6.3 Jesus' Deliverance Ministry, Delegated Authority, and the Name of Jesus

¹ And calling His twelve disciples to Him, Jesus gave them authority over unclean spirits, so that they could drive them out and heal every disease and sickness.

⁷ As you go, preach this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven is near.’

⁸ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.

²² Then a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute was brought to Jesus, and He healed the man so that he could speak and see.

²³ The crowds were astounded and asked, “Could this be the Son of David?”

²⁴ But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “Only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, does this man drive out demons.”

²⁵ Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand.

²⁶ If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand?

²⁷ And if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons drive them out? So then, they will be your judges.

²⁸ But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

²⁹ Or again, how can anyone enter a strong man’s house and steal his possessions, unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can plunder his house.

³⁰ He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters.

²¹ Then Jesus and His companions went to Capernaum, and right away Jesus entered the synagogue on the Sabbath and began to teach.

²² The people were astonished at His teaching, because He taught as one who had authority, and not as the scribes.

²³ Suddenly a man with an unclean spirit cried out in the synagogue:

²⁴ “What do You want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!”

²⁵ But Jesus rebuked the spirit. “Be silent!” He said. “Come out of him!”

²⁶ At this, the unclean spirit threw the man into convulsions and came out with a loud shriek.

²⁷ All the people were amazed and began to ask one another, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him!”

²⁸ And the news about Jesus spread quickly through the whole region of Galilee.

¹³ Then Jesus went up on the mountain and called for those He wanted, and they came to Him.

¹⁴ He appointed twelve of them, whom He designated as apostles, to accompany Him, to be sent out to preach,

¹⁵ and to have authority to drive out demons.

²² And the scribes who had come down from Jerusalem were saying, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and, “By the prince of the demons He drives out demons.”

²³ So Jesus called them together and began to speak to them in parables: “How can Satan drive out Satan?

²⁴ If a kingdom is divided against itself, it cannot stand.

²⁵ If a house is divided against itself, it cannot stand.

²⁶ And if Satan is divided and rises against himself, he cannot stand; his end has come.

²⁷ Indeed, no one can enter a strong man’s house to steal his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can plunder his house.

¹ On the other side of the sea, they arrived in the region of the Gerasenes.

² As soon as Jesus got out of the boat, He was met by a man with an unclean spirit, who was coming from the tombs.

³ This man had been living in the tombs and could no longer be restrained, even with chains.

⁴ Though he was often bound with chains and shackles, he had broken the chains and shattered the shackles. Now there was no one with the strength to subdue him.

⁵ Night and day in the tombs and in the mountains he kept crying out and cutting himself with stones.

⁶ When the man saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees before Him.

⁷ And he shouted in a loud voice, “What do You want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg You before God not to torture me!”

⁸ For Jesus had already declared, “Come out of this man, you unclean spirit!”

⁹ “What is your name?” Jesus asked. “My name is Legion,” he replied, “for we are many.”

¹⁰ And he begged Jesus repeatedly not to send them out of that region.

¹¹ There on the nearby hillside a large herd of pigs was feeding.

¹² So the demons begged Jesus, “Send us to the pigs, so that we may enter them.”

¹³ He gave them permission, and the unclean spirits came out and went into the pigs, and the herd of about two thousand rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the water.

¹⁴ Those tending the pigs ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, and the people went out to see what had happened.

¹⁵ When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons sitting there, clothed and in his right mind; and they were afraid.

¹⁶ Those who had seen it described what had happened to the demon-possessed man and also to the pigs.

¹⁷ And the people began to beg Jesus to leave their region.

¹⁸ As He was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed by the demons begged to go with Him.

¹⁹ But Jesus would not allow him. “Go home to your own people,” He said, “and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and what mercy He has shown you.”

²⁰ So the man went away and began to proclaim throughout the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And everyone was amazed.

⁷ Then Jesus called the Twelve to Him and began to send them out two by two, giving them authority over unclean spirits.

