Introduction
The subject with which this study is concerned is, admittedly, not one that I would consider to be of great importance to believers today. However, at the time when I began working on this study – which was a few years ago – some controversy surrounding the subject of demons had arisen among believers. When the controversy died down, I lost interest in the subject and “shelved” the unfinished article I’d been working on so that I could focus on topics that I considered to be more important (and of greater interest to me). However, I hate to leave stuff unfinished, and decided to go ahead and make whatever additions/edits to the article that I thought needed to be made in order to make it acceptable for posting on my blog.
Now, the controversy to which I referred above was based on a particular understanding of demons that could be summarized as follows: Whenever Christ and the inspired writers of Scripture referred to demons, they were simply “accommodating” certain mistaken beliefs that the majority of people had at that time. According to this view (which I’ll refer to as the “accommodation theory”), the references to demons made by Christ and the inspired writers of Scripture shouldn’t be understood as an affirmation of their actual existence as living, intelligent beings. Rather than agreeing with or approving of the commonly-held view of demons, Christ and the inspired writers were simply accommodating the mistaken beliefs held by most people at that time.
The main problem with the accommodation theory could be stated as follows: In order to explain away all such references to demons in Scripture as “accommodation,” it must first be proven that Christ and the inspired writers didn’t, in fact, believe in the real existence of demons as intelligent, spiritual beings. However, even those who hold to the accommodation theory would have to admit that what Jesus and the inspired writers said and wrote concerning demons was said and written as if they believed that the beings they referred to as “demons” were just as real as (and distinct from) the humans who were afflicted by them. What we find said and written concerning demons in Scripture gives us no reason to believe that Jesus and the inspired writers held to a different belief regarding the existence and spiritual nature of demons than those whose beliefs they were supposedly “accommodating.”
In other words, if Jesus and the inspired writers did, in fact, believe in the real existence of demons, we have no reason to think that they would’ve spoken and written any differently than they did. This being the case, the burden of proof rests squarely on those holding to the accommodation theory to demonstrate that, despite what Jesus said and the inspired writers actually wrote, they didn’t actually believe in the real existence of demons. However, I don’t think it’s even possible to argue that this was the case without begging the question against the very view that I believe Scripture affirms.
One objection made by those holding to the “accommodation theory” is that, if the references to demons made by Christ and the inspired writers of Scripture should be understood as evidence that they did believe in the existence of demons, then we would have to conclude that they also agreed with every erroneous belief that was held among the Jewish (and gentile) people concerning demons at that time.[i] However, this in no way follows.
The mere fact that Jesus and the inspired writers of Scripture referred to demons doesn’t mean that, in doing so, they were endorsing or sanctioning whatever erroneous views were held by people concerning demons at that time (for examples of what was believed by Jews and gentiles in the first century concerning the existence and nature of demons, see the first footnote). The fact that Jesus and the inspired writers of Scripture believed in the existence of demons doesn’t imply that they shared the same exact beliefs about demons that others had in the first century. Similarly, the fact that both Jews and gentiles held to erroneous beliefs about God, death, the nature of human beings (etc.) doesn’t mean that, when Jesus or the apostles spoke or wrote about these subjects, they were endorsing or “accommodating” any of the erroneous beliefs to which others held at that time.
Spiritual forces of wickedness among the celestials
The view that I’m going to be defending in this article (against the “accommodation theory” referred to earlier) is that the beings referred to as “demons” belong to the category of non-human, spiritual beings referred to by Paul in Ephesians 6:11-12. In these verses we read the following:
“Put on the panoply of God, to enable you to stand up to the stratagems of the Adversary, for it is not ours to wrestle with blood and flesh, but with the sovereignties, with the authorities, with the world-mights of this darkness, with the spiritual forces of wickedness among the celestials.”
As with the other references to “sovereignties” and “authorities” in Scripture (Rom. 8:38; Eph. 1:21; 3:10; Col. 1:16; 2:15; 1 Pet. 3:22), the “sovereignties” “authorities” and “world-mights” referred to in Eph. 6:12 should be understood as titles belonging to living, personal beings who had varying degrees of power and influence over others. Just as Paul had in mind living, personal entities when he referred to “the superior authorities” in Rom. 13:1-7, so he had in mind living, personal entities in Eph. 6:12. However, while it’s evident that Paul had human beings in mind when he used the terms “sovereignties” and “authorities” elsewhere in his letters (Romans 13:1; Titus 3:1; cf. Luke 12:11), such is not the case in Eph. 6:12. For in this verse, Paul contrasted the entities to which he was referring with those who are “blood and flesh.”
