Demonology: What Does the Bible Say about Demons?

C. S. Lewis warned of the polar extremes surrounding demonology: “There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them.”¹

Those who seek to study the topic do well to remember this warning and avoid the unhealthy infatuation, arrogant pugnacity, or naïve denial of the demonic.

The Bible does speak of demons, and demonology is a proper subject of theology.² If angels and demons exist and afflict God’s people as the Bible asserts, then their existence and methods are necessary for a Christian’s understanding of reality. The Bible portrays demons, like unbelieving humans, as subject to future damnation (Matt 25:41). A study of demons, therefore, may serve practical considerations as a warning to others rebelling against God (see Jude 23).

Etymologically speaking, demonology refers to the study of demons. This article will seek to provide a succinct Christian demonology by answering five practical questions.

We pursue these five questions to aid Bible study and practical ministry even while demonstrating the trepidation such a task warrants.

What are demons?

The word “demon” is a transliteration of the Greek διαμόνιον. Originally it referred to any transcendent, incorporeal being, but during the Second Temple period it underwent a semantic shift and became limited to those transcendent beings which were hostile.³.

The Old Testament has much to say about demons. But as the late Michael Heiser pointed out, the Old Testament employs an array of terms and concepts to express these truths.⁴ The most common term was שד, but others include כוכבים (“stars”), שמים (“heavenly ones”), and קדשים (“holy ones”).⁵ The evil spirit sent to afflict Saul in 1 Samuel 16:14 and the lying spirit sent to deceive Ahab (1 Kgs 22:19–22) also likely entail demonic activity.

The New Testament also includes various terms to describe hostile spirits, whether the angels of Satan in Matthew 25:41 and Revelation 12:9, the principalities, powers of darkness, authorities, and rulers of darkness in Ephesians 6:12, or the unclean spirits of Matthew 12:43.

Use Logos’s Bible Sense Lexicon to explore the network words used in Scripture to refer to supernatural beings.

Demons are angels (Matt 25:41).⁶ Wayne Grudem’s definition of angels is typical: “angels are created spiritual beings with moral judgment and high intelligence but without physical bodies.”⁷

Others emphasize this supposed lack of a physical body, describing an angel as a purely “spiritual being.”⁸ This is problematic since angels, whether fallen or unfallen, are frequently portrayed in Scripture in ways which demand the ability to take on a truly physical form. In non-vision historical accounts, angels appeared in bodily form and snatched Lot from the hands of the Sodomites (Gen 19:16); other angels showed up like men and ate a meal with Abraham (Gen 18:8); another angel touched Elijah to wake him and evidently cooked for him (1 Kgs 19:7). If one understands “sons of God” in Genesis 6 to speak of angelic beings, then angels of some sort impregnated women and bore children (Gen 6:4). Walter Grundmann shows sensitivity to this phenomenon, preferring the description of “heavenly beings.”⁹ But demons are no longer heavenly beings, having been evicted from heaven after the ascension of Christ (Rev 12:9, 13–17).

In light of all this, it is better to understand angels as “super-spiritual” beings. Angels have the ability to move about in spiritual and physical realms, with or without physical bodies, which can interact intelligently and purposefully with physical matter. Their metaphysical properties in Scripture seem akin to the post-resurrection body of Christ who also could translate through material matter while also partaking in physical activities like eating. This metaphysical conundrum of spiritual transitivity is why Augustine in De Anima can argue that souls cannot be wholly incorporeal.¹⁰

Angels, fallen or unfallen, possess intellect (e.g., the ability to learn and investigate in 1 Pet 1:12; make compromises in Gen 19:17–22), some semblance of free will (e.g., Michael’s ability to reason in Jude 9; fallen angels capacity to sin in 2 Pet 2:4), and ability to communicate, as the Hebrew and Greek terms for angels, מלך and ἄγγελος, mean “messenger.”¹¹

Angels serve three primary functions in the Bible: they are messengers, ministers, and mercenaries.¹² Fallen angels retain an affinity for these functions, though they perform these roles in debaucherous ways by spreading lies, warring against God’s people and plans, and occasionally ministering on God’s behalf in ways which are questionable to us.¹³

The term “demon” has broadly been used in Scripture for those angels who are antagonistic towards God’s purposes (Eph 1:9–10; 6:12), under the dominion of Satan (see Matt 12:25–29; 25:41; Eph 6:12), hostile towards God’s image-bearers, humankind (2 Cor 12:7), and under God’s judgment for their sin (Matt 8:29; Rev 9:14; 20:10). This study will use the term “demons” to refer broadly to any angel who has sinned against God and actively rebels against God’s plan and agents, but who are still limited by the sovereignty of God. From this point forward, “angel,” in contrast, will be used to refer to those spiritual beings who have not rebelled against God, though Scripture is comfortable using the term for both fallen and unfallen angels, as seen in Matthew 25:41.

