New year's day is also a Christian holiday, "The Holy Name of Jesus" which celebrates the naming of Christ.
Luke 2:21 (ESV)
"And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb."
I found this today from Origin (200's A.D.) on the power of the name of Jesus.
"Christians are seen to draw their courage not from incantations but from the name of Jesus and from the commemoration of what he has done. For by his name it has happened very often that demons are put to flight from people, especially when they, who invoke it, pronounce it with the right disposition and with all trust. So great indeed is the power of the name of Jesus that sometimes it is efficacious even when spoken by the wicked. The name of Jesus heals the afflicted in mind, puts to flight the spirits of darkness, and to the sick is an ever present remedy."
- Origin in Against Celsus 1.6
Sophisticated moderns might mock primitive Christianity's belief in demons and the power of the name of Jesus to cast them out as pre-scientific, superstitious ignorance. Early Christians, I'm sure would wonder at the barren credulity of many moderns who so easily deny what so obviously enslaves them. Who is really ignorant here?
Long before it ever became a Charismatic fad, Spiritual warfare, rightly understood was a major theme in Patristic Christianity. Christ has defeated Satan. The incarnation was an invasion. The atonement was the decisive battle fought and won.
These truths empowered and emboldened ancient believers in the face of an openly demonic society. "Christians..draw their courage..from the name of Jesus and from the commemoration of what he has done." The reality of Christ's triumph over Satan provided Christians with the objective basis for their boldness. Because they share in Christ, Christians share in his victory over the evil one.
"The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil."
1 John 3:8 (ESV)
Through his Church, Christ continues to destroy the works of the devil. At the close of one year and the commencement of another "the name of Jesus continues to heal the afflicted in mind, puts to flight the spirits of darkness, and to the sick is an ever present remedy."
Happy New Year,
Jesus is Lord
Brother Theo