Elsewhere in Scripture, the expression “blood and flesh” (or “flesh and blood”) refers to the mortal and corruptible nature of human beings (1 Cor. 15:50; Heb. 2:14), or mortal humans themselves (Matt. 16:13-17; Gal. 1:16). Whether we understand the expression “blood and flesh” in Eph. 6:12 to mean “mortal human nature” or “mortal humans,” the implication of what Paul was saying in this verse is, I think, clear: neither “the Adversary” nor the entities referred to in v. 12 are beings with a mortal, human nature. Rather, they belong to a different class, or order, of beings entirely.
This understanding is confirmed by the fact that these entities are further described as “spiritual forces of wickedness among the celestials.” No human “sovereignties” or “authorities” could legitimately be described in this way. According to Paul’s usage of the term “spiritual” elsewhere, the only humans who can be considered “spiritual” are those who are being “taught by the spirit,” who are “receiving those things which are of the spirit of God,” and who are “walking in spirit” (see 1 Cor. 2:13-15; 3:1; 14:37; Gal. 6:1 [cf. Gal. 5:16]). In these and other verses, Paul contrasted humans who are “spiritual” with those who are “soulish” and “fleshly.”
Thus, the wicked, adversarial beings with whom Paul believed the saints in the body of Christ have to “wrestle” (i.e., the “spiritual forces of wickedness among the celestials”) cannot be considered “spiritual” in the same sense in which Paul described certain humans as “spiritual.” It simply wouldn’t make any sense. The only other sense in which living, intelligent beings who are “wicked” could be referred to as “spiritual” is if they belong to that order of non-human beings who are referred to elsewhere as “spirits” (e.g., in 2 Chronicles 18:20, Hebrews 1:14 and 1 Pet. 3:19-20).
Moreover (and as I’ve argued in more depth elsewhere), the location that Paul had in mind when he used the expression “among the celestials” (en tois epouraniois) is that which is elsewhere referred to in this letter as “the heavens” (Eph. 4:10), and which the author of the letter to the Hebrews referred to as both “the heavens” (Heb. 4:14; 7:26; 8:1-2) and “heaven itself” (Heb. 9:23-24). This is evident from the fact that the term epouraniois (“celestials” or “heavenlies”) is in the dative case, and thus denotes locality (as opposed to the genitive case, which denotes source or character).
We can thus conclude that the “spiritual forces of wickedness among the celestials” are examples of the kind of heaven-dwelling beings that we find referred to elsewhere as “spirits.” Of course, we need not infer that these “spiritual forces of wickedness among the celestials” are permanently “stationed” in heaven. In fact, we know that’s not the case. Even before he’s ultimately cast out of heaven (Rev. 12:7-12), the leader of these spiritual forces of wickedness among the celestials (i.e., Satan) evidently spends a great deal of time on (or in close proximity to) the earth (Job 1:6-7; 2:1-2; Mark 1:13; Luke 22:3; John 13:27; 2 Cor. 11:14; 1 Thess. 2:18; 1 Pet. 5:8; Rev. 2:13). So it shouldn’t be surprising that there are lower-ranking spirits under his command who are quite active on the earth as well.
The spiritual nature of demons
The first reference to demons in the Greek Scriptures is found in Matthew 4:24. In this verse we read the following:
“And forth came the tidings of Him into the whole of Syria. And they bring to Him all who have an illness, those with various diseases and pressing torments, also demoniacs and epileptics and paralytics, and He cures them.”
The word translated “demoniacs” in this verse is daimonizomenous, and denotes those who are “demonized,” or under the power of one or more demons (Matt. 15:22). For example, in Mark 1:32-34 we read the following:
Now evening coming on, when the sun sets, they brought to Him all those who have an illness and those who are demoniacs. And the whole city was assembled at the door. And He cures many who have an illness, those with various diseases; and many demons He cast out.
The word translated “demons” in this passage and elsewhere is the plural form of the Greek word daimōnion (which is the diminutive form of the noun daímōn). Concerning the etymology of the word daímōn, we read in Merriam-Webster that it’s “probably from dai-, stem of daíomai, daíesthai ‘to divide, allocate’ + -mōn, deverbal noun and adjective suffix” (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/demon)
According to Plato, the term daímōn was derived from daeémōn (which is an adjective formed from daō, meaning “knowing” or “intelligent”). In the Greek-English Keyword Concordance of the Concordant Literal New Testament, the meaning of daímōn is said to be “teach.” We’re then provided with the following definition: “a superhuman spirit being, almost always used in a good sense in previous profane Greek, but in the Septuagint it is used disparagingly of the gods of the nations, an evil spirit which has the power to obsess mankind.”
