and 1 Kings xxii. On the other hand, the scene gains in grandeurhas, so to speak, a fitting backgroundif we suppose the Saviour and His disciples to have landed on the other side late in the evening, when perhaps the silvery moon was shedding her pale light on the weird scene, and laying her halo around the shadows cast upon the sea by the steep cliff down which the herd of swine hurried and fell. Nevertheless, for consideration. They valued their pigs more than they valued salvation. The exercising of authority over demons, in the land under another god, was a message. The drowning of these pigs has caused a great deal of discussion amongst Bible students, for as a friend of mine once observed, Thats a lot of pork chops! Had our Lord achieved such a miracle today He would have been in deep trouble. ( Luke 8:39) Let's open our Bibles to the 8th chapter of Luke's gospel. 112 Skeptics and liberals have made much of the differences between the Gospel writers as to the place Jesus landed with His disciples. Demonic influence further destroys mans reflection of God as originally designed.128 Demons have great spiritual insight and reluctantly submit to Jesus as Lord of all. The man jumped up and said to him, "Sir, please, may I go with you? (1) Severe personality change. 21,22). Home was a place of memories so dark and pain-filled that he likely just wanted to escape them and never go back. Country of the Gerasenes: The town itself is not named in Scripture, and is referred to only in the expression, "country of the Gerasenes" ( Mark 5:1; Luke 8:26,37; see Westcott and Hort, The New Testament in Greek, Appendix, 11). A land that was essentially under another god (lower case g). Some of the proposed answers to this question are totally unacceptable to an orthodox, evangelical Christian.123 By way of explanation, there are several factors which should be given serious consideration. As indicated in the textual note, the best Greek text reads Gerasenes in Mark and Luke, Gadarenes in Matthew. He could just as easily commanded them to return to the deepest, darkest pit of Hell. He could think! Gergesa (). This was surely not so in every case, and perhaps in none. Spam, July 19 2021 xvii. As I have been studying this account through the week, it has seemed to me a rather bizarre and remote situation, the liberation of this Gerasene demoniac. Unbelieving men may not rave and carry on like the Gerasene demoniac, but they are nevertheless under Satans control, doing his bidding. [14], Similarly, Thomas Aquinas argued that Jesus allowed the demons to destroy the pigs in order to make the point that his purpose was primarily for the good of men's souls, not their bodies or property (including their animals). CARM |P.O. Stack Exchange network consists of 181 Q&A communities including Stack Overflow, the largest, most trusted online community for developers to learn, share their knowledge, and build their careers. GERASA, GERASENES ( , ). Where Did Jesus Miracle Occur? They are unclean spirits, (vss. The reference could hardly be to the better known Gerasa (Jerash) between thirty and forty miles southeast from the lake. All accounts involve Jesus exorcising demons, identified collectively in Mark and Luke as "Legion". Jude 6), no longer to afflict men or resist God. [6], The location is also changed to the region of the "Gadarenes" (Gadara) as in most Bible translations. Such seems to be a similar case with Judas (John 13:1-2). Just as demons desire to possess persons through whom they can exhibit their personalities, so the Spirit of God indwells man, imparting new life, and progressively gaining control so that the character of God is exhibited, but not in such a way as to hinder our individuality and identity. My office mate of several years back was interrupted by a young and very zealous new Christian teacher accompanied by a student from whom she wanted my friend to cast out a demon. How Satan blinds our minds! 6:1-13. Everyone strained for a look at the tomb-man. This topical nine-session Bible study contains tips and encouragement to live a life of generosity and fruitfulness, helping us to redeem our use of resources by nurturing biblical attitudes. Joseph blessed his 12 sons and prophesied over each. In this account we, by inference, learn much about the demonic spirits. Theology of Work Project Online Materials by The High Calling are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. 3. A friend of mine told me later that two students were attempting to cast a demon out of a fellow. Jesus permitted the *demons to do this. Men in their unbelief suppose that the choice is either to be free (independent of God) or to be the slaves of Christ. The best text in Matthew reads Gadarenes, in Mark and Luke it reads Gerasenes, whereas some MSS preserve Gergesenes and Gergustenes (cf. 40, vii. But Jesus told him to go back. 6:45-56 6:14-21. Demon-possession is, therefore, not merely a mental state in which someone suffers from a delusion or is subjected to some subjective disturbance of the world of ideas. What is the significance of Decapolis in the Bible? Luke 4:29), Girard comments: "But in these cases, it is not the scapegoat who goes over the cliff, neither is it a single victim nor a small number of victims, but a whole crowd of demons, two thousand swine possessed by demons. In this instance, each writer intended to draw attention to an area close to the Sea of Galilee. The reply Legion118 may be some kind of evasion, a reluctance on the part of the demons to individually identify themselves.
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