Magic and Christianity: An Exegesis on Magical Passages in the Acts of the Apostles

Magic is a significant theme in The Acts of the Apostle but is undermined by scholars. The significance of this theme is obvious in the so-called five episodes or passage of magic. Thus, how does Christian understand of magic particularly in the Acts of the Apostles is also prominent. This article aimed to re-examine all five episodes of magic in The Acts of the Apostles that Christian may have a more comprehensive understanding of magic and able to conquer the reality of magic which is still very relevant in our contemporary ministry in Indonesia. The method of this article was literature study. By the study it was concluded that the magic in Acts is best understood to further its apologetical purpose, because the passages clearly demonstrate evil as the reality behind magic, thus the confrontation between God’s power and magic is inevitable for it is between God and evil.


INTRODUCTION
The root term "magic" occurrs eight times in the New Testament and four are found in Acts. 1 These four occurrences in Acts indicate the significance of magic, and the significance of magic is contra with Klauck's 2 argument that magic is not significant and thus can be undermined. Christianity flourished in the Greco-Roman context of life that was vastly dominated by magic, then, it is plausible to claim that the readers of Acts are likely familiar with the practice of magic and the reputation of a magician. Therefore, it is unnecessary for Luke to provide the description of magic in detail to emphasize the significant of magic in his second book.
The examination of the purpose of Acts is complex as many scholars have proposed answers for the purpose of Acts 3 1 All the occurrences in Acts are: First, "mageuwn", the participle of the verb "mageuw" to practice magic, is found in Acts 8:9. Second, "mageiaij" or magic appears in Acts 8:11. The third occurrence is recorded in Acts 13:6 that is "magoj" or a magician. The fourth or last appearance is "magon" the accusative of "magoj" as reported in Acts 13:8.  Eerdmans, 1998). Basically there are two positions in understanding the genre of Acts: First, Acts is a novel which implies an unhistorical account of Acts such as adopted by which vary from edifying or entertaining the reader, 4 providing a historical account of Christianity, 5 apologetic in the sense of defending Christianity as superior to other religions and a religion which is not against the Roman authorities, 6 and demonstrating the unimpeded spread of the word of God. 7 Without undermining other purposes of Acts, this article considers the apologetic purpose of Acts fits to the understanding of magic in Acts. The apologetic purpose supposed that Acts is written with two intentions: First, Christianity is the true religion and superior to others, thus the flourish of Christianity cannot be retained by either Jews, nor pagan beliefs, nor even magic.
The episode of Paul and Barnabas who resisted to be associate with the pagan gods 8 and also the narration of the inability of the Jews to stop Christianity 9 demonstrates that Christianity is true religion and yet superior to other beliefs. Moreover, the superiority and the trueness of Christianity are presented by Luke in the outgrowth of the Gospel.
Second, Luke demonstrates that Christianity does not oppose to Roman authority. The evidence is found in several episode such as an authoritative Roman representatives who accepted Paul to witness to his faith in Christ. 10 Another episode shows that Paul as a Christian and at the same time is a Roman citizen has all its rights and advantages. 11 Paul is not a rebel who opposes the empire. Nearly the end of Acts, Paul during his house-prison, still can witness freely to the word of God. 12 Magic in Acts and also in Greco-Roman literature, is depicted negatively as an evil power in two ways. First, magic is an attempt to manipulate the power of supernatural beings for personal benefit. 13 Second, its power led people to believe in many gods and the true God of Christianity is only one of them. 14 Thus, magic is understood as power that impedes people to believe only one and true God and must be overcome. 15 Here, the apologetic purpose of 10 See for instance Acts 13:7; 24:10-22. 11 Acts 16:38-9; 22:23-9. 12 Acts 28:30-31 13 See the case of Simon, the magician in Acts 8:4-25. 14 See Acts 13:8 and 16:16. 15 The clearest expression is found in Acts 13:9-10. 16 See for instance several articles that deal with magic in Indonesia, Jusman Tago'a, I Ketut Enoh, Acts fits the context since this purpose also demonstrates a negative perception of magic that thwarts the spread of the word of God.
The Acts of the Apostles presents vastly the miracles performed by the apostles and the victory over the power of magic and also the Jew's authority who try to thwart the proliferation of Christianity.
However, with five lengthy episodes of confrontation between magic and Christianity, it is plausible to state that magic is a real problem for Christianity. Thus, magic is best understood within the apologetic purpose of Acts. The victory over magic is a clear feature of Christian propaganda to witness to the trueness and superiority of Christianity.
The main issue with these magical episodes is likely about the how to understand these magical issues in Acts and apply them in the context of Christian ministry in Indonesia where magic is manifested in many aspects of life whether culture, social life, or religion. The evident that magic with all its facets is flourish until now in Indonsia is found in several articles currently. 16  also strange to find out that many articles have been written about these magical episodes but without providing any application. 17 The lack of application will turn to merely knowledge of magical episodes in Acts which is inappropriate for Christian.
The Acts of the Apostle which is the word of the living God must provide more than merely the knowledge, for it goes further to convince Christian to apply the teachings or principles into their life and ministry. This is more like also the intention of Luke when he wrote his second book for the most excellence Theophilus. Therefore, the necessity to revisit these magical episodes and draw its application in the context of Indonesia is urgent. The relevant research question is how should Christian understand magic as the cultural intersubjectivity of the Roman Greco in the light of the philosophical world view, and then apply them in their ministry? The purpose of this article is to re-examine the so-called five episodes of magic by first, translating the text, provide the structure, exegete, and expose all the Pulau Lombok-NTB", Historis Vol.

