Can Christians Be Demon-Possessed? The Simple Gospel. Acts 16:21-40
We are going to wrap up this sort of topical study related to demon possession. This is an important issue because there is so much confusion over it. The way that this has developed is that the apostle Paul has been confronted by this fortune-teller who is demon possessed.
Every unbeliever is born in the domain/ under the authority of Satan in the world system. As creatures who are spiritually dead they are already in carnality. There are examples in the gospels of children who are demon possessed. That is not the result of a volitional decision; it is not because they were going out and getting involved in the dark arts, the occult at the age of two or three. It is because they are in the devil's world and as such that can happen. All the things that demons do are under God's authority. We have to also look at Scripture and realize that there are only certain periods of time in Scriptural history that demon activity was overt. One of those was during the time of the incarnation of Christ, during His ministry on the earth, and in the establishment of the church.
If demon possession is the major problem a lot of these so-called deliverance ministries emphasize then the Scriptures from the Gospels and the book of Acts on are incredibly silent. There is just no mention of this. The epistles were written to teach us everything we need to know about living the Christian life. If demon possession—not demon influence—is the problem that people think it is then why is the Bible so incredibly silent.
We have to understand what the Bible teaches. We always run into problems when we start interpreting Scripture on the basis of our experience. We have to remember the key principle: you interpret experience based on the Bible. People have all kinds of experiences. People claim to speak in tongues. We can't challenge experience. We can challenge the interpretation of a person's experience, but when they say they have had some experience, e.g. God talked to me, then something happened; they did have an experience. But what they think that experience was probably isn't they think it was; it is something different; the Bible teaches something different. We have to learn to interpret our experience with the Bible, not interpret the Bible with our experience.
There really is such a thing as demon possession. There was at the time of Christ and in the first century. Paul came face to face with that in Philippi. Acts 16 tells us that a certain slave girl had a spirit of divination. Literally, she had a puthonos. This was related to the spirit that inhabited the Oracle at Delphi, the priestess that alleged to have the ability to foretell the future.
The question that has been raised over the years is: Can a Christian be demon possessed? This is one of those areas where experience has entered in more than anything. How do you even know if a person is demon possessed? What are the tell-tale signs? The Scriptures give a variety of different "symptoms" we might say, or different characteristics of those who are demon possessed; they are not all the same. Many people say, "I can tell." How can you tell? What gives you the insight, the information?
In the third century AD a Jewish rabbi identified four characteristics of someone who was demon possessed: a) they would walk about at night. Anyone over the age of fifty is going to indentify with this problem of "middle age insomnia"; b) spending the night on a grave; c) tearing one's clothes. In the Old Testament in Jewish culture that was a sign of grief. So when is tearing of one's clothes indicative of demon possession? When is it not?; d) destroying what one is given.
Other evidence that people are demon possessed is given in a list by 17th century Puritans. Notice these lists are built off experiences. The Bible says nothing about these things. a) If you thing you are possessed, maybe you are; b) if you lead a wicked life, if you are a sinner; c) to be persistently ill; d) if you fall into heavy sleep; e) from vomiting up unusual objects—toads, serpents, worms, or artificial objects; f) to blaspheme; g) to make a pact with the devil; h) to be troubled with spirits; i) to show a frightening or horrible countenance; j) to be tired of living. That is one of the big tests in the spiritual life. We do get tired; we are ready to go to be with the Lord and we are tired of the battle. But we need to continue to persevere and learn to love the battle; k) to be uncontrolled and violent; l) to make sounds and movements like an animal.
See the difference between a third century Jew and a 17th century Puritan? They are quite different. Where did they get this? Neither of those lists reflects any of the characteristics revealed in the demon possession narratives in the Scriptures.
According to Kurt Koch, who is considered the be an expert on the demonic, you can tell if a person is demon possessed if they are cursing, if they are grinding their teeth, suicide, if they are falling into trance. If you are possessed by demons they emit a scornful laugh if they hear someone talk about the cross of Christ or the blood of Jesus.
That flies in the face of scriptural evidence. The scriptural evidence is, when confronted with the gospel or Jesus they are forced to recognize the authority of God. They may not like it but they are forced to, and they are not disrespectful or blasphemous to Jesus when Jesus shows up.
