gives us here the word 'powers' only in the margin. Now 'powers' never means in the New Testament a work not brought about by natural agency, which is the meaning of a miracle: the word is sometimes used vaguely, but generally of faith-healing or the casting out of daemons;[1] indeed, in no case does it in the New Testament necessarily connote more than this. But occurring, as it does, in S. Paul's list, between healing and prophecy, the word must mean more than mere healing. It may therefore be meant to include exorcism and such-like powers of quelling psychic disturbance; or—more probably, one would think—it includes a wider exercise of spiritual mastery. As for exorcism, we are only at the beginning of our knowledge: dual personality is an established fact; 'possession' we do not hear much about in Christian countries, but most people who have lived close to life in Asia or Africa are full of queer stories, some of which have been carefully recorded. If, as seems probable,
- ↑ Δυνάμεις, in the sense of 'miracles', occurs in the New Testament as follows: In Mark 6 2, 14 healing; 9 39 exorcism; Matt. 7 22 classed with prophecy and exorcism; 11 20 again vaguely used (of Chorazin and Bethsaida) as in the parallel Luke 10 13. In Luke 19 37 the crowd on Palm Sunday praise God for the 'powers' they had seen. In Acts 2 22 S. Peter speaks of the 'powers and wonders and signs' of Jesus; in Acts 8 7 Philip heals and exorcises, and this is referred to in verse 13 as 'signs and great powers'; and in Acts 19 11 the faith-healing by contact with handkerchiefs, &c., is referred to as 'special powers'.
