-
“Have Salt in Yourselves”The Watchtower—1977 | August 15
-
-
The Bible record shows that he had no word of approval for his indignant zealous apostles. “But,” as Mark 9:39-41 goes on to say, “Jesus said: ‘Do not try to prevent him, for there is no one that will do a powerful work on the basis of my name that will quickly be able to revile me;
-
-
“Have Salt in Yourselves”The Watchtower—1977 | August 15
-
-
6. By using Jesus’ name in expelling demons, what was that “certain man” doing with respect to that name?
6 Why should this “certain man” have been prevented from carrying on his work of expelling demons by the use of Jesus’ name? Had he been trying to revile Jesus’ name by doing so? Had he thus been dragging the name of the Messiah in the mud, making it appear vile, giving it a bad association? He was not using the name of Jesus in the way that the seven sons of the Jewish chief priest Sceva did later on as a formula for exorcism, as a magical name. (Acts 19:13-16) The demon did not say to that “certain man”: ‘I know Jesus, but who are you?’ and then refuse to leave the demon-possessed person. But this “certain man” really had faith in Jesus’ name and succeeded in expelling demons. By this course he was actually magnifying the name of Jesus, making its power become manifest.
-