Koch goes on to say that the person possessed will display evil and hateful expressions, especially when spiritual things are talked about.
The problem today is that we form our theology too often on some kind of experience that somebody has had. And so the question is raised: Can a Christian be demon possessed?
Quote from a former president of Dallas Seminary: "Can a Christian be demonized? For a couple of years I questioned this, but now I am convinced it can occur." Listen to his basis. "If a ground of entrance has been granted the power of darkness …"
What is a ground of entrance? If you're playing with your Ouija board or tarot cards, or getting involved in séances, that opens you to the demonic. I would say that biblically if you are in carnality and you are a spiritually dead unbeliever you have opened yourself to the demonic, because of your circumstances.
But he is saying that "if you have a ground of entrance such as trafficking in the occult, or have a continual unforgiving spirit, are in a habitual state of carnality, the demon sees this as a green light, an okay to proceed." That was in Chuck Swindoll's little book on demonism. Hal Lindsey articulated the same position in his book, Satan is Alive on Planet Earth.
But all of their arguments ultimately come down to this question of experience. One of the most profound that we need to remember is one of the most educated, erudite scholars, and Old Testament professor at Dallas Seminary and author of numerous books, Merrill Unger, had one major flaw. When he wrote his doctoral dissertation it was on demonology. It was published later as a book, Biblical Demonology. He argued very clearly in that book that Christians could not be demon possessed. For that he received a load of critical mail from Christian missionaries, some of whom he respected, who said they had been on the mission field and had had experiences where people they knew were Christians who had manifested the characteristics of demon possession and they were demon possessed. Dr Unger later changed his original position.
How do you tell if a person is demon possessed? How do you know they are not just in need of medication? How do you know that it is just the fact that they have got some demon acting upon them from outside? How do you know any of this without revelation from the area of the unseen? The only certainty we have is the Scripture. So we can't make these kinds of decisions and diagnoses of people on simply empirical evidence alone. As a Bible student I don't have to know what is really causing the problems that a person is experiencing, I just need to know what the answer is. The answer is the cross, if they are not a believer; it is getting in fellowship and learning to walk by the Holy Spirit, if they are a believer. That is the solution. The Word of God and the power of God is sufficient and I don't need to understand what all the dynamics are that are causing them to act in the way they are. People who are living in extended carnality divorced from the reality of God's Word are going to manifest all kinds of symptoms related to neurosis and psychosis. I can't identify what the issues are if I don't know all that data. So we have to understand what the Scripture teaches and then we can deal with these issues.
The strongest argument against a Christian being demon possessed is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The popular version of expressing this argument is actually logically fallacious. It goes something like this. A Christian can't be demon possessed because a demon can't be present in the same environment as God the Holy Spirit. Every believer is indwelt by God the Holy Spirit, therefore Satan or demons cannot be in the same place or location as the Holy Spirit, so Christians can't be demon possessed. The problem is we have passages like Job 1 & 2 and other passages where Satan goes before God. Zechariah chapter three is another one. Satan and the demons are in the very presence of God—1 Kings 22.
We have a lot of people who emphasize doctrine. What doctrine is, is often a principlized summary of what the Bible teaches. But often when we principlize and summarize we get away from the literal text of the Word of God. We create an abstract point that has slipped its anchor from the text. And that pithy little syllogism has slipped from the text. This is a real problem. We always have to have a biblically grounded view of everything. Don't get too far away from what the text actually says.
What the Scripture says is not simply that the believer is indwelt by the Holy Spirit. That is not the strength of the whole argument. 1 Corinthians 3:16 and 1 Corinthians 6:19, before they state the fact of indwelling, say, "Don't you know that your body is the temple of God." The point that I made in defining demon possession as a demon who is able to take residence inside the body and to control the body—that is internal, we're talking about the body, and what 1 Corinthians is saying is that the believer's body is a temple, a temple to the Holy Spirit. There are two different words in the Greek for a temple. One is naos and the other is heiron. naos refers to the Holy of Holies, whereas heiron refers to the entire temple precinct. The Bible doesn't say our body is a heiron, it says it is a naos. It is like the Holy of Holies.