Why should we care about demons?

As God’s image-bearers (Gen 1:26–28), humans—and particularly believers who have been commissioned by Jesus (Matt 28:18–20)—are God’s agents assigned to spread his rule upon the earth.¹⁴

If we are to be faithful and successful in our divinely given mission to be diligent stewards and faithful servants, it’s prudent that we learn about any potential threat to our divine mission.

Scripture’s warnings

As evident in his wilderness testing, even Jesus, our example par excellence, did not escape his earthly life without suffering at the hand of demons (Matt 4:1–11). His testing showed two fundamental truths for demonology:

1. The Holy Spirit led Jesus into testing at the hands of Satan. If Jesus is our exemplar, we can reasonably assume that this phenomenon may occur with Jesus’s followers, as well.
2. Demonic hostility can be routed.¹⁵

The Gospels do not limit demonic hostility to external oppression through testing, but also evidence frequent accounts of demonic possession (see below). The threat of demonic hostility necessitated warnings of demonic activity to Jesus’s followers.

Jesus taught the crowd to pray for deliverance from the “evil one” (Matt 6:13),¹⁶ presumably the devil. Jesus also taught that the devil has his own angels (Matt 25:41). By mentioning Satan’s “angels,” Jesus implies that Satan’s minions are also messengers, as the term for angel, in both Greek (ἄγγελος) and Hebrew (מלך), can be translated as “messenger.” Scripture reveals that these satanic messengers spread evil messages which are harmful to believers (see John 8:44; Rev 12:9; 2 Cor 4:3–4). Like their angelic counterparts, these beings make war against God’s people (1 Pet 5:8; Eph 6:16) and serve Satan’s will as members of his house (implied by Jesus’s teaching in Matt 12:25–26). Jesus later warned the crowds that failure to appropriately reorient their lives following an exorcism could lead to a more severe case of possession (Matt 12:43–45).

The apostles note that the devil can appear as an angel of light (2 Cor 11:14), that he stalks the earth like a lion looking to devour people unawares (1 Pet 5:8), and that he shoots “fiery darts” at believers (Eph 6:16). Paul affirms that demons exist in some type of hierarchal structure beneath Satan (Col 1:16; Eph 3:10; Rom 8:38) and that our battle is against the powers of these demons and sin, not against flesh and blood (Eph 6:12).

On the basis of Jesus’s example and the warnings of the apostles, we must therefore prepare ourselves for the onslaught of Satan and his demonic forces. The two primary methods of demonic hostility are possession (internal demonic influence through a parasitic relationship) and oppression (external demonic influence through coercion, enticement, or harassment).

Demonic oppression

Scripture portrays demonic oppression in two ways: tempting and testing.¹⁷ Through oppression, demons attempt to incite believers to sin unto death (Matt 4:1–11). This idea is also inherent in the very notion of שָׂטָן (śāṭān), which means “adversary” or “accuser,” as developed in Job 1:6–2:10.¹⁸

Ancient Jewish apotropaistic methods revolved around obedience to Scripture and quotation of Scripture, both of which Jesus evinces in the testing narratives (Matt 4:1–11).¹⁹ Prayer is also a preferred method for defeating demonic oppression (Matt 6:13; 17:21; 26:40; Eph 6:18). Interestingly, the first teaching Matthew records in his Gospel after the testing narrative includes the Lord’s prayer and the petition, “Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one” (Matt 6:13 NIV). This request is pertinent since that Gospel had just portrayed Jesus being led by God’s spirit into a time of testing by the evil one seeking to entice Jesus to sin. Immediately after his command to submit to God, implying obedience, James exhorts us to “Resist the devil and he will flee” (Jas 4:7). Elsewhere, Paul commands believers to prepare for spiritual warfare by putting on the whole armor of God (Eph 6:10–20).

