Greek word · G3095

μαγεία

mageia

magic

The practice of a magos. Originally the magoi were a Median/Persian priestly caste, and mageia could mean their religious lore. By the Hellenistic and Roman period it covered incantations, spells, amulets, binding curses, love charms, healing rituals, divination and wonder-working.

Appears once in the Greek New Testament. ·

What it means

μαγία (Rec. -εία), -ας, ἡ

(μάγος),

1. the lore of the Magians (Plat.).

2. magic: pl., magic arts, sorceries: Acts 8:11.†

(AS)

From G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament (1922), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Acts 8:11

Range of meaning

The practice of a magos. Originally the magoi were a Median/Persian priestly caste, and mageia could mean their religious lore. By the Hellenistic and Roman period it covered incantations, spells, amulets, binding curses, love charms, healing rituals, divination and wonder-working. It was usually a term of disapproval: private, manipulative, often paid ritual power outside sanctioned worship, and often suspected of fraud.

Against the English

KJV/BSB/WEB/NIV 'sorcery/sorceries', ESV 'magic', NASB 'magic arts', YLT 'deeds of magic'. All defensible. 'Sorcery' can suggest fantasy-style dark spellcasting. The Greek points to a recognisable social type, the professional wonder-worker, whose standing rested on display and public reputation.

How it drifted

Modern 'sorcery' comes loaded with medieval and fantasy images of the occult. Ancient hearers would have pictured the wandering or local magos known from daily life, a figure who could be feared, admired or mocked as a charlatan.

Used elsewhere in the period

Plato, Alcibiades I 122a, uses mageia neutrally for Zoroastrian lore. Later uses are mostly negative: Wisdom of Solomon 17:7 (the 'magic art' of Egypt). Josephus, Antiquities 2.286, uses it of Pharaoh's magicians, and Antiquities 20.142 describes a Cypriot Jew who 'pretended to be a magos'. The Greek Magical Papyri show the actual spells and recipes in use. Elsewhere in Acts: Bar-Jesus the magos (13:6–11) and the burning of magic books at Ephesus (19:19). Torah forbade such practices (Deut 18:10–12). Didache 2.2: 'you shall not practise magic'.

Where it appears

Acts · 1

  1. Acts 8:11 μαγείαις magic arts

    They paid close attention to him because he had astounded them for a long time with his sorcery.

    Here: Plural: his various magical acts and techniques, the means by which he amazed people. The word appears only here in the New Testament and goes back to the verb in verse 9, 'practising magic' (mageuōn). It carried the label of illegitimate, self-serving ritual power.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.