If anyone entered into the Holy of Holies in the Old Testament without going through proper cleansing, as prescribed in the Old Testament, they died. God didn't give them access. Anybody could go into the outer courtyard—the courtyard of the Gentiles, the court of the women, the court of the Jews—but there were strict procedures to get into the naos. Your body is a naos. It is not just that the Holy Spirit dwells in you; it is that He has converted your body from the instant of salvation into a Holy of Holies for the indwelling of God the Father and God the Son. This makes it very distinct.
Think of some Old Testament examples when the regulations of God regarding the naos were violated.
Leviticus 10:1, 2 NASB "Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took their respective firepans, and after putting fire in them, placed incense on it and offered strange fire before the LORD, which He had not commanded them. And fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD."
2 Samuel 6:6, 7 NASB "But when they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah reached out toward the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen nearly upset {it. And the anger of the LORD burned against Uzzah, and God struck him down there for his irreverence; and he died there by the ark of God.
So the picture we have indicates that in the very presence of God and that which He has sanctified and set apart as His dwelling place, as a temple, nothing unclean or wicked or evil enters into that sanctuary.
Another illustration of this can be seen in just the layout of the Jews when they went though the wilderness. All of the tribes were given their specific positions around the tabernacle. If sin existed in the camp, and it did in Joshua chapter four after the battle of Jericho, Achan, in violation of God's command keeps some of the booty for himself. As a result of that when they go into the battle against Ai the Israelites were defeated. Because Achan has brought sin into the camp it has polluted the camp and there is the death penalty upon Achan and his family.
This whole issue of being undefiled in the inner sanctuary is critical in Scripture. That is the imagery of these two verses. This is the strongest argument, I think, for why Christians cannot be demon possessed. God has sanctified the believer as a naos type temple, and that cannot be violated by Satan or the demons. A passage that summarizes that is 1 John 4:4 NASB "… greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world."
It is very popular today to reduce these arguments to a false or weak premise and then defeat them, the straw man argument, but that doesn't really work.
The second argument is from Matthew in the Gospels, the empty house illustration. This is an analogy that Jesus used to teach what is going on in Israel, but it has application to what can happen in the life of an individual believer. Matthew 12:28 "But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you." The context is that the Pharisees have now reached this crisis point in this confrontation with Jesus where they, in representing the nation, have rejected Jesus as the Messiah and instead of accepting Him as the Son of God they are claiming His real power comes from the devil. [29] "Or how can anyone enter the strong man's house and carry off his property, unless he first binds the strong {man?} And then he will plunder his house." So to infiltrate the house you have to infiltrate the house and bind the strong man.
The house here represents the body. So something that controls the body has to be bound before it can be plundered. Then He applies this illustration of the body to demon possession.
Matthew 12:43 NASB "Now when the unclean spirit goes out of a man, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and does not find {it.} [44] Then it says, 'I will return to my house from which I came'; and when it comes, it finds {it} unoccupied, swept, and put in order.'" This represents someone who has gone through moral but not spiritual reformation. They have cleaned up their life and gotten off the booze and pills, loose women and wild parties and everything else that people get involved in. They have gone through a moral reformation but no spiritual regeneration. The demon comes back and thinks: oh, this is such a wonderful place to live now. [45] "Then it goes and takes along with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first. That is the way it will also be with this evil generation."
The illustration that Jesus uses of the way in which God is going to judge that generation of Jews is an illustration relating that someone who has been demon possessed, and the demon leaves and comes back and inhabits the place, but there is no spiritual regeneration. This indicates that the unbeliever, the wicked, is the one who is open to demon possession.
We also have the High Priestly prayer of Jesus. This is a prayer that is a part of His intercessory ministry for everyone who is a Christian, for the entire Christian church. John 17:15 NASB "I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil {one.}" This is a great passage for saying that you don't go off into monastic asceticism and isolate yourself from the world. There are churches and Christians who do this. They want to insulate and isolate themselves from the world so that they don't have any contact with the world. This isn't any different from 3rd or 4th century monastic asceticism. The word "keep" in this verse is a word meaning to protect or to guard – "from the evil one." Here the preposition ek is used, meaning separation. It indicates severance, being separated from something. This would exclude the invasion of a child of God's body from unholy demons. We know the Father has heard and has fulfilled, and is fulfilling Christ's request, and this must at least include protection of all believers. Christ is praying that believers be separated from the evil one. The preposition indicates a severance and a separation from the evil one, and that would at the very least imply that the believer cannot be demon possessed.