Our means of resistance are obedience, Scripture recitation, perhaps even scriptural meditation, and prayer.²⁰

Demonic possession

Demonic possession is a form of demonic influence in which the demon has achieved some type of internal control over an individual, though the extent seems to vary in Scripture.²¹

The Bible’s depictions of demonic possession should not be explained away as what we now today understand to be legitimate psychiatric illnesses. To assume that Scripture intentionally misidentified mental illness as demonic possession, say, as a means of divine accommodation creates problems for our doctrine of Scripture. Evangelicals who hold to inerrancy must reject this notion. Nor does the Bible give us reasons to assume that demonic possession has ceased.

Exorcisms were a major aspect of Jesus’s earthly ministry. A few examples from the ministry of Jesus and his disciples include Luke 11:15–23, Mark 6:13, and Acts 16:16–18.

As Rudolf Pesch notes, exorcism accounts follow a standard form in both Jewish and Hellenistic literature, which most biblical accounts follow:

1. An encounter between the exorcist and the possessed
2. A defensive reaction by the possessed or the demon
3. The expulsion command from the exorcist
4. The departure of the demon
5. The reaction of witnesses²²

The New Testament epistles display an evident decline in interest in possession and exorcism. Some have attributed this to a diminishing, or even a cessation, of demonic possession.²³ While a diminishment of activity can be warranted from Revelation 12:13–17, a cessation of demonic activity is unwarranted by Scripture.

Explore each recorded exorcism in Scripture using Logos‘s Miracles of the Bible interactive.

Where do demons come from?

Like that of angels, we do not find within Scripture any account of demons’ origin. Nonetheless, we can observe the following.

Created good by God

The divine council language employed in Genesis 1:26 assumes the presence of angels on the sixth day of creation.²⁴ If we understand Genesis 1:1 as merism, we conclude that God probably created the angels sometime between the first and the sixth day of creation; if they were not, we best leave their creation as one of the secrets rendered to God (Deut 29:29).²⁵

Since God created everything visible and invisible (Col 1:16) as “good” (Gen 1:31), we agree with the Fourth Lateran Council when it confesses,

We firmly believe and simply confess … one principle of the universe, the Creator of all things visible and invisible, spiritual and corporeal, who by his omnipotence from the beginning of time created all things from nothing, both spiritual and corporeal, namely, the angels and the world, then the human creature, which belongs in a certain way to both, for it is composed of spirit and of body. For the devil and the other demons were created naturally good by God, but it is they who by their own action made themselves evil. As for man, he sinned at the instigation of the devil.²⁶

Scripture uses the phrase “sons of God” to refer to angels in Deuteronomy 32:8, Psalm 82:1, 6, and Job 38:7, among other places. Therefore, we rightly conclude that God created them good. Further, this denotation of angels as “sons of God” indicates that they were originally made in the image of God (contra Graham, but in agreement with Heiser).²⁷ Interestingly, the use of divine council language in Job 1:6–12 seems to imply God required Satan, and maybe other demons, to convene at these divine council meetings as “sons of God” until their dismissal from the council in Revelation 12:10 at Christ’s ascension.²⁸

Possible references to their fall

The angels fell into sin of their own free will, though the time of that fall is debatable from Scripture.

Christians have historically assumed that Isaiah 14:12–15 and Ezekiel 28:11–19 describe the fall of Satan. Some read Revelation 12:9 retrospectively as describing Satan taking his angels with him upon his defeat. More convincingly though, Gilhooly finds no compelling reason to interpret these Old Testament passages as concerning the fall of Satan when read in light of ancient Near Eastern royal propaganda, nor does he see Revelation 12:9 as retrospective.²⁹

Revelation 20:9 reveals the serpent of Genesis 3 to be the Satan (שָׂטָן, śāṭān). Whether there is one or many śāṭān need not concern us here. We are primarily interested in the role of a śāṭān as an executioner who became a slanderous courtroom prosecutor.³⁰ The śāṭān thus functions to test the fidelity of God’s subjects. This is likely the primary function of at least one, and perhaps multiple, angels. We might understand the serpent to have performed that role first, and to have done so in an unacceptable way, warranting his curse in the garden. As the first śāṭān to sin in the biblical literature, and by causing death to come to God’s chief creation, he would certainly warrant the distinction as śāṭānpar excellence.

