Over the last several posts we have analyzed the biblical, apocryphal, and historical positions on demonic origins. We have shown that the biblical text is largely silent on the topic, but it does support or at least oblige the claims made in the apocryphal text of 1 Enoch. Finally, we surveyed the opinions of early Christians to establish that 1 Enoch view, while not dominant, was at least held by some well-known church fathers. I’d like to close this series with a few final thoughts.
First, after realizing that there is no biblical passage showing that demons are fallen angels, it occurred to me that the nature of angels and demons in the Bible are very different. Demons in most cases of the New Testament are disembodied spirits that seek out persons to possess. This fits well with the idea that demons are disembodied spirits of fallen Nephilim. These demons would naturally seek out bodies to possess. However, angels in the Bible are never depicted as ‘possessing’ bodies. They do appear to be embodied as in Genesis 19, but it seems that they create these bodies and not that they possess an existing human. The angels that visited Lot in Sodom are a prime example of angels that appear in a physical human form. It is important to note that these angels are embodied, and not that they are incarnate. The incarnation required that God became man, in these other cases Yahweh or the angels simply appear in human form and do not become human. Angels therefore are able to manifest themselves in physical, human bodies whereas demons seem to be limited in this way. They require an existing human body to possess.
Secondly, the Greek word Nephilim comes from a lemma that means “fallen”. This can be seen in verses such as Ezekiel 32:22
22 “‘Assyria is there, and all her company, its graves all around it, all of them slain, fallen by the sword…’”
“Fallen” in this verse is nopelim which shares the lemma of npl with Nephilim. This is further connection between Nephilim and something supernatural such as the fallen angels that sired them. The amount of evidence for a supernatural view of Genesis 6:1-4 and a supernatural view of Nephilim really seems to be overwhelming in my opinion.
Third and finally, the term Angel in many biblical verses is better described as a job description than a type of supernatural being. The Greek word “angelos” which we derive the word from actually translates to messenger and at times is even used to described human messengers such as in Luke 7:24,
24 “When John’s messengers had gone…”
This is important to keep in mind when in this discussion of supernatural origins because a lot of disagreement can happen over semantical issues. I also think this translation can help explain verses that refer to “Satan’s Angels”. These angels can be messengers of Satan without being the same type of being as the angels of God.
Overall, this topic is very dense and there is a lot more that could be discussed, but I think I have laid a solid foundation and explanation of the origin of demonic beings that is consistent with all of the biblical text.
Leave a Reply