Just as today, early Christians took a variety of views on demonic origins. Some of the church fathers agreed with the Nephilim view and others believed that demons were simply fallen angels.
Justin Martyr wrote in chapter 5 of The Second Apology,
“But the angels transgressed this appointment, and were captivated by love of women, and begot children who are those that are called demons.”
This statement is clearly referring to events of Genesis 6:1-4 and the demonic offspring that resulted.
Tertullian wrote in chapter 22 of his Apology,
“We are instructed, moreover, by our sacred books how from certain angels, who fell of their own free-will, there sprang a more wicked demon-brood, condemned of God along with the authors of their race, and that chief we have referred to.”
This again seems to be a reference to Genesis 6 which produced a “demon-brood” presumably referring to the giant offspring of the relations between the Sons of God or Watchers and the human women. Earlier in the chapter, Tertullian refers to the ‘demon-chief’ as Satan thereby connecting the condemned chief this passage to Satan himself. This is certainly possible as 1 Enoch does discuss specific fallen angels and a leader named Samyaza. However, there isn’t much to connect Satan with Samyaza other then the fact that they are fallen angels and leaders of a divine rebellion.
Origen also had a giant centered view of demons as put forth in Contra Celsus Book IV, chapter 92,
“In my opinion, however, it is certain wicked demons, and, so to speak, of the race of Titans or Giants, who have been guilty of impiety towards the true God…”
Again, we see a connection being made between the demons and the giants of Genesis 6. Something interesting about this quote is the use of the word Titans. Titans are a figure from Greek mythology where they are giants and Demi-gods meaning half divine and half human. This is nearly identical to the idea of Nephilim as physically giant children of angels and humans. The connection between the biblical text and Greek mythology is very interesting, and there is more to be said on this topic, but we can save that for another post. This is one case where biblical ideas are echoed in another religion or culture.
Athenagoras and Commodianus are two more early Christians who had similiar opinions on the origin of demons. We don’t need to explore every case in detail, but I think we have established that this Genesis 6 origin of demons was not unheard of in the early church fathers. It is also important to note that each of these church fathers quoted above had high views of 1 Enoch. In fact, Tertullian in On the Apparel of Women states his belief in the inspiration of 1 Enoch. I would not defend the inspiration of 1 Enoch, but I believe just as these fathers did that 1 Enoch holds some truth.
We should also note that many church fathers disagreed with this notion, most notably Augustine and Thomas Aquinas. Augustine in Book 15 of City of God,
“I could by no means believe that God’s holy angels could at that time have so fallen, nor can I think that it is of them the Apostle Peter said, ‘For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment.‘“
He is commenting on Genesis 6:1-4 in this quote and as such he takes a non-supernatural view of these verses. As such, he does not believe in the supernatural Nephilim offspring which means he can not believe that they are the origin of demons. He does believe that the giants were in fact abnormally large, but he thinks this abnormality occurred naturally.
Further Thomas Aquinas when addressing demons in Question 63 of his Summa Theologica frequently uses fallen angel and demon interchangeably clearly showing his belief that demons were fallen angels. Again, I should emphasize that I do believe angels can be corrupted and have been corrupted before. There may even be angels in service to Satan, but I still maintain that these angels are separate beings from the demons we see in the New Testament.
Personally, I have further issues outside of the lack of textual evidence for the idea of demons as fallen angels. These issues I will address in the next post.
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