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Particulars of Christianity:
311 Spiritual Warfare


Spiritual Warfare Part 3b
Biblical/Historic View of Angels & Demons

Spiritual Warfare Part 1a: A Study of Demonic Activity
Spiritual Warfare Part 1b: A Study of Demonic Activity
Spiritual Warfare Part 2a: The Spiritual Warfare of the Believer
Spiritual Warfare Part 2b: The Spiritual Warfare of the Believer
Spiritual Warfare Part 2c: The Spiritual Warfare of the Believer
Spiritual Warfare Part 2d: The Spiritual Warfare of the Believer
Spiritual Warfare P. 3a: Biblical/Historic View of Angels & Demons
Spiritual Warfare P. 3b: Biblical/Historic View of Angels & Demons
Spiritual Warfare P. 3c: Biblical/Historic View of Angels & Demons
Spiritual Warfare Study Conclusions
Spiritual Warfare Additional Quotes and Definitions



We will now make several claims regarding angels and demons and support them with quotes from the Book of Enoch and the early church writers. All of which will show that the claims themselves are the ancient, historical, orthodox view of angelic and demonic ontology held both by the Jews before and by orthodox Christians after the New Testament was written. This then is the historical context and understanding that existed at the time the New Testament was written, which is essential to the Grammatical-Historical Method.


1) The Nephilim are the children of angels and women and after they die their spirits were called demons or unclean (or evil) spirits.

Enoch, Chapter 15 - And go, say to the Watchers of heaven, who have sent thee to intercede for them: "You should intercede" for men, and not men 3 for you: Wherefore have ye left the high, holy, and eternal heaven, and lain with women, and defiled yourselves with the daughters of men and taken to yourselves wives, and done like the children 4 of earth, and begotten giants (as your) sons? And though ye were holy, spiritual, living the eternal life, you have defiled yourselves with the blood of women, and have begotten (children) with the blood of flesh, and, as the children of men, have lusted after flesh and blood as those also do who die 5 and perish.

Enoch, Chapter 19 - 1 And Uriel said to me: 'Here shall stand the angels who have connected themselves with women,

Enoch, Chapter 10 - 8 And now, the giants, who are produced from the spirits and flesh, shall be called evil spirits upon 9 the earth, and on the earth shall be their dwelling. Evil spirits have proceeded from their bodies; because they are born from men and from the holy Watchers is their beginning and primal origin; 10 they shall be evil spirits on earth, and evil spirits shall they be called. [As for the spirits of heaven, in heaven shall be their dwelling, but as for the spirits of the earth which were born upon the earth, on the earth shall be their dwelling.] And the spirits of the giants afflict, oppress, destroy, attack, do battle, and work destruction on the earth, and cause trouble:

Enoch, Chapter 69 - …this is he who showed the children of men all the wicked smitings of spirits and demons,

"The angels transgressed this appointment and were captivated by love of women. And they begat children, who are those called demons."
- Justin Martyr (c. 110-165 AD)

"The poets and mythologists did not know that it was the [wicked] angels, and those demons who had been begotten by them…For they called them by whatever name each of the angels had given to himself and to his children."
- Justin Martyr (c. 110-165 AD)

CHAP. VI. --THE ANGELS AND THE CREATOR OF THE WORLD COULD NOT HAVE BEEN IGNORANT OF THE SUPREME GOD. By calling upon Him, even before the coming of our Lord, men were saved both from most wicked spirits, and from all kinds of demons, and from every sort of apostate power. This was the case, not as if earthly spirits or demons had seen Him, but because they knew of the existence of Him who is God over all, at whose invocation they trembled, as there does tremble every creature, and principality, and power, and every being endowed with energy under His government.
- Ireneaus (120-202 AD, disciple of Polycarp, the disciple of John the Apostle)

