Sorcery

Sorcery is a biblical category for practices that claim supernatural power or knowledge through spells, enchantments, divination, or contact with spirits, and Scripture consistently sets it against loyalty to Yahweh and places it under judgment (Leviticus 20:6; Deuteronomy 18:10; Malachi 3:5). The law in Deuteronomy 18:10 places “one who uses divination, one who tells fortunes, or an enchanter, or a sorcerer” among practices Israel must not find among them, and Leviticus 20:6 warns that the person who turns “to those who are mediums and wizards” will have Yahweh set his face against him and be “cut off from among his people.” The same cluster appears in Isaiah 19:3, where Egypt’s failure drives people to seek “the idols, the charmers, those who have familiar spirits, and the wizards.”

The texts themselves place sorcery in two related settings: disloyalty to Yahweh and deceptive claims to power. Saul dies because he “asked counsel of one who had a familiar spirit, to inquire” instead of keeping Yahweh’s word (1 Chronicles 10:13), and Jeremiah records Yahweh’s charge that false prophets speak “a lying vision, divination, and a thing of nothing” (Jeremiah 14:14) and warns Israel not to let “your prophets who are among you and your diviners deceive you” (Jeremiah 29:8). God is said to frustrate “the signs of the liars” and make “diviners mad” (Isaiah 44:25), and Malachi lists “sorcerers” among those against whom Yahweh will be “a swift witness” in judgment (Malachi 3:5).

The New Testament lists “sorcery” among the works of the flesh (Galatians 5:20), and the Greek word behind it, pharmakeia, is an established term for spell-making or magical practice. The New Testament also warns of false christs and false prophets who “show great signs and wonders” to lead astray (Matthew 24:24), and of a coming lawless one whose presence is “according to the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders” (2 Thessalonians 2:9); these warnings concern deceptive supernatural claims, whether or not the word sorcery is used.

Christian traditions have generally agreed that Scripture condemns sorcery (Galatians 5:20; Malachi 3:5) but differ in how they frame it today. Historically, many Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant catechisms and pastoral guides have warned against occult practice; the Catholic Catechism, for example, treats divination and magic as violations of the first commandment. Some Pentecostal and charismatic traditions emphasize demonic activity, deliverance, and spiritual warfare, while many mainline Protestant and academic interpreters stress the Bible’s polemic against rival religious systems and caution against sensationalism. These differences concern emphasis and pastoral practice more than the biblical prohibition itself.

AI-generated reference entry, grounded in the passages where this term appears — history and Scripture stated as such, interpretation labeled as interpretation. Not a substitute for the text itself.