Regardless of the exact meaning and etymology of the word daímōn, Scripture is clear that the beings referred to by the use of this term (and its diminutive form) are spirits. For example, it’s evident from what we read in Matthew 8:16 (“they bring to Him many demoniacs, and He cast out the spirits with a word”) that the inspired writer understood demons to be spirits. Again, the term “demoniacs” refers to people who are “demonized” (i.e., oppressed by, and under the power of, one or more demons). Since the healing of these demoniacs by Christ involved the casting out of the spirits by which they were being “demonized,” it follows that demons are spirits.
That Christ understood demons to be spirits is evident from what we read in Luke 10:17-20:
Now the seventy-two return with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Thy name!” Yet He said to them, “I beheld Satan, as lightning, falling out of heaven. Lo! I have given you authority to be treading upon serpents and scorpions and over the entire power of the enemy, and nothing shall be injuring you under any circumstances. However, in this be not rejoicing, that the spirits are subject to you, yet be rejoicing that your names are engraven in the heavens.”
Here, the beings to which the seventy-two disciples referred to as “demons” are referred to by Christ as “spirits.” Thus, although it’s certainly not the case that all spirits are demons, it’s clear that all demons are spirits. And based on what Christ declared in Luke 24:36-40, we can further conclude that demons (and other spirits) don’t have a body consisting of flesh and bones.
Moreover, in light of how Christ responded to what his disciples said concerning the demons being subject to them in his name, Christ clearly believed there to be some connection between demons and Satan. But who or what is Satan? Answer: As I’ve argued in greater depth elsewhere – see, for example, the following article (as well as the five-part study to which it is a follow-up) – Scripture reveals that Satan (or “the Adversary”) is an intelligent, superhuman being who is just as personal in nature as all of the other non-human, celestial beings that God created (such as Michael or Gabriel). In fact, in Ephesians 2:1-2 Paul referred to Satan as both ”the chief of the jurisdiction of the air” and “the spirit now operating in the sons of stubbornness.”
On a few occasions, demons are referred to as “wicked spirits.” For example, in Luke 7:21 and 8:2 we read the following:
In that hour He cures many of diseases and scourges and wicked spirits, and to many blind He graciously grants sight.”
“…and some women who were cured of wicked spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had come out…”
Similarly, in Acts 19:11-12 we read the following:
Besides, powerful deeds, not the casual kind, God did through the hands of Paul, so the handkerchiefs or aprons from his cuticle are carried away to the infirm also, to clear the diseases from them. Besides, wicked spirits go out.
We go on to read of an unsuccessful attempt by a group of Jewish exorcists to cast out a wicked spirit from a man:
Now some of the wandering Jews also, exorcists, take in hand to name the name of the Lord Jesus over those having wicked spirits, saying, “I am adjuring you by the Jesus Whom Paul is heralding!” Now there were some seven sons of Sceva, a Jew, a chief priest, doing this. Yet answering, the wicked spirit said to them, “Jesus, indeed, I know, and in Paul am I versed, yet who are you?” And leaping on them, the man in whom the wicked spirit was, getting the mastery of both, is too strong for them, so that, naked and wounded, they are escaping out of that house.
In this passage, the being referred to as a “wicked spirit” is not only described as having spoken to the seven sons of Sceva, but is distinguished from “the man in whom the wicked spirit was.” These two facts indicate that the wicked spirit was an intelligent, non-human personal being.
In addition to referring to demons as “spirits” and “wicked spirits,” the inspired writers often referred to demons as “unclean spirits.” For example, in Mark 5:1-17 we read the following:
And they came to the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gergesenes. And at His coming out of the ship, straightway there meets Him a man out of the tombs, with an unclean spirit, who had a dwelling among the tombs. And not even with chains was anyone able any longer to bind him, because of his having often been bound with fetters and chains, and the chains were pulled to pieces by him and the fetters crushed. And no one was strong enough to tame him. And continually, night and day, among the tombs and in the mountains was he, crying and gashing himself with stones.
And perceiving Jesus from afar, he ran and worships Him, and, crying with a loud voice, he is saying, “What is it to me and to Thee, Jesus, Son of God Most High! I am adjuring Thee by God: Not me shouldst Thou be tormenting!” For He said to it, “Come out, unclean spirit, out of the man!” And He inquired of it, “What is your name?” And it is saying to Him, “Legion is my name, for many are we.” And it entreated Him much that He should not be dispatching it out of the country.
Now there, toward the mountain, was a great herd of hogs, grazing. And all the demons entreat Him, saying, “Send us into the hogs, that we may be entering into them.” And Jesus immediately permits them. And, coming out, the unclean spirits entered into the hogs, and the herd rushes down the precipice into the sea. Now they were about two thousand, and they were choked in the sea.