(Angels distinguished from demons:)
CHAP. VI.--EXPLANATION OF THE WORDS OF CHRIST, "NO MAN KNOWETH THE FATHER, BUT THE SON," ETC.; WHICH WORDS THE HERETICS MISINTERPRET. pROOF THAT, BY THE FATHER REVEALING THE SON, AND BY THE SON BEING REVEALED, THE FATHER WAS NEVER UNKNOWN. …while He received testimony from all that He was very man, and that He was very God, from the Father, from the Spirit, from angels, from the creation itself, from men, from apostate spirits and demons, from the enemy, and last of all, from death itself.
- Ireneaus (120-202 AD, disciple of Polycarp, the disciple of John the Apostle)

"Furthermore, we are instructed by our sacred books how from certain angels, who fell of their own free will, there sprang a more wicked demon brood, condemned of God along with the authors of their race…Their great business is the ruin of mankind. So, from the start, spiritual wickedness sought our destruction.
- Tertullian (approx. 197 AD)

"These angels, then, who have fallen from heaven, and haunt the air and the earth, and are no longer able to rise to heavenly things, and the souls of the giants, who are the demons who wander about the world, perform similar actions."
- Athenagoras (approximately 175 AD)

"From the seed [of the fallen angels and women], giants are said to have been born. By them, arts were made known in the earth. They taught the dyeing of wool and everything that is done. When they died, men erected images to them. Yet, because they were of an evil seed, the Almighty did not approve of their being brought back from death when they had died. For that reason, they wander and they now subvert many bodies. And it is these whom you [pagans] presently worship and pray to as gods."
- Commodianus (approx. 240 AD)


2) Demons will be worshipped as gods and as idols by pagans.

Enoch, Chapter 19 - 1 And Uriel said to me: 'Here shall stand the angels who have connected themselves with women, and their spirits assuming many different forms are defiling mankind and shall lead them astray into sacrificing to demons as gods, (here shall they stand,) till the day of the great judgement in 2 which they shall be judged till they are made an end of.

Enoch, Chapter 99 - 7 And again I swear to you, ye sinners, that sin is prepared for a day of unceasing bloodshed. And they who worship stones, and grave images of gold and silver and wood (and stone) and clay, and those who worship impure spirits and demons, and all kinds of idols not according to knowledge, shall get no manner of help from them.

CHAP. II.--IGNATIUS IS CONDEMNED BY TRAJAN. For Trajan…threatening them with persecution unless they should agree to(6) worship daemons, as did all other nations, thus compelled(7) all who were living godly lives either to sacrifice [to idols] or die…Thou art in error when thou callest the daemons of the nations gods.
- Ignatius (30-107 AD, disciple of John the Apostle)

CHAP. V.--CHRISTIANS CHARGED WITH ATHEISM. - For the truth shall be spoken; since of old these evil demons, effecting apparitions of themselves… not knowing that these were demons, they called them gods, and gave to each the name which each of the demons chose for himself…we not only deny that they who did such things as these are gods, (2) but assert that they are wicked and impious demons
- Justin Martyr (c. 110-165 AD)

CHAP. IX.--FOLLY OF IDOL, WORSHIP. And neither do we honour with many sacrifices and garlands of flowers such deities as men have formed and set in shrines and called gods… but have the names and forms of those wicked demons which have appeared.
- Justin Martyr (c. 110-165 AD)

CHAP. XII. --DOCTRINE OF THE REST OF THE APOSTLES For, as they did not speak to the Gentiles in compliance with their notions, but told them with boldness that their gods were no gods, but the idols of demons;
- Ireneaus (120-202 AD, disciple of Polycarp, the disciple of John the Apostle)

"From the seed [of the fallen angels and women], giants are said to have been born. By them, arts were made known in the earth. They taught the dyeing of wool and everything that is done. When they died, men erected images to them. Yet, because they were of an evil seed, the Almighty did not approve of their being brought back from death when they had died. For that reason, they wander and they now subvert many bodies. And it is these whom you [pagans] presently worship and pray to as gods."
- Commodianus (approx. 240 AD)


