Acts 16:17Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Why did the demon say this, and why did Paul forbid him? The former acted maliciously, while the latter acted wisely. He wanted no trust to be placed in him. If Paul had accepted his testimony, then he, as one approved by him, would have deceived many, even of the believers. Therefore he resolved to proclaim their deeds in order to arrange his own affairs, and to use Paul’s condescension for the destruction of others. At first Paul merely did not accept it and paid no attention, for he did not wish immediately to resort to signs. But when he continued doing this for “many days” and touched upon their work, saying, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation,” then Paul commanded him “to come out.” What does “Paul, being greatly troubled” mean?

“These men are servants of the Most High God.” O unclean spirit! If you know that they proclaim the way of salvation, why do you not withdraw from them? Take note that the demons also know that the crucified Jesus is the Most High God, and that Paul is His servant. Paul himself affirmed this when he said, “Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ” (Rom 1:1).

It must be pointed out that the demons, whom the pagans believed, also proclaimed Christ. The demons testified and said that the apostles were servants of God, that their preaching was saving, and that Jesus is God and not merely man. In the same way they also proclaimed Silas and Paul. After the demon had repeatedly testified that the apostles’ preaching saves, Paul cast him out. He did this to show those who believed in this demon that every faithful person is stronger than he is. The faithful person has the power to permit the demon, as a subject, either to remain or to depart. See, then, how the word of Christ’s servants acts. Immediately at their command the demons come out.

That confession is not voluntary when a reward for confession follows it. Rather, the lying spirit speaks out of fear before the true Holy Spirit, no longer daring to hide its twilight in the light. But God says to the sinner: “What right have you to declare My statutes?” (Ps 49:16). As Arator says, “Let us not be seduced by the bitter honey of deceit, if she who was the servant of falsehood proclaims the truth.” Arator, De Actibus Apostolorum 2 (CSEL 72:102).

This demon-possessed slave girl followed Paul and the other apostles who were with him. She cried out loudly, saying of them: these men are servants of the Most High God. They preach and show us the way of salvation. But how did the devil, being the father of lies, preach this truth? How did he not fear that, hearing these words of his, people would believe the apostolic preaching? Thus he loudly confessed that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and God: “What have I to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure You by God, do not torment me” (Mk 5:7). But he was compelled to do that by Jesus’ command. “For He said to him: Come out of the man, unclean spirit” (Mk 5:8).

A certain maidservant had within herself a spirit of darkness, through which she foretold the future and revealed hidden things. Following the apostles, she said in the hearing of the people: behold, servants of God; they preach to you the way of salvation. It is not known what moved her to do this, or rather, the spirit that dwelt in her. Was he afraid of being cast out of the soothsayer, and therefore wished beforehand to dispose Paul favorably toward her? Or did he think it improper to be silent about such men, as a spirit to whom they had to be known? In any case, he repeated such statements many times, although by this he seemed to harm himself. But the apostles were as far from accepting such testimony in their favor as the Savior was.

The work of Gospel preaching began successfully here. A wealthy woman named Lydia soon turned to faith in Christ and offered the preachers her house as a place to stay. But the expulsion of a divining spirit from a servant girl brought upon Paul and Silas the hatred of her masters, who profited from her divinations. They seized the preacher-wonderworkers and dragged them to the marketplace before the authorities. The authorities gave them many blows and, without trial, threw them into prison (verses 13-23).

But this good beginning of the preaching in Macedonia was soon darkened by a very unpleasant event. Greek paganism at that time had already lost its real force. Faith in the gods of Olympus had yielded to a miserable mixture of doubt and superstition. The superstition became all the more wretched because many people appeared who sought easy profit from the credulity of the crowd. The apostles had to encounter precisely such a circumstance. On the way to the house of prayer, they met a certain maidservant who, according to popular belief, was possessed by a spirit of divination. It was like the spirit for which the famous Delphic Pythias were known. In reality, the unfortunate woman was possessed by a demon.

“These men are servants of God,” and so forth: this was an involuntary confession, on the part of the spirit of divination, of the greatness of the God preached by the apostles. So also there were involuntary confessions by demons of the greatness of the Lord Jesus Christ (see Mk 1:23-24 and parallels). Saint Chrysostom, however, sees in this a cunning action of the demon: “Why did the demon say this, and why did Paul forbid him? The former acted maliciously, while the latter acted wisely. He wanted no trust to be placed in him. If Paul had accepted his testimony, then he, thus encouraged, would have deceived many, even of the believers. Therefore he resolved to proclaim their deeds in order to arrange his own affairs, and to use Paul’s condescension for the destruction of others.”

The healing of the soothsaying maidservant, who brought income to her masters, was an evident miracle. It showed that the God proclaimed by the apostles was stronger than all the supposed gods. The Macedonian Greeks attributed the girl’s divination to the influence of one of these gods, and they gave her various gifts for her prediction. The malicious spirit who prophesied through the maidservant, a ventriloquist, understood this greatest power acting in the apostles, though not fully. Therefore he vainly tried to prevent his own overthrow by testifying to what all rational people could say. Namely, the apostles proclaimed eternal salvation through the Most High God. Yet by the word “Most High” the demon could also imply that other gods exist, though not so exalted.