1 John 5:18, 19 NASB "We know that no one who is born of God sins …" Christians sin, and when John says this he has to mean something other than simple regeneration. In 1 John he uses that phrase to talk about those who are living like family members, not like the prodigal son; whoever is living like a regenerate person should live. People who are members of God's family don't act like they are not. "… but He who was born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him. We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in {the power of} the evil one." The idea of touching here is the idea of holding or grasping onto something and not letting go, grabbing hold and seizing control of.
We are protected from the evil one. 2 Thessalonians 3:3 NASB "But the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen and protect you from the evil {one.}" This is the use of the preposition apo, which means from the source of something, but when it is combined with a word meaning to protect or to keep from something it has the idea of so that it is not lost or damaged. It is kept from harm so that it is not lost or damaged. So being protected from the evil one means that we can't be harmed by Satan. Demon possession would mean being harmed by Satan.
An argument from sufficiency and silence. 2 Peter 1:3 NASB "seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence." How do we have a knowledge of Him? [4] For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of {the} divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust." The word of God claims to be a sufficient source of information for us on how to live the spiritual life. And the epistles specifically were written to explain the mystery doctrine of the church age to church age believers. You can't find any reference to demons in the sense of demon possession in the epistles. There is a recognition that we are involved in spiritual warfare (Eph. 6:10ff). Paul talks about the fact that we are to take down strongholds, the satanic ideas in the soul; we are not to be conformed to the world, all of those things. But he doesn't ever mention demon possession. Neither do Peter, James or John.
We believe the Scriptures are sufficient, and if this is a major problem as some think it is, then the Scriptures can't be sufficient. Or, if they are sufficient then demon possession isn't a problem at all.
Acts 16:19 NASB "But when her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the market place before the authorities, [20] and when they had brought them to the chief magistrates, they said, 'These men are throwing our city into confusion, being Jews.'" There are a couple of different words to describe these leaders and they fit the context of this time. These are the civil authorities in Philippi. Nobody knows how they are troubling the cities. There is a lot of debate in the commentaries over this. This bottom line over this is probably because as Jews, even though there was a certain level of acceptance and freedom of Jews to worship according to the Law they were considered kind of strange because they were monotheists in the Roman empire. They kept to themselves and did some proselytizing at that time. Today Jews are no longer proselytizing but they were in the first century and second temple Judaism. They are being accused of being Jews, not Christians. They are seen as troublemakers and doing something that has caused the livelihood of these Romans. That is basically what is going on here in the second verse—"teaching customs".
Acts 16:21 NASB " and are proclaiming customs which it is not lawful for us to accept or to observe, being Romans." There was no law against this in Rome, it is simply that this was upsetting the normal way in which business was conducted and Paul and Silas and Luke and Timothy were bringing a measure of absolutes to the situation, saying there was something wrong with these people who were involved with demonism.
But they are also involved in irritating the crowd. This is similar to what will happen in Ephesus in a few chapters where we will see a huge riot that takes place because of Paul's preaching of the gospel. This is a good way to try to influence government; we still see it today. Get the populace all riled up. Don't deal with logic, don't deal with objectivity; just get people emotionally invested in the argument. Acts 16:22 NASB "The crowd rose up together against them, and the chief magistrates tore their robes off them and proceeded to order {them} to be beaten with rods. [23] When they had struck them with many blows, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to guard them securely." Under Roman law if the jailer let them escape he would be executed.
Acts 16:24 NASB "and he, having received such a command, threw them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks." The Romans would put their feet and their hands on the stock so that it was a painful, very uncomfortable position where they could not relax.
