The Supernatural in the New Testament, Possible, Credible, and Historical / Or, An Examination of the Validity of Some Recent Objections Against Christianity as a Divine Revelation

by C. A. Row

The object for which this and kindred stories are referred to, is to prove that the Jewish mind was so intensely credulous and superstitious on the subject of demoniacal action at the time of our Lord, that there was nothing so monstrous, which it was not in the habit of accepting as fact. We are also repeatedly informed that the followers of Jesus shared in this unbounded credulity. It may be even inferred from the assertion before us, that they were far more credulous. The argument which this writer adduces is plausible, and it may be stated thus. If a writer like Josephus, who was extensively acquainted with Greek literature, and the Talmudists who belonged to the élite of the nation, could narrate such follies as facts, what must have been the beliefs of the vulgar herd? We must not forget that the followers of Jesus were chiefly from the lower orders. “The common people heard him gladly.” The inference which the reader is allowed to draw is that they must have been addicted to yet more gross credulity.

What were the reasons which induced Josephus, a man who had seen the wide world, to relate this monstrous story I shall not inquire. One can hardly believe that he was a dupe; his reporting it, however, no more proves that such beliefs were universal when he wrote, than the existence of a wide-spread spiritualistic literature proves that a belief in spirit-rapping [pg 210] prevails generally among all classes of society at the present day, although many of the believers in spiritualism belong to the educated classes, and readily accept absurdities which the sound sense of multitudes of artisans would immediately repudiate.

The argument before me tells in a direction precisely opposite to that which is intended by those who have invoked it, and it is marvellous that they do not perceive that it is destructive of their own case. I put it as follows: If the authors of the Gospels entertained the views of demoniacal agency which this author represents them to have held, their narratives, which directly lead them to refer to that subject, would have contained numerous references to stories of the type of that quoted from Josephus. Let me illustrate this argument by an example. The Arabs and other Orientals believe in the power of demons and magicians over external nature. They consider this action to be of frequent occurrence. Their literature therefore abounds with accounts of such monstrous interventions. But the Gospels, with the exception of the history of the Temptation, do not contain an account of a single marvel wrought by the agency of demons on external nature. Demoniacal agency is repeatedly mentioned by them; but it belongs to an order of phenomena of an entirely different character. What, I ask, is the only legitimate inference? That the authors of the Gospels were free from the superstitions in question.

Before going further it will be necessary to ascertain what is the precise nature and character of that demoniacal supernaturalism which is apparently asserted in the pages of the New Testament. Without doing so, it will be impossible to form a correct opinion on the subject under consideration.

The New Testament apparently ascribes to Satanic [pg 211] agency not only a power of suggesting temptations to the minds of men, but also in certain cases of depriving them of the supremacy of their wills, of enslaving their intellectual and moral powers, of interfering with the use of their bodily organs, and, in one instance, of imparting an unusual strength. These phenomena constitute what is designated as “possession,” and bear no inconsiderable resemblance to different forms of insanity.

But the New Testament also makes mention of lunacy as well as possession. How far they were distinguishable from each other we have no sufficient data to enable us to determine. At one time they are spoken of as the same disease; at others they are clearly distinguished from each other.

The language of the Gospels seems to imply that some maladies were believed to be produced by the influence of possession. In one or two instances language is used which may imply that a bodily disease was brought on by Satanic agency without actual possession. Whatever may have been the belief of the Jews on this subject, it is certain that the cases referred to in the Gospels are very few; and although the mention of diseases is very common, nothing is said about their being due to demoniacal influence. Not a single case occurs in which ordinary accidents are referred to this influence, although such is affirmed to have been the common belief of the Jews. In the Acts of the Apostles only two cases of possession are mentioned, one that of the damsel at Philippi, and the other the occasion when certain Jewish exorcists undertook to exorcise demoniacs at Ephesus in the name of Jesus.

The former case is of some importance. The girl is described as possessed by a spirit of Pytho, i.e. she pretended to practise the art of divination by the [pg 212] inspiration of the god Apollo, and in many respects she practised the arts of the modern fortune-teller. Such persons were not uncommon at the time. The Pythia at Delphi professed to prophesy under the influence of a similar inspiration. Whatever may have been the real causes by which this mental condition was brought about, the paroxysms were so real that one is recorded to have died under their influence. Her state when under prophetic influence, is described as one of phrensied excitement. St. Paul is represented by the historian as addressing himself to the spirit, and commanding him to come out in the name of Jesus Christ. The powers of such persons were confined to diving into the secrets of the future; but to other kinds of supernatural power they made no claims.

If the language here employed be other than phenomenal, it seems to imply that in St. Paul's opinion certain practices of the ancient world which were far from uncommon, were connected with demoniacal agency. These were usually combined with certain forms of religious phrensy, such as even in the present day manifest themselves in connection with the more degraded forms of religion. At no period was this class of phenomena more prevalent than during the century which preceded, and that which followed the Advent, when human nature was stirred to its profoundest depths.

There are also a few passages in St. Paul's writings which seem to affirm a connection between demoniacal agency and pagan worship. Whatever may have been his own opinions on this subject, it is evident that the action which he supposed to have been exerted was entirely mental. Not one word is uttered by him which implies that he regarded this mode of demoniacal [pg 213] action as involving a power of interfering with the forces of the material universe.