RESEARCH METHOD
The literature study is employed in this research. There are four steps in this literature method. The first is step is the trans- in Indonesia that encounters with ma-gic in its many facets abundantly.

Acts 8:4-25
This is the first as well as the lengthiest account in Acts that deals with magic and the magician. The author of Acts intends to show that however impressive and great is the magic and the magician, the victory still belongs to the word of God. Several facets of magic as represented in the magician can be found either implicitly or explicitly. The setting of this passage resides in the larger context found in the three verses 18 that precede the text.

The Setting
The setting of this magical passage is introduced by the death of Stephen which ignited a massive persecution of the believers, with an exception of the apostles. The persecution sparked two significant consequences to Christianity: 1) the spread of the believers throughout Judea and Samaria and 2) the unanticipated opportunity to proclaim the gospel beyond Aramaic speaking Jews. Therefore, the experiences at Samaria provide an introduction to the mission work that Jesus had commanded to the disciples to perform.
The encounter with Simon, the magician takes place in a missionary context.
The concern of magic is evident in the 18 Acts 8:1-3. lengthy record on the confrontation between the magical power represented in Simon the magician and the power of Jesus' name and the Holy Spirit represented by Philip and later by Peter. The confrontation between magic and Christianity can be found in the structure of this passage.

The Structure
The structure of this particular passage Acts 8:4-25 can be outlined as follows: The spread of the believers to Judea and Samaria (1-4) Philip and his deeds (5-8) The proclamation of Christ (5) The signs Philip performed (6) The positive explication of the signs of Philip (7) The rejoicing result in that city (8) Simon, the magician and his deeds (9-11) Self-oriented proclamation (9-10) The practicing of magic (9) Getting attention from the people (11) The victory of the word of God over magic (12)(13) Peter and the receiving of the Holy Spirit (14-17) Simon, the magician and his wickedness (18-23) The rebuke over magic (24) The successful outspread of the word of God throughout the cities of Samaria (25) The structure shows several significant issues concerning the confrontation bet-

A Literal Translation
The text of Acts 13:6-12 will be translated as literal as possible with the consequence that the English translation might seem strange or a bit redundant. The reason to translate literally is to exhibit the emphasis which is not apparent in English. 6) And when passing all the islands as far as Paphos, they found a man, a certain magician, a Jewish false prophet whose name Barjesus 7) who was with the proconsul Sergius Paulus, an intelligent man. This man, summoning Barnabas and Paul, sought after to hear the word of God. 8) but kept opposing them, Elymas the magician, for thus his name is interpreted, keep on seeking to pervert the proconsul from the faith. 9) But Saul, who also Paul, being filled of the Holy Spirit, looking intently into him 10) he said "O, full of all deceit and all fraud, son of devil, enemy of all righteousness, will you not stop perverting the straight ways of the Lord?" 11) but now behold the hand of Lord upon you, also you will be blind, not seeing the sun until a time. And immediately there fell on him a mistiness and darkness and going about he kept seeking the one who lead him by the hand. 12) then, seeing thing had happened, the proconsul believed because of being amazed at the teaching of the Lord.

