Template:Demoniact

Demoniac, possession or influence? Mark 5:1-17, Luke 8:26-37, Matthew 8:28, Matthew 9:1.
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Demoniac

As an adjective a demoniac is "Possessed, produced, or influenced by a demon." Therefore, a "demoniac creatures."

Although the term may be someone "resembling, or suggestive of a devil; fiendish" or descriptive of or having "characteristic of, a demon or evil spirit; devilish" it may be someone who has lost control of themselves to a foreign entity like it was a spiritual parasite.

The Place

Matthew 8:28 “And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way.”

Mark 5:1 “They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gadarenes.”

Luke 8:26 “Then they arrived at the country of the Gadarenes, which is opposite Galilee.”

In the Scrivener's Textus Receptus 1894 and Stephanus Textus Receptus 1550 we see Γεργεσηνῶν which reads “Gergesenes” (“Gergesenon”) in Matthew 8:28 while in Mark 5:1 and Luke 8:26, both have “Gadarenes” (“Gadarenon”) named as the location.

In Westcott and Hort 1881 and others have Γαδαρηνῶν which is also “Gadarenes”.

Why is there a seemingly conflicting accounts?

Both Gergesa and Gadara suggest some places east of the Jordan River and on the east side of the sea of Galilee. Are they specific locations or similar words identifying an area or a habitation of people?

Matthew 8 verse 28
Καὶ ἐλθόντος	αὐτοῦ εἰς τὸ πέραν εἰς	τὴν χώραν τῶν Γαδαρηνῶν
Kaí elthóntos	aftoú eis tó péran eis	tín chóran tón Gadarinón
Having come	He to the other side	to the region of the Gadarenes,
ὑπήντησαν αὐτῷ δύο δαιμονιζόμενοι	ἐκ τῶν μνημείων ἐξερχόμενοι,	χαλεποὶ λίαν ὥστε μὴ ἰσχύειν
ypíntisan aftó dýo daimonizómenoi	ek tón mnimeíon exerchómenoi,	chalepoí lían óste mí ischýein
These two demoniacs	from the monuments(tombs)	are very strong
τινὰ παρελθεῖν διὰ	τῆς ὁδοῦ	ἐκείνης.
tiná pareltheín	diá tís odoú	ekeínis.
anyone to pass	by the way	that.

In Matthew 8 we see "Γαδαρηνῶν" Gadarinón, “Gadarenes” which could mean only "beyond to the land of the Gadarenes" not referring to specific boundaries of a county as we might think today, but a general region. Gergesenes expressed as "the country of the Gergesenes" can represent the people called “Girgashites”..

In Mark 5:1 we seeτῆς θαλάσσης(over the sea) into the land of the Gerasenes(θαλάσσης). But again in the Textus Receptus of 1550 and 1894 afain we see Γαδαρηνῶν “Gadarenes”.

In Luke 8:37 we see "the country" using the word Perichoros which would be inclusive of a region.

Gergesa was also a city on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee where Jesus seems to be at the close of Matthew 8.

Gergesa, or גִּרְגָּשִׁי‎ Girgashiy from which the name Gergesenes is taken, is an old town in the area of a lake called Tiberias. It has an edge with a steep place which the swine could have fallen from.

Two or one

Matthew 8 writes of (ὑπήντησαν αὐτῷ δύο δαιμονιζόμενοι) which is translated "two possessed with devils" but the two may or can be seen as one daimonizomai. This is because a "daimonizomai" always includes the entity influenced or possessed and another entity or group who is the controller.

The other explanation could be that two were possessed and Mark and Luke do not mention the second possessed but only the one who recovered enough to be sent to Decapolis.

Report or allegory

Was there a demon controlling a man or was this merely an allegory with hidden meanings?

Well both could be true.

We know that people can have an emotional and even psychic grip on the mind of others. There is mass hysteria, hypnosis, Stockholm syndrome and other ways of controlling people, their mind and actions.

People are also uncomfortable with the idea of a spiritual or even a God from realm that cannot be seen or touched that can work miracles.