Paul and his miracles grabbed the headlines in Ephesus, imitators came out of the woodwork. “Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits” (v13). We’ve run into some of these guys before. Philip had to deal with Simon Magnus in Samaria (Acts 8:9-25). Paul himself had a showdown with some charlatan named Bar-Jesus on Cyprus (Acts 13:6-12). These dudes rolled from town to town with their traveling magic show. When they saw that Paul was healing and casting out demons in the name of Jesus, they wanted in on that action. Sadly, we still see this today.


We read of a specific group of spiritual snake oil salesmen. “Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this” (v14). According to sources, there is no record of a high priest of this name that ever served at the temple in Jerusalem. The name Sceva is Latin and actually means “mind reader.” This is a clue that the so-called high priest was nothing more than a con man. And his seven sons were carrying on in his slimy footsteps.


Apparently these seven charlatans attempted to take on an evil spirit in Ephesus. When they challenged the demon, it responded, “Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?” (v15). As we see in the Gospels, beings in the spirit world know EXACTLY who Jesus is. This evil spirit recognized the authority of Jesus and His apostle Paul over him. But there was no way these seven pretenders were going to push it around. They had absolutely no authority or power over this demon.


In the Gospels, Jesus tells His disciples that it is only by God’s Spirit that one can drive out demons (Mt 12:26-30; Lk 11:18-23). Without the authority of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit, no one stands a chance against such demonic power. There’s also the time Christ’s disciples got their undies in a bundle over someone casting out demons in His name (Lk 9:49-50; Mk 9:38-40). Jesus says this particular individual was on their same team. This man was clearly a follower of Jesus and not just using His name as part of some magical incantation.


Back in Ephesus, this exorcism goes bad. VERY bad. “And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded” (v16). These seven charlatans had no idea what they were messing with. This demon jumped them and absolutely kicked their tails. The evil spirit beat the living snot out of these boys. So much so that they ended up running out of the house bloody and naked. Not a pretty sight.


For the seven sons of Sceva, they found out first hand that imitation is the severest form of battery (OK, sorry ‘bout that).


This is a powerful warning against the power of our enemy. On one hand, Jesus has completely whipped Satan. The devil is a defeated enemy. But that is only the case when Jesus is on our side. If not, Satan and his army are very, very dangerous. We should take incredible caution when it comes to spiritual warfare. This is yet one more reason why God strongly warns us against opening the door to the occult. There is great evil and demonic power there.

Created 4 months ago