Literature. — W. M. Ramsay, St. Paul the Traveller and the Roman Citizen^, 1897, p. 358 ; J. B. Lightfoot, Colossians and Philemon-, 1876, pp. 36, 242 ; artt. in HDB, EBi, and SDB.
W. F. Boyd. DEMETRIUS. — There are two, if not three, persons of this name mentioned in the NT- -a fact which is not surprising, considering how very common the name was in the Greek world.
1. Demetrius, the silversmith of Ephesus (Ac 19). A business man, profoundly interested in the success of his business, Demetrius was a manu- facturer of various objects in silver, of which the most profitable were small silver models of the shrine of the Ephesian goddess Artemis (see Diana). These models were purchased by the rich, dedicated to the goddess, and hung up within her temple. The preaching of St. Paul was so powerful that devotion to the goddess became less prevalent, the demand for such offerings was re- duced, and Demetrius felt his livelihood in danger. He called a meeting of the gild of his handicraft to decide on a means for coping with the new situation. The meeting ended in a public disturb- ance. Nothing is known of the later life of Demetrius.
2. Demetrius, an important member of the church referred to in the Second and Third Epistles of St. John. It is impossible to identify the church with certainty, but there can be little doubt that it was in the province of Asia. The presbyter-overseer of the church is absent, and in his absence Gaius and Demetrius act in the truest interest of the members. Demetrius' good condiict (3 Jn ^^) is attested by all.
3. The full name of Demas (Col 4^^ 2 Ti 4^", Philem^^) may very well have been Demetrius (possibly Demodorus, Demodotus) ; see Demas.
Literature. — See W. M. Ramsay's lifelike picture of the scene at Ephesus in his St. Paul the Traveller and the Roman Citizen, London, 1895, p. 277 ft. The best list of pet-names is found in A. N. Jannaris, An Historical Greek Grammar, do. 1897, § 287. A. SOUTER.
DEMON. — 1. Nomenclature. — The word dai/x6vioi> (or 8ai/j.wv, Avhich, however, occurs only once in the NT in the best MSS, viz. in ]\It 8^', though some MSS have it in Mk 5'^, Lk S"", and some inferior ones in Rev le'* 18-') is almost always rendered ' devil ' in EV, though RVm usually gives ' demon.' In the RV of the OT ' demon ' is found in Dt 32", Ps 106^^ Bar 4'' (Heb. ip, LXX daifidvLOp). Origin- ally dai/u.iov had a somewhat more personal conno- tation than SaLfxbviov, which is formed from the adjective (i.e. 'a Divine thing'); and both had a neutral sense : a sj^irit inferior to the supreme gods, superior to man, but not necessarily evil. Some trace of this neutral sense is found in the apostolic writings. Thus deiaidalfiuv, deiadaifjiovia have probably not the bad sense of ' superstitious,' ' superstition ' in Ac 17^^ 25^^ — Avhich at any rate would hardly suit the former passage, where St. Paul is not likely to have gone out of his way to insult the Athenians — but the neutral sense of ' religious,' ' religion.' This view is borne out by the papyri, where, Deissmann says (Light from Ancient East, 1910, p. 283), the context of these words always implies commendation. And simi- larly St. Luke's phrase (Lk 4^^) * a spirit of an un- clean demon ' would imply the existence of a pure demon, just as ' unclean spirits ' imply the existence of pure spirits. The neutral sense is also found in the saying attributed to our Lord by Ignatius (Smyrn. 3 ; see Lightfoot, Apostolic Fathers'^, pt. ii. vol. ii, [1889] p. 296) : ' Lay hold and handle me, and see that I am not a bodiless demon ' (Sai^ibviov dcrc6- fiarov), a saying clearly founded on or parallel to Lk 24^'', perhaps due to an independent oral tra- dition. But ordinarily in the NT 8aifi6vi.ov has a bad sense, and signilies 'an evil spirit.' The ex- pression 'to have a demon' (or 'demons'), which occurs several times in the Gospels (ix^iv daifioviov [dai/xdvia], equivalent to dai/uLovil^effdai, which is also frequent there), is the same as the paraphrases found elsewhere in the NT which avoid the Mord 'demon' (Ac 8^ 'had unclean spirits,' 19^^ 'had evil spirits,' 10^^ etc.). In Christian writings the word ' demon ' always means an evil being, though it is curious that, in the NT and (as far as the present writer has observed) in the Fathers, Satan himself is never called 8al/xo3v or 8ai/jL6vt.ov (' demon '). Conversely his angels are never in the NT called ' devils' (oiajSoXoi), though in Jn 6™ Judas is called 8idj3o\os. The Fathers emphatically assert that all demons are evil : see e.g. Tertull. Apol. 22, Orig. c. C'els. v. 5, viii. 39 (the Son of God not a demon), Cypr. Quod idola dii non sint, 6 f. By the time of Augustine even the heathen used the word ' demon ' only in a bad sense (de Civ. Dei, ix. 19).
2. Conceptions about demons in apostolic writ- ings.— Demons are regarded as the ministers of Satan — a host of evil angels over whom he has command. They are the ' angels which kept not their own principality (apx^v) but left their proper habitation' (Jude^), who 'wlren they sinned' were 'cast down to Tartarus' (2 P 2*). They are de- scribed as the Dragon's angels, forming his army (Rev 12'- 3 ; cf. Mt 2b^^). That these angels are the same as the demons appears from the fact that Satan is the prince of the demons (Mk 3-^), and that demoniacs are said to be 'oppressed of the devil' (tov 8iap6\ov, i.e. Satan [see Devil], Ac 10^^ ; cf. Lk 13^''). Thus there are good spirits and evil spirits which must be distinguished and proved : the spirit of the Antichrist must be distinguished from the Spirit of God (1 Jn 4').