The Setting
The setting of this passage is located within the first missionary journey of Paul which begins with the description on how Paul and Barnabas were sent from Antioch to other regions to proclaim the gospel. If in Acts 8:1-3, the mission is carried out unplanned as a consequence of the persecution, here in Acts 13:1-12 the mission is the plan of the Holy Spirit who is the ultimate figure behind the mission. 25 It is told in this setting that the Holy Spirit is the real dispatcher into mission through worship, prayer, fasting, and finally the laying on of hands by the congregation in Antioch.
Once they arrive in Salamis, they at first preach the gospel in the synagogue without any opposition. The hindrance of the magician appears in the next step of the preaching throughout the city. Unlike the previous account of Simon 26 , here the negative image of the magician is explicitly confirmed by the rebuke of Paul. The sentence given to the magician, without even an opportunity for repentance, marks impli- 25 The plan of the Holy Spirit is obvious in the selection of Paul and Barnabas from several names of two offices mentioned in Acts 13:1-2. 26 In the Account of Simon in Acts 8:4-25, there is no casting out of evil behind his magical performance at least in the confrontation with Philip, while here Acts 13:6-12 the rebuking of the exorcist is explicit.
citly the total victory of God's power over magical power.

The Structure
As the context of this passage is a missionary narrative, so the structure of this passage can be developed as follows: The beginning of the mission led by the Holy Spirit (1-5) The setting of the episode (6-8) The identity of the magician, Barjesus (6) The intelligent proconsul, the magician, and the word of God (7) The disclosure of the magician's evilness (8) The confrontation (9-11) 27 The looking at the magician (9) The warning to the magician (10) The rebuke of the magician (11) The result of the victorious power of the Holy Spirit (12) Several conclusions concerning the understanding of magic derive from this passage: First, the magician is a Jewish false prophet, Bar-Jesus by name. The association of the magician as "false prophet" is not followed by a further description of what is a "false prophet." It is likely that the main concern is on the works of the magician, namely opposing Paul and Barnabas who are the representatives of the God's power in the mission to proclaim the gospel and to lead 27 Although not precisely similar to the entire exorcism structure as in Werner H. Kelber, The Oral and the Written Gospel: The Hermeneutics of Speaking and Writing in the Synoptic Tradition, Mark, Paul and Q (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1983), 52, the confrontation structure is very similar. The reason is perhaps the mission context in Acts is to proclaim the gospel. people to believe in Jesus, on the contrary, the work of the magician was seeking to turn the proconsul from believing the gospel. The name of the magician, Bar-Jesus is rooted in Aramaic and derived from two words "Bar" and "Jesus". "Bar" means "son of" 28 and "Jesus" is in preferable to the other meaning of Joshua. Although the meaning of this name has drawn comments from several commentators, unfortunately, its relation with the whole episode has not yet been properly examined. 29 As Paul was in the mission to proclaim the true gospel of Jesus Christ, he encountered a magician whose name was similar to heart of the gospel. 30 Also, since this episode presents the confrontation between the magician and Paul, it is plausible to assume that such a na-  Kent,Curses in Acts,416, who depicts Bar-Jesus as "someone more akin to an antagonist Gentile". This Gentile identity is not convincing since the name Bar-Jesus is likely a Jewish name rather than a Gentile identity, as Luke seems to contrast the true Jesus and the false Jesus although he carried the name of Bar-Jesus, son of Jesus.
"Jesus" must be overcome. Thus, the confrontation is a necessity. The following episode of Paul filled with the Holy Spirit also stands as a confirmation and evidence that these two similar names have to be distinguished. The Holy Spirit is the only person able to distinguish these two similar names which is God's power and which is magical power.
The second conclusion about magic is that its influence infiltrates not only those of low status in the social hierarchy but also a ruling figure of the Roman establishment.
The record that the magician "was with" 32 the proconsul Sergius Paulus strongly indicates the close relationship between the magician and the proconsul. The preposition "sun" (with) implies that the magician was with the proconsul for perhaps a long time already and not just occasionally.
Luke's concern is to emphasize Elymas' continuous attempt to oppose God's power by perverting the proconsul from his faith. The continuous attempt of Elymas is found in the present participle active of "shtwn". The rebuke of Paul to Elymas, the magician with a rhetorical question introduced by the phrase "will you 32 See for instance New International Version Bible that translated verse 7 as "He was an attendant of the proconsul"; the combination of both "hv n" (was) and "sun" (with) suggests the emphasis on the togetherness or accompaniment as in BAGD, 781, 1c. 33 See for instance Beverly Roberts Gaventa, The Acts of the Apostles, (Nashville: Abingdon Press, not stop perverting" affirms the consistent attempt of the magician to pervert the proconsul to believe God. Such a phrase also strongly suggests the contrast between magic and God's power that Luke intended to highlight.

