Difference (if any) between fallen angels, demons, and unclean spirits.

[Rubiks]

I was wondering what the difference between these three are. The Bible doesn't really explain them in much detail. Has our understanding of demons been influenced by the original usage in Greek mythology? (δαίμων) Are they 3 entirely different "species" of being?

 

[A_Thinker]

I was wondering what the difference between these three are. The Bible doesn't really explain them in much detail. Has our understanding of demons been influenced by the original usage in Greek mythology? (δαίμων) Are they 3 entirely different "species" of being?

I think that they're all the same ...

 

[topher694]

I was wondering what the difference between these three are. The Bible doesn't really explain them in much detail. Has our understanding of demons been influenced by the original usage in Greek mythology? (δαίμων) Are they 3 entirely different "species" of being?

You are right, the Bible doesn't make this clear, which we should always keep in mind. If you study what is in the Bible along with oral tradition and extra-biblical sources a possible explanation is this:

Fallen angels = principalities, powers, rulers, spiritual hosts mentioned in Eph 6... some call these "territorial spirits" an example would be the "Prince of Persia" who delayed Michael in Daniel 10. Their "assignment" is much more regional or territorial. They deal with culture and government and things like that. An example would be Salem... we've all probably studied or heard about the witch trials that happened there. Because of that to this day Salem has the greatest population density of self identifying witches/warlocks of anywhere in the country... probably a principality spirit of witchcraft re-enforcing that.

Demon & unclean spirits are the same thing, as are familiar spirits. They have many different assignments, but ultimately are the same thing/being. Their assignments are more individual or family. One popular theory as to where they come from is that they are the spirits of the nephilim (giants) who died in the flood. Since they were not man nor angel, their spirits remain on earth (there is some scriptural evidence for this). They often re-enforce the assignment of the territorial spirits, but on individual/family levels.

I want to emphasize, this is all theory (albeit, scripturally informed theory) and there is not absolute biblical answer. Anyone who tells you differently is wrong. I could be wrong, but this is my best understanding from some pretty detailed study.

And, more importantly than where they may or may not come from is this: they are and will continue to be completely, utterly, totally defeated through the power of the Cross and the name of Jesus.

 

[Dave-W]

They are not the same. Fallen angels are fairly clear cut: angelic beings that followed the devil when he rebelled. In the NT they are principalities, powers, wicked spirituals in the mid heavenlies.

Demons are less clear. We know there are 2 different classes; diamion and diamionon in the Greek. The latter is a lower order or diminutive version. They have no bodies (as opposed to angels which DO have bodies) and seek to indwell either humans or animals.

Many take them as the same thing since there is no genesis story for their generation. It is a more simple thought but does not really fit the biblical descriptions.

Unclean spirit can refer to either fallen angels or demons, but usually is indicating demons.

 

[Dave-W]

And, more importantly than where they may or may not come from is this: they are and will continue to be completely, utterly, totally defeated through the power of the Cross and the name of Jesus.

Amen. And amen.

 

[sdowney717]

Fallen angels are what the name implies.

Demons came from the Genesis giants, the Nephilim, who were the offspring of fallen angels and human women. When they were killed, since they were half human kind and half angel kind, they did not immediately go to the dark dungeons with everlasting chains Peter describes. They were left to roam the earth and have Satan as their leader.
Unclean spirits are usually thought of as demons.

Something to consider, God locked up all the angels who sinned who went after strange flesh, those women, so they are not free to roam, they are there until judgement day!

So what we are left with, some fallen angels, like Satan, did not do that particular evil thing, and are still free to roam.
The question all should ask themselves what evil thing did one particular group of fallen angels do that the other fallen group did not do to make God put the one group into everlasting chains. Genesis and Jude makes the case for them creating the Nephilim which turned into the demons when they were killed.

Another thing, these demons seek out a body to possess, its called demonic possession because they miss their body it having been destroyed, (the fallen angels never had their own body being complete without a body of flesh) and they are unclean evil disembodied spirits trying to find a new home. Because like Jesus said, when they are out of the body, they travel through waste places and seek rest but cant find any. His goal is to get back into another body, or the same one again if possible, because that was his home for rest. Perhaps when disposed spirits are forced out, they are in distress, they are definitely uncomfortable.

Matthew 12
43 “When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none. 44 Then he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. 45 Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first. So shall it also be with this wicked generation.”

Jude,
6 And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, (they fell), He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day; 7 as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, (the fallen angels) having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.

 

[Dave-W]

Demons came from the Genesis giants, the Nephilim, who were the offspring of fallen angels and human women.

Chapter and verse? Your verses listed there can be taken a number of different ways.

 

[sdowney717]

Chapter and verse? Your verses listed there can be taken a number of different ways.

Sure they could, but some dont make much sense.
You wont find direct word for word bible evidence for this.
Here is the interesting foundation for it and it draws mostly on Enoch.
Where Do Demons Come From? - LogosTalk

 

[Dave-W]

Here is the interesting foundation for it and it draws mostly on Enoch.
Where Do Demons Come From? - LogosTalk

Yeah - I am aware of what the book of "enoch" says. BTW - it was written during the first centuries - both bc and ad. Enoch (from Genesis) did NOT write it.

