THE SONS OF GOD PART 1: THE ORIGIN OF DEMONS DEMON POSSESSION We will consider the following: 1. Are demons real? 2. What was the origin of demons? 3. What are the symptoms of possession? 4. What causes possession? 5. Can a Christian be demon-possessed? 6. How do you get deliverance? DEMONS ARE REAL We saw that Satan, his angels and demons are real beings set on our destruction. Christians are warned to “Put on the full armour of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” (Eph 6:11-12). WHAT ARE DEMONS? Demons are intelligent powerful spirit beings. The NT uses “demon” and “unclean spirit” as equivalents (Mark 5:13-15). They are not “devils”. “Devils,” as found in the King James Version, is an incorrect rendition. The Greek word for devil is diabolos. Other terms, daimonizomai (found thirteen times), daimon (once), daimoniodes (once), and daimonion (sixty-three times), are transliterated as “demon(s)” (or some equivalent) in the American Standard Version. There is only one devil, but many demons. 1 1 https://www.christiancourier.com/articles/21-demons-ancient-superstition-or- historical-reality ORIGIN OF DEMONS The Bible is silent on the origin of demons. 1. Demons are not the spirits of evil men who died in a pre- Adamic world before Eden. This is suggested by those who hold to the Gap Theory. This view is rejected by Young Earth Creationists because it requires death before the Fall (Rom 5:12). There is no evidence that there ever was a historical gap between the first two verses of Genesis. There were no people before Adam. He was the “first man” (1 Cor 15:45) and came directly from God (Luke 3:38). ORIGIN OF DEMONS 2. They are not fallen angels as is commonly held. In medieval Christian doctrine demons began to be equated with fallen angels who were led by Satan in rebellion against God. Dr. Michael S. Heiser (PhD in Hebrew Bible and Semitic languages) says that “Christians typically assume that demons are fallen angels, cast from heaven with Satan (the Devil) right before the temptation of Adam and Eve. But guess what? There’s no such story in the Bible… So if the Bible doesn’t record an ancient expulsion from heaven by hordes of angels who then became known as demons, where do demons come from?” 1 1 https://blog.logos.com/2015/10/where-do-demons-come-from ORIGIN OF DEMONS Demons are different to angels. Angels have spiritual bodies and can assume human form. Heb 13:2 Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. When angels appear they are often described as men. E.g. Daniel 10:5 (NIV) I looked up and there before me was a man dressed in linen… ORIGIN OF DEMONS In contrast, demons do not assume human form but instead desire to possess human bodies. The human is used as a host and the person is said to be possessed. Matt 12:43 (ESV) “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person…” Matt 17:18 (ESV) And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him… In fact, sometimes one person can be possessed by multiple demons: Mary Magdalene had 7 demons cast out of her (Mark 16:9). Legion was so called because “many demons had entered him” (Luke 8:30). SATAN’S FALL The current understanding many people have of Satan’s fall comes from the medieval Catholic Amillennial theology and from John Milton’s classic poem “Paradise Lost”. The only account of Satan and his angels being expelled from heaven is in Revelation 12, which Premillennialists believe is an event which happens in the future Tribulation. Satan is explicitly portrayed as rebelling in Eden and it seems that this is where his fall occurred. Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28 speak of Satan’s fall but do not mention any other angels with him. The only account of a past mass rebellion by angels occurs in Genesis 6, an event where Satan is not mentioned as being involved. THE WATCHERS The early Christians based their understanding of the origin of demons on the story of the fallen Sons of God (aka Watchers or Grigori) in Genesis 6. This was the prevalent view in the writings of the intertestamental period (the Second Temple period) many of which are found in the Dead Sea Scrolls. This was the common view held in Jesus’ day. It was believed by all the earliest Church Fathers. While it is not clearly articulated in Scripture, we’ll see that the Bible is aligned with this view. THE NEPHILIM The angels who fell before the Flood were called Sons of God (bene ha’elohim). Gen 6:1-4 (NASB) When human beings began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. Then the Lord said, “My Spirit will not contend with humans forever, for they are mortal ; their days will be a hundred and twenty years.” The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown. THE NEPHILIM This sin was one of the causes of the Flood judgment (along with man’s wickedness and violence). Gen 6:5-7 (NASB) The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. So the Lord said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground— for I regret that I have made them.” SONS OF GOD Who are the “sons of God”? There are two main theories: 1. They are angels who procreated with women 2. They are the descendants from the godly line of Seth who intermarried with the line of Cain (the daughters of women). It was the constant opinion in antiquity that the “sons of God” referred to in Genesis 6 were angels. This was also the view of the early church until Julius Africanus suggested the second view and Augustine popularised it in his 5th century book “The City of God”. SONS OF GOD The Septuagint was the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament dating from the 3rd century BC. It was the version in use at the time of Jesus and was regarded as the standard form of the Old Testament in the early Christian Church. Most of the New Testament quotes from the Old Testament appear to be using the Septuagint. One major Septuagint manuscript, Codex Alexandrinus (one of the earliest and most complete manuscripts of the Bible), renders the term “Bene Elohim” in Genesis 6:4 as “angels of God”. SONS OF SETH The whole idea that the ‘sons of God’ were not angels, but descendants of Seth, was a later introduction first suggested in Jewish circles by the Kabbalist (mystical esoteric form of Judaism) Rabbi Simeon bar Yochai (2nd century AD) and in Christian circles by Sextus Julius Africanus in the 3rd century AD. Julius Africanus relates that the Septuagint rendering “angels of heaven” was the common reading at the time. When men multiplied on the earth, the angels of heaven came together with the daughters of men. In some copies I found the sons of God. 1 1 Extant Works (Julius Africanus) - Fragment 2 SONS OF SETH Julius Africanus mentions both views although he states his preference for the “sons of Seth” view upfront. 1 This latter idea was popularised by Augustine, 2 but like Africanus, he still mentions the older opinion as being held by many at the time. For in the same Scripture in which the sons of God are said to have loved the daughters of men, they are also called angels of God; whence many suppose that they were not men but angels. 3 1 Ibid. - What is meant by the Spirit, in my opinion, is that the descendants of Seth are called the sons of God on account of the righteous men and patriarchs who have sprung from him… but that the descendants of Cain are named the seed of men, as having nothing divine in them, on account of the wickedness of their race and the inequality of their nature, being a mixed people, and having stirred the indignation of God. 2 The City of God, Ch. 15 - Hence by the sons of God are to be understood the sons of Seth, who were good; while by the daughters of men the Scripture designates those who sprang from the race of Cain. 3 Ibid., Ch. 22 SONS OF SETH Equating “the sons of God” with Seth’s line and “the daughters of woman” with Cain’s line has multiple problems: 1. It is a later view, unknown by the early Jews or earliest Church Fathers and is inconsistent with other OT passages about the “sons of God,” where the term clearly refers to heavenly beings.