Consequences
Acts 16:16-34
Were Paul and Silas right to act against the demons in the girl?
Photo by Hasan Almasi on Unsplash
With Paul and Silas, we came to Philippi in Macedonia, a Roman colony, and, as we were going to the place of prayer, we met a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners a great deal of money by fortune-telling. While she followed Paul and us, she would cry out, "These men are slaves of the Most High God, who proclaim to you a way of salvation." She kept doing this for many days. But Paul, very much annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, "I order you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her." And it came out that very hour. But when her owners saw that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities. When they had brought them before the magistrates, they said, "These men are disturbing our city; they are Jews and are advocating customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to adopt or observe." The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates had them stripped of their clothing and ordered them to be beaten with rods. After they had given them a severe flogging, they threw them into prison and ordered the jailer to keep them securely. Following these instructions, he put them in the innermost cell and fastened their feet in the stocks. About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was an earthquake, so violent that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's chains were unfastened. When the jailer woke up and saw the prison doors wide open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, since he supposed that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted in a loud voice, "Do not harm yourself, for we are all here." The jailer called for lights, and rushing in, he fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. Then he brought them outside and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" They answered, "Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household." They spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. At the same hour of the night he took them and washed their wounds; then he and his entire family were baptized without delay. He brought them up into the house and set food before them; and he and his entire household rejoiced that he had become a believer in God. - Acts 16:16-34
They chased the demons from the girl because the girl, under the power of the demons, spoke out against them.
Should they have done that, or ignored the taunts from her?
The result of what Paul and Silas did was that the owners of this slave could no longer make money from her fortune-telling.
It was the spirit inside her that had the divine power that they benefited from.
Now the spirit showed itself to be against Paul and Silas, so they felt justified in calling it out. But the situation makes me think that a good spirit could dwell within us and help us do powerful things for good.
The problem was caused by the disruption in revenue streams from the girl. That is why the owners complained.
The story goes on to describe how God responded to Paul and Silas' prayers and hymns in prison, setting them free, so we feel they were justified in what they did.
But I wonder if their motivation in acting against the girl and her demon was a good one. Did they care for the girl or themselves?
The casting out of demons that Jesus did included one man who was tormented by a legion of demons. That man did not ask for help and no one asked on his behalf, but in many other instances, someone on behalf of the one possessed asked for his help.
What Paul and Silas did here was judge the actions of the girl and respond to that. They were freeing her from bondage, but we don't know what happened to her after that.
Since she was no longer of value to the owners, how would they treat her going forward?
When we look at this through our modern eyes, we can see what they did as good or bad.
It is similar to when Jesus cast out the demons and allowed them to enter the herd of swine, killing them and the source of income for their owners.
Our actions have consequences, and those consequences can be grave, like the townsfolk wanting to throw Jesus off the cliff, and Paul and Silas being flogged and imprisoned.
When we break the law to help someone, we must be prepared to face these consequences.
We can feel the actions are justified, so we should accept the punishment too.
More to come...