Conclusions from Genesis 6, Enoch, and the Early Church

1. The Old Testament as well as Jude and Peter record that before the flood some of the angels came down from heaven and had children by the daughters of men, which were called Nephilim.
2. Orthodox, non-canonical works from before and after the New Testament affirm that the children of angels and women would die and that their spirits would be called demons or evil/unclean spirits on the earth.
3. Additionally, both the Bible and these orthodox, non-canonical works inform us that it is these demon spirits that the heathen worship as gods.
4. And finally, orthodox, non-canonical works from before and after the New Testament inform us that demons ARE NOT angels, but instead, are the offspring of angels and women, which are ontologically distinct from both angels and men.


New Testament Terminology Confirms a Distinction Between Angels and Demons

Now that we have become acquainted with the ancient Jewish and Christian view of angels and demons, and found that they distinguished between the two, the question is does the Bible itself uphold such a distinction? The answer is yes, it does, which explains why so many orthodox Jewish and Christian writers from the time before, during, and after the New Testament made such a distinction in their own writings. We can confirm that the Bible upholds these distinctions that we have observed above by surveying the scriptural usage of terms, which are used to refer to angels and demons.
There are several Greek words used to refer to angels and demons in the New Testament, they are:

1. angel - aggelos (32)
2. demons (NIV, etc.) or devils (KJV) - daimonion (1140) (occurs 60 times) or daimon (1142) (occurs 3 times)
3. unclean spirit - akathartos (169) pneuma (4151)
4. devil - diabolos (1228)
5. satan - satanas (4567)

Before we continue with the results of the survey of the above words it is important to note that the KJV uses the word devils for the Greek words daimonion and daimon, while all other modern versions translate into the English word demon. To avoid confusion we will use the English word demon. The reason for this is simple.

Webster's Dictionary, tenth edition records that the English word "demon" originates from the Greek word daimon.

Demon or daemon /de'mon/ n [ME demon, fr. LL & L daemon evil spirit, fr. L, divinity, spirit, fr. Gk daimon, prob. fr. daiesthai to distribute - more at TIDE] )13c) 1a: an evil spirit b: a source or agent of evil, harm, distress, or ruin 2 usu daemon: an attendant power or spirit: GENUS 3 usu daemon: a supernatural being of Greek mythology intermediate between gods and men 4: one that has exceptional enthusiasm, drive, or effectiveness )a ~ for work) - demonian /di mo'ne-en/ adj. demonization /de me'ne'za-shen/ n. - demonize /de-me-niz/ vt.

It is this Greek word, which appears in the New Testament. Here are the Greek words and definitions, which are translated into demon in modern version of the Bible.

(1140) daimonion {dahee-mon'-ee-on}
neuter of a derivative of 1142
TDNT - 2:1,137 n n
AV - devil 59, god 1; 60
1) the divine power, deity, divinity
2) a spirit, a being inferior to God, superior to men
3) evil spirits or the messengers and ministers of the devil

(1142) daimon {dah'-ee-mown}
TDNT - 2:1,137 from daio (to distribute fortunes) n m/f
AV - devils 4, devil 1; 5
1) a god, a goddess
a) an inferior deity, whether good or bad
2) in the NT, an evil spirit

(1139) daimonizomai {dahee-mon-id'-zom-ahee}
TDNT - 2:19,137 middle voice from 1142 v
1) to be under the power of a demon.

On the other hand, the Greek word for devil, is diabolos, from which we get the word devil. So, the KJV interprets two different Greek words "daimon" (or "daimonion") and "diabolos" into the same English word devil even though the English word demon is directly related to the Greek words "daimon" and "daimonion," but not to the Greek word "diabolos." Therefore, we will use the English word demon in place of the Greek words "daimon" and "daimonion" instead of the English word devil in order to avoid confusion and to maintain the distinction between the Greek words for demon and devil.

Having addressed this translation issue, we can now proceed with our survey. We will first deal with the cases in which Greek words are used interchangeably to refer to the same thing.