An antediluvian fall (Gen 6:1–4)?

Though canonical Scripture is, at best, inconclusive on the nature of a mass angelic fall, other religious literature is not so reserved. One apocryphal theory involves the preflood account of the nephilim in Genesis 6. This chapter describes the mating between the “sons of God” and the daughters of man (Gen 6:2, 4). Second Temple literature often, though not always, understood these sons of God as angelic beings.³¹ The use of sons of God as a designation for angels is seen throughout the Bible, as noted above, though it is also used for Israel (Deut 32:8; Hos 1:10). The dual referents of sons of God has led to two differing opinions on the passage.

Michael Heiser examined Second Temple literature extensively and believed that this literature influenced the biblical writers’ demonology.³² Heiser argued that the sons of God in Genesis 6:2 were angels (I agree; see also Peter Gentry). The relationship between these angels and the “daughters of men” produced the “nephilim” (6:4). Demons then are the disembodied and afflicted spirits of these resultant nephilim after the flood. Heiser finds his evidence for this from Enochian literature, but I cannot substantiate this idea from the biblical text.³³

Most objections to this view are based on the metaphysical difficulties such a proposition poses (e.g., How can a purely angelic being have sex and propagate with humans?) as well as Matthew 22:30, where Jesus describes angels’ lack of marriage and sexual activity. Gilhooly, thus, argues that Matthew 22:30 precludes an interpretation in which Genesis 6 describes angels having sex.

His argument is mistaken, though. Jesus states that in the resurrection believers will be like the angels “in heaven,” providing a locative modifier. The angels in Genesis 6, however, were not “in heaven”; they were “on earth” where the daughters of men were located. As is obvious from the biblical literature noted above, on earth angels exhibit certain physical abilities such that they are often mistaken for men. They can physically handle men, consume food, etc. No reason exists, then, to think that personal spirits could not engage in other human physical activities, such as procreation.

Consider as well the post-resurrection appearances of Jesus in Luke 24 and John 20. These texts seem to describe the post-resurrection physical body of Jesus in similar fashion to the angelophanies³⁴ of the Bible. His body still had scars, was able to eat, drink, be handled by humans, and handle others. If Scripture describes angels and the resurrected Christ as engaging in certain physical behaviors, we have warrant to believe that angels may be able to engage in other physical activities, including sex.

Final assessments

Based on Genesis 3 and Genesis 6, the Bible seems to warrant that not all angels fell at the same time. Since angels possess free will, logically they might fall at any time. Thus, Paul’s peculiar admonition in 1 Corinthians 11:10 seems all the more an effective warning. Perhaps the Bible does not contain a clear angelic fall narrative because there was no single decisive fall. Unlike humans, angels were created individually and not as the result of biological procreation. This precludes them from the type of corporate fall the human race experienced on account of Adam’s federal headship or the seminal transmission of sin.³⁵

Though we do not know when these angels, or sons of God, fell, we do know in general why they fell: they rebelled against authority (Jude 6) and succumbed to pride (1 Tim 3:6). Surely, someone will ask, “Why did God allow some of the angels to sin?” Gilhooly’s council is useful here, “Some questions are dangerous, because they disguise themselves as children of curiosity when they are really offspring of unbelief.”³⁶ The demons, regardless of the timing or nature of their fall, are seemingly under Satan’s domain and authority (Matt 25:41).

What do our neighbors think about demons?

Demonology is not purely a Christian enterprise. If demons exist, we can expect that they would afflict all those created in God’s image in an attempt to thwart God’s missionary plan.

Many of our neighbors are not naïve of the existence of hostile spiritual beings.

• Jewish demonology developed extensively during the Babylonian exile and the Second Temple period. Similar to Christianity, Judaism views demons as “workers of harm” and attributes to demons various afflictions of God’s people.³⁷
• Islam shares a belief in demons, the shayatin and the jinn, whom the Quran frequently mentions.³⁸
• Hindus believe in the existence of rakshasas who “are eager to destroy everything pure and good.”³⁹

With the growth of New Age spiritism in the United States, belief in the occult, demons, and spirits is only growing.⁴⁰ Our neighbors, by and large, may be more open to the existence of other-worldly and hostile beings than ever before.

What is the fate of demons?

