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

These facts and considerations are sufficient to vindicate the credibility of the writers of the New Testament in their statement, that a power of exorcism was known and exercised in their time, and that its exercise was at times attended with favourable results. The statement on this subject attributed to our Lord, “If I by Satan cast out devils, by whom do your sons cast them out? therefore shall they be your judges,” is plainly an ad hominem argument. It amounts to no more than this; You Pharisees accuse me of casting out demons through Beelzebub. You assert that your disciples exercise a power of exorcism; and that they do this in virtue of a divine power communicated to them. On what principle of common sense can you affirm that the power which I exercise is demoniacal, and that which your disciples exercise is divine?—There is no assertion made one way or the other as to the reality of the acts in question; nor is there any difficulty in supposing that our Lord recognised that some of the influences thus exerted were genuine.

I have hitherto, in treating this part of the subject, been dealing with the supposition that our Lord's disciples mistook maniacs for demoniacs, and the consequences of such a mistake on the authenticity of the Gospel narratives. I must now address myself to the far more important question as to the consequences which follow from our Lord's apparent recognition of the existence of demoniacal possession on the supposition that it was simple mania.

The facts as they appear in the Gospels are unmistakable. It was the distinct opinion of their authors that our Lord recognised the phenomena which they have reported as the results of demoniacal possession and not of simple mania. In proof of this it will be needless to refer to every instance they have recorded. [pg 251] The account of the demoniac at Gadara and that of the lunatic youth are among the most remarkable, and on them the case may be allowed to rest. In the former case the words of St. Mark, whose description of the scene abounds in those details which are rarely seen except in narratives derived from direct ocular testimony, are: “And all the demons besought him, saying, Send us into the swine that we may enter into them. And forthwith Jesus gave them leave. And the unclean spirits went out and entered into the swine, &c.” In the case of the demoniac child the Evangelist describes the Apostles as asking Jesus, “Why could not we cast him out?” The following words are ascribed to our Lord: “This kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.” It is undeniable, therefore, that the Evangelists have ascribed to Jesus a belief in the reality of demoniacal possession.

I am not concerned in the present argument with the words and actions which they have attributed to the demoniacs; but with the words and actions attributed to Jesus. We know that some madmen labour under the delusion, not only that they are emperors and kings, but even in a few instances that they are God himself. This being so, it is quite possible that a maniac may confuse his personality with one or more demons; and speak and act consistently with the delusion. The maniacs may have given utterance to exclamations resulting from mere delusions; but the Evangelists in recording these utterances gave simple statements of facts. It is quite possible, that the demoniac of Gadara may have imagined himself possessed by a legion of demons, and have spoken and acted accordingly, whilst he was at the same time labouring under simple mania.

Now, on the assumption that possession was simple [pg 252] mania and nothing more, the following suppositions are the only possible ones.

First, that our Lord really distinguished between mania and possession; but that the Evangelists have inaccurately reported his words and actions, through the media of their own subjective impressions, or, in short, have attributed to Him language that He did not really utter.

Second, that our Lord knew that possession was a form of mania, and adopted the current notions of the time in speaking of it, and that the words were really uttered by Him.

Third, that with similar knowledge, He adopted the language in question as part of the curative process.

Fourth, that He accepted the validity of the distinction, and that it was a real one during those times.

These alternatives demand our careful consideration, not for the purpose of determining which is the correct one, but of estimating the results which flow from either of them on the central character of the Gospels. The position which I take must be clearly stated. It is this: If possession be mania, there is nothing in the language which the Evangelists have attributed to our Lord which compromises the truthfulness of his character. If, on the other hand, we assume that possession was an objective fact, there is nothing in our existing scientific knowledge of the human mind which proves that the possessions of the New Testament were impossible.