DEMONIAC (Gr. balpovfOgat, dahtt-mon.hrzom-ahtt, to be tinder the power of a demon, rendered a devil," pos sessed of an evil spiriti.
Demonized persons, in the New Testament, are those who were supposed to have a demon or de mons occupying them, suspending the faculties of their minds and governing the members of their bodies, so that what was said and done by the demoniacs was ascribed to the indwelling demon.
Apollonius thus addresses a youth supposed to be possessed : 'I am treated contumeliously by the demon, and not by thee' (Comp. Matt. viii : 28, 31; Mark v :2 ; ix :12 ; Luke viii :27, 32).
1. Reality of Demoniacal Possession. The correctness of the opinion respecting those who are called Satp.ovtiliizepoL in the New Testament which prevailed among the Jews and other nations in the time of our Lord and his apostles has been called in question. On the one hand, it is urged that the details of the evangelical history afford decisive evidence of the truth and reality of de moniacal possessions in the sense already ex plained, at least during the commencement of Christianity ; on the other hand, it is contended that the accounts in question may all be under stood as the phenomena of certain diseases, par ticularly hypochondria, insanity and epilepsy ; that the sacred writers used the popular language in reference to the subject, but that they themselves understood no more than that the persons were the subjects of ordinary diseases. Here issue is joined—and it is to the evidence in this cause that our attention will now be directed.
Those who contend that the demoniacs were really possessed by an evil spirit urge the follow ing considerations: (1) Unusual Expressions. The demoniacs express themselves in a way unusual for hypo chondriacal, insane or epileptic persons (Matt. viii :29; Mark i :24) ; they possessed supernatural strength (Mark v .4) ; they adjure Jesus not to torment them ; they answer the questions proposed to them in a rational manner; they are distinctly said to have 'come out of men and to have 'en tered into swine,' and that consequently the whole herd, amounting to about 2,000, ran violently down a precipice into the sea (Matt. viii :32 ; Mark
v :t3). The supposition which has been main tained by Lardner, among others, that the swine were driven into the sea by the demoniacs Is irre concilable with the language of the narrative, be ing also highly improbable in itself ; madmen do not act in concert, and rarely pursue the same train of maniacal reasoning.
(2) Not Mental Diseases. No mental diseases are predicated of the dumb (Matt. ix:32), or of the blind and dumb (Matt. xii :22). Do such dis eases ever produce blindness? (3) Epilepsy. It is admitted that the symptoms of the youth described in Matt. xvii:15; Mark ix: 17; Luke ix:39 coincide precisely with those of epilepsy, but they are attributed to the agency of the demon on that very account.
(4) Spirit of Divination. The damsel at Philippi is said to have been possessed with a spirit of divination, which was the means of ob taining much gain to her masters, and to have understood the Divine commission of Paul and his companions (Acts xvi :17). Is this to be ascribed merely to an aberration of mind? (5) Confession. The demoniacs themselves confess that they were possessed with demons (Mark v :9) ; the same is asserted of them by their relatives (Matt. xv :22). The apostles and evan gelists assert that persons possessed with demons were brought unto Jesus (Matt. iv :24; Mark i 32), or met him (Luke viii :27). Jesus commands them not to make him known as the Messiah (Mark i :34, margin) ; rebuked them (Matt. xvii: 18). The evangelists declare that the demons de parted from their victims at his command (Matt. xvii :18 ; Mark ix :25, 26 ; Luke iv :35 ; xi :14) ; and Jesus himself asserts it (Luke xiii :32).
(6) Distinctions. The writers of the New Testament make distinctions between the diseased and the demoniacs (Mark i :32 ; Luke vi :i7, 18) ; and Jesus himself does so (Matt. x :8, etc.).