And there was in the synagogue a man having a spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried with a loud voice,
It is a Sabbath in the Capernaum synagogue. Jesus is teaching, and a scream cuts Him off. Two hard questions follow: why is a demon sitting in the house of God, and why does it know Jesus when the worshippers do not?
Luke alone records the earlier scene in the Nazareth synagogue. He puts it before this one at Capernaum, and the order matters.
It was given to Luke only to tell us of that matchless scene in the synagogue at Nazareth, before the solemn lesson that soon followed at Capernaum. How quickly men turn from wonder at grace in God and His Son to the wrath and hatred of their own offended pride! How slow to allow that their own will opens the door for their slavery to Satan!
Luke's wording here is unusual. Elsewhere he writes "unclean spirit." The longer phrase seems aimed at readers outside Israel.
"Spirit of unclean demon" — compare Luke 6:18 and Luke 11:24, which say "unclean spirit." Lightfoot records a distinction people drew between spirits that caused disease and "evil spirits," which dealt in sorcery and were therefore called "unclean." Luke's "unclean" was probably shaped for Gentile readers, because they recognised a difference between good and bad "demons."
The shock here is the place, not the man. A synagogue was the local gathering for Scripture and prayer — the last place anyone would look for an unclean spirit.
We might expect to find the unclean spirit in the theatre or the cinema, or moving in business and political circles — but in the synagogue! In the church! Surely not. Yet there was no doubt about it. The unclean spirit was in the synagogue. It had a voice there, and it cried out against the presence of Jesus.
Cases like this fill the Gospels. Christ's presence did not create the problem. It uncovered it.
Reading the Gospels, you might almost think that every case then existing or possible had crowded around Him. But the truth is that there may have been as many before. The presence of divine light brought it all out then. The presence of Jesus, the Son of God, cornered Satan and pulled away the mask that may have covered his victims until then. And you can see the same thing, in some measure, wherever the power of God's truth and holiness is at work.
Notice the pronouns in what follows. The man says "I know who you are," yet also "What have you to do with us." One voice, two speakers.
Think how terribly the unclean spirit is identified with the man — his own words show it. No creature in the universe gives a demon a den as welcoming as a sinful human heart. As long as you are far from the Lord, you are near and open to the power or the tricks of the spirit of evil. He is your great enemy; the Lord Jesus is your greater friend.
The demon got the title right — "the Holy One of God" — yet Jesus silenced it. Paul later refused the same kind of witness at Philippi.
The demon knew Him, and freely confessed Him as the Holy One — a title given to Him long before in Psalm 89:19. But the Lord could accept no testimony from such a source. Paul did the same later, when a fortune-telling slave girl announced who he was in the streets of Philippi (Acts 16:16-18). Christ and Satan have nothing in common; between them lies the deepest moral opposition.
The demon's knowledge was true and its terror was real. Many who hear the same words feel neither.
Yes, He was and is "holy," even as God is, the Holy One of Israel. And this is what horrifies these unclean spirits most — a Man, yet the Holy One of God! No wonder they believe and shudder. How dreadful that sinful man hears and neither believes nor shudders! Worse still, he half believes, and yet never shudders at his own state and certain doom if he stays in his sins and neglects so great a salvation.
- Grace first. Luke shows grace at Nazareth before he shows bondage at Capernaum. We meet the Deliverer before we see the chains.
- Bondage inside. The unclean spirit sat in the synagogue, not in the theatre or the marketplace. Attending a religious meeting proves nothing about freedom.
- Light exposes. Christ's coming made nothing new. His presence pulled the mask off what was already there, and the same happens wherever God's truth works.
- The heart is the lair. The mix of "I" and "us" shows how closely a spirit ties itself to a man. A sinful heart is its most welcoming home.
- Right words, wrong mouth. "The Holy One of God" was true, yet Jesus refused it. Demons believe and shudder; many people hear and do neither.
saying, Eh! what have we to do with thee, Jesus, Nazarene? hast thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the Holy [One] of God.