¹² So they set out and preached that the people should repent.

¹³ They also drove out many demons and healed many of the sick, anointing them with oil.

¹⁴ When they returned to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd around them, and scribes arguing with them.

¹⁵ As soon as all the people saw Jesus, they were filled with awe and ran to greet Him.

¹⁶ “What are you disputing with them?” He asked.

¹⁷ Someone in the crowd replied, “Teacher, I brought You my son, who has a spirit that makes him mute.

¹⁸ Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. I asked Your disciples to drive it out, but they were unable.”

¹⁹ “O unbelieving generation!” Jesus replied. “How long must I remain with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring the boy to Me.”

²⁰ So they brought him, and seeing Jesus, the spirit immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth.

²¹ Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has this been with him?” “From childhood,” he said.

²² “It often throws him into the fire or into the water, trying to kill him. But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”

²³ “If You can?” echoed Jesus. “All things are possible to him who believes!”

²⁴ Immediately the boy’s father cried out, “I do believe; help my unbelief!”

²⁵ When Jesus saw that a crowd had come running, He rebuked the unclean spirit. “You deaf and mute spirit,” He said, “I command you to come out and never enter him again.”

²⁶ After shrieking and convulsing him violently, the spirit came out. The boy became like a corpse, so that many said, “He is dead.”

²⁷ But Jesus took him by the hand and helped him to his feet, and he stood up.

²⁸ After Jesus had gone into the house, His disciples asked Him privately, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”

²⁹ Jesus answered, “This kind cannot come out, except by prayer.”

¹⁵ And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.

¹⁶ Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.

¹⁷ And these signs will accompany those who believe: In My name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues;

¹⁸ they will pick up snakes with their hands, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not harm them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will be made well.”

¹ Then Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,

² where for forty days He was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and when they had ended, He was hungry.

³ The devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”

⁴ But Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’”

⁵ Then the devil led Him up to a high place and showed Him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world.

⁶ “I will give You authority over all these kingdoms and all their glory,” he said. “For it has been relinquished to me, and I can give it to anyone I wish.

⁷ So if You worship me, it will all be Yours.”

⁸ But Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.’”

⁹ Then the devil led Him to Jerusalem and set Him on the pinnacle of the temple. “If You are the Son of God,” he said, “throw Yourself down from here.

¹⁰ For it is written: ‘He will command His angels concerning You to guard You carefully,

¹¹ and they will lift You up in their hands, so that You will not strike Your foot against a stone.’”

¹² But Jesus answered, “It also says, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

¹³ When the devil had finished every temptation, he left Him until an opportune time.

³¹ Then He went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and on the Sabbath He began to teach the people.

³² They were astonished at His teaching, because His message had authority.

³³ In the synagogue there was a man possessed by the spirit of an unclean demon. He cried out in a loud voice,

³⁴ “Ha! What do You want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!”

³⁵ But Jesus rebuked the demon. “Be silent!” He said. “Come out of him!” At this, the demon threw the man down before them all and came out without harming him.

³⁶ All the people were overcome with amazement and asked one another, “What is this message? With authority and power He commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!”

²⁶ Then they sailed to the region of the Gerasenes, across the lake from Galilee.

²⁷ When Jesus stepped ashore, He was met by a demon-possessed man from the town. For a long time this man had not worn clothing or lived in a house, but he stayed in the tombs.

²⁸ When the man saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before Him, shouting in a loud voice, “What do You want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg You not to torture me!”

²⁹ For Jesus had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. Many times it had seized him, and though he was bound with chains and shackles, he had broken the chains and been driven by the demon into solitary places.

³⁰ “What is your name?” Jesus asked. “Legion,” he replied, because many demons had gone into him.

³¹ And the demons kept begging Jesus not to order them to go into the Abyss.

³² There on the hillside a large herd of pigs was feeding. So the demons begged Jesus to let them enter the pigs, and He gave them permission.

