Presently, we are involved in the study of Mark’s Gospel, specifically, where he mentions that a ‘heckler’ or a man with an unclean spirit verbally attacked Jesus. Nevertheless, not one Biblical writer ever actually defines what he means by an unclean spirit. So, how should we consider the man, the heckler, who had an unclean spirit (G4151) in Mark 1:23. Luke, speaking about the same situation in Luke 4:33, tells us that the man had the spirit of an unclean demon, which begs the question, are there clean demons, OR, equally important, if demons are actually unclean spirits, why does Luke say this ‘unclean demon’ had a spirit? What would a spirit who has a spirit look like?
First of all, we need to keep in mind that paganism involved a lot of superstitious beliefs. Moreover, the Jews brought back a lot of superstition from Babylon, once they were released to return to their homeland. For example, consider this Jewish teaching concerning demons:
It has been taught: Abba Benjamin says, If the eye had the power to see them, no creature could endure the demons. Abaye says: They are more numerous than we are and they surround us like the ridge round a field. R. Huna says: Every one among us has a thousand on his left hand and ten thousand on his right hand. Raba says: The crushing in the Kallah lectures comes from them. Fatigue in the knees comes from them. The wearing out of the clothes of the scholars is due to their rubbing against them. The bruising of the feet comes from them. If one wants to discover them, let him take sifted ashes and sprinkle around his bed, and in the morning he will see something like the footprints of a cock. If one wishes to see them, let him take the afterbirth of a black she-cat, the offspring of a black she-cat, the first-born of a first-born, let him roast it in fire and grind it to powder, and then let him put some into his eye, and he will see them. Let him also pour it into an iron tube and seal it with an iron signet that they should not steal it from him. Let him also close his mouth, lest he come to harm. R. Bibi b. Abaye did so, saw them and came to harm. The scholars, however, prayed for him and he recovered. [Babylonians Talmud: Berachoth 6a]
One may ask, is there a great difference between what Jewish authorities of the first century believed and what present Christian authorities believe on the subject of demons! During the first century AD, there were no words for germs or microscopic living organisms that assaulted the bodies of folks who were sick. Hence, they were thought to have evil spirits (G4151). There were no words of epilepsy or for other problems that dealt with folks’ minds. People in the first century AD didn’t have a modern explanation for such things, so they described the person suffering from such things as having unclean or evil spirits (G4151).
Sometimes these spirits took the form of what some could call spiritual (G4151)[1] gifts. A person who was very religious, whether for good or bad, was considered to be spiritually (G4151)[2] minded. So, unbelievers would be considered unclean in their spirits, until they repented and believed (Romans 11:23). In the context of Mark 1:23, the unbeliever, a heckler, if you will, attempted to destroy or discredit Jesus’ work among the people, and he may have done so, if permitted to continue.
He was religious (Romans 8:6), but had other, unclean, beliefs that prevented him from believing Jesus. He may even have been considered spiritually gifted (psychic, clairvoyant etc. cp. 1Corinthians 14:2), but, if so, his gifts hindered his embracing the good news Jesus brought. So, when Jesus healed the man with the authority of the word of God (Mark 1:25-26; Luke 6:17-19), whatever spirit (G4151) he had that prevented his embracing Jesus’ doctrine vanished (cp. Acts 16:16-19), and the man would have come to his right mind (cp. Mark 5:15). Once the traditional abracadabra and satanic angels are stripped from Mark’s narrative, we have a more believable account of Jesus’ ministry.
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[1] This is the same word that is found in 1Corinthians 14:12
[2] The same word that is found in Romans 8:6
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