Notice that both Christ and the inspired writer of this account (Mark) referred to the demon with whom Christ spoke (and who is said to have spoken to Christ) as “an unclean spirit.” The term “unclean” can be understood as a reference to the moral impurity of demons (concerning the moral aspect of the words clean/pure and unclean/impure, see, for example, Matt. 5:8; 15:10-20; 23:25-26; John 13:10-11; 15:3; 2 Cor. 6:6; 7:1; Eph. 5:26; 1 Tim. 4:12; 5:22; 2 Tim. 2:21-22; Titus 1:15; 2:14; James 4:8; 1 Pet. 1:22; 3:2; 1 John 3:3). Understood in this way, the term “unclean” would be another way of referring to the wicked nature of these particular spirits.
Those who hold to the accommodation theory concerning demons believe that the expression “unclean spirit” should be understood as equivalent in meaning to what would be referred to as a “mental illness” today. According to this understanding, when Mark referred to the demon as an “unclean spirit” – and when Christ addressed the demon as an “unclean spirit” and commanded it to come out of the man – they believed the “demon” was actually a mental illness from which the man was suffering. But if that’s the case, why would Christ have gone on to ask a mental illness what its name was? If Christ knew that there was no actual demon (and that what others thought was a “demon” was actually a mental illness), then such a question would have only served to perpetuate an erroneous belief, and further confirm those who were listening to him – including his own disciples – in a belief that he knew to be wrong.
The fact that Christ asked the demon to identify itself is more consistent with the view that he believed in the demon’s personal existence than with any alternative view. Moreover, after it’s revealed that the demoniac actually had “many” demons within him, Mark referred to “all the demons” as entreating Christ, and then referred to these beings as “them” and as “unclean spirits” (plural). In other words, Mark wrote as if each of the demons was a distinct unclean spirit, and that there were therefore multiple “unclean spirits” indwelling the man. Mark also seemed to believe that it was these multiple spirits who then entreated Christ to send them into the hogs that were grazing. When, for example, we’re told that “Jesus immediately permits them,” the word “them” can’t refer to a single mental illness. Rather, it must refer to the demons/spirits themselves (i.e., the unseen intelligent beings that, according to Mark’s understanding, were subsequently sent into the hogs).
Interestingly, it was the understanding of the demons that, at some future time, they would be tormented (cf. Matt. 8:29). Others expressed a fear of being destroyed (Mark 1:24). Apparently, the “torment” they anticipated involved being sent away into “the submerged chaos” (Luke 8:31). Based on what’s revealed elsewhere in Scripture (e.g., Rev. 9:1-11; 20:1-3), the “submerged chaos” to which the demons feared being sent is a subterranean location in which spiritual beings can be imprisoned (and in which some already are imprisoned). For other references to this subterranean prison for wicked spiritual beings, see 1 Peter 3:19-20, 2 Peter 2:4 and Jude 1:6.
Another example of a demon using its power to afflict a human being is found in Luke 9:37-43. In these verses we read the following:
Now it occurred on the next day, at their coming down from the mountain, that a vast throng meets with Him. And lo! a man from the throng exclaims, saying, “Teacher, I beseech Thee, look on my son, for my only begotten is he! And lo! a spirit is getting him, and suddenly he is crying out, and it is tearing and convulsing him, with froth, and is departing with difficulty from him, bruising him. And I besought Thy disciples that they should cast it out, and they could not.”
Now, answering, Jesus said, “O generation unbelieving and perverse! Till when shall I be with you and bear with you? Lead your son here to Me.” Yet, while he is still approaching, the demon tares and violently convulses him. Yet Jesus rebukes the unclean spirit, and He heals the boy and gives him back to his father. Now all were astonished at the magnificence of God.
Notice that what the father referred to as “a spirit” is later referred to by Luke as both a “demon” and an “unclean spirit.”
Moreover, in a number of verses, a clear distinction is made between demons and the diseases/infirmities of which people were cured by Jesus. Consider the following:
Matthew 4:24
And forth came the tidings of Him into the whole of Syria. And they bring to Him all who have an illness, those with various diseases and pressing torments, ALSO demoniacs and epileptics and paralytics, and He cures them.
Matthew 10:1
And, calling His twelve disciples to Him, He gives them authority over unclean spirits, so as to be casting them out, AND to be curing every disease and every debility.
Mark 1:32-34
Now evening coming on, when the sun sets, they brought to Him all those who have an illness and those who are demoniacs. And the whole city was assembled at the door. And He cures many who have an illness, those with various diseases; AND many demons He cast out.
