Mark 5:2

And when he was come out of the boat, straightway there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit.

One's interpretation of this miracle will inevitably reflect his belief concerning demon possession and concerning the incarnation. Concerning the latter, the conviction followed in this commentary is that Jesus was indeed God come in human form, and yet possessing all of the attributes of God. Concerning demon possession, a more general statement is proper.

CONCERNING DEMON POSSESSION

Trench called this miracle "the most important, and, in many respects, the most perplexing of all the cures of demoniacs";[2] and this is an appropriate place to give attention to this phenomenon which is mentioned in all the gospels. Demon possession may not be identified merely as mental disorders, or various kinds of sickness, because a differentiation between them is clearly made in the gospels. Furthermore, the conversations Jesus carried on with demons, their recognizing him as "Son of God Most High," and his addressing them as personal cannot be adequately explained as a mere accommodation on the part of the Lord to superstitions of his contemporary generation. The integrity of the sacred gospels as history must be set aside in any view that denies the reality of demon possession in the New Testament.

Are there difficulties in such a view? Indeed yes; but the difficulties derive from what people do not know, rather than from what they know: (1) It is generally supposed that no such thing as demon-possession exists on earth today; and, if that supposition is correct, it would simply mean that the power of Jesus Christ in destroying the works of the devil, which was his purpose in coming into this world (1 John 3:8), was effective and that Satan's demonic followers are not able to work the havoc upon human personality in this age, as formerly. The multiplication of such disorders in the times of Christ should, in such a view, have been expected as the demons recognized the holy Saviour and his purpose of destroying them. (2) However, it is by no means certain that the phenomenon has actually disappeared. Trench suggested that if one with apostolic discernment today should enter a madhouse "he might recognize some of the sufferers there as `possessed.'"[3] Cranfield thought that "There may be more truth here in the New Testament picture than has sometimes been allowed," and asks if perhaps "The spread of a confident certainty of the demons' non-existence has not been their greatest triumph."[4] He also pointed out that witch burnings were not due to taking the New Testament too seriously, "but they were due to failing to take it seriously enough."[5] So, take it either way: whether or not demon-possession still exists or not, the reality of it THEN is certain. In the unreasonable and atrocious crimes, abnormal bestiality, and senseless wickedness exploited on the front pages of newspapers every day, there is far more than a possibility that satanic possession is the cause of at least some of it.

[2] Richard C. Trench, Notes on the Miracles (Old Tappan, New Jersey: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1943), p. 162.

[3] Ibid. p. 176.

[4] C. E. B. Cranfield. The Gospel According to St. Mark (Cambridge: University Press, 1966), p. 75.

[5] Ibid.