Demons and the Occult
The Doctrine of Demons

"Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons" (1 Timothy 1:4)

"In the last days people will depart from the faith". Faith here is either Christian doctrine or the Christian faith as a religious movement. For discussion see 1 Tim 1:2 and 3:9. As in those two passages it is more likely that Christian doctrine (or, teachings) is meant here in 4:1, too. Depart comes from a Greek verb from which is derived the word "apostasy" and which literally means "to stand off from." It refers primarily to the act of turning away from what is accepted by the community as true belief, hence "abandon" (TEV), "turn from" (CEV), "renounce" (NRSV), "desert" (NJB), "forsake" (REB). An alternative translation model for depart from the faith is "stop believing in (or, renounce) the Christian teachings."

The cause of their apostasy is that they "will obey" deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons. Giving heed translates a participle that means "pay attention to" (NRSV), both in terms of mental assent (for example REB "surrender their minds") and of action (hence TEV "obey . . . follow"). Deceitful comes from a word that means "erroneous," "wrong," "misleading," hence TEV "lying." These spirits are contrasted with the Spirit, who is the source of true teaching. See 1 Tim 3:16 for a discussion of "Spirit" and "spirits."

The two expressions deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons are obviously related, but the relationship is not all that clear. Ways of defining their relationship are as follows:

(1) The spirits and demons may be taken as parallel and as referring to evil spirits. The whole expression can then be restructured as "the teachings of deceitful demonic (or evil) spirits," or "deceitful demonic spirits and their doctrines," or even "deceitful evil spirits and their demonic doctrines."

(2) The spirits may refer to the false teachers, and their teachings are described as doctrines of demons. In this sense the spirits are identical with the liars in verse 2. No translation has chosen this alternative, however.

(3) The spirits may refer to evil spirits, while doctrines of demons can be taken as human teachings that are inspired by demonic forces. The translation that comes closest to this position is REB: "subversive spirits and demon-inspired doctrines." It is recommended by this Handbook that translators follow this interpretation.

An alternative translation model for this verse is:

God's Spirit clearly says (or, states) that in these last days some people will stop believing the Christian teachings; they will instead obey false teachings inspired by lying evil (or, dirty) spirits (or, demons).

The way that the doctrine of demons is taught is through people who have sold themselves to their false belief systems. Some of these teachers are found among the cults such as: Mormonism, Jehovah's Witnesses, Christian Science and hosts of others. Some teach the doctrine of demons among occult practices like: Satanism, Spiritism, Witchcraft and the New Age Movement. Still others teach the doctrine of demons through alternative medicine like Reiki, Therapeutic Touch and Healing Touch.

Christians, wherever you are it is certain that many will attempt to seduce you into abandoning your faith. Be warned, these are nothing more than evil, lying, deceitful spirits who goal is to entrap you into abandoning the faith.