One of the biggest problems with Christadelphian truth claims is the utter lack of “proto-Christadelphians” in early Christianity on the topic of demons. To see a scholarly to-and-fro in the journal Svensk Exegetisk Årsbok, see:
Jonathan Burke
(Christadelphian), Satan
and Demons in the Apostolic Fathers: A Minority Report
Thomas Farrar
(Catholic; former Unamended Christadelphian), Satanology
and Demonology in the Apostolic Fathers: A Response to Jonathan Burke
Commenting on the
early Christian affirmation of the ontological (“real”) existence of
demons and their powers, Shandon Guthrie wrote:
Patristic Views of
Demonic Realism
Justin Martyr’s (100 to 165 AD) view of demonology is central to his
world view, and according to Ferguson, it not only “introduce[s] but also
[outlines] much that is to be said about early Christian demonology” (Ferguson,
Demonology, 106). In The Second Apology, Justin’s demonology is inaugurated
by his affirmation that the demons just are “evil spirits” (The Second
Apology I:188. Justin uses this phrase again in chapters VII and XIII). His
interpretation of Genesis 6 later in the same work supposes that these “spirits”
are not at all devoid of material properties. HE says that the sons of God of
Genesis 6 are fallen angels that “were captivated by love of women, and begat
children who are those that care called demons” (The Second Apology
V:190. This view is also shared by Lanctantius [see his The Divine
Institutes, II.15]). The later Lactantius (c. 250 to 325 AD) shared this
view thereby showing how pervasive and influential this understanding was (The
Divine Institutes, II.15). These deviant angels and their birthed demons
went “among man [and] sowed murders, wars, adulteries, intemperate deeds, and
all wickedness” (The Divine Institutes, II.15:64). A contemporary of
Justin’s, Athenagoras the Athenian (c. 133 to c. 190 AD), similarly affirmed that
“the souls of the giants . . . are the demons” and even adds that they “are
eager for the blood of the sacrifices [made to idols], and lick them” (A
Plea for the Christians, XXV and XXVI:407-8) . . . Tatian the Assyrian (c.
120 to 180 AD) another contemporary of Justin Marty, adds to Justin’s view that
“none of the demons possess [sic] flesh; their structure if spiritual,
like that of fire or air” (Address of Tatian to the Greeks, XV:21). In
his chapter XVI of his Address to the Greeks, he would later identify
the constitution of demons to be a species of matter to be distinguished from
the “lower matter” of humans. Thus, someone like Tertullian (c. 155 to 240 AD)
is able to describe them as “invisible and intangible, [and so] we are not
cognizant of their action save by its effects, as when some inexplicable,
unseen poison in the breeze blights the apples and the grain while in the
flower (Apology, XXII:39). According to Tertullian, they also have
location in that they “[dwell] in the air [in] nearness to the stars [and have]
commerce with the clouds” (Apology, XXII:39). Origen *184/185 to 253/254
AD) suggests additional geographical locations where the demons “haunt the
denser parts of bodies” as well as the “unclean places upon earth” and yet all
the while they are devoid of “bodies of earthly material” (Against Celsus,
IV.92:538). In solidarity with his Christian contemporaries, Origen believed
that demons possessed an incorporeal nature. But, also like his contemporaries,
he thinks that such a nature is to be identified as a “material spirit” (De
Principiis, III.4.2.:338) qua an aerial substance such that it exhibits
certain properties like weight. Origen supposed that demons, which also reside
in the air, could breathe in the vapors of earthly sacrifices and of blood from
which they may acquire nourishment (Against Celsus, VII.5; VIII.30-33,
06-61. According to VII.5, the constitutional makeup of a created being can
actually be altered on the basis of that being’s moral behavior). This function implies that they would have
olfactory senses and some kind of digestive system.
The Fathers also comment about what the demons can do—specifically
what they can do to others. Justin Marty said that the demons are capable
of “effecting apparitions of themselves” and so have “both defiled women and corrupted
boys, and showed such fearful sights to men” (The First Apology, V:164).
He states that they can variously appear “in dreams, and sometimes by magical
impositions” (The First Apology, XIV:167). According to Tatian, demons “are
seen . . . by the men possessed of soul, when, as sometimes, they exhibit
themselves to men” whether to deceive or to destroy (Address of Tatian,
XVI:22). Tertullian speaks of how dynamic and intimate their interaction with
the world is in that “[demons] inflict, accordingly, upon our bodies diseases
and other grievous calamities” (Apology, XXII:39). He says “by an
influence equally obscure, demons and angels breathe into the soul, and rouse
up its corruptions with furious passions and vile excesses” (Apology,
XXII:39). They can even heal diseases they themselves create:
For, first of all, they make you ill; then, to get a miracle out of it,
they command the application of remedies either altogether new, or contrary to
those in use, and straightway withdrawing hurtful influence, they are supposed
to have wrought a cure. (Apology, XXII:39. Tertullian later says that
demons inflict bodily ailments on people for the sole reason of validating
themselves to others as bringers of miracles. See Tertullian, Apology,
XXIII).
By the end of the
third century, there was no clear and uncontroversial theory as to who the
demons are or from what they are composed. They are described as intelligent,
incorporeal spirits but are also composed of a material, aerial substance. They
are “material spirits” that are otherworldly but this-worldly at the same time
(i.e., in the air or underground). They are invisible but potentially visible.
They lack a corporeal, animal nature are sexually arousable and interactive
with nature. (Shandon L. Guthrie, Gods of this World: A Philosophical
Discussion and Defense of Christian Demonology [Eugene, Oreg.: Pickwick
Publications, 2018], 50-52)
For more, including a
discussion of Jude 9 and other texts affirming the reality of Satan and Demons
in the Bible, see:
