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Demons: Angels, Ghosts, or What?
by Jake King
A new horror movie called, “Paranormal Activity” is about
demons. Likewise, an old horror movie called, “The Exorcist” is about demons
(and I saw on TV recently that it was voted in a survey as the best horror
movie ever). These movies (or Halloween
in general) may have people wondering, “What are demons?” We know that “demons” are “evil spirits.” Passages like Luke 8:2 use those expressions
interchangeably. But we want to know
more than this, don’t we? Some have thought that demons are evil angels. For example, Others
have thought that demons were ghosts.
For example, Alexander Campbell said, “We conclude that there is neither reason or
fact—there is no canon of criticism, no law of interpretation—there is nothing
in human experieice or observation—there is nothing in antiquity, sacred or
profane—that in our judgment weights against the evidence already adduced in
support of the position that the demons of Pagans, Jews and Christians were the
ghosts of dead men, and, as such have taken possession of men’s living bodies,
and have moved, influenced and impelled them to certain courses of aciton”
(Quoted by Guy N. Woods in Questions and Answers, Volume I, page 232). In support of the theory that demons are ghosts, consider
this argument: v
In the days of Jesus, both the Jews and Greek thought
that demons were, as J.W. McGarvey put it, “the spirits of the departed or the
ghosts of dead men, and the teaching of that and prior ages was that such
spirits often took possession of living men and controlled them” (The Fourfold
Gospel, page 167). v
Evidence of this is seen by reading Josephus (a Jewish
historian who was born in 37 A.D. and died about 95 A.D.). He said, “Demons are no other than the
spirits of the wicked, that enter into men and kill them, unless they can obtain
some help against them” (Quoted by Gareth Reece in his commentary on Acts, page
237). v
And there is no record of Jesus or the apostles
correcting this viewpoint. On the other hand, it must be admitted that the
Scriptures do not really say that demons are ghosts. We must conclude with Gareth Reece that, “The
Scriptures give no clear testimony as to the origin of demons (just as they
give no clear testimony as to the origin of the Devil, i.e., how he could be
tempted before there was a Devil to tempt him)” (From his commentary on Acts,
page 245). What do demons look like?
An interesting verse is Leviticus 17:7, which says, “They shall no
longer sacrifice to the goat demons with which they play the harlot”
(NASB). Our brother William Woodson
wrote that these are, “Probably best understood as a demon having a ‘he-goat’s
form or feet’ [A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament] or ‘a
goat-shaped demon’ [Student’s Hebrew and Chaldee Dictionary]” (From “Studies in
Leviticus,” the 1998 ETSP Lectues, page 214).
Of course, all demons might not be “goat demons.” Do demons still possess people today? I don’t believe so. As Guy N. Woods wrote, “Even a casual
examination of the instances chronicled in the New Testament will show that the
circumstances attending demon possession then are not characteristic of our
day” (Questions and Answers, Volume I, page 233). |