Finally, that there is a certain organic connection between healing the sick and driving out demons is apparent when the Saviour lends his own authority to his apostles.

In Matthew 10:1 we read that he gave them the authority ‘to heal every disease and every affliction’. We already came across this stereotypical turn as the general characterization of Jesus’ actions in Matthew 4:23. It was repeated in 9:35. Now it appears from a further elaboration that the healing of persons who are possessed are included in Jesus’ healing of every disease and affliction. The connection between these becomes clearer when he assigns this power to the apostles. Jesus called them to him ‘and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction’ (Mt 10:1). The original Greek makes it even more clear than the translation that both the driving out of the spirits and the healing of all disease and affliction is a fruit of the power over unclean spirits. How could the apostles heal? Because they were given authority over the spirits. They can undo the actions of spirits and they can banish them. In this context we can also understand that the seventy received power to heal the sick (Lk 10:9) and that, when they later return, they exclaim that even the demons were subject to them in Jesus’ name (Lk 10:17). The one does not happen without the other! That the entirety of Jesus’ work of healing (including the casting out of indwelling demons) must be viewed as a manifestation of power over the unclean spirits is apparent from Acts 10:38. There Peter summarizes Jesus’ actions as follows for Cornelius: ‘God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him’. The verb used in the Greek for being ‘oppressed by the devil’ (katadunasteuein) appears also in James 2:8, where it is used for the rich who oppress the poor. The translation ‘oppressed’ could suggest that the reference is to possession by a demon, but the verb is broader and encompasses all who are being troubled and tormented. In summary, all persons who are sick, who are truly possessed, who are subject to seizures, and who are paralyzed are identified here as persons who are being troubled and tormented by the devil. Since Jesus had authority over the devil, he could heal all people. And that means also that the devil is involved in all ailments and illnesses and not only in the possession of those who are possessed by a demon.

Therefore we conclude that the literature of the New Testament demands that we do not separate healing and casting out of demons as qualitatively distinguished entities. It is the presupposition of the New Testament texts that the attack on persons and on the world have to do with the power of the devil.¹ It is what we have to deal with in illnesses, paralyses, seizures, persons who are deaf-mute, and demon-possession. It is possible to rebuke even a fever (Lk 4:39) and also the winds and the sea that threaten life in a great storm (Mt 8:26). We are not dealing with an independent power over against God here and that is apparent from the fact that God’s Son requires Beelzebub and his spirits to leave. The devil has a certain right to say that all the kingdoms of the earth have been given to him (Lk4:6). But as appear quickly, he presumes too much when he says that he can give all their authority to whom he wills (Lk 4:6). The opposite is true: God’s Son takes that power away from him and gives it whom HE wills (Lk 10:19-20). Jesus is the stronger person and he takes away the devil’s armour (Lk 11:22) and divides the spoils. All authority has been given to him (Mt 28:18).

It is not the distinction between illness and demon-possession, between natural and supernatural influences, that dominates in the New Testament. Rather, it is the antithesis between God in heaven and his great opponent, the devil. The armour that the latter is allowed to use for a time varies from all kinds of sickness and ailments to complete possession of a person by a raging or heretical demon.

The Existence of Demons Today⤒🔗

There seem to have been a multitude of demons during Jesus’ time on earth and during the time of the apostles. Does anyone see them today? Was there something unique about that time, or have we become blind to demons in our modern time?

We should note first that Jesus had authority over unclean spirits and also lends it to others. Naturally, his coming contributed to the fact that the enemy had to come out of their hiding places. Apparently both Jews and Greeks knew, better than we, that demons lived in hiding places and exercised their influence in this world.² People in Africa in the 20th century also know it much better that we in Europe.

Second, we note that Jesus did not give his apostles authority over unclean spirits so that illness and demon possession should disappear at that time. Rather it was to establish signs that supported the gospel (Mk 16:17, 20). In the time when also an apostle’s greatest joy should be that his name is written in heaven (Lk 10:20), healing and driving out demons was never the end goal. God will in due course drive out the devil completely and the signs already make that clear. Meanwhile Luke retains his role as the ‘beloved physician’ (Col 4:14) alongside the apostle who has been endowed with power. He is not yet a former physician who is no longer needed! For example, Trophimus was ill and had to stay in Miletus (2 Tim 4:20). Paul himself had to contend with a messenger of Satan, who harassed him. Despite Paul’s plea, repeated three times, the Lord refused to grant relief, for Christ’s power must be made perfect in Paul’s weakness (2 Cor 12:7-9). Ultimately, grace is sufficient also for Paul. Signs that we experience in life do not become the order of our lives. They train us in our faith, which now experiences the torments of Satan as the last convulsions of the enemy.

Third, we must acknowledge that the Biblical doctrine about the devil and demons strongly relativizes our modern approach in the healing arts and psychiatry. It is apparent that we are unable to do more, because we discern too little of the underlying causes. We need not be ashamed of being thankful for what we are able to accomplish, provided it does not make us conceited. A person who is able to mow the weeds in the world, must not suppose that he can exterminate them.

Fourth, we must warn about the misuse by some charismatic movements of texts about demons to label a select number of phenomena of illness as ‘possession’, that must therefore be healed by exorcism and not by psychiatry.³ In this approach a modern concept (establishing a clinical picture diagnostically) is applied selectively within the New Testament. A person who supposes that he knows demons and must drive them out, must then also have power over all sickness and ailments and he should not become specialized.

Fifth, we must warn against the notion that the church today is unable to receive the gifts of healing (including exorcism), as it existed for example in Corinth (1 Cor 12:28, 30) and as exercised by the elders in James’ time (Jas 5:14-15). In particular in the context of spreading the gospel, we should be open to the possible bestowment of these gifts as signs. In any event, it would be wrong to give heathens the impression that the serum of European medical science is a substitute for the exorcisms of the apostolic church.

Finally, we should note that healings and driving out of demons do not have to be repeated in every generation to retain their character is signs. The stories about them exist as a heap of stones and a memorial for us, so that we do not forget. Telling and preaching the stories is essential for a good understanding of these signs from the period of the earthly ministry of Jesus and his apostles and of the period of the later history of the church and mission. Stories about martyrs and legends about saints have (despite much abuse) long preserved signs about the past. That they disappeared after the great Reformation is acceptable, provided that the preaching about the miraculous signs in the Bible are not treated as unimportant. I fear that this does happen from time to time. Therefore, reflection about the connection between the miracle of healing and the authority over demons can give new insight into the preaching about the Biblical stories.