The Lord Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil, defeating the sin and death that the Serpent of old brought about through tempting our parents (1 John 3:8; Gen 3:1–5).

Satan was a liar and a murderer from the very beginning, and his lie led us to death (John 8:44; Gen 3:17–19). But in that day, the Lord promised a deliverer, a seed who would triumph over the Serpent: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel” (Gen 3:15 ESV).

Jesus is that seed. Throughout his life, he made it a point to alleviate demonic oppression in the lives of God’s image-bearers, crushing the Serpent’s head everywhere that he went. This was especially true in the exorcism accounts. Mitch Chase is right to call every exorcism an eschatological event.⁴¹

Through Jesus’s active obedience in life and vicarious death on the cross, he defeated sin, nailing it to a tree (Col 2:13–14) and rose victorious over death and the grave on the third day (1 Cor 15:12–54). Upon the ascension, Jesus replaced Satan in the heavenly council (Rev 12:10). Where we once had a murderous accuser, we now have an advocate (1 John 2:1) who lives to make intercession for us and is able to save to the uttermost (Heb 7:25)! Now, no one can bring a charge against God’s elect (Rom 8:33). Through Jesus, we have victory over sin in this life, and over death in the next (1 John 5:4–5; 1 Cor 15:50–57; Rom 6:14).

The demons who incited God’s wrath through pride will suffer the just due of their insidious rebellion. They will be sent to hell and the lake of fire which God created just for them (Matt 25:41), following Satan and his unholy trinity as the first of the damned (Rev 20:10). Unfortunately, those who fail to align themselves with Jesus and remain under the dominion of Satan (2 Cor 4:4; 1 John 3:10; Col 3:6) will share in this eternal fate unless they repent and believe in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins (John 3:16–21).

Conclusion

My own journey into demonology was accidental—the result of an exegetical paper on Jesus’s temptation narrative (Matt 4:1–11), which consequently led to my first publications.⁴² I have come to the conclusion that one will not be able to study the Gospels well without a basic understanding of demonology.

How one answers the question whether or not demons exist depends upon his or her worldview. For the evangelical, the existence of demons is unquestionable. Jesus was tested by their leader. He cast them out from possessed individuals on numerous occasions. His apostles warned of continuing demonic activity.

In light of this biblical testimony, we must heed its warnings and prepare ourselves for the battle taking place all around us. We do this by prayer, Bible reading, Scripture meditation, and active obedience, carefully cladding ourselves in the armor of God.

Dive into demonology with resources McIntyre recommends

Against the Darkness: The Doctrine of Angels, Satan, and Demons (Foundations of Evangelical Theology)

Regular price: $22.99

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40 Questions about Angels, Demons, and Spiritual Warfare (40 Questions Series)

Regular price: $21.99

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The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible

Regular price: $19.99

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Demons: What the Bible Really Says About the Powers of Darkness

Regular price: $19.99

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Related articles

• Every Exorcism Is Eschatological: The Words of Demons in the Presence of Jesus
• Satan in the Bible: 14 Sobering Facts about the Devil
• Where Do Demons Come From?
• What Is Evil—Biblically? What the Bible Says about Good & Evil

