Witchcraft Faced Death in the Old Testament but Mercy in the New
From capital punishment to burning books, Scripture’s shift on sorcery reveals a deeper continuity the holiness of God and the grace of Christ.
When reading Scripture, few contrasts feel more jarring than the difference between how witchcraft is handled in the Old Testament and how it’s addressed in the New. On one side, we read of sorcerers being executed (Exodus 22:18; Leviticus 20:27); on the other, we witness a revival in Ephesus where books of magic are publicly burned but the sorcerers live (Acts 19:19).
How do we make sense of this shift?
To understand it, we must look beyond the practice of magic itself and see the broader story of God’s redemptive plan, especially the massive transition from Old Covenant Israel to the New Covenant church in Christ.
God’s Holiness in a Political People
In the Old Testament, God formed a covenant people a literal nation, Israel with political, geographic, and religious unity. They weren’t merely a spiritual community; they were a nation governed by divine law. The Mosaic covenant wasn't just spiritual it was civil and legal. Worship was regulated, morality was legislated, and justice was carried out through divinely sanctioned punishments.
This is why sorcery like adultery, idolatry, or even dishonoring parents was met with capital punishment. God’s purpose in giving these laws to a national people was to demonstrate His holiness and the gravity of sin in vivid, unforgettable terms. The Law was a mirror, exposing the depths of human rebellion and our need for something greater.
As Paul explains in Romans 3:19–20, the Law wasn’t a ladder to climb but a spotlight that exposed our need for a Savior.
“Through the law comes knowledge of sin.”
So when we read these harsh penalties in the Old Testament, we are not meant to recoil and question God’s justice. We are meant to tremble, realizing just how serious our own sin really is and how urgently we need redemption.
God’s Mercy Through a Spiritual People
Fast forward to the New Testament, and we find something radically new.
The church is not a nation-state with borders and armies. We have no territory to defend, no sword to wield, and no political identity. Christ’s kingdom, as He said, is “not of this world” (John 18:36).
Instead, the New Testament introduces a pilgrim people, scattered across the globe and defined not by ethnicity or geography, but by faith in Jesus Christ. Our power is not civil or judicial it is spiritual. Our mission is not judgment it is proclamation: “Be reconciled to God” (2 Corinthians 5:20).
So in Acts 19, when Paul encounters sorcery in Ephesus, he doesn’t enforce old covenant law by calling for executions. Instead, the gospel he preaches is so powerful, so liberating, that the magicians willingly burn their books and abandon their former lives. No one dies that day but many are born again.
And this, too, is judgment the kind that leads to life.
Same Sin, Deeper Grace
Let’s be clear God hasn’t gone soft on witchcraft. Sorcery is still listed among the “works of the flesh” that lead to eternal destruction (Galatians 5:20–21; Revelation 21:8). The difference is not in how serious God considers the sin, but in how His people are now instructed to respond.
The Old Covenant was a shadow, preparing the way for a greater covenant. Jesus Christ came not to condemn the world, but to save it (John 3:17). In Him, judgment is still real but for now, mercy is offered first.
This is why Paul could write of sorcerers, adulterers, idolaters, and thieves:
“Such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 6:11).
No one in the church today is without a past. And yet every past is redeemable through Jesus.
Why the Shift Matters
This shift from execution to evangelism doesn’t mean sin is less severe it means the cross of Christ has become the central reality of history.
In Israel, the law showcased God’s holy standard and mankind’s inability to meet it.
In the Church, grace now extends to all who confess their sin and cling to the righteousness of Christ.
Yet both eras agree: God’s holiness is absolute. Sorcery and all forms of rebellion remain an affront to His character. But now we live in a time of unprecedented mercy, where former sorcerers can become beloved saints, forgiven and transformed by grace.
Today Is Still the Day of Salvation
We are not Old Testament Israel. We are not judges with stoning stones. We are heralds of grace, offering Christ to a world drunk on deception.
And that means we must not treat sin lightly but neither can we treat sinners without hope.
So whether it’s witchcraft, sexual sin, pride, or idolatry, the message is the same:
“Now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” (2 Corinthians 6:2)
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