Many religions offer power in the proper use and pronunciation of special words. The words can be special words that are personalized for the worshipper. Find your word and use it and you will be powerful. Or it can be a mantra that is chanted that helps you connect with the invisible forces that can purify your soul and link you to Nirvana. Old Testament Jews had certain prayers constructed from texts in the Pentateuch that males were expected to pray morning and evening. In the traditional branch of the Roman Catholic Church there are words and phrases that the faithful are sometimes expected to repeat that aid in forgiveness for sin or other spiritual endeavors. Protestants sometimes recite the Lord’s Prayer or a confession of faith as part of a formula for what they consider to be orthodox worship.

Sometimes Christians assume that certain words or phrases have power in themselves—in the very syllables that make up the words. In the early church some men discovered that this assumption was false. In Acts 19:14 we are introduced to the sons of a Jewish chief priest named Sceva. He has seven sons living in the region around Ephesus. God empowered Paul to both preach the gospel and do occasional miracles. Paul’s reputation grew and became the talk of the town. These sons wanted to get in on the action, so at one point they tried to mimic Paul in exorcising a demon. They sought to evict the demon “by the Jesus whom Paul preaches.” On this particular occasion, the possessed person replied, “Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?” He proceeded to beat them and drive them from the house. (See verse 16.)

Their mistake was assuming that using the syllables that comprise the word “Jesus” was all that was needed. They thought there was magic in the name. They believed that if their incantation was right, everything would work out. We can find ourselves smiling at their approach. But modern Christianity sometimes uses the word “Jesus” almost like an incantation. We can toss it around without reverence, like they did, and assume that our language will honor God. But when “Jesus” appears on pencils, refrigerator magnets, and bumper stickers, one wonders if we haven’t simply taken those five English letters and changed them into something they were never meant to be.

Sceva’s sons forgot that the power that God gave Paul flowed from the relationship he had with his risen Lord. It was not simply the byproduct of a phrase or a catchword that Paul had learned to skillfully use. Paul was not the master of incantations. He was mastered by his relationship with the risen Christ.

Those of us who take up the name of Christ in our skeptical age need the empowerment of God’s Spirit to live holy, humble, and winsome lives. This comes not from our use of Christian language, but from the depth of our relationship with the one we call savior and Lord.