Jesus was not an Exorcist

I have been carefully reading a chapter a day of N.T. Wright and Michael Bird’s large tome The New Testament in Its Word (Zondervan, 2019).  Again and again, one or both of these scholars, both of whom I deeply respect, refer to Jesus’ exorcisms.  One influential work that I studied while writing a paper on Matthew 8:28-34 was Jesus the Exorcist by Graham Twelftree.  

I contend that Jesus never exorcised a demon—wait! Hear me out, don’t pick up those rocks you keep handy for online heretics.  When Jesus meets the demon possessed men in Matthew 8, they ask “if you drive us out (ekballo in Koine Greek)” and Jesus responds with “Away!” (hypago).  In Mark and Luke, the Gospel writers note that Jesus “permitted” (epitrepo) the demons to go into a herd of pigs rather than cast them into the abyss. 

The Greek word for exorcism means, “to compel someone to do something by invoking a transcendent power” (see A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (University of Chicago, 2000), 351).  In other words, it was a rite whereby someone, typically a priest or a self-proclaimed specialist, would perform a ritual while invoking the power of God whether directly or through heavenly mediators.  

Does Jesus fit that description? Not at all.

Jesus did not perform a rite of exorcism but simply expelled them with His own divine power.  Jesus did not grab one of His younger disciples, bend their knees, throw holy water or say something nonsensical like “The power of me compels you!” 

I love the movie The Exorcist (and the only real sequel, Legion (1990) but Jesus was not an exorcist.  Jesus did not need to rely on a rite or invoke a higher power.  Jesus simply spoke, “Away!”  

So, please, fellow pastors and students and even you scholars, stop calling Jesus an exorcist.  He did not exorcise demons, He expelled them while the evil spirits shook in fear.