Luke 4:33 “Now in the synagogue there was a man who had a spirit of an unclean demon. And he cried out with a loud voice,”
We always automatically think of demons as evil. So why the description here? Rather than just saying the man had a demon, it says he had the spirit of an unclean demon, as if there is some other kind. To understand this, we need to keep in mind the human author of the book of Luke. Luke tended to be very thorough and complete. He was a physician, and a very learned man.
As a result, this description is meant to help us understand exactly what had happened to this man. For one, it reveals this demon was a ‘spiritual’ influence. This man did not have a mental disorder. He was not physically handicapped, or inhabited by a parasite, or any thing of a physical nature. Secondly, the problem was a demon, which denotes a being of extra-natural power and substance. Thus, the manifestation of this being would be expected to produce extra-natural conditions. And, finally, we are told this spiritual influence was unclean, as all such beings currently are, and this indicates evil. A malevolent, extra-natural, spiritual influence had been attached to this man.
Those who belong to Christ, and are this inhabited by the Spirit of God, cannot be ‘possessed’ in this way. And why? Because the ‘spiritual’ influence of the Spirit of God excludes a direct influence of this type. This does not preclude the Christian from temptation, but even temptation, the Scripture reveals, is tempered by the Spirit.
Heavenly Father, thank You for the powerful protection of the Holy Spirit in our lives! To live with His influence in our hearts is to be free from the spiritual darkness all around us in this sin-saturated world. We praise You for this! Thank You for giving us the victory by Your dear Son! In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.