That must be dealt with, and the linked article does just that.
”To many men, less mature in their theological thinking than the readers of this
Journal are likely to be, the foregoing question presents subject full of puzzling difficulties. Rarely, if ever, does the ordinary Sunday-school lesson or pastor’s sermon throw a ray of clear light upon it. The gospel accounts of demon possession are commonly taken at their face value, and the interpreter gravely explains that during the lifetime of Jesus there was a special activity on the part of the hellish hosts, Satan rallying all his organization in opposition to Jesus. On the other hand, when discussion arises, a number of opinions emerge. Some allegorize the demons, making them the evil inclinations and habits of men, and refer to demons of anger, lust, alcohol, and the like. Others suppose the demons to have been bodily ailments, such as epilepsy or insanity, arising from physical causes. Others, again, think they were evil personalities, devoid of physical bodies, which housed inside victims and caused them to be deaf, dumb, insane, and the like. Thus in common lay thinking there are at least three suppositions: (1) that the demons referred to in the Gospel were merely bad habits; (2) that they were diseases, having physical causes; (3) that they were evil personalities, subject to Satan, and stirred into unwonted activity by the presence of Jesus on earth in his incarnate form.
Such a close-up acquaintance with these views of Christian laymen suggests two reasons for careful consideration of the question raised above by all whose task it is to stimulate and guide religious thinking. In the first place, the Gospels refer to demons so frequently that any thorough or consecutive study is sure to raise questions concerning them. In the second place, the topic of demons in the Gospels furnishes an approach to the whole thought-world of Jesus and the normative value of his opinions which to many men has proved not to be a matter of antiquarian interest, but one of freeing value. …
More cogent is Jesus’ acceptance of the reality of demons as shown in the Gospel narratives of exorcism. He speaks to the demons, rebukes them, asks them for information. …
We have amassed the Gospel evidence in answer to the question whether or not Jesus shared the beliefs of his people and his time as to the existence of demons, their housing in living human bodies, their causing certain afflictions, their differentiation into classes, their fondness for water, their ability to colonize in a single human being, their having a chieftain, Satan, or Beelzebub.”
(A. Wakefield Slaten, “DID JESUS BELIEVE IN DEMONS?”)
No evidence? Dr. Slaten demonstrated in his article that’s certainly not the case.
What does he conclude after examining the evidence?
“It might appear that to a normal mind, faced with such an array of evidence collected from the Gospels themselves, but a single conclusion would be possible, viz., that Jesus did believe in demons. But experience with successive groups of men shows that this is not the case. The following are the reactions that will be obtained in every group:
1. Some will say that Jesus did not believe in demons, but accommodated himself to the ignorance and credulity of the people about him. He spoke and acted therefore as though demons were real to him, although they were not.
2. Some will say that Jesus did not believe in demons and made no pretense of believing in them. The statements in the Gospels that would make us think he did all came from the evangelists themselves. To them, demons were real, and they read into Jesus’ action and teaching their own beliefs.
3. Some will say that Jesus did believe in demons, that is, that the Gospels are correct in their representations of him in this matter. Those who take this view divide into two parties, (a) the one affirming that Jesus’ belief in demons commits us as his followers to the same belief, (b) the other denying that loyalty to Jesus demands this copying of his thought.
In any ordinary Protestant group the largest number will hold opinions (1) and (3a). Opinions (2) and (3b) will occur to a much smaller number. Probably the largest number of all will incline to opinion (3a) and hold that as Jesus believed in demons we must also.”
Dr. Slaten was a Protestant. I’m not, but I would be located in group (3a) if I were.
www.desiringgod.org
