Acts 3:16-17 And his name through faith in his name has made this man strong, whom you see and know: yes… In the New Testament special potency is attributed to the utterance of a name, especially the name of Jesus. Some of these I will enumerate. Jesus .promises that He will be with every two or three who assemble in His name (Matthew 18:20). He promises to help those who pray in His name (John 14:13, 14; John 15:16; John 16:23, 24, 26). It appears, also, that devils were cast out by the use of the name of Christ. This, at first sight, seems like magic. For magic is essentially this, a power obtained over the supernatural world by the use of charms and talismans. In the story of the "Forty Thieves," the door of the cave opened by enchantment to whoever used the right word, and said, "Open Sesame," whether it was said by the robbers or by the good man. If, therefore, we believe that by merely putting the word "Christ" at the beginning or end of our prayer, we shall obtain some blessing from God which He would not otherwise bestow, we degrade Christianity to the level of a magical process and demoralise it. Now, I think it quite clear that the whole spirit of Christianity and teaching of Jesus is utterly opposed to any such magical notions. According to Jesus, men were saved, not by the use of His name as an outward formula, but by obeying His precepts and doing good actions. In the Sermon on the Mount He distinctly rejects any such merely outward use of His name (Matthew 7:22, 23). Elsewhere He says, "Many deceivers shall come in My name." "Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord! shall enter," etc. What, then, does He mean when He says that God will hear us and help us if we pray "in His name"? To answer this question we must understand the peculiar way in which the Jews regarded the name of any person. A name with us is an arbitrary appendage, having no relation to a man's character. But to the Jew a name carried a mysterious power, expressive of what was deepest in the parent's heart, and capable of influencing the child's destiny. If the man or woman appeared to develop new qualities, the name was changed. So Jesus added to Simon's name that of Peter — a rock: and Saul's name, which meant "a destroyer," was changed to Paul, which means "a worker." Thus it happened that to come in the name of any one meant to come in his spirit. So John the Baptist was said by Jesus to be the Elijah that was to come, because he came in the spirit and power of Elijah. When the Lord said to Moses, "Thou hast found grace in My sight, and I know thee by name," it means that the Lord knew his character, and that it was equal to his work. Whenever trust "in God's name" is spoken of, it means trust in His wisdom, or His love, or His providence. When it is said that "a good name is better than riches," it means a good character. When Jesus says that "he who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward," it signifies that he who is in sympathy with the spirit of the prophet, and helps the prophet on that account, shall have the reward of being himself filled with the same prophetic spirit. And so when He tells them to "pray in His name," He means to tell them to pray in His Spirit; to "cast out devils in His name" is to cast them out by the power of a Christian spirit. There are a great many devils in the world — devils of pride, of vanity, of lust, of dishonesty, of falsehood, of cruelty. Now, if we attack these devils in the name of the devil we can do nothing If we meet pride with pride, falsehood with cunning, selfishness with self-will — if we try to put down evil with evil, we shall never succeed. We must cast out devils in the name of Christ — that is, "overcome evil with good." There is a wonderful power which belongs to him who allies himself to truth and right. When we "overcome evil by good," then only do we cast out devils in the name of Christ. And so, to pray "in the name of Christ" does not mean to put the name of Christ at the end of our prayer, and say, "We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord"; but it means when we pray to be in Christ's Spirit; to forget our vanity, selfishness, egotism; to desire the good of others; the coming of God's kingdom of love. If we pray thus, we may ask what we will and it shall be done unto us, for we shall ask only what God wills. To meet together "in the name of Christ" means to meet for the purpose of doing good and getting good. Where the spirit of Christianity is there is the coming of Christ. Therefore, when Peter said to the lame man, "In the name of Jesus of Nazareth, rise and walk," he did not utter these words as a charm. But he thus openly avowed his faith in the Master he had denied a few weeks before, and the man was healed, not by the magic of words, but by the wonderful power which attends a sincere faith in God. Not the word of Jesus, but the faith in Jesus cured him. Not the word, but the thing, makes the power of Christianity. When I see a man walking the road of duty, faithful to every obligation; true and just, when those around him are false; when I see him hold his principles of honesty, though the world grows dishonest, standing by his purity, no matter what comes; then I say that this man is casting out devils "in Christ's name." And when I see a youth, beset by temptations from without and within, making a brave struggle to be true to his mother's counsels and his father's honour, and saying to the Satan who tempts him to go astray, "Get thee behind me," I say that this boy also is fighting devils "in Christ's name." And when I see a young girl in the midst of a happy home, surrounded by love, called to leave life and all its hopes, and go to meet the great mystery, and going tranquilly, peacefully, trustingly, comforting all around her with the comfort wherewith she herself has been comforted by God, I say that she is going to heaven in the strength "of Christ's name." The name of Christ stands for immortality, for He is the Resurrection and the Life. The name of Jesus Christ means Saviour and King. Jesus means Saviour, Christ means King, and the whole means that He who saves men is the King of men. It means that love is to conquer hatred, that truth is mightier than falsehood, life than death, eternity than time. (J. Freeman Clarke.) Parallel Verses KJV: And his name through faith in his name hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know: yea, the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all. |
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