Luke 6:17-18
And a vast throng of His disciples and a vast multitude of people from entire Judea and Jerusalem and maritime Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear Him and to be healed of their diseases AND who are annoyed by unclean spirits, were cured.
Luke 8:2
And some women who were cured of wicked spirits AND infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had come out…”
Luke 9:1
Now calling together the twelve apostles, He gives them power and authority over all the demons AND to be curing diseases.
Luke 13:32
“Lo! I am casting out demons AND performing healings today and tomorrow, and the third day I am being perfected.”
Acts 5:16
Now a multitude also from the cities about Jerusalem came together, bringing the infirm AND those molested by unclean spirits, all of whom were cured.
Acts 19:11-12
Besides, powerful deeds, not the casual kind, God did through the hands of Paul, so the handkerchiefs or aprons from his cuticle are carried away to the infirm also, to clear the diseases from them. BESIDES, wicked spirits go out.
Even if the inspired writers didn’t understand the underlying cause of a certain disease/infirmity, they could’ve still referred to a certain condition as a disease/infirmity (if that’s what they believed it to be). It’s thus significant that they consistently distinguished demons from diseases/infirmities (just as they distinguished demoniacs from epileptics and paralytics). This consistently-made distinction indicates that the inspired writers did not have in mind a disease or infirmity of unknown etiology when they referred to unclean/wicked spirits, or demons.
Notice, also, that in Luke 8:2 we’re informed of the fact that seven wicked spirits/demons had come out of Mary Magdalene. The fact that Luke included the specific number of demons that had come out of Mary can be understood as further evidence that he did not believe that she was suffering solely from an illness that was not understood at the time. Rather, Luke was using the expressions “wicked spirits” and “demons” to refer to individual, spiritual beings that were just as real as the heavenly messengers in which he also undoubtedly believed (and which he would’ve also considered to be “spirits”). Moreover, if Mary had, in fact, been suffering from the mental disorder known today as “dissociative identity disorder” (or “multiple personality disorder”), it would’ve still been a single disorder from which she was suffering and in need of being healed (rather than multiple disorders that would’ve all had to “come out” of her).
In addition to the fact that wicked spirits/demons are described as speaking, we also know that, during Jesus’ ministry, they possessed knowledge that we have good reason to believe the humans from whom they were cast out did not naturally possess. In Mark 1:34 we read the following:
“[Jesus] healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons. And he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.”
In what sense did the demons know Jesus? Answer: They were aware of his Messianic identity. For example, in Luke 4:41 we read the following:
“And demons came out of many, crying, ‘You are the Son of God!’ But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew that he was the Christ.”
Similarly, in Mark 1:23-27 we read the following:
And straightway there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit, and he cries out, saying, “Ha! what is it to us and to you, Jesus the Nazarean! Did you come to destroy us? We are aware of you, who you are -- the holy One of God!” And Jesus rebukes him, saying, “Be still, and be coming out of him!” And, convulsing him, the unclean spirit, shouting with a loud voice, came out of him.
In fact, Mark 3:11 tells us that “whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, ‘You are the Son of God’”
It’s not just that one or two of the demons cast out by Jesus were aware of his Messianic identity (although that would be pretty significant as well). According to what we read in Mark 1:34 and 3:11, it’s clear that this was the rule. All of the demons that saw Jesus and were cast out by him knew that he was the Christ, the Son of God.
This fact is particularly noteworthy in Mark’s account, since we read of no human being confessing that Jesus is the Christ until Peter’s confession in Mark 8:29, and no human being confessing that Jesus is the Son of God until the centurion at the cross (Mark 15:39; cf. Mark 14:62). Prior to these confessions, it is only God (Mark 1:11; 9:7) and the demons who recognize Jesus as the Son of God. The implication here is that, like the knowledge that Peter had concerning Jesus’ identity (Matt. 16:16-17), the knowledge possessed by the demons was also supernatural.
It has been objected that, since Christ is said to have spoken to and rebuked non-living/impersonal things (such as the waves and a fever), then we can understand demons to have also been non-living/impersonal things. However, there is an important difference between what we read concerning demons and what we read concerning Christ’s rebuke of the waves and a fever. For, in contrast with waves or a fever, the demons to which Christ spoke were able to speak (and even had to be told not to speak).
References to demons elsewhere in the Greek Scriptures
After the Gospel Accounts and Acts, the next reference to demons in Scripture is found in Paul’s first letter to the saints in Corinth. In 1 Corinthians 10:19-21 we read the following:
What, then, am I averring? That an idol sacrifice is anything? Or that an idol is anything? But that that which the nations are sacrificing, they are sacrificing to demons and not to God. Now I do not want you to become participants with the demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot be partaking of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.
