Luke 9:39 - Printer Friendly

ESV: And behold, a spirit seizes him, and he suddenly cries out. It convulses him so that he foams at the mouth, and shatters him, and will hardly leave him.

NIV: A spirit seizes him and he suddenly screams; it throws him into convulsions so that he foams at the mouth. It scarcely ever leaves him and is destroying him.

NASB: and a spirit seizes him and he suddenly screams, and it throws him into a convulsion with foaming at the mouth; and only with difficulty does it leave him, mauling him as it leaves.

CSB: A spirit seizes him; suddenly he shrieks, and it throws him into convulsions until he foams at the mouth; severely bruising him, it scarcely ever leaves him.

NLT: An evil spirit keeps seizing him, making him scream. It throws him into convulsions so that he foams at the mouth. It batters him and hardly ever leaves him alone.

KJV: And, lo, a spirit taketh him, and he suddenly crieth out; and it teareth him that he foameth again, and bruising him hardly departeth from him.

NKJV: And behold, a spirit seizes him, and he suddenly cries out; it convulses him so that he foams at the mouth; and it departs from him with great difficulty, bruising him.

Three of Jesus' disciples—Peter, James, and John—have returned with Him from the Mount of Transfiguration. They find the other nine disciples unable to cast out a demon tormenting a little boy. This, despite Jesus giving them authority over all demons (Luke 9:1). The boy's father is explaining the situation to Jesus.

Matthew, Mark, and Luke relate different aspects of the boy's condition. Matthew says, "he has seizures and he suffers terribly" (Matthew 17:15). Mark says, "whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid" (Mark 9:18). Luke combines the two, using the Greek word syntribō, translated as "shatter." This implies mauling, bruising, abuse, or damage. The three gospel writers don't contradict each other; the authors are just describing parts of the whole.

Throughout history, scholars have compared the boy's torment to epilepsy. Where Luke's "convulse" simply means to "shake to and fro," Matthew's word for "seizures" is the same used for "moonstruck:" the title ancients used for epilepsy.

The real correlation between demonization and epilepsy is unclear. People of Jesus' era believed epileptic symptoms were caused by demons. It is unknown if they associated demonic activity literally with the moon or with darkness in general. Neither Jesus nor Luke, a doctor, disavow the crowd's assumption that a demon is involved, and the symptoms disappear when Jesus casts out the demon (Luke 9:42).

There is no necessary contradiction, however, between epilepsy and demon possession. The passage isn't saying that epilepsy is inherently associated with demon possession. Nor is it saying that demons always cause illness, nor that demons cause every illness. In this case, the boy might have already had epilepsy, and the demon's affliction was to excessively trigger it. If that was the case, presumably Jesus also healed the epilepsy (Luke 9:42; Luke 5:17; 9:2, 11).

Luke 9:37–43 records another story highlighting the disciples' misunderstanding of Jesus and their lack of faith. Jesus, Peter, James, and John return from the mountain. There, Jesus shone with God's glory and the disciples encountered Moses, Elijah, and God the Father. The disciples they left behind, despite having been empowered by Jesus to perform miracles (Luke 9:1–6), find it impossible to rescue a boy from a violent demon. Jesus scolds the lack of faith before He drives the demon away. This story is also in Matthew 17:14–20 and Mark 9:14–29.

Luke 9 completes Jesus' Galilean ministry and begins describing His journey towards Jerusalem. Jesus gives His disciples miraculous power and commissions them to preach. The empowerment thrills the disciples but confuses Herod Antipas. A hungry crowd of thousands and hard teachings about following Jesus, however, shows the disciples' faith is short-lived. The transfiguration and the demonized boy precede stories of the disciples' continued confusion. They still struggle to accurately represent Jesus. Luke 9:51–62 begins the "travelogue" (Luke 9:51—19:27) with examples of the patience and sacrifice needed to represent Jesus as His followers.

Luke 9 straddles the two major sections biblical scholars call "Jesus' Galilean Ministry" (Luke 4:14—9:50) and "The Travelogue to Jerusalem" (Luke 9:51—19:27). The Galilean ministry alternates calls to discipleship with stories on Jesus' authority and teachings. The travelogue records what Jesus did and taught to prepare the disciples for His crucifixion. After a final group of stories on how to respond to Jesus (Luke 9:51—11:13) and several examples of how the Jewish religious leaders reject Jesus (Luke 11:14–54), Luke presents Jesus' teaching on the kingdom of God (Luke 12:1—19:27).

Luke was a traveling companion of Paul (Acts 16:10) and a physician (Colossians 4:14). Unlike Matthew, Mark, and John, Luke writes his gospel as an historian, rather than as a first-hand eyewitness. His extensive writings also include the book of Acts (Acts 1:1–3). These are deliberately organized, carefully researched accounts of those events. The gospel of Luke focuses on the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ. Luke's Gentile perspective presents Christ as a Savior for all people, offering both forgiveness and direction to those who follow Him.