What Does the Bible Say About Magic?
Spiritual Questions with Scriptural Answers.
The word “magic” is defined as “The practice of attempting to manipulate one’s environment through incantations, spiritual assistance (or manipulation), curses, or blessings.”
The word “magic” only appears three times in the Bible (NKJV). It appears twice in the Old Testament, and once in the New Testament (Acts 19:19). Both references in the Old Testament are found in the Book of Ezekiel:
“…and say, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Woe to the women who sew magic charms on their sleeves and make veils for the heads of people of every height to hunt souls! Will you hunt the souls of My people, and keep yourselves alive?
“Therefore thus says the Lord God: “Behold, I am against your magic charms by which you hunt souls there like birds. I will tear them from your arms, and let the souls go, the souls you hunt like birds” (Ezek. 13:18, 20).
From those two references, we can see that God was not pleased with the use of “magic charms.” The Hebrew word for “magic” found in Ezekiel had to do with the band worn around the wrist that allegedly had some kind of “magical power.” It is interesting that these are the only three times the word appears, and yet there is such a phenomenon when it comes to the subject of magic.
Magic in the Biblical Context.
Magic appears in the Bible in three contexts:
Illicit ritual practices among those who do not worship the God of Israel.
Illicit ritual practices by unfaithful Hebrews and Christians.
Legitimate ritual practices that Hebrews or Christians performed and that the Bible never explicitly labels as “magic.” (Roberts).
Magic and divination were associated with the practice of foreigners and unfaithful Israelites (Deut. 18:9-14; Exo. 22:18; Lev. 19:26, 31; 20:6, 27). These customs were unlawful for faithful Israelites (1 Sam. 28:8-25).
Magic in the Old Testament.
There were several events that took place in the Old Testament that some modern critics of the Bible would claim to be “magical,” but they were actually genuine miracles.
For example, some may claim that what happened with Naaman was magic, when it was miraculous (2 Kin. 5). Moses and Aaron were able to perform extraordinary feats by the power of God that the Egyptian “magicians” failed to replicate (Exo. 7:8-8:19).
The biblical understanding of magic is not the same as most modern understandings of magic.
The designation of a ritual practice as “magic” or a ritual performer as a “magician” is part of a rhetorical strategy of limiting legitimate divination and wonder-working among the Hebrews (Roberts).
Magic in the New Testament.
Like the Old Testament, the New Testament considers magic unacceptable for those who worship God:
“Magic functions in the New Testament as a means of discrediting rival wonder-workers and their practices (Ricks).
In Acts 8:18–24, Peter rebukes Simon, a new convert and former magician, when he attempts to purchase the ability to bestow the Holy Spirit on people.
In Acts 13:6–12, Paul rebukes and blinds Elymas, a Jewish magician.
In Philippi, Paul exorcises a deceptive Greek divinatory spirit from a slave, who works as a mediumistic diviner (Acts 16:16–18).
In response to a failed exorcism by the seven sons of Sceva, those converted to Christianity in Ephesus confessed that they had practiced magic and burned their magic books (Acts 19:17–20).
Furthermore, the quotation of Joel 2:28–32 in Acts 2:17–21 implies that the miracles performed by Christians result from the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The magical characters, however, perform their wonders by some other power.
“The Christians’ successes against magical characters prove that the Christians are the true representatives of God and that the Gospel is the true message of salvation” (Marguerat).
It is important to note (as we have studied in our previous articles) that genuine miracles were just that: Genuine. They were real and not something fake, manufactured, or done by “sleight of hand.”
I hope that this article will help you if you have had any questions on what the Bible teaches about magic and the practice of it.
References.
Marguerat, Daniel. “Magic and Miracle in the Acts of the Apostles.” Pages 100–124 in Magic in the Biblical World: From the Rod of Aaron to the Ring of Solomon. Edited by Todd Klutz. JSNTSup 245. London: T&T Clark, 2003.
Ricks, Stephen D. “The Magician as Outsider in the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament.” Pages 131–43 in Ancient Magic and Ritual Power. Edited by Marvin Meyer and Paul Mirecki. Religions in the Graeco-Roman World 129. Leiden: Brill, 1995.
Roberts, Ronald D. “Magic,” ed. John D. Barry et al., The Lexham Bible Dictionary (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016).
Drew Suttles is a minister for the Quitman church of Christ in Quitman, Georgia, and one of my best friends in this world. They live-stream all their Bible classes and sermons on their YouTube channel.
Drew also hosts the “Weathering the Storm” podcast on the Scattered Abroad Network. Drew talks about facing life’s challenges as a child of God. His podcast will be a blessing to your life.
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There is also the Greek word pharmakeia that means sorcery or witchcraft. It's the word that we get the English word pharmacy from.
The word pharmakeia appears in Galatians 5:20 and Revelation 18:23. Terms from the same root word appear in Revelation 9:21, Revelation 21:8, and Revelation 22:15.