When Paul wrote that “the nations…are sacrificing to demons and not to God,” he was alluding to Deut. 32:17. The Concordant Version of the Old Testament translates this verse as follows:
“They sacrificed to demons, not Eloah, to elohim--they had not known them before--to new ones that came from nearby; your fathers were not horrified by them.”
And in the NET Bible, we read the following:
“They sacrificed to demons, not God, to gods they had not known; to new gods who had recently come along, gods your ancestors had not known about.”
The word translated “demons” in this verse is “shedim,” and occurs only one other time in the Hebrew Scriptures. In Psalm 106:36-38 (NET) we read:
“They worshiped their idols, which became a snare to them. They sacrificed their sons and daughters to demons. They shed innocent blood—the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan. The land was polluted by bloodshed.”
We can therefore conclude that the “demons” referred to in these verses – i.e., the “shedim” – were the beings that the Canaanites (and probably other nations, as well) regarded as their gods. It was these beings that the people of Israel – in defiance of Yahweh’s command that they have no other gods before him – were periodically guilty of worshipping. But what was the connection between the shedim and “the idols of Canaan” (for we’re told that Israel sacrificed their sons and daughters both to the shedim and to the idols)? Answer: an idol is simply the visible, tangible representation of a god, and the means through which the worshipper interacted with (or attempted to interact with) the god(s) they worshipped.[ii]
Although the religious practices of the Gentile citizens of the Roman Empire in Paul’s day didn’t involve ritualistic human sacrifice, we know that idols were just as much a part of their system of worship as they were for the Canaanites. However, Paul’s rhetorical questions concerning whether “an idol sacrifice” or “an idol” is “anything” implies that he didn’t believe that idols possessed any real, supernatural power. Paul had previously affirmed this fact more explicitly in 1 Cor. 8:4:
”Then, concerning the feeding on the idol sacrifices: We are aware that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no other God except One.”
When Paul declared that “an idol is nothing in the world,” he wasn’t denying the existence of idols (for idols could, of course, be seen and touched throughout the Roman Empire). Rather, Paul was expressing the fact that, unlike the one true God (the Father/Yahweh), idols were lifeless, powerless entities.[iii] However, Paul’s statement that “an idol is nothing in the world” does not imply that he believed that the demons to which he referred in 1 Cor. 10:19-21 were also “nothing in the world” (and that they had no more ability to interact with and influence people than the lifeless idols that were made to represent them).
In fact, the words “I do not want you to become participants with the demons” can be understood as suggesting otherwise. The fact that those to whom Paul wrote would become “participants (koinōnos) with the demons” (i.e., by actively participating in the worship rituals in which the nations were involved) implies that “the demons” to which Paul was referring were, in some way, “participants” in the worship. Or, at the very least, these words imply that demons were/are living, intelligent entities.
In light of these considerations, I believe that a more plausible understanding of Paul’s reference to demons in v. 20 is that he was revealing the true identity of the beings to which the nations were offering sacrifices (and who inspired and promoted the system of idolatrous worship in which the nations were involved).
That Paul did, in fact, believe in the real existence of demons is, I believe, confirmed by the only other verse in which we find a reference to demons in Paul’s letters. In 1 Timothy 4:1-2, we read the following:
“Now the spirit is saying explicitly, that in subsequent eras some will be withdrawing from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and the teachings of demons, in the hypocrisy of false expressions, their own conscience having been cauterized…”
In this verse we find that Paul considered demons to be “deceiving spirits.” The fact that Paul referred to demons as “spirits” is consistent with the way demons are referred to in the Synoptic Gospels and in Acts, and further supports the view that demons are living, intelligent beings.
In accord with this understanding of the nature of demons, the most natural and straightforward meaning of the expression “teachings of demons” (didaskaliais daimoniôn) is “that which is taught by demons.” We know that Paul wasn’t referring to teachings that are about demons, since he went on to specify what kind of teachings he had in mind in the verses that follow.[iv] The preceding words “giving heed to deceiving spirits” make it especially evident that Paul understood these “deceiving spirits” to be the source of the teaching to which “some” within the body of Christ would be “giving heed.”
Thus, the implication of Paul’s words in 1 Tim. 4:1 is that the deceiving spirits – i.e., the demons – would be deceiving people through their teachings. And since only living, intelligent beings can deceive and teach, it can be reasonably concluded that Paul understood demons to living, intelligent beings. We can therefore conclude that, when Paul wrote that the nations “are sacrificing to demons and not to God,” he believed that they were sacrificing to real, personal beings who were not only intelligent, but deceptive.
