Jesus I know and Paul I know about, but who are you? (Acts 19:15)
We’ve just come through another election season, in which candidates have courted celebrity endorsements from actors and athletes. The wager is that well-known names dropped on their behalf will offer a bump in the polls.
While Paul was preaching in Ephesus (in present day Turkey), some Jewish exorcists started a little name-dropping of their own. Though they were not believers in Christ, they started including his name in their exorcism litanies, thinking it would improve their success stats. In the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out (v. 13).
The seven sons of a Jewish priest invoked the name of Jesus in one exorcism attempt. The spirit in question apparently had first-hand knowledge of Jesus and his power, and had even heard about the Apostle Paul, but he had no intention of releasing his hold on his victim. The man in which he was living attacked the seven men and gave them a sound thrashing before they ran into the street crying like little girls.
The name of Jesus is not a magic formula used to send demons packing or for getting answers to prayer. Jesus is the name above every name, and the name that will one day cause every knee to bow and every tongue to confess that he is Lord to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:9-11).
What does the name Jesus mean to you?
Could you explain this verse to me?
ReplyDeleteI Cor 15:29 Why do you think people offer themselves to be baptized for those already in the grave? If there's no chance of resurrection for a corpse, if God's power stops at the cemetery gates, why do we keep doing things that suggest he's going to clean the place out someday, pulling everyone up on their feet alive?
Also, could you please put the links up for the December readings. Thanks!!!
Merry,
ReplyDeleteFirst off, the December reading links are now available. Thanks for asking. I started working on that before Thanksgiving but my computer wouldn't let me go to the correct site. Even today, I had to get on an old computer to go there. Go figure.
As for baptism for the dead. This is acknowledged as one of the most difficult statements in the Scripture. This probably refers to the practice of being baptized for someone who had become a believer but died before being baptized. We, of course, would say that is completely unnecessary, as the baptism is an outward symbol of an inward change. That would be a satisfactory answer, if it weren't for the fact there is no record off such a practice until many years after this letter was written to the Corinthians.
Notice Paul does not condone the practice, and may even separate himself from "those . . . who are baptized for the dead." The point he is making is not about baptism for the dead, but the resurrection of the dead.
Today, there are certain cults which practice baptism for the dead, wherein they believe they can be baptized as a proxy for their unbelieving relatives. No such teaching can be confirmed in Scripture.
One final note: This passage is a hapax. This is a one-time note about an obscure subject. When it was written, the audience had enough context to understand the statement, but after 2,000 years, we do not. It is dangerous to base theological positions on these type of references. There's just not enough to go on.