Bible Lexicons

δαιμόνιον, δαιμονίου, τό (neuter of adjective δαιμόνιος, δαιμόνια, δαιμόνιον, divine, from δαίμων; equivalent to τό θεῖον);

1. the divine Power, deity, divinity; so sometimes in secular authors as Josephus, b. j. 1, 2, 8; Aelian v. h. 12, 57; in plural καινά δαιμόνια, Xenophon, mem. 1, 1, 1f, and once in the N. T. ξενα δαιμόνια, Acts 17:18.

2. a spirit, a being inferior to God, superior to men (πᾶν τό δαιμόνιον μεταξύ ἐστι Θεοῦ τέ καί θνητοῦ, Plato, symp. 23, p. 202 e. (where see Stallbaum)), in both a good sense and a bad; thus Jesus, after his resurrection, said to his disciples οὐκ εἰμί δαιμόνιον ἀσωματον, as Ignatius (ad Smyrn. 3, 2 [ET]) records it; πνεῦμα δαιμονίου ἀκαθάρτου (genitive of apposition), Luke 4:33; (πονηρόν, Tobit 3:8, 17; δαιμόνιον ἤ πνεῦμα πονηρόν, ibid. ). But elsewhere in the Scriptures used, without an adjunct, of evil spirits or the messengers and ministers of the devil (Winer's Grammar, 23 (22)): Luke 4:35; Luke 9:1, 42; Luke 10:17; John 10:21; James 2:19; (Psalm 90:6 (); Isaiah 13:21; Isaiah 34:14; Tobit 6:18 Tobit 8:3; Baruch 4:35); πνεύματα δαιμονίων (Rec. δαιμον´ων) i. e. of that rank of spirits that are demons (genitive of apposition), Revelation 16:14; ἄρχων τῶν δαιμονίων, the prince of the demons, or the devil: Matthew 9:34; Matthew 12:24; Mark 3:22; Luke 11:15; they are said ἐισέρχεσθαι εἰς τινα, to enter into (the body of) one to vex him with diseases (see δαιμονίζομαι): Luke 8:30, 32f; ἐκβληθῆναι and ἐξέρχεσθαι ἐκ τίνος or ἀπό τίνος, when they are forced to come out of one to restore him to health: Matthew 9:33; Matthew 17:18; Mark 7:29, 30; Luke 4:35, 41; Luke 8:2, 33, 35. ἐκβάλλειν δαιμόνια, is used of those who compel demons to come out: Matthew 7:22; Matthew 12:21; Mark 1:34, 39; Luke 9:49, etc. ἔχειν δαιμόνιον, to have a demon, be possessed by a demon, is said of those who either suffer from some exceptionally severe disease, Luke 4:33; Luke 8:27 (ἔχων δαιμόνια); or act and speak as though they were mad, Matthew 11:18; Luke 7:33; John 7:20; John 8:48f, 52; John 10:20. According to a Jewish opinion which passed over to the Christians, the demons are the gods of the Gentiles and the authors of idolatry; hence, δαιμόνια stands for אֱלִילִים Psalm 95:5 (), and שֵׁדִים Deuteronomy 32:17; Psalm 105:37 (), cf. Baruch 4:7: προσκυνεῖν τά δαιμόνια καί τά εἴδωλα, Revelation 9:20. The apostle Paul, though teaching that the gods of the Gentiles are a fiction (1 Corinthians 8:4; 1 Corinthians 10:19), thinks that the conception of them has been put into the minds of men by demons, who appropriate to their own use and honor the sacrifices offered to idols. Hence, what the Gentiles θυουσι, he says δαιμονίοις θύουσιν καί οὐ Θεῷ, 1 Corinthians 10:20 (from the Sept. of Deuteronomy 32:17, cf. Baruch 4:7), and those who frequent the sacrificial feasts of the Gentiles come into fellowship with demons, 1 Corinthians 10:20f; (cf. Baudissin, Stud. zur scmit. Religionsgesch. vol. i. (St. ii. 4), p. 110ff). Pernicious errors are disseminated by demons even among Christians, seducing them from the truth, 1 Timothy 4:1. Josephus, also makes mention of δαιμόνια taking possession of men, Antiquities 6, 11, 2f; 6, 8, 2; 8, 2, 5; but he sees in them, not as the N. T. writers do, bad angels, but the spirits of wicked men deceased, b. j. 7, 6, 3.