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JUST WHAT ARE
DEMONS?
by
Jonathan Mitchell
As with many other traditions which have been handed down to us, I have
questioned that which has been taught "about" the devil and satan. It is
the myths and traditional theology that I question. I believe that there
is a reality to what the Scriptures refer to as the devil, satan and
demons, but not necessarily what has been taught about such things. Much
pagan mythology was added to Christianity when Constantine made
Christianity the state religion. The ongoing reformation is the process of
sorting out the myth (such as "Eternal Torment") from the truth.
As to demons, and casting them out, I believe that there is a reality to
this and a need in peoples' lives to be delivered of such. But just what
demons are, the Scripture does not specify. It has become my view that
Jesus spoke to the people of His day in terms of their beliefs. You don't
hear very much about demons in the OT. The LXX (Greek OT) uses the word
daimonion only eight times: once, in Deut. 32:17, three times in the
Psalms, and four times in Isa. But during the inter-testamental period,
through their contact with pagan cultures, many beliefs about demons were
imported into the Jewish world view. The conditions - the various
maladies - that the people suffered from were real. However, most every
malady was attributed to demons. Many such things we, in our current
culture and world view, give medical names to - whether psychological or
physical. Thus, as in this parable in Matt. 13, I question the
traditional teaching "about" Jesus' use of the word "adversary," or
"devil." The reality of which Jesus was speaking is unquestionable; it is
our interpretation of what that word meant to them, and thus, now to us,
that I am asking the Holy Spirit to sort out for us.
RE: satan, many believe that he is a "fallen angel" who rebelled against
God, and is now God's enemy. The basis for such a belief is the
figurative language of Isa. 14 and Ezk. 28. May I refer you to the study
which I did on these parallel metaphors, entitled, "On Lucifer, Satan, the
Devil and Adam." (See link above.)
RE: demons, I believe that what we often call "demons" are spirits which
are part of the negative environment into which we have been placed.
These are attitudes, mind-sets, and pathologies which bind us and from
which we need healing and deliverance. Jesus said the "words" which He
spoke are "spirit" and life. I believe that all words are "spirit," but
not necessarily "life." Thoughts of love engender a spirit of love.
Thoughts of hate engender a spirit of hate. Both can become
life-changing conditions: the one good and liberating; the other bad and
developing strongholds within us. All things came into being via the
Word. So it is with us. Words begin with thoughts, before they are
spoken. They need not be spoken to create either a positive or a negative
condition. People can be filled with such thoughts and thus be used to
spread these to other people, or use them to control people. I believe
that when such people die, they can likely be used by God as He elsewhere
uses negative things for His purposes. But are demons "spiritual
entities" that God created (remember we have but One creator), or is the
term "demon" a name for an unseen spiritual or mental force, as it was
perceived in the cultures influenced by Hellenism?
When praying for someone, and we discern a "spirit of lust" -- or whatever
the condition to which we give some name (or, "word") -- there is a
reality to speaking a word of deliverance to the person, and to cast this
out of them. But is "lust" a demon, or a mind-set -- something that has
become an addictive way of thinking? It is my view that lust is a
distortion of the good, created natural desire that God gave us. I would
like to recommend to you the exhaustive works on this subject by Walter
Wink (Auburn Theological Seminary), which begin with his Naming the
Powers: The Language of Power in the New Testament.
Can people become "possessed" by demons? Yes, but just what is the
"possession" and what are the "demons"? I do not claim to have all the
answers, but I am questioning the traditions, and trying to get rid of the
myth wherever it is found. The term "possessed" is not strictly a
Scriptural word. The Greek word used would be transliterated "demonized."
But just what that means is up for interpretation by the Holy Spirit. In
my translations, I use the terms "affected by or controlled by" demons.
What today would be medically termed mental illnesses would in Jesus' day
been termed "demonized."
In Kittel's Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Werner
Forester states that, "A basic animism underlies the Greek daimon
concept." He footnotes F. Andres who says, "The concept and term... lead
us back to earlier periods of Greek religion in which it resembles that of
primitive peoples." Forester says, "Hence we can fully understand the
daimon concept only against the background of popular animistic
beliefs." Thus, this is NOT a concept of Scriptural origin, although
Scripture does address this term, since it was incorporated into popular
belief systems.
The KJV of the OT uses the term "devil" only four times: two times to
translate the Hebrew word sair, which means "a hairy one, a kid, a
goat" in Lev. 17:7, "they sacrifice to hairy goats...;" and 2 Chron. 11:15
where Jeroboam "appointed his own priests for the high places and for the
goat and calf idols he had made" (NIV); and two times to translate the
Hebrew word shed, which means "a spoiler" in Deut. 32:16-17,
"[Israel] provoked Him to jealousy with foreign [gods; concepts].... they
sacrificed unto spoilers, not to God; to gods whom they did not know, to
new [gods; concepts that] came newly up, whom your fathers feared not;"
and Ps. 106:36-37, "And they served their idols.... and sacrificed their
sons and daughters unto spoilers."
The KJV did not use the word "demon," but rather translated the Greek
daimon as "devil." So where do we get the word daimon in
Scripture? It came from the time of the inter-testamental period, after
the spread of the Hellenistic culture, and with the translation of the OT
into Greek, the Septuagint (LXX), as mentioned above. They used it to
translate the Hebrew shed, "spoiler," in Deut. 32:17 and Ps.
106:37. They used it in Ps. 91:6 for the Hebrew shud , "that
spoils at noonday."
Ps. 96:5 reads "Because all the gods of the ethnic multitudes (nations)
are daimonia (demons)," in the LXX. Thus the word is here used to
translate the Hebrew elil, "idol; of nothing; empty; a thing of
nought." So the Jews of this period equated a demon with an idol, which
is nothing.
Now look at Isa. 65:3 (LXX), "The people... burn incense on bricks to
demons - which do not exist." Vs. 11 reads, "But you folks are they that
have left me, and forget my set-apart mountain, and prepare a table to
(or: for) the demon, and fill up the drink-offering to (or: for) Fortune
(or: Fate)." Here, again, is an association of the term "demon" with
mythology and idolatry - worship of gods that do not exist.
In Isa. 13:21 daimonia is again used to translate the Hebrew
sair, "hairy animals; goats," in the last phrase of the verse, "and
demons (shaggy beasts) shall dance there." A similar passage is Isa.
34:14, where the same LXX translation is used.
So much for the OT theology of demons!
The NT uses the Greek word diamonion. As noted in the above text,
this is a Hellenistic (Greek culture) concept and term which was used by
the Greeks to signify an "animistic influence." Something either
associated with animism which is found primarily in pagan and tribal
religions, or with what they considered unseen influences which could
affect a person's life or animation.
The Jews of Jesus' day had assimilated many pagan and Hellenistic
concepts. Recall their idolatry when in the Promised Land; their
association with the mystery religions of Egypt, then later of Babylon and
Persia. Jesus spoke and responded to how the people of that day
believed. Likewise, the gospels took into consideration these popular
beliefs which permeated the first century culture of Palestine.
If you follow the contexts of Jesus dealing with "demons," you will see
that it is usually in regard to a healing - either physical, or
mental/psychological.
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