Blog: What are Demons?

Wrapping up this month’s short series on spooky topics, we need to talk about demons. Every religion and worldview on Earth (except atheism/agnosticism) believes in demons to some capacity. Around this time of the year, they’re especially popular as topics of discussion, what with Halloween coming up and all of that. However, what are demons? Are they the misunderstood, brooding Saja Boys from K-Pop Demon Hunters? Or are they something much darker and more sinister?

There are two theories about what demons are. Though the terms “demons,” “evil spirits,” and the more nuanced, stranger term “prince” pop up about 12 times in the Old Testament and over 80 times in the New Testament, we don’t have much info on them. Instead, we have breadcrumbs of information scattered throughout the Bible about what demons are and how they came about, with interpretations varying. One group focuses on demons being fallen angels (the mainstream view), while the other suggests that they’re the disembodied spirits of the Nephilim. I’ll mainly focus on the mainstream view.

In Isaiah 14:12-15, Isaiah compares the king of Babylon’s fall to that of Satan’s fall from heaven. It says:

¹²How you have fallen from heaven,
    morning star, son of the dawn!
You have been cast down to the earth,
    you who once laid low the nations!
¹³ You said in your heart,
    “I will ascend to the heavens;
I will raise my throne
    above the stars of God;
I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly,
    on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon.^[b]
14 I will ascend above the tops of the clouds;
    I will make myself like the Most High.”
¹⁵ But you are brought down to the realm of the dead,
    to the depths of the pit.

Ezekiel 28:11- 19 also agrees with this, when the King of Tyre is similarly compared to Satan. It says:

¹¹ The word of the Lord came to me: ¹² “Son of man, take up a lament concerning the king of Tyre and say to him: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says:

“‘You were the seal of perfection,
    full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
¹³ You were in Eden,
    the garden of God;
every precious stone adorned you:
    carnelian, chrysolite and emerald,
    topaz, onyx and jasper,
    lapis lazuli, turquoise and beryl.^[b]
Your settings and mountings^[c] were made of gold;
    on the day you were created they were prepared.
¹⁴ You were anointed as a guardian cherub,
    for so I ordained you.
You were on the holy mount of God;
    you walked among the fiery stones.
¹⁵ You were blameless in your ways
    from the day you were created
    till wickedness was found in you.
¹⁶ Through your widespread trade
    you were filled with violence,
    and you sinned.
So I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God,
    and I expelled you, guardian cherub,
    from among the fiery stones.
¹⁷ Your heart became proud
    on account of your beauty,
and you corrupted your wisdom
    because of your splendor.
So I threw you to the earth;
    I made a spectacle of you before kings.
¹⁸ By your many sins and dishonest trade
    you have desecrated your sanctuaries.
So I made a fire come out from you,
    and it consumed you,
and I reduced you to ashes on the ground
    in the sight of all who were watching.
¹⁹ All the nations who knew you
    are appalled at you;
you have come to a horrible end
    and will be no more.’”

In Luke 10, Jesus affirms that this happened when he says “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.” So, we know from this that Satan was originally a cherub (one of the most important groups of angels). Then he grew proud and thought he could do a better job at ruling the universe than God. This is where we get into the book of Revelation, which says:

⁷ Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. ⁸ But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. ⁹ The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him. (Revelation 12: 7-9)

According to this, after Satan became proud there was a war between Michael and “the dragon,” (which Revelation 20:2 confirms to be Satan.) Satan was then cast out, as were the angels who had followed him. Those angels who were working with him are likely what we know to be demons as the etymology of this word in the Hebrew and Greek denote them to be incorporeal, powerful beings.

Now, one of the other theories floating around about what demons are is that they’re actually not fallen angels but are the disembodied spirits of the Nephilim. I don’t think this is legit. There is no solid Biblical evidence for this and much of this argument’s supports come from the book of Enoch. What Biblical “evidence” there is is a misunderstanding of what “the spirits in prison” mean in 1 Peter 3:19. It makes no sense for every fallen angel to be in prison while Satan is never mentioned to be in prison. Why imprison the followers and not the leader as well? More likely, it is only referencing the angels that slept with women, creating the Nephilim.

Until next time,

M.J.