In the synagogue, where God's people met to worship, the first voice to name Jesus correctly is not a worshipper but a demon speaking through a man. Its cry raises two questions: why does the enemy know Christ when people do not, and why does the Lord silence a confession that is true?
The clash breaks out in the place that bore God's name. And the title the demon gives the Lord is one used to belittle Him.
In the place of the profession of God's name, the synagogue, there was a man possessed by a demon (v.33). What a comment on Israel's spiritual condition! He cried out loudly, "Let us alone," for the presence of the Son of God disturbed the demon inside him. The man spoke almost as though the Lord was trespassing on their property. The demon knew Him to be the Holy One of God. Even so, it used the name "Jesus of Nazareth" — a name people often used to suggest that someone was inferior. He questions if the Lord had come to destroy them, that is, the demons. For they can understand nothing of grace.
Older translations open the cry with "Let us alone," and that is how the writers quoted here read it. The ESV turns that first word into an exclamation: "Ha!"
Notice the pronouns. One mouth says "we," and then the same voice says "I know."
It is remarkable here and elsewhere, the "I" and the "we" — the man himself, and yet the identification with the evil spirit. Moreover, this possessed man says, "I know who You are; the Holy One of God." Psalm 89 seems to speak of Christ in the same character: "The LORD is our shield; and the Holy One of Israel our King" (verse 18). That psalm is full of interest. There the Holy One is the only ground of the people's hope, and the support of the house of David, which was otherwise ruined.
It shows how completely evil can take over a person.
Think how frighteningly the unclean spirit is joined to the man; his own words show it. There is no creature in the universe which affords a lair so congenial for a demon as a sinful human heart. As long as you are far from the Lord, you are near and open to the power or tricks of the spirit of evil. He is your great enemy; the Lord Jesus is your greater friend.
The demon's words are true, but they are not worship.
It is remarkable how these evil spirits own Him according to the truth — as the spirit of divination did with Paul. But they own Him only in dread, and they would have avoided His power if they could. It was the reluctant owning of a power they could not avoid. The time was not come to cast them into the pit, but to deliver man.
The demon speaks truth, but not the whole truth. Its question about destruction gets a split answer.
The lying spirit spoke truth, for "what fellowship has light with darkness," but not the whole truth, for Jesus came to deliver man from the authority of darkness (Col. 1:13). The demon went on, "Have you come to destroy us [the man and me]?" Yes and no, foul spirit. "The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil" (1 John 3:8). But as for the man, "the Son of Man did not come to destroy people's lives, but to save them" (Luke 9:56).
The title is the sharpest word in the verse. What appals the unclean spirit is His holiness — and people hear the same truth unmoved.
There is another notable word. "I know who You are, the Holy One of God." Yes, He was and is "holy," even as God is, the Holy One of Israel. And this most appals these unclean spirits, a Man, yet the Holy One of God! No wonder that they believe and shudder. How dreadful that sinful man hears it and neither believes nor shudders!
True words from the wrong mouth are still refused.
The demon knew Him and confessed Him as the Holy One. But the Lord could no more receive testimony from such a source than Paul could later, when a woman with a spirit of divination testified about him openly in the streets of Philippi (Acts 16:16-18). Between Christ and Satan there can be no common ground, only the deepest moral opposition.
God chooses His own witnesses instead.
But "Jesus rebuked him," refusing a demon's testimony; as the apostle did at a later day. God testifies by His word, as He was then testifying in Jesus, His Son and Servant; and the Holy Spirit is now sent forth to bear witness of Jesus, that you may believe on Him and be saved.
- Place — The first clash breaks out inside the synagogue, and the demon treats the man as its own property.
- Pronouns — "We" and "I" from one mouth show how far an evil spirit can merge with a person. A sinful heart is the lair it likes best.
- Panic — The confession is dread, not devotion. The demon owned a power it could not escape.
