Demons

Of course the reader will understand that "devils" in the original Greek is a different word from that translated "devil". This distinction between the two must be recognized in order to appreciate the explanation applicable to "devils", as distinct from "devil". While "devil" is in the original diabolos, "devils" is the plural of daimon, which has a very different meaning from diabolos. Daimon is the name given by the Greeks to beings imagined by them to exist in the air, and to act a mediatorial part between God and man, for good or evil. These imaginary beings would be expressed in English by demon, evil genius, or tutelar deity, all of which belong to Pagan mythology, and have no place in the system of the truth.

In view of the heathen origin of this "doctrine of demons", it is a natural source of wonder that it should appear so largely interwoven with the gospel narratives, and receive apparent sanction both from Christ and his disciples. This can only be accounted for on one principle; the Grecian theory that madness, epileptic disorders, and obstruction of the senses (as distinct from ordinary diseases), were attributable to demoniacal possession, had existed many centuries before the time of Christ, and had circulated far and wide with the Greek language, which, in those days, had become nearly universal. The theory necessarily stamped itself upon the common language of the time, and supplied a nomenclature for certain classes of disorders which, without reference to the particular theory in which it originated, became current and conventional, without involving an acceptance of the Pagan belief. On the face of it, the nomenclature would carry that belief; but in reality it would be used from the force of universal custom, without any reference to the superstition which originated it. We have an illustration of this in our word "lunatic", which originated in the idea that madness was the result of the moon's influence, but which nobody now uses to express that idea. The same principle is exemplified in the phrases "bewitched", "fairy-like", "hobgoblin", "dragon", "the king's evil", "St. Vitus's dance", etc., all of which are freely used denominatively, without subjecting the person using them to the charge of believing the fictions originally represented by them.

Christ's conformity to popular language did not commit him to popular delusions. In one case, he apparently recognizes the god of the Philistines: "If I by Beelzebub cast out demons, by whom do your children cast them out?" (Matt. 12:27). Now, Beelzebub signifies the god of flies, a god worshipped by the Philistines of Ekron (2 Kings 1:6), and Christ, in using the name, takes no pains to dwell upon the fact that Beelzebub was a heathen fiction; it was a mere accommodation to popular speech on the subject of demons.

Casting Out Demons

The casting out of demons spoken of in the New Testament was nothing more or less than the curing of epileptic fits and brain disorders, as distinct from bodily diseases. Of this, any one may be satisfied by an attentive reading of the narrative and close consideration of the symptoms, as recorded.
Lord, have mercy on my son: he is lunatic, and sore vexed: for oft times he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water. And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him.... And Jesus rebuked the devil (demon), and he departed out of him (Matt. 17:15, 18).

From this, the identity of lunacy with supposed demoniacal possession is apparent. The expulsion of the influence which deranged the child's faculties was the casting out of the demon.
Then was brought unto him one possessed with a devil, blind and dumb; and he healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw (Matt. 12:22).
And one of the multitude answered and said, Master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit (Mark 9:17).

There is no case of demoniacal possession mentioned in the New Testament which has not its parallel in hundreds of instances in the medical experience of the present time. The symptoms are precisely identical-tearing, foaming at the mouth, crying out, abnormal strength, etc. True, there are no exclamations about the Messiah, because there is no popular excitement on the subject for them to reflect in an aberrated form, as there was in the days of Jesus, when the whole Jewish community was intensely agitated on the subject. The transference of "the devils" to the swine is only an instance in which Christ vindicated the law (which prohibited the culture of the pig), by acting on the suggestion of a madman in transferring an aberrating influence from the latter to the swine, and causing their destruction. The statement that the devils made request, or the devils cried this or that, must be interpreted in the light of the self-evident fact that it was the person possessed who spoke. The insane utterances were attributable to the deranging influence, and therefore, and it is an allowable liberty of speech to say that the influence-called in the popular phrase of these times, demon or demons-spoke them; but, in judging of the theory of possession, we must carefully separate between critical statements of truth and rough popular forms of speech, which merely embody an aspect, and not the essence of truth.

God And The "World"

Bringing these investigations to a focus, it must be evident that the introduction of "the evil one" into the Lord's prayer in no way alters the position of the question, if the R.V. translation were free from all doubt. It still leaves the question to be determined who the evil one is. For this, we must look to the general constructive teaching of the scriptures. Tried in this way the popular theory of the devil disappears entirely. The most striking fact in the case is the entire absence from the Scriptures of a formal devil theory. The doctrine of God's existence, His creative power, His relation to His universe, is not only implied in the appellations He appropriates to Himself, but formally propounded. "I am God, and there is none else" (Isa. 46:9). "To whom will ye liken me, or shall I be equal; saith the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things" (Isa. 40:25, 26). But of a devil we have no such information. The passages supposed to contain the information refer as we have seen to something else. We have but the term, and in such associations as to show us that something altogether different from the popular devil is meant. The Evil One is on a par with "mammon", and "the god of this world" (2 Cor. 4:4). It is a personification of the present evil world, including every form of temptation to which it is possible for a man to be subjected. Another prayer of Christ, where the Revised Version introduces the evil one, shows it: "I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the world, but that thou shouldst keep them from the evil (the Revised Version adds 'one'). They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world" (John 17:15-16). The identity of the world and the evil one is apparent from the construction of these sentences. If it could be made more apparent, it would be by the following tabulation of New Testament parallelisms:

These passages thus placed side by side exhibit the world in its sin-constitution as the devil. We are told that all that is in the world is "the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life" (1 John 2:16). Hence the devil is identified with the evil principles at work among men. These are summed up and personified in "the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts" (Eph. 4:22). This old man is the evil one; he is a multitudinous old man, he embraces the population of the world just as "the new man" consists of the sum total of all in Christ. By this, we are enabled to understand how it is that to be a friend of the world is to be a friend of the Evil One, and therefore the enemy of God (Jas. 4:4).

Here lies the practical importance of the question. If we recognize the Evil One in the world as it is now constituted, it will enable us to take that right attitude of separation which Jesus enjoined and exemplified, but if we make the mistake of looking for him in an unknown spectral being or influence, whose movements are not to be discerned, we shall be in danger of frustrating our own prayers by watching a false danger while accepting the fellowship and friendship of the Evil One alias the world, from whom Jesus teaches us to pray to be delivered.

End