 

[Gregory Thompson]

I was wondering what the difference between these three are. The Bible doesn't really explain them in much detail. Has our understanding of demons been influenced by the original usage in Greek mythology? (δαίμων) Are they 3 entirely different "species" of being?

Hard to say, in that instance when Jesus said "this kind" comes out only by prayer and fasting, seems to indicate that there are different kinds.

 

[Rubiks]

Hard to say, in that instance when Jesus said "this kind" comes out only by prayer and fasting, seems to indicate that there are different kinds.

I'm pretty sure that verse is an interpolation.

 

[Rubiks]

I think that they're all the same ...

Are there any verses that equate them, though?

 

[~Zao~]

Fallen angels are what the name implies.

Demons came from the Genesis giants, the Nephilim, who were the offspring of fallen angels and human women. When they were killed, since they were half human kind and half angel kind, they did not immediately go to the dark dungeons with everlasting chains Peter describes. They were left to roam the earth and have Satan as their leader.
Unclean spirits are usually thought of as demons.

Something to consider, God locked up all the angels who sinned who went after strange flesh, those women, so they are not free to roam, they are there until judgement day!

So what we are left with, some fallen angels, like Satan, did not do that particular evil thing, and are still free to roam.
The question all should ask themselves what evil thing did one particular group of fallen angels do that the other fallen group did not do to make God put the one group into everlasting chains. Genesis and Jude makes the case for them creating the Nephilim which turned into the demons when they were killed.

Another thing, these demons seek out a body to possess, its called demonic possession because they miss their body it having been destroyed, (the fallen angels never had their own body being complete without a body of flesh) and they are unclean evil disembodied spirits trying to find a new home. Because like Jesus said, when they are out of the body, they travel through waste places and seek rest but cant find any. His goal is to get back into another body, or the same one again if possible, because that was his home for rest. Perhaps when disposed spirits are forced out, they are in distress, they are definitely uncomfortable.

Matthew 12
43 “When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none. 44 Then he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. 45 Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first. So shall it also be with this wicked generation.”

Jude,
6 And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, (they fell), He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day; 7 as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, (the fallen angels) having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.

The reasoning doesn’t make sense when it comes to how fallen angels (who you say have no bodies) could engage in the act of reproduction. If it be so that those who did create the nephilim (unclean spirits) are now locked in chains then it would be advantages to know the method they used to create more unclean spirits because what’s to stop Satan and the principalities from creating more, I wonder? Or is that possible? It would seem that the judgement was upon that sin but since the sentence was past there is much more evidence in the bible of giants preceding that in Gen 6.
Weird thought for the day.

 

[~Zao~]

Ephesians 6:12
12 We aren’t fighting against human enemies but against rulers, authorities, forces of cosmic darkness, and spiritual powers of evil in the heavens.
Ephesians 6:20
20 I’m an ambassador in chains for the sake of the gospel. Pray so that the Lord will give me the confidence to say what I have to say.

Daniel 10:13
13 For twenty-one days the leader of the Persian kingdom blocked my way. But then Michael, one of the highest leaders, came to help me. I left Michael there with the leader of the Persian kingdom
Daniel 10:20
20 Then he said: “Do you know why I have come to you? Now I must go back to fight the leader of Persia. As I leave, the leader of Greece will come!

Isaiah 14:12-15
12 How you’ve fallen from heaven,
morning star, son of dawn!
You are cut down to earth,
helpless on your back!
13 You said to yourself, I will climb up to heaven;
above God’s stars, I will raise my throne.
I’ll sit on the mount of assembly,
on the heights of Zaphon.
14 I’ll go up to the cloud tops;
I’ll be like the Most High!
15 But down to the underworld[a] you are brought,
to the depths of the pit.

Do any of these apply to fathering unclean spirits I wonder?

 

[sdowney717]

The reasoning doesn’t make sense when it comes to how fallen angels (who you say have no bodies) could engage in the act of reproduction. If it be so that those who did create the nephilim (unclean spirits) are now locked in chains then it would be advantages to know the method they used to create more unclean spirits because what’s to stop Satan and the principalities from creating more, I wonder? Or is that possible? It would seem that the judgement was upon that sin but since the sentence was past there is much more evidence in the bible of giants preceding that in Gen 6.
Weird thought for the day.

Angels can take on a human form, and they can eat and interact with people to the point your unawares your talking to an angel. I see no reason why they could not do such a thing.

You still have to deal with why God singles out that one group from the other of fallen angels and locks them up while leaving the others free to roam, and Jude makes the case it was sexual immorality between angels and women, comparing their sin, leaving their proper abode (spiritual life) with Sodom and other cities of the plain nearby engaging in sexual immorality.

God judged it harshly and locked them away that did that sin, leaving the rest free to roam, so maybe fear prevents them, but also I dont know how Satan rules his angels and demons, does he force them to do some things.