- Person — "The Holy One of God" is the name that appals it; demons believe and shudder, while people hear it unmoved.
- Proof — Christ refuses a demon's witness. God testifies by His word, and the Spirit now bears witness to Jesus, so that you may believe and be saved.
And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out from him. And the demon, having thrown him down into the midst, came out from him without doing him any injury.
In a synagogue at Capernaum, a man under the control of an unclean spirit shouts out a true confession about Jesus. The Lord silences him at once. Why refuse a correct statement about Himself? And what does the man's release show about the One giving the order?
The demon's words were accurate, yet the Lord would not let them stand as evidence. Commentators point to the character of the One the demon was talking about.
The Lord had firmly refused the testimony of demons about Himself, true though it was (Luke 4:35, 41). For how could the Holy One of God receive testimony from such creatures? Nor were men to depend for their knowledge about Him on what a demon might declare. So Luke goes on to show how the truth about His person was brought out. His acts and His words proclaimed who He was in a threefold way: as the Creator, as Jehovah, and as the Son of Man.
There is more at stake than dignity. If the enemy endorses the work, he keeps a foothold in it.
Satan could not oppose the real power of the Son of God and of His kingdom, and he had to recognise it. So he would have a share in it — indeed take the lead in recognising it. Then the work would carry his endorsement. In that way he would keep his controlling influence over the minds of men as far as possible, along with his credit and standing in the world. And he would make God, as it were, a debtor to him for his approval of it. So it was with Paul at Philippi, but the Spirit of God does not work that way.
The Lord does not stop at rebuking the spirit. He gives it two orders.
Not content with rebuking the demon, He commanded him to be quiet and to come out from the man he had made his prey. And the demon had to obey. He threw the man down in the middle of them, which showed how powerful the spirit was. Yet he came out from the man without doing him harm, to the praise of the Lord Jesus. They were used to a "word" only. But this word came with authority and power in Jehovah's servant, His chosen. Amazement came on all of them then. Yet for a sinner to believe is far better still.
Mark's account of the same event says the spirit tore the man. That sounds harsher than Luke's report. Writers see no clash between the two.
"Having thrown him down." This does not conflict with Mark's account of the demon tearing him. The convulsions left no evil effect.
The place where the man fell carries its own weight in this Gospel.
Rebuking the demon, the Lord orders him to come out of the man. The demon must obey that order. But he does not go without one last vicious thrust, throwing the man down in the middle of them. Fourteen times in Luke the words "the midst" appear, marking the place of central attraction.
Luke opens his record of Christ's miracles with this one. One writer draws out why that order matters.
He has shown in this way that the power of Christ must first put down Satan, though not without a certain permitted humiliation for man. Satan's power is the chief evil which pollutes and oppresses the world. Until the day that power is driven out, it is no good expecting full deliverance. We must go to the source of the mischief. This, then, is the earliest of the miracles of Christ that Luke brings before us.
The spirit speaks as "us," folding itself in with the man it holds.
Think of the terrible identification of the unclean spirit with the man, which his language reveals. "What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us?" No creature in the universe offers a demon a den as welcoming as a sinful human heart. As long as you are far from the Lord, you are near and open to the power or the schemes of the spirit of evil. He is your great enemy; the Lord Jesus is your greater friend.
- Source. Satan's power is the chief evil that oppresses the world. Christ's opening miracle in Luke goes straight to the source of the mischief, not to the symptoms.
- Word. The Lord uses no force, only speech. His word carries authority and power, and the demon must obey it.
- Silence. The Lord refuses even an accurate confession when it comes from the enemy. The Holy One of God takes no testimony from such creatures, and He lets Satan claim no share in His work.
- Unharmed. The demon throws the man down, but leaves no lasting damage. Writers read Luke's "no harm" and Mark's "tearing him" as one event, with convulsions that left no evil effect.
- Friend. The sinful human heart is the most welcoming den a demon can find. So the crowd's amazement is not the goal. Believing on the greater Friend is.