The Ohio Independent Baptist, May 1969

Glimpses of Truth from the Greek New Testament by Dr. George Lawlor DRUGS and MAGICAL ARTIFICES In the list of voices given by Paul in Gal. 5: 19-21 which are the out– gro\\'th of the eravings of the fleshly unregenerate nature of ·man, an un– u ual word appears in vs . 20, ren– dered "witchcraft" in the A. V. The Greek \.\'Ord is pharmakeia, from \\.hich are derived our English terms ' pharmacy, pharmaceutical, pharm– aci t' ' etc. Thi word occurs only four times in the .T., Gal. 5:20, and in Rev. 9 :21 · 18 : 23 ; and 2 1 : 8. In the Rev. pas ages, it is translated 'orcerie' ' (p /1ar111akion, 9:2]· plzar,nakia, 18: 23), and ' 'sorcerers' ' (phar11zakois, 21: 8). It is used sever– al times in the eptuagint, in such pa age~ as Exod. 7: 11, 22, where reference is made to the magicians of Eg)rpt and their "enchantments." "he form phar,nakos occurs in Deut. 18:10 for "witch" and in D an. 2:2 f'Or " orcerer .' ' Early Greek P l1c1r1nakeia in it variou forms appears frequentl}' in early Greek \\.'riting , in its ha ic ense of ' 'the adn1inistration of d ru~ and potions 10 produce phy ical ef:fect .,, In the la sics it i so tiscd by Plato, Hip– p crate", and Xenophon ; and Plato al re er ' to a "druggi t' hop' ' (pl1ar111<1keio11 , ~,hile Hippocrat v.'rite of a n1an pu rcha ing purga– t iv fr 111 a ~~phar n1acy'' (1, l1,1r- 111akeit1). JJhocl de cribes ,l rnan v- }1 d\:a]1 i11 ,,ari u" kind of 111cdi- cine J1arn1 , 11d /J<)i ·,J11 r, anti refer I hi111 a 11/1r,,.,,,ake11s! ind J> lato 11 :i.s tl1e , 111e 1er111 i,11 r rring t , p, i.\– <J11c1-. J1ere i , 11 inter ti11g n l e ll)' m ur1i1ide i11 "l1ich l1e J11 ak r cfl:r- I I i 11 i 11d iv i \] 1 v. 11 \\ , 1)1 ac1 afl111i,1i 1eri111-1 ,, t, 01 0,10 11 ,fiJ' li, ( /J11t1r111ake1,rJ , l 11 111 1 1 "r 11 . 11 r d 1l t a I LI s t In .. rl> f r 111 \\ I c r , t r i l c 11 n ~ iii I 1 11a11111 111 a11 l e,1- 2~ g d 1r1 f poio11'. n [ 11 1 J f. n I n 1 11 11 ll 11 Jl ' 11 \\ 11 Jll )1 ' &illd 1 . , In Comicu Eupoli , reference is made to a certain wine that wa drugged ( Pharmakiteis), and again to a ring that contained enough poisori to kill a man. Homer use pharmako11 of 1r1edicines applied outwardly, and of drugs taken inwardly, but he also u e the word to de cribe poisonous drLtgs expre ly employed as a deadly expedient and means. Thucydides uses phar,nakon in the ame sense. Heriodotu has the word in an inter– esting referen,ce when he speaks about a certain secret ;neans by which a man achieved an end. Ae chy,lus and He iod use pharmakon both as a poisonous drug, and a charm, spell or enchantment. The noun pharn1akos is used of a poisoner and of a magi– cian, and pharmakon by Homer and Herodott1 of an especially-prepared, enchan,ted potion intended to pro– duce certain prescribed results and effects. Ancient Papyri Some interesting u ses of the word occur in the P.apyri. For example, its general sense of " Drugging" i illu– strated by a note f rom an early papy– ru dated 258 B.C. in which a man tate that having taken a large do e of medicine (pl1armakeias) he would not dare to leave his hou e. In Papyrus Oxy I II (A.D. 131) a man writes sternly to a certain individual charg– ino him with "accu ing my mother 0 . Hermione of poisonir1g" (pharn1ake1- as). A wife olemnly promises her hu 1band that she will not mix noxi- 0 1,s dr11gs (p l1ar1,1aka) with his drink o r food. Phl1rn1akon i. fot1nd in a healing en e, both "p ychic" and "n1edicinal. " A man write t a pharn1- aceuti ca l dea ler and reqt1e t him in behalf of a friend, to ··be o good a to 11 even at your own ri k, good quality of whatever <lr11g (p/1ar11zt1- Last summ,cr fn he rlot are~s of Daill· more the PTL's unique can1pa1gn lrategy of ,~ass evangelizatlon and Scripture distribution produced 930 decisions Ith 4 000 hearing the ~essage. I • kon) my friend otas ays that he h a need.' ' The \erb (pl1ar11zakoo) occur in Pap) ru Ox} XII (3, 4 A.O. ), Vt here a petitioner addres es himself to a chief oracle and a ks, "-H a\ e 1 been poiso,1ed?" (pepl1arr11a– ko1r1ai) . A triking example of the u e of p/1ar111ake110 is the special Jewi h prayer invoking \ -engeance on the murderer of poisoners of an innocent )'Oung girl: ··r call upon and pra)· to the Most High G od. the Lord of the spirit and of all flesh against tho e who Vv ith guile murdered or pois- 011ed (pl1ar111akeLJ.Santas) the wret– ched unt in1ely lo t Heraclea, bed– ding her innocent blood wickedly·.' · (Dei mann LAE, p. 414). New Testament In the light of uch a background. the u e of thi word in the four .T. pa age become weighty and mean– ingful. Ir clo e link \\rith idolat11 in the Gal. 5: 20 ver e is ignificant. All orcery. witchcraft, use of drug • and the uper titiou notion which furni h the oil and atmo phere for their ex– i tence, are pagan throughout. P/1arr11- akeia is here Ii ted becau e of the drL1g and n1edican1ent o \\idel)' emplo)·ed in ecret pagan art ro in– duce the practice of dealing in c– ct1 l ti m, i.e. evoking pirit to pro– dt1ce re ult that are apparent})' tiper– natural. II uch ore r\· i · id latrou . • a11d thu pagan. It i thi len1ent f the fle h that lead on1e h.ri tian · to re rt to wit hcrt1tt [ r healing. for \\'arding f( ,·il, ti r directing then1 through gr at difficultie in life. for bringing on1 p cial rc\cla– tion i11 a cr1 1, In p1te f all cn- 11 ohte nn1ent 1nd 1 n. l rttctit1n f ron1 tht: e, Hol)' riptt1rcs. the ilk. l f th ~~ (Continued on page No. 14) Are the riot-tom rnner cities realty Impossible for the Gospel to penetrate? NOT FOR THE PTL! This new Inner City Bible Ministry (ICBM) of PTL must be extended this summer to principal cities across the U ,S, including the nation's capital! \~111 you help? For Information ,vrite to: J. Edward Sn1lth, lnternation I Director Alfred A. Kunz, Intern tlonal Director Emeritus POCKET TESTAMENT LEAGUE, Inc. 49 Honeck Street, Englewood, NJ. 07631 Canada: 16 Sp dfn Road, Toront 4, OnL