The brief explication on Sergius
Paulus the Proconsul is crucial to understanding the influence of magic. Although the identification of the proconsul as intelligent is positive, it could also imply how intelligent people still can be infiltrated by magic. The infiltration of magic into an intelligent person happens because magic is more than just an uttered spell or rites but is ultimately about power that attempts to lead people away from God. 33 For Luke, it is the power that has to be vanquished.
A third conclusion about the evil power of magic found in verse 8 is the magician's attempt to keep opposing Paul and his team by seeking to turn the faith of the proconsul away from God as affirmed in the rebuke of Paul. The phrase prior to the rebuke of Paul is significant since it helps us to understand how Paul arrives at the true conclusion. It is said that Paul was filled with the Holy Spirit and stared at the magi-2003), 26, who suggested that "The larger context of Lukan journey also discloses forces arrayed in opposition to God". Moreover, Gaventa pointed out rightly that "Most important, Satan and Satan's agent oppose God, openly attempting to subvert the gospel or to claim its power for themselves, as in p. 26-7. cian before the rebuke. It is almost certain that Luke intended to notify his audience that it is the Holy Spirit who provided the legitimacy and power to figure out rightly who is really behind the magician. Therefore, the real confrontation is between God's power and the power of the devil be-

Acts 16:16-18
Just as the two previous passages decipher magic in Christian mission, this section is also located within the missionary context of Christianity, the mission of Paul in Philippi. Though there is no use of the 34 The term "a spirit of Python" is chosen instead of "a spirit of divination" because the later term is originated in the earlier one, particularly the word "puqwna" which is the accusative of "puqwn" (Python). "Puqwn" is understood as "The serpent or

The Setting
The confrontation between God's power and magic in this passage took place in Philippi, a leading city of the district of Macedonia, a Roman colony. Such a condragon that guarded the Delphic oracle; it lived at the foot of Mount Parnassus, and was slain by Apollo. Later the word came to designate a spirit of divination" as in BAGD, 728-9. It is not clear how the change came about. frontation is preceded by the record of Paul's facile mission in Philippi. This expeditious mission was evident in the response of Lydia, a woman from the city of Thyatira, whose profession was a seller of purple fabrics. It is narrated that this Lydia opened her heart, and after her household baptism she prevailed to insist that Paul and his team stay longer. After a smooth mission in Philippi, there appears once again the refrain of magic. This time, the magic is manifested by a female-slave who possessed a spirit of divination or Python. 35

The Structure
The structure of this section can be seen in an examination of the larger context outlined as follows: The mission to Philippi (12-15) The female slave and her divination power (16) The manipulative message of the "magician" (17) The confrontation (18) The treatment in the magical texts is quite regular: invoke a higher power to compel him to assist the invoker in procuring what he wisheshealing, fame, wealth, or power, or to obtain the affection of a loved object (which frequently included dissolution of an existing amatory bond). 42 Therefore, it is obvious that obtaining the power for the wealth of the practitioners is one of the purposes of divination.
With such a background of magic in the  Such a salvation is contradictive to the salvation in Jesus that is the forgiveness of sin and the certainty of being saved from the death and this evil world. In Acts, God is understood as the only one who determines the future or salvation of every human being. This is done through Jesus. There will be no real future or salvation or security apart from Jesus. The word of God proclaimed by all Jesus disciples is the word about the greatest thing God has done to Jesus, that is to raise him from the death. 43 Ferguson, Background of Early Christianity, 132.

The implication of this understanding of
God is that it is God's power that determines the fortune or salvation and not the spirit of Python. Therefore the practice of fortune telling using the spirit of Python as demonstrated by the female slave is wicked; that spirit has to be vanquished. Since the ethnic background of Philippi was not Jewish (for instance, there are no OT quotes in the Letter to the Philippians) hearers would not think of Yahweh but Apollo as the "Most High God". The gospel of Christ was being undermined and Apollo, the god behind the Python spirit was receiving the credit. 44 The response is then clear that Apollo, the god behind the false spirit of Python, not the female slave, has to be confronted, rebuked, and cast out immediately by the power of 44 Deppe, All Road Lead to the Text, 168.