 

[sdowney717]

Ephesians 6:12
12 We aren’t fighting against human enemies but against rulers, authorities, forces of cosmic darkness, and spiritual powers of evil in the heavens.
Ephesians 6:20
20 I’m an ambassador in chains for the sake of the gospel. Pray so that the Lord will give me the confidence to say what I have to say.

Daniel 10:13
13 For twenty-one days the leader of the Persian kingdom blocked my way. But then Michael, one of the highest leaders, came to help me. I left Michael there with the leader of the Persian kingdom
Daniel 10:20
20 Then he said: “Do you know why I have come to you? Now I must go back to fight the leader of Persia. As I leave, the leader of Greece will come!

Isaiah 14:12-15
12 How you’ve fallen from heaven,
morning star, son of dawn!
You are cut down to earth,
helpless on your back!
13 You said to yourself, I will climb up to heaven;
above God’s stars, I will raise my throne.
I’ll sit on the mount of assembly,
on the heights of Zaphon.
14 I’ll go up to the cloud tops;
I’ll be like the Most High!
15 But down to the underworld[a] you are brought,
to the depths of the pit.

Do any of these apply to fathering unclean spirits I wonder?

Except the ones who sinned with human women, God locked all of them away, so they can no longer influence earthly things. All those references are referring to fallen angles who do not sin that way.

In Genesis 3, God tells us of the serpent's seed, seed has to do with offspring as in children. The serpent's seeds Nephilim, and the Son of God have enmity between them, they fight with the Son and the Son of God defeats them, but he is wounded.

Genesis 3
14 So the Lord God said to the serpent:

“Because you have done this,
You are cursed more than all cattle,
And more than every beast of the field;
On your belly you shall go,
And you shall eat dust
All the days of your life.
15 And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her Seed;
He shall bruise your head,
And you shall bruise His heel.”

To prevent the coming Messiah prophecy, the fallen angels corrupt the whole earth filling it with violence and also corrupt the dna of the human race. If God did not destroy all flesh that has the breath of life in the flood which came upon the whole earth, then Christ could not be born having that satanic bloodline in his flesh and so he wont be appearing and bruise their heads.

God preserved Noah, destroying all the others. Noah was perfect in his generations, (not generation), so his line, that is his DNA was not corrupted by the fallen angels and nephilim. There are no morally perfect people, so perfect here can not be his conduct.
Genesis 6
9 This is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God. 10 And Noah begot three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. 12 So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.

 

[yeshuaslavejeff]

I was wondering what the difference between these three are. The Bible doesn't really explain them in much detail. Has our understanding of demons been influenced by the original usage in Greek mythology? (δαίμων) Are they 3 entirely different "species" of being?

Current 'understanding' today has not only been "influenced" by mythology, but is mostliy based on mythology, and is probably best to be avoided by all the followers of Jesus.

Instead, stay with Scripture, as God says to

 

[yeshuaslavejeff]

Are there any verses that equate them, though?

There's nothing in Scripture to support the myths, and believing, publishing, and supporting myths is contrary to God's Word and Plan for believers following Jesus.

 

[~Zao~]

Except the ones who sinned with human women, God locked all of them away, so they can no longer influence earthly things. All those references are referring to fallen angles who do not sin that way.

In Genesis 3, God tells us of the serpent's seed, seed has to do with offspring as in children. The serpent's seeds Nephilim, and the Son of God have enmity between them, they fight with the Son and the Son of God defeats them, but he is wounded.

Genesis 3
14 So the Lord God said to the serpent:

“Because you have done this,
You are cursed more than all cattle,
And more than every beast of the field;
On your belly you shall go,
And you shall eat dust
All the days of your life.
15 And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her Seed;
He shall bruise your head,
And you shall bruise His heel.”

To prevent the coming Messiah prophecy, the fallen angels corrupt the whole earth filling it with violence and also corrupt the dna of the human race. If God did not destroy all flesh that has the breath of life in the flood which came upon the whole earth, then Christ could not be born having that satanic bloodline in his flesh and so he wont be appearing and bruise their heads.

God preserved Noah, destroying all the others. Noah was perfect in his generations, (not generation), so his line, that is his DNA was not corrupted by the fallen angels and nephilim. There are no morally perfect people, so perfect here can not be his conduct.
Genesis 6
9 This is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God. 10 And Noah begot three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. 12 So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.

I really think that’s applicable only to the time of Christ to produce the new creation at which time the new creation is lifted above earthly concerns.

 

[~Zao~]

Angels can take on a human form, and they can eat and interact with people to the point your unawares your talking to an angel. I see no reason why they could not do such a thing.

You still have to deal with why God singles out that one group from the other of fallen angels and locks them up while leaving the others free to roam, and Jude makes the case it was sexual immorality between angels and women, comparing their sin, leaving their proper abode (spiritual life) with Sodom and other cities of the plain nearby engaging in sexual immorality.

God judged it harshly and locked them away that did that sin, leaving the rest free to roam, so maybe fear prevents them, but also I dont know how Satan rules his angels and demons, does he force them to do some things.

That’s it in a nutshell! Leaving their post to do their own thing. They had posts to carry on whatever work that God had for them to do. But they chose their own path away from what God had purposed.