1. C. S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters (San Francisco: HarperOne, 2001), ix.
2. Millard J. Erickson defines theology: “Theology in a Christian context is a discipline of study that seeks to understand the God revealed in the Bible and to provide a Christian understanding of reality.” Millard J. Erickson, Christian Theology, 3rd ed. (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2013), 3.
3. William Arndt et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 210.
4. Michael Heiser, Demons: What the Bible Really Says about the Powers of Darkness (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2020), 6–21.
5. Heiser, Demons, 7.
6. Graham A. Cole, Against the Darkness: The Doctrine of Angels, Satan, and Demons (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2019), 111.
7. Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Academic, 2020), 516.
8. Erickson, Christian Theology, 409.
9. Walter Grundmann, Gerhard von Rad, and Gerhard Kittel, “Ἄγγελος,” Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1964), 76–77.
10. Augustine of Hippo, “A Treatise on the Soul and Its Origin,” in Saint Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings, ed. Philip Schaff, trans. Peter Holmes, vol. 5 of A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, First Series (New York: Christian Literature Company, 1887), 363–64.
11. Grundmann et al., “Ἄγγελος,” 76–77.
12. John R. Gilhooly, 40 Questions About Angels, Demons, and Spiritual Warfare, ed. Benjamin L. Merkle, 40 Questions (Grand Rapids: Kregel Academic, 2020).
13. Gilhooly, 40 Questions, 65, 94.
14. Grudem, Systematic Theology, 567–69.
15. Donald C. McIntyre, “The Testing of Jesus in Light of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Intertextual Hermeneutics,” Eleutheria 5, no. 1 (May 2021): 90–112; see also Donald C. McIntyre, “Did We Get the Temptation of Jesus Wrong? Part I,” Word by Word, July 25, 2020; and Donald C. McIntyre, “What If We Got the Temptation of Jesus Wrong? Part II,” Word by Word, August 11, 2020.
16. “The King James Version (as well as more than one modern translation) translates this as ‘but deliver us from evil.’ But the adjective has the article modifying it (τοῦ), indicating that it is to be taken substantivally: ‘the evil one.’” William D. Mounce, Basics of Biblical Greek Grammar, ed. Verlyn D. Verbrugge and Christopher A. Beetham, 4th ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2019), 79.
17. See McIntyre, “Testing of Jesus.”
18. McIntyre, “Testing of Jesus”; in contrast, see Ryan E. Stokes, The Satan: How God’s Executioner Became the Enemy (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2019) 6–47.
19. McIntyre, “Testing of Jesus.”
20. This article is not properly on the topic of spiritual warfare but demonology. I have included biblical examples of apotropaistic activity due to this topic. But for a more sufficient discussion of spiritual warfare, see Cole, Against the Darkness, 187–95.
21. Grudem, Systematic Theology, 547–49.
22. Rudolf Pesch, “The Markan Version of the Healing of the Gerasene Demoniac,” Ecumenical Review 23 (October 1971): 349–76.
23. Cole, Against the Darkness, 130–33.
24. Michael Heiser, The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2015), 38–43.
25. William David Reyburn and Euan McGregor Fry, A Handbook on Genesis, UBS Handbook Series (New York: United Bible Societies, 1998), 29.
26. Council Fathers, “Fourth Lateran Council: 1215 Council Fathers,” Papal Encyclicals, January 31, 2024. https://www.papalencyclicals.net/councils/ecum12–2.htm#3.
27. Graham, Against the Darkness, 30, 42; and Heiser, Demons, 38–40.
28. G. K. Beale, The Book of Revelation: A Commentary on the Greek Text, New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Carlisle, 1999), 657–58.
29. Gilhooly, 40 Questions, 103–12.
30. Stokes, Satan, 6–47.
31. See discussion in Heiser, Demons, 127–43.
32. Heiser, Demons, 127–43.
33. Heiser, Demons, 135–43; Peter Gentry, “Were the Sons of God in Genesis 6 Fallen Angels? Who Were the Nephilim?,” YouTube, November 18, 2019.
34. Angelophany can be defined as physical manifestations of angels on earth in which they taken on “appearances assumed for the occasion.” Erickson, Christian Theology, 409.
35. Grudem, Systematic Theology, 623–28; and Jesse Couenhoven, “St. Augustine’s Doctrine of Original Sin,” Augustinian Studies 36, no. 2 (2005): 359–96.
36. Gilhooly, 40 Questions, 91.
37. Isaac Broydé et al., c.v. “Demonology,” in The Jewish Encyclopedia: A Descriptive Record of the History, Religion, Literature, and Customs of the Jewish People from the Earliest Times to the Present Day, ed. Isidore Singer (New York: Funk and Wagnalls Company 1905), 4:51.
38. Andrew Pinsent, The History of Evil in the Medieval Age: 450–1450 CE, The History of Evil 2 (Abingdon: Routledge, 2018), 155.
39. Madhubanti Banerjee, “Rakshasas and Asuras in Hindu Epic Tales,” International E-Journal of Advances in Social Sciences 1, no. 2 (August 2015): 148.
40. Gilhooly, 40 Questions, 17.
41. Mitch Chase, “Every Exorcism Is Eschatological: The Words of Demons in the Presence of Jesus,” Word by Word, April 10, 2024. https://www.logos.com/grow/hall-jesus-exorcism/.
42. See as well Donald McIntyre, “Demons, DSS, and Jesus: Psalm 91 and the Need for Text Critical Pastors,” Word by Word, June 9, 2022.