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The A.V., in the margin, draws attention to the fact that `spirit of divination' may be rendered `spirit of
Python'. As this encounter with the powers of darkness at Philippi occurs at a most critical period in the history of
the preaching of the gospel, we must seek to get as full an understanding as possible of what this expression
involves.
Speaking of the agency of evil spirits, the Rev. Walter Scott writes:
`Of all the devices which he has ever employed for these purposes, one of the most successful has been to invest,
as far as he was able, error with the form, and to array it in the beauties of truth; to imitate all the methods which
God has adopted to demonstrate the divinity of the true religion; and thus to transform himself into an angel of
light. If God has raised up true, Satan has raised up lying prophets. If God has commissioned His servants to
work real miracles, Satan has employed his to exhibit counterfeit ones. If to the Jews were committed the
oracles of God, to the heathen were committed the pretended oracles of Delphos and Dodona, and many others.
If the intrinsic excellence and the purifying tendency of the doctrines of the gospel, and the beauties of holiness
adorning the character of those who have been commissioned to publish them, are amongst the means which
God has employed to recommend His truth, the servants of Satan have been transformed as the ministers of
righteousness, and have pretended deep concern for the happiness of those to whom they have delivered their
message. And it has been thought, and is maintained at the present day by some, that his giving answers by the
oracles to which our attention is now to be directed, has been amongst the principal means by which he has
carried on his intercourse with our fallen sinful world' (Existence of Evil Spirits).
There is a growing tendency to `explain away' the references to demon possession which we find in the
Scriptures. It is suggested that our Lord merely accommodated Himself to the superstitions of the age, and that, if
He had lived today, He would have called the disease by its true name of `epilepsy'. The symptoms recorded in
Matthew 17:15, Mark 9:17,18 and Luke 9:39 are certainly very like those of epilepsy, but the Lord's words clearly
attribute these very symptoms to actual demon possession. The demoniacs of the Gospels do not express themselves
as they would if they were insane or hypochondriacal (Matt. 8:29; Mark 1:24); they answer questions put to them in
a rational way. They also recognise that they are possessed by demons (Mark 5:9), and the Lord commands these
demons not to make Him known as the Messiah (Mark 1:34 margin). We also learn that these demoniacs knew that
Jesus was the Son of God (Matt. 8:29), and the Christ (Luke 4:41). If he is at all uncertain, the reader should not
remain satisfied with the few remarks given above, but should tabulate for himself all that is written in the Gospels
in this connection. We believe that the result will be a conviction that actual demon possession is the truth of the
matter.
The damsel that followed the apostle at Philippi was `possessed with a spirit of Python'. Python, in Greek
mythology, was the name given to the Serpent that was born of the mud left by the flood. The Serpent was killed by
the god Apollo, to whom it was supposed that the Serpent's powers of prophecy and oracular utterance were
transferred. Apollo's oracle was at Delphi, where a priestess called Pythia gave cryptic replies to questioners'
enquiries.
The following are some of the cases of Satanic opposition encountered at various stages of the apostolic witness:
(1) At the entry of the gospel into Samaria, we find Satanic opposition represented by Simon the Sorcerer. This
man `believed' but had very questionable ideas concerning the bestowal of the Holy Spirit (Acts 8:9-24).
(2) At the entry of the gospel into Galatia, under the separate ministry of Paul and Barnabas, we find again
Satanic opposition represented by Elymas the Sorcerer, who was smitten with blindness, `not seeing the sun
for a season' (Acts 13:6-11).
(3) At the entry of the gospel into Europe, we find Satanic opposition represented by the damsel possessed with
the spirit of Python. This spirit was cast out (Acts 16:16-18).
(4) When Athens was visited, the city of the world's wisdom, the name of the Lord was confused with those of
the demons that played a prominent part in Greek idolatry, for the philosophers said: `He seemeth to be a
setter forth of strange gods (Greek, demons)' (Acts 17:18).