God.
Fifth, the significant report on the material benefit to her lords who manipulate the spirit she used to have, has served as a window to the broader influences of magical practices. The casting out of the spirit has indirect social and political consequences since magic is used for gaining financial benefit. The social and political consequences are actually rooted in the financial loss and not directly in magical performance. The indirect influence of magic socially is evident by such a report. But Luke's main concern is that the evil spirit who is behind all this turmoil is wrong and has to be cast out whatever consequences will appear afterwards. The argument that supports this Luke's main concern is the record that Paul was put in jail afterwards.
This casting out of demon is politically harmful to Christianity and Luke can easily omit the record of Paul being jailed. This record implies that for Luke the right thing to do is to cast out demon rather than Paul's safety in preaching the gospel.
It is the spirit behind the female slave that Paul turned and rebuked. The casting out of the spirit with the power of Jesus' name verifies that the real confrontation is between Jesus' power and the power of the evil spirit. The immediate coming out of the 45 The present participle "twn periercwme, nwn" is translated as "who used to go" to highlight the continuous aspect of the present. This implies that the spirit affirms explicitly that the power of the spirit could not rival the power of Jesus.
Luke's main concern is apologetic that the word of God is unimpeded, even when the proclaimer has been put in jail in order to restrain its spread.

Acts 19:13-20
Just as in the previous passage of Acts 16:16-18, here there is also no specific word for magic, but several remarks disclose this theme. The contrast between the miracles attempted by non-Christians with those exhibited by Paul demonstrates the power of God over magic.

A Literal Translation
13) then attempted also some of the Jewish exorcist who used to go 45 from place to place to name upon those who had the evil spirits the name of Jesus saying "I implore you Jesus whom Paul keeps on proclaiming." 14) and seven sons of a certain Sceva, the Jewish chief priest were doing this 15) But the evil spirit answered and said to them "Jesus I know, also Paul I know, but you, who are you? 16) and leaping upon them the man in whom was the evil spirit, subduing all, prevailed against them so naked and having been wounded to run away from that house 17) and this became known to all Jews and also Greek who dwell magic performed by the seven sons of Sceva has been done consistently for some time and is not a spontaneous event that occurs only once.  Eerdmans Publishing, 1994), 314-5. The vast domination of magic in Ephesus is indicated by the occurrence of the term "powers" and "principalities" which is found the most in the epistle of Paul to the Ephesians. 47 These two terms are closely associated to the powers beyond the visible phenomenon, see for instance Eph.2:2; 6:12.
burning of magical books with a price of fifty thousand pieces of silver, and in the occurrence of the term "powers of the air" and "principalities/rulers" in Paul's epistle to the Ephesians. 47 The value of one piece of silver is equivalent to one drachma (a day's wage of average labor) which could buy a sheep and an ox under favorable circumstances. 48 Such a huge price demonstrates that magic is significant and vastly dominated in Ephesus. Therefore, it is sensible that Luke emphasizes magic in this episode occurring at Ephesus.
The "VEfesia grammata" is the external evidence that witnessed the significance of magic in Ephesus. This "VEfesia grammata" is "Ephesian letters" that denot-

The Structure
The structure of this particular passage can be carried out as follows: The Introduction of the confrontation between God and the evil spirit (11)(12) The manipulation of the Lord's name by the sons of  The wrong formula of exorcism by the exorcists (13b) The failed command to the evil spirit to come out (13b) The recognition God's power by the evil spirit (15) The paradox: the overpowering of the evil spirit as the victory of God's power (16) The power of God is recognized by all the Ephesians (17) The confession and repentance of many other magicians (18-19a) The expression of repentance by the burning the magical books (19b) The victorious conclusion regarding the word and power of God (20) Since verses eleven and twelve belong to both the preceding and the following contranslation such as New American Standard Bible (NASB), New International Version (NIV, also TNIV), Revised Standard Version (RSV), and also English Standard Version (ESV, 2007 updated version). 54 See Gaventa, The Acts of the Apostles, 266-7. text, they are then included in this examination and prepare for a discussion about magic. First, the presence of the particle "de" in verse 13 which is translated as "then" is crucial, since it will show the continuation with the previous verse, and implies that the seven sons of Sceva had obser- Second, the identity of the seven sons as "those who practiced magic from place to place" is similar to Plato's negative accusation of the magicians as "the beggar priests" 57 attempting to persuade rich people from place to place. This similar designation again discloses the negative nature of magic. Also, the two references of the word "magic" in the previous discussions 58 confirm that merely the phrase "those who practiced magic" carries a negative perception. Panggarra, "Konflik Kebudayaan Menurut Teori LewisAlfred Coser dan Relevansinya dalam Upacara Pemakaman (Rambu Solo') di Tana Toraja", Jurnal Jaffray Vol. 12. No. 2 (Oktober 2014), 294-6, presenting the funeral ritual Rambu Solo' which is very similar to many magical rituals. 56 Gaventa in The Acts of the Apostles, 267 even claimed that "the seven have false relationship to the high priesthood, just as they fraudulently call on the name of Jesus" because there is "no such high priest appears in other records". Such a claim needs to be examined further since there is no any further report on the manipulation of the relationship to the high priest, though such a possibility could be true (also Dunn, The Acts of the Apostles, 259). If this manipulation of relationship is true, then the wickedness or perhaps also the ridiculous act of the magician is even worse. See the understanding of magic by Graham H. Twelftree, "Jesus, Magician or Miracle Worker?", The Biblical Annals Vol. 10 N0. 3 (2020), 406-9; also, Stanley J. Tambiah Third, the attempt to make use of Jesus' name implies that it is the power of Jesus that is manipulated. The phrase "I implore you by Jesus which Paul keeps on proclaiming" is perhaps modified already with the magical formula these seven sons used to employ. There is no other text similar to such a saying, 59 and the only other account that shares the similar word "implore" is in 1 Thessalonian 5:27 which is not used in an exorcism but for encouragement. It is plausible to assume that the seven sons of Sceva have altered the wording to their own magical formula. This phrase also explicates obviously that the seven sons of Sceva don't know Jesus since they are not Jesus' disciples. They just make use of Jesus' name with the assumption that the power will immediately follow, and they are totally wrong.