The next reference to demons in Scripture is found in James 2:19:
“You are believing that God is one. Ideally are you doing. The demons also are believing and are shuddering.”
According to the most natural and straight-forward understanding of what James wrote here, the beings to which he referred as “demons” are among those who are “believing that God is one” (for the point that James was making here is that the demons’ belief in the truth of God’s oneness – although sincere enough to result in “shuddering” – is insufficient for salvation). Since only conscious, intelligent beings can believe “that God is one” (and experience a fearful emotional response as a result of their belief in this fact), we can reasonably conclude that, by his use of the term “demons,” James had in mind conscious, intelligent beings. It’s also implied that these beings are, to some degree at least, estranged from, and antagonistic toward, God.
James 3:14-15
Now if you are having bitter jealousy and faction in your heart, are you not vaunting against and falsifying the truth? This is not the wisdom coming down from above, but terrestrial, soulish, demoniacal.
The “wisdom” to which James was referring – and which he described as terrestrial, soulish and demonical – is that which is “vaunting against and falsifying the truth.” The association of this truth-falsifying “wisdom” with demons is in accord with the fact that demons are “deceiving spirits” whose primary activity involves the promotion of falsehood on the earth.
The last references to demons in the Greek Scriptures are found in the book of Revelation. In Revelation 16:13-14 and 18:2 we read the following:
nd I perceived, out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the wild beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits, as if frogs (for they are spirits of demons, doing signs), which are going out to the kings of the whole inhabited earth, to be mobilizing them for the battle of the great day of God Almighty.
And he cries with a strong voice, saying, "It falls! It falls! Babylon the great! And it became the dwelling place of demons and the jail of every unclean spirit and the cage of every unclean and hateful bird…”
In the latter verse, the demons/unclean spirits in view are depicted as individual entities that will be dwelling in a particular location toward the end of this eon (i.e., the city of “Babylon the great”). And in the former verses, they are depicted as having the ability to influence the actions of certain wicked human beings (i.e., mobilizing “the kings of the whole inhabited earth” for “the battle of the great day of God Almighty”).
I think it goes without saying that these final references to demons in Scripture are in accord with the position defended throughout this study.
Conclusion
In this study I’ve argued that the spiritual beings referred to in the Greek Scriptures as “demons” are just as real as the other spiritual beings of which we read throughout Scripture (such as Gabriel, Michael and Satan). But why was “demonization” so prevalent and concentrated during the time of Christ’s ministry (at least, in the region of the world where Christ’s ministry was carried out)?
Although one can, of course, speculate, the fact is that Scripture doesn’t provide us with an explicit explanation for this phenomenon. However, I don’t think anyone can deny that this state of affairs gave Christ (as well as his apostles) an opportunity to demonstrate the superiority of his God-given authority over the authority of Satan (Matthew 12:28-29; Luke 10:17-18; 11:20-22; cf. 1 John 4:4). And this fact alone could account for why God, in his sovereignty, allowed Satan and/or the demons under his authority to afflict so many people in the region of the world where Christ carried out his ministry (and by “allowed” I don’t mean to deny that all satanic and demonic activity is, like everything that happens, being operated by God “in accord with the counsel of his will” [Eph. 1:11]; rather, I’m referring to the sort of divine permission of which we read in, for example, Job 1-2, and to God’s interactive and communicative involvement in what spiritual beings – both holy and wicked – do and don’t do).
[i] Concerning the activities in which demons were thought to be involved, the Greek philosopher Plato remarked that “all the intercourse and conversation between gods and men” was “carried on by the mediation of demons,” and that a demon “is an interpreter and carrier, from men to gods and from gods to men, of the prayers and sacrifices of the one, and of the injunctions and rewards of sacrifices from the other.” Plato also believed demons to be personal tutelary beings, and essentially benevolent in nature.
In contrast with Plato’s view of demons, the view that was probably more commonly-held among the Jewish people in Christ’s day is that which we find expressed by the Jewish historian, Josephus. He referred to demons as “the spirits of the wicked” (Jewish War, Book VII, Chap. vi, sect. 3). Similarly, in chapter 15 of the “Book of Enoch,” demons are explained as being the disembodied spirits of the giants that were on the earth before the flood (and which were the “hybrid offspring” of human women and the “sons of God” of whom we read in Gen. 6).
Although I believe that the understanding of demons expressed in these writings is mistaken, I don’t think there can be any doubt that, among the people of classical antiquity, the commonly-held understanding was that demons were conscious, intelligent beings (as opposed to impersonal forces, conditions, or qualities). At the same time, the fact that the view concerning the origin of demons that we find articulated in Josephus and the Book of Enoch was likely the most commonly-held view among the Jewish people in Jesus’ day doesn’t mean that, when Jesus referred to demons, he was endorsing this particular understanding.