Acts 16:25 NASB "But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them." When your focus is on doctrine, even in the most horrible circumstances, somehow the circumstances just fade into insignificance as you focus on the Lord. How many hymns could you sing if you were put in jail when you were going to be imprisoned for your faith? How many Bible verses could you say from memory? Here others are listening to them. They are not entertaining them, they are giving them the gospel and witnessing to them. And the jailer can hear all of this and so he is getting the gospel as well.
Acts 16:26 NASB "and suddenly there came a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison house were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's chains were unfastened." But nobody leaves because Paul and Silas understand that if they leave it would put the jailer's life in jeopardy. So they exercise grace orientation and stay right their in their jail.
Acts 16:27 NASB "When the jailer awoke and saw the prison doors opened, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. [28] But Paul cried out with a loud voice, saying, 'Do not harm yourself, for we are all here!'" That shows the respect the others had for Paul in watching how he handled his adversity.
Acts 16:29, 30 NASB "And he called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas, and after he brought them out, he said, 'Sirs, what must I do to be saved?'" Some say he is talking about being saved from being executed. Why would he be executed? Nobody left, so he hasn't been put in jeopardy. He is asking how he can be saved, how he can get to heaven, and we get the most concise statement of the gospel here. [31] "They said, 'Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.'"
But this statement isn't in a vacuum. We are already told that Paul and Silas are praying and are singing hymns, and they have been talking about the gospel. The jailer has heard all of this. They've already heard the sermon; now he is getting the invitation. He already knows who the Lord Jesus Christ is; he knows what believe is. They added, "and your household." The reason is that people still lived with their families, and there are several examples of households getting saved in the book of Acts.
Acts 16:32 NASB "And they spoke the word of the Lord to him together with all who were in his house." They gave further explanation of the gospel. They go to his home and explain to his family the gospel.
Acts 16:33 NASB "And he took them that {very} hour of the night and washed their wounds, and immediately he was baptized, he and all his {household.} [34] And he brought them into his house and set food before them, and rejoiced greatly, having believed [because they believed] in God with his whole household."
Acts 16:35 Now when day came, the chief magistrates sent their policemen, saying, 'Release those men.'" They want to cover this up. [36] "And the jailer reported these words to Paul, {saying,} 'The chief magistrates have sent to release you. Therefore come out now and go in peace.'" But Paul isn't going to let them get away with this. Some people would say this is Christian activism. "You are being arrogant; you are rubbing the authorities nose in their false law." No, they are not. This is a legal right.
I get irritated and impatient sometimes with Christians who think all they have to do as a citizen is to pray—pray and grow spiritually. That is the silliest nonsense I've ever heard of. You are a citizen of the United States whether you are a Democrat, a Republican, an Independent, etc. Your responsibility is to be an informed voter and to vote. And to be involved in local politics and all the way up. As a citizen of this country you are invested with these responsibilities. It doesn't have anything to do with whether or not you are a Christian. As a Christian you have to do everything according to the glory of God, and that includes being a citizen, the most informed citizen, the most involved citizen. That is not activism; that is responsibility. That is how you become salt and light in the midst of a perverse generation. But if all you do is sit and read your Bible and pray, you are a fool.
Paul challenges them: They have violated Roman law and I am a Roman citizen, and they can't do this to us. Acts 16:37 NASB "But Paul said to them, 'They have beaten us in public without trial, men who are Romans, and have thrown us into prison; and now are they sending us away secretly? No indeed! But let them come themselves and bring us out.'" He is asserting his legal rights. They have to do this publicly; they can't just do it privately. Paul stands his ground, the magistrates are going to have to come and make it as public a release as it was an indictment and an arrest.
Acts 16:38 NASB "The policemen reported these words to the chief magistrates. They were afraid when they heard that they were Romans …" You could not beat or whip a Roman citizen, and they had done that. They hadn't even asked Paul. But even if they had he wouldn't have claimed it then because he was with his companions, and he is a firm believer in the unity of the church, and he wasn't going to assert personal privilege and let his fellow believers go to jail and he not go.
Acts 16:39 NASB "and they came and appealed to them, and when they had brought them out, they kept begging them to leave the city. [40] They went out of the prison and entered {the house of} Lydia, and when they saw the brethren, they encouraged them and departed."