Luke has already recounted several incidents where people were interested in financial gain. She has “earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling” (16:16). When Paul casts out the demon, he creates a confrontation between himself and those who have a financial stake in the demon-possessed girl. (Luke Timothy Johnson, The Acts of the Apostles, Sacra Pagina Series, volume 5, 297) Profit also left (16:19) Paul does it in Jesus’ name, and “at that moment the spirit left her” (16:18).Īs in Peter’s confrontation with Ananias and Sapphira (5:1-110, or with Simon Magus (8:17-24), and Paul’s encounter with Bar-Jesus/Elymas (13:6-11), we find the Prophet doing battle with demonic forces and besting them, establishing in still another turf-war a further territorial gain for the “kingdom of God” being proclaimed by the apostles, and enacted by their power to heal and exorcise. Paul finally becomes “so annoyed” that he does what Jesus did on numerous occasions - he commands the demon to leave.
Jesus encountered a similar situation on several occasions ( Luke 4:41 8:28 Mark 1:24 3:11 5:7). Luke has already told us about a similar situation Jesus encountered, where a demon keeps on shouting that Jesus is “the Holy One of God” ( Luke 4:34). The demon’s shouting is probably done in mockery, and is intended to disrupt, not enhance, the preaching of the gospel. The demonic spirit knows that the presence and power of God is with the missionaries. The demon inside the girl kept shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved” (16:17). The demon-possessed girl keeps bothering Paul and his group “for many days” (16:18). Longenecker, “Acts,” The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, vol. Later the word pythoncame to mean a demon-possessed person through whom the Python spoke - even a ventriloquist was thought to have such a spirit living in his or her belly. It was supposed to have lived at the foot of Mount Parnassus and to have eventually been killed by Apollo (cf. The Python was a mythical serpent or dragon that guarded the temple and oracle of Apollo, located on the southern slope of Mount Parnassus to the north of the Gulf of Corinth. The Greek here is pneuma pythona, or a “Pythian spirit.” Luke is describing demon possession in the common parlance. They encounter “a female slave who had a spirit” (16:16). The crisis begins when the missionaries are going to the place of prayer again.
Lydia now disappears from Luke’s account, and the rest of the narrative dealing with Philippi centers around Paul’s imprisonment.
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