³³ Then the demons came out of the man and went into the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned.

³⁴ When those tending the pigs saw what had happened, they ran off and reported this in the town and countryside.

³⁵ So the people went out to see what had happened. They came to Jesus and found the man whom the demons had left, sitting at Jesus’ feet, clothed and in his right mind; and they were afraid.

³⁶ Meanwhile, those who had seen it reported how the demon-possessed man had been healed.

³⁷ Then all the people of the region of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to depart from them, because great fear had taken hold of them. So He got into the boat and started back.

³⁸ The man whom the demons had left begged to go with Jesus. But He sent him away, saying,

³⁹ “Return home and describe how much God has done for you.” So the man went away and proclaimed all over the town how much Jesus had done for him.

¹ Then Jesus called the Twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons, and power to cure diseases.

² And He sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.

¹⁴ One day Jesus was driving out a demon that was mute. And when the demon was gone, the man who had been mute spoke. The crowds were amazed,

¹⁵ but some of them said, “It is by Beelzebul, the prince of the demons, that He drives out demons.”

¹⁶ And others tested Him by demanding a sign from heaven.

¹⁷ Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste, and a house divided against a house will fall.

¹⁸ If Satan is divided against himself, how can his kingdom stand? After all, you say that I drive out demons by Beelzebul.

¹⁹ And if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons drive them out? So then, they will be your judges.

²⁰ But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

²¹ When a strong man, fully armed, guards his house, his possessions are secure.

²² But when someone stronger attacks and overpowers him, he takes away the armor in which the man trusted, and then he divides up his plunder.

²³ He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters.

²⁴ When an unclean spirit comes out of a man, it passes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’

²⁵ On its return, it finds the house swept clean and put in order.

²⁶ Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and dwell there. And the final plight of that man is worse than the first.”

¹⁰ One Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues,

¹¹ and a woman there had been disabled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was hunched over and could not stand up straight.

¹² When Jesus saw her, He called her over and said, “Woman, you are set free from your disability.”

¹³ Then He placed His hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and began to glorify God.

¹⁴ But the synagogue leader was indignant that Jesus had healed on the Sabbath. “There are six days for work,” he told the crowd. “So come and be healed on those days and not on the Sabbath.”

¹⁵ “You hypocrites!” the Lord replied. “Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or donkey from the stall and lead it to water?

¹⁶ Then should not this daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be released from her bondage on the Sabbath day?”

¹⁷ When Jesus said this, all His adversaries were humiliated. And the whole crowd rejoiced at all the glorious things He was doing.

⁵ Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Christ to them.

⁶ The crowds all paid close attention to Philip’s message and to the signs they saw him perform.

⁷ With loud shrieks, unclean spirits came out of many who were possessed, and many of the paralyzed and lame were healed.

⁸ So there was great joy in that city.

¹⁶ One day as we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl with a spirit of divination, who earned a large income for her masters by fortune-telling.

¹⁷ This girl followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation!”

¹⁸ She continued this for many days. Eventually Paul grew so aggravated that he turned and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” And the spirit left her at that very moment.

¹¹ God did extraordinary miracles through the hands of Paul,

¹² so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and the diseases and evil spirits left them.

¹³ Now there were some itinerant Jewish exorcists who tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those with evil spirits. They would say, “I command you by Jesus, whom Paul proclaims.”

¹⁴ Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this.

¹⁵ But one day the evil spirit responded, “Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?”

¹⁶ Then the man with the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. The attack was so violent that they ran out of the house naked and wounded.

¹⁷ This became known to all the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus, and fear came over all of them. So the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor.

¹⁸ Many who had believed now came forward, confessing and disclosing their deeds.

¹⁹ And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books and burned them in front of everyone. When the value of the books was calculated, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas.

²⁰ So the word of the Lord powerfully continued to spread and prevail.

⁹ Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name above all names,

¹⁰ that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

¹¹ and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.