Demons: a First-Century Understanding
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· First-¶entury Understanding OU believe that GOD is one; you do well. The demons also believe—and they shudder” “Y (Jas. 2:19).1 When James attacked faith that emphasized intellectual belief that did not result in godly works, he affirmed the reality of demons. He took for granted that his readers accepted their existence as well. What kind of understanding did first-century Christians have concerning demons and demon possession? Fall 2009 Fall BI 28 or goat-like creatures in Isaiah (13:21; 34:14) reflect a pagan concept that demons possessed goats. By Sharon H. Gritz The prophet, however, could have been referring literally to wild goats. Yet, the Greek translation First-Century Beliefs About Demons of the Old Testament designated these beings as The Greco-Roman world possessed an awareness daimonia (demons).5 Demons were associated with of demons and their activities. Pagans, Jews, and dry, unsettled, deserted places. On the Day of Christians alike accepted their existence. They dif- Atonement, Aaron sent out a sacrificial goat “into fered, however, in their ideas about the nature and the wilderness for Azazel” (Lev. 16:10). Azazel role of these beings. might be the name of the demon of the desert.6 Greek thought identified demons in numer- During the time between the writing of the ous ways. A demon could be a god—some kind Old and New Testaments, Jewish literature began of divine being or a lesser deity. A demon could to focus more on the problem and origin of evil.7 be a divine power, an unknown supernatural Writers began to see evil not as coming directly force, or an intermediary between humans and from God but from supernatural beings He had the gods. some believed demons to be personal created who were in rebellion against Him and guardian spirits. A popularly-held belief was that His plans. These evil spiritual beings worked demons represented the spirits of the dead— more independently of God than those angels who departed souls.2 Consequently, for pagans the obeyed Him by performing specific tasks. word “demon” embraced ideas whose meanings could overlap and even contradict each other. Right: A marble Greco-Roman thinking viewed demons as statue of Hades dating from the either good or bad. What they did determined Roman period. The their nature. society believed these demonic forc- statue was found es existed everywhere and continually effected in Kapisuyu near 3 Samandagi, Turkey. people’s lives. Hades was the god The Jews of the Old Testament Era did not of the underworld. Here he is sitting develop their ideas about demons primarily on a throne with because they emphasized the complete sovereignty his dog Cerberus beside him. and supremacy of God. Their strict monotheism Cerberus, which supported the conviction that all spiritual beings, means “demon both good and evil, came from and existed under of the pit,” was Hades’s guard the control of God. satan could afflict Job with dog. He allowed calamities only with God’s permission (Job 1–2). souls to enter HADES: ILLUSTRATOR PHOTO/BOB SCHATZ/HATAY ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM (12/13/10) SCHATZ/HATAY PHOTO/BOB ILLUSTRATOR HADES: God sent the evil spirit that tormented King saul the underworld, but never to (1 sam. 16:14-15). God ordered the lying spirits to leave. deceive Ahab (1 Kings 22:20-23). Apart from the above references, the Old Testament writers seldom mentioned demonic beings. They referred directly to satan three times (Job 1–2; 1 Chron. 21:1; Zech. 3:1-2). Moses’ song declared how God’s rebellious people “sacrificed to demons . to gods they had not known” (Deut. 32:17). According to the Greek translation, the psalmist also identified demons (idols in Hebrew) “with the gods of pagan idolatry” (Ps. 96:5).4 Centuries later the apostle Paul would also iden- tify pagan gods as demons (1 Cor. 10:19-21). / METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART/NEW YORK BACKGROUND ART: ISTOCK PHOTO ISTOCK ART: BACKGROUND YORK MUSEUM OF ART/NEW / METROPOLITAN some Bible students believe references to hairy bruce Left: Stone creature with a and wings of RENT B plaque depict- lion or dog-like a bird. Pazuzu ing the face, the horns of emerged from 2009 Fall Mesopotamian a goat, a human the mountains of BI demon, Pazuzu, torso, the front the underworld, who was king paws of a lion, a which are rep- LESSON REFERENCE ILLUSTRATOR PHOTO/ PHOTO/ ILLUSTRATOR of the evil wind scaly lower body, resented at the demons. Pazuzu a scorpion’s tail, bottom of the BsFL: James 2:14-26 29 PAZUZU: PAZUZU: was a composite and the talons plaque. Jewish apocryphal and pseudepigraphal books In contrast, the Jews understood demon possessed suggested diverse origins for demons, includ- individuals to be those who seemed completely under ing fallen angels, the offspring of fallen angels the control of an evil power. They held that some