The Doctrine of Devils
Much speculation and fascination exist over the spiritual beings referred to in Scripture as demons. Curiosity not only kills cats but also distracts the Bible student from what is revealed. Moses recorded, “The secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law” (Deuteronomy 29:29). As always, only the Bible can be our guide (1 Pet 4:11). Any depiction from Hollywood or literature should be dismissed from our minds, as we strive to see what Scripture actually says. While we would like to know more on this subject, we only have what is revealed in Scripture.
Though mentioned in the Old Testament (Is 13:21), the appearance of evil spirits is much more prevalent in the New Testament. When Saul rejected God, “an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him” (1 Sam 16:14-16). A lying spirit was sent to the mouth of Ahab’s prophets to persuade Ahab to go to war (1 Ki 22:19-23). Both of these incidents have challenged scholars for centuries. These spiritual beings might fall into the category of demons. However, in both situations, the evil spirit and the lying spirit seem to be sent from God, which is not the disposition of demons in the New Testament, so I find it hard to put these two accounts in the category of demon possession.
Biblical writers referred to these spiritual beings by using a few different terms. Such terms aid our understanding. They are called “unclean spirits” (Mt 12:43), the devil’s angels (Mt 25:41; Rev 12:7, 9), devils or demons (Mt 11:18, Gk. Daimonion is rendered devils in the KJV), a “spirit of divination” (Acts 16:16), and evil spirits (Acts 19:12-13). Paul lists the following which we fight against: principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this world, and spiritual wickedness in high places (Eph 6:12). These are not references to princes and rulers of this earth, for he said we “wrestle not against flesh and blood.” All of these terms seem to be different descriptions of the same being. It might be best to simply view these beings as evil angels or the devil’s angels.
The connection between demons and angels depends on their future doom. The demons which Jesus cast out referred to their pending destruction (Mk 1:24; 5:7; p.p. Mt 8:29). Interestingly, Luke’s account of the cleaning of the man named Legion helps us understand the nature of the demons’ request. Luke recorded, “And they besought him that he would not command them to go out into the deep” (Lk 8:31). They would rather inhabit pigs than return to the Abyss, another name for the Hadean Realm. Likewise, some angels are said to have been sent to this same realm. Peter wrote, “For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell [tartarus], and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment” (2 Pet 2:4). Jude similarly records that they are “reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day” (Jude 7). Thus, we conclude that demons are angels who sinned against God and are awaiting judgment. This means that God created demons, even the devil himself, but they being free moral agents chose, like we ourselves all have done, to sin against their Creator.
Finally, let us not fall into the traps that C. S. Lewis described. He wrote, “There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them” (Screwtape Letters, “Preface”). A discussion of demons might cause some trepidation within us, but we do well to remember the words of John, “Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world” (1 Jn 4:4).