Elsewhere, Jesus appoints 72Or 70 missionaries in some manuscripts. missionaries who also have the power to cast out demons.; daimonia in the missionaries' terminology (10.17), pneumata in the words of Jesus (10.20). At , the newly resurrected Christ says that the ability to drive out demons (daimonia) in his name is a sign of the true believer.
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Jesus drives out a demon or unclean spirit, from the 15th-century Très Riches Heures In English translations of the Bible, unclean spirit is a common renderingFor instance, in the King James Version, Wycliffe's Bible, Tyndale Bible, New Revised Standard Version, American Standard Version, International Standard Version, World English Bible, New English Translation; "foule sprete" in the Coverdale Bible. of Greek pneuma akatharton (πνεῦμα ἀκάθαρτον; plural pneumata akatharta (πνεύματα ἀκάθαρτα)), which in its single occurrence in the Septuagint translates Hebrew ' (). The Greek term appears 21 times in the New Testament in the context of demonic possession.The term appears 21 times counting both singular and plural.
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The attribution of animal-like qualities to demons continues from the Jewish tradition; like demons, animals may be classified as "unclean." describes "three unclean spirits like frogs" (pneumata tria akatharta hôs batrachoi); frogs are unclean as animals for food in the Jewish dietary code.This and more on frogs in the Bible from Victoria Andrews, "Frogs," in Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible p. 472 online; also "Clean and Unclean," pp. 262–262. It has sometimes been argued that frogs are clean; see discussion by Seth Daniel Kunin, We Think What We Eat: Neo-structuralist Analysis of Israelite Food Rules and Other Cultural and Textual Practices (Continuum International, 2004), pp.
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The Roman physician Galen also argued for the importance of the brain, and theorized in some depth about how it might work. Galen traced out the anatomical relationships among brain, nerves, and muscles, demonstrating that all muscles in the body are connected to the brain through a branching network of nerves. He postulated that nerves activate muscles mechanically by carrying a mysterious substance he called pneumata psychikon, usually translated as "animal spirits". Galen's ideas were widely known during the Middle Ages, but not much further progress came until the Renaissance, when detailed anatomical study resumed, combined with the theoretical speculations of René Descartes and those who followed him.
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In the Christian scriptures, the word pneuma (plural pneumata) is used variously for the human soul, angelic or demonic spirits, and the Holy Spirit, depending on context or with a grammatical modifier.Wayne A. Grudem, The First Epistle of Peter: An Introduction and Commentary (William B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1988) pp. 208–209 online; Eric Sorensen, Possession and Exorcism in the New Testament and Early Christianity (Mohr Siebeck, 2002), p. 121 online. New Testament usage of the words pneuma and daimonion in relation to demons follows that of later Judaism; the two words are to be distinguished from daimon, which appears only once (at )A Dictionary of Biblical Tradition in English Literature, edited by David Lyle Jeffrey (William B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1992), p. 195; DDD, p. 239.
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The seven Spirits of God (, ta hepta pneumata tou theou) are mentioned four times in the Book of Revelation, and in the Book of Isaiah it names each Spirit. :Revelation 1:4: John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne; :Revelation 3:1: And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write; These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead. :Revelation 4:5: And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God. :Revelation 5:6: And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.
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