[ii] Gay Robins (a scholar of ancient cult objects) explains the close connection between gods and idols as follows:
“When a non-physical being manifested in a statue, this anchored the being in a controlled location where living human beings could interact with it through ritual performance...In order for human beings to interact with deities and to persuade them to create, renew, and maintain the universe, these beings had to be brought down to earth...This interaction had to be strictly controlled in order to avoid both the potential dangers of unrestricted divine power and the pollution of the divine by the impurity of the human world. While the ability of deities to act in the visible, human realm was brought about through their manifestation in a physical body, manifestation in one body did not in any sense restrict a deity, for the non-corporeal essence of a deity was unlimited by time and space, and could manifest in all its “bodies,” in all locations, all at one time.” (Gay Robins, “Cult Statues in Ancient Egypt,” in Cult Image and Divine Representation in the Ancient Near East (ed. Neal H. Walls; ASOR Book Series 10; Boston: American Schools of Oriental Research, 2005), 1-2. 14)
[iii] Another understanding of Paul’s statement that “an idol is nothing in the world” is provided by German exegete, Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer. In his NT commentary, Meyer wrote the following concerning this statement: “Paul’s meaning here is not: what the heathen adore as gods is something absolutely without existence (see, on the contrary, 1 Corinthians 8:5; 1 Corinthians 10:20); but: no heathen god exists as the being which the heathen supposes him to be; and so there is no adequate reality, corresponding to the heathen conception of a god Jupiter, Apollo, etc.”
[iv] In 1 Tim. 4:3-5, Paul went on to specify what those who would be “giving heed to deceiving spirits and the teachings of demons” would be doing:
“…forbidding to marry, abstaining from foods, which God creates to be partaken of with thanksgiving by those who believe and realize the truth, seeing that every creature of God is ideal and nothing is to be cast away, being taken with thanksgiving, for it is hallowed through the word of God and pleading.”
The little that Paul reveals here concerning what those giving heed to deceiving spirits would be teaching – i.e., that believers must be celibate and abstain from foods (which likely refers to abstinence from certain kinds of foods, such as meat) – indicates that the “teachings of demons” that Paul had in view here would involve (at least in part) what Paul elsewhere referred to as “asceticism.” In Col. 2:20-23 we read the following:
If, then, you died together with Christ from the
elements of the world, why, as living in the world, are you subject to decrees:
“You should not be touching, nor yet tasting, nor yet coming into contact,”
(which things are all for corruption from use), in accord with the directions
and teachings of men? -- which are (having, indeed, an expression of
wisdom in a willful ritual and humility and asceticism) not of any value toward
the surfeiting of the flesh.
Why would any believers willingly subject themselves to the sort of “decrees” that Paul had in mind in these verses? Answer: Such practices – including those specified by Paul in 1 Tim. 4:3 – were believed by some to curb sin by promoting self-discipline and suppressing the desires of “the flesh.” Such decrees were all about “sin management,” and designed to enable those who subjected themselves to them to stop sinning. And since Paul associated these decrees with a rejection of the truth that believers have “died together with Christ from the elements of the world” (Col. 2:20) and are “complete in Him” (v. 10), we can conclude that those who engaged in (and were promoting) the self-denying practices against which Paul warned were seeking to improve or maintain their position before God. But as A.E. Knoch rightly noted in his remarks on Col. 2:19, “Any attempt to improve our position before God [and, I would add, to maintain our position before God] by physical means, whether it be an appeal to the senses or a curbing of its normal needs, denies our completeness in Christ.” Evidently, then, those whom Paul predicted would be promoting the practices referred to in 1 Tim. 4:3 would be doing so out of the conviction that it would help prevent themselves and other believers from sinning.
Moreover, according to v. 1, those who would be promoting the self-denying practices referred to in v. 3 would no longer be in the faith (for they are referred to as “withdrawing from the faith”). This implies that they would longer affirm one or more of the essential elements of the evangel through which those in the body of Christ are called and justified by God. And the fact that the decrees referred to would be an expression of their having withdrawn from the faith suggests that they believed that sinning jeopardized their justified status or position before God (and that not sinning was, therefore, essential to their being saved). In other words, the belief of those whom Paul prophesied would be “withdrawing from the faith” and “giving heed to deceiving spirits and the teachings of demons” would involve the erroneous idea that the salvation of the believer depended on something other than ”the grace of God and the gratuity in grace, which is of the One Man, Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:15, 18-19).
