What Are Demons? The Origin of Demons in Genesis 6, 1 Enoch, and the New Testament

Where do demons come from? The Bible describes demonic activity vividly and often, yet it nowhere gives a single, explicit account of their origin, and Christians have filled the silence with several competing answers. This paper evaluates those answers in light of the biblical vocabulary, the Second Temple Jewish literature that shaped the world of Jesus and the apostles, and the New Testament evidence itself. It argues that the New Testament distinguishes two groups of rebellious spiritual beings: angels who sinned and are now held in prison (2 Peter 2:4; Jude 6), and mobile, embodiment-seeking spirits that afflict people and are called demons in the Gospels. The paper contends that the best explanation for this distinction is the Second Temple reading of Genesis 6:1-4, preserved in 1 Enoch 15 and Jubilees 10, in which demons are the disembodied spirits of the Nephilim. The study also examines the relation of demons to the gods of the nations, surveys demonic activity in the Gospels and Acts, and describes the authority of Christ and the proper posture of the believer. Throughout, rival views are given a fair hearing. The paper belongs to the larger argument of my book, Three Rebellions: Understanding Genesis 1-11.