and human women, or rebellious angels jealous diseases resulted from demonic activity. Josephus, a over mankind’s place in creation. The writers first-century Jewish historian, wrote of demons caus- called the leader of these demons many names: ing frenzy, suffocation, and strangling. Philo, a first- Mastema, satanael, satan, samael, Beliar, Belial, century Jewish interpreter of scripture, described and Devil.8 people as ridiculing the demon-possessed.11 Jews According to Jewish texts, demons caused and often labeled people demon-possessed if they acted transmitted disease among people. They accused differently from the standard norms of behavior, like individuals before God. They served as God’s John the Baptist (Luke 7:33). instruments of punishment for sin. They tempted The Jews also practiced exorcism. A popular story men and women to sin. They triggered evil and in Tobit, a Jewish work in the Apocrypha, tells of the worked destruction in the world. expulsion of a demon from Tobias’s bride. Josephus By the Christian Era, Jews had begun to think described the method of a first-century exorcist of demons as intermediate evil beings. The Jewish named Eleazar.12 Jewish exorcistic formulas, such as belief in the sovereignty of God remained domi- the magical papyri, contained “traditional incanta- nant in all their ideas about demons. God created tions, spells and potions for controlling demons.”13 these hostile beings. They were under His con- The New Testament mentions Jewish exorcists in trol. He would ultimately bind them and break general (Matt. 12:27), an unknown person who used their power.9 Jesus’ name (Mark 9:38-39), and the seven sons of sceva who were itinerant exorcists (Acts 19:13-16). KRISTEN HILLER PHOTO/ ILLUSTRATOR TEMPTATION: FERRINI AND BIONDI MOUNT OF COURTESY / BOB SCHATZ/ First-Century Beliefs About Possession First-century pagans, Jews, and Christians believed Demons and the New Testament: A Brief that demons could possess individuals. This belief Look PHOTO ILLUSTRATOR was widespread, as was the practice of using magic The New Testament consistently uses the word BOWL: BOWL: and exorcism to drive out the demons. spirits to describe demons but always with the Greek thought associated demon possession adjectives unclean or evil, reflecting their with causing madness, sickness, and other irra- nature. These spiritual beings exist in tional behavior. Possession also produced the Right: Incantation buried upside- drunken frenzy associated with some pagan reli- bowl found at down. This gious practices. some demon-possessed people Qumran. People action had two functioned as “prophets” who delivered messages had superstitious purposes: to beliefs about ward off evil from the gods. Efforts to expel demons included these bowls. A spirits and binding the disturbed person, participating in protective spell to serve as a was written on trap for any purification rituals, reciting magical formulas, the inside of each demons that and other means of exorcism.10 bowl, and it was came near. Ruins from Jezreel, which was the palace city of both Omri and Ahab. Because King Fall 2009 Fall Ahab did not want BI to hear the word of the prophet Micaiah, the Lord sent a lying spirit 30 to deceive Ahab (1 Kings 22:1-28). Mount of Temptation in the Judean wilder- ness. According to tradition, this is the place where Satan tempted Jesus. rebellion against God and with hostility toward peo- of satan. They also indicated that the kingdom of ple. Their spiritual nature enables them to enter and God had come. possess people. Demons act under satan’s direc- Jesus has already defeated the demonic forces, thus tion as his servants. The New Testament limiting their power and sphere of operations. He will views demon possession as a form of ultimately destroy their power and influence. Although spiritual bondage. demons and their ruler, satan, dominate the world Demon-possessed people men- outside of Christ, believers belong to God in Christ tioned in the Gospels and Acts through the indwelling Holy spirit. “The One who showed various signs of their is in you is greater than the one who is in the world” condition, including speech- (1 John 4:4). No wonder the demons shudder! i lessness, blindness, fierceness, unusual strength, convul- 1. All Scripture quotations are from the Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB). 2. Graham H. Twelftree, “Demon, Devil, Satan” in Dictionary of Jesus and the sions, foaming at the mouth, Gospels, ed. Joel B. Green, Scot McKnight, and I. Howard Marshall (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1992), 164; Everett Ferguson, Demonology of the Early Christian World, insane ravings, self-destruc- Symposium Series, vol. 12 (New York: The Edwin Mellen Press, 1984), 35-36, 58. tive behavior, anti-social 3. Eric Sorensen, Possession and Exorcism in the New Testament and Early Christianity (Tubingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2002), 82.