Acts 28: 1-6
This last passage is included in the examination of magic since there are several features associated with magic, particularly when the intertwining of magic and religion is presented.

A Literal Translation
1) And at the time after being bought safely through, we recognized that the island is called Malta 2) and the foreigners offered not the ordinary kindness to us, for after lighting a fire, they accepted all of us because the rain come upon us also the cold 3) and when Paul gathered together a multitude of stick and laid on the fire, a viper out of the heat came out to seize his hand 4) and when the foreigner saw the creature hanging from his hand they kept on saying to one another "Certainly, murderer is this man who although having been saved from the sea, the justice did not allow (him) to live 5) then shaking off the creature in to the fire, he suffered no harm 6 but they were expecting him to be about to swell up and suddenly to fall down dead.

The Setting
This could be the only "magical" passage that has no direct correlation to Paul's mission. The saving from the shipwreck and landing in Malta are unplanned. 60 In Acts, the word "God" only six times pointed to other than God of Israel. The one in Acts 28:6 is one The introductory narration seems natural until the seizing of Paul by a viper receives a lengthy description. Since Paul "suffered no effect", he is recognized as a god. 60 Then Luke narrates the healings of "the rest who have weakness" which seems to be the primary concern of Luke. But such healings are narrated immediately after the snake handling by Paul.

The Structure
A, Paul and his team are saved from the shipwreck (1-2). B, The negative image of Paul (3). C, The expected result from a "magical" perspective (4). C', The unexpected no-effect result of the seizing (5). B', The positive image of Paul as a deity (6). A', The inhabitants of Malta are saved by Paul through healings (7-10).
The structure is arranged as chiastic because the crucial turning point lies in verse four and five that deal with the magic connected with snake handling. It is likely that the main concern of Luke is to demonstrate that the "magical" perspective of the inhabitants of Malta is wrong. It is God who is powerful and not any other deities they may know.
The assumption of magic that divine beings control all nature is obvious in this passage. The shipwreck that endangers the life of all the crew and Paul and his team is out of the sixth occurrences that does not refer to God of Israel who has raised Jesus from the death. understood negatively as a sort of punishment by the divines to enforce justice.
Paul's experience is seen as a sort of curse interposed by the gods to sentence the wicked. This assumption is evident in the accusation of the inhabitants of Malta that Paul "is certainly a murderer" when the snakes bites him. But in the end God demonstrates that he is superior to the laws of nature and any other gods.

Contextual Implication
The

CONCLUSION
Throughout these five passages, it is obvious to conclude that magic is indeed evil and that confrontation by the power of God is the way to overcome it. All these five section in Acts with an exception to the final section Acts 28:3-6 clearly demonstrate evil as the reality behind magic; thus the confrontation between God's power and magic is inevitable for it is between God and evil.
The confrontation between these two powers is always presented in the missionary context with the victory always going to the power of God. Only when the power of the evil is overcome can the word of God spread unimpededly. So the magic in Acts is best understood to further its apologetical purpose.