2 Corinthians 11:14 – Ghosts: Satan Disguised as an Angel of Light?
Ghosts, are they Satan disguised as an angel of light? After all, St. Paul says they are, right? Or does he?
Today I came across a phone-in show video by a biblical teacher on the subject of ghosts. After the host’s brief outline of why ghosts can’t exist, the caller said that was all well and good, but he had seen one, and yet was a Bible-believing Christian. The host then proceeded to question (rather un-pastorally) the caller’s observation, proffering the usual texts regarding Samuel’s appearance to the medium at Endor and Luke 16, the Rich Man and Lazarus as biblical proof that ghosts were not spirits of the dead (they aren’t proofs at all, as the linked articles explain). The host then suggested that what was seen could be explained as a demonic impostor through the use of the following verse:
And no wonder! Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.
2 Corinthians 11:14 (NRSV)
However, once again, this is an incredible straining of the text, forcing it to say something that these proof-texters want it to say (eisegesis – reading into the text that which isn’t there).
Paul wrote this verse not as a stand-alone verse to say that ghosts are demonic impersonators. It a warning to his readers regarding false prophets who were calling themselves super-apostles, with superb oratory skills and alleging greater authority than that which God had conferred to Paul directly as an apostle of Jesus Christ. These “super-apostles” were demanding financial support from their listeners, much like today’s TV evangelists and mega-rich prosperity gospel preachers. If we read that particular passage in its entirety, we can see what Paul meant when he wrote the aforementioned verse:
I wish you would bear with me in a little foolishness. Do bear with me! I feel a divine jealousy for you, for I promised you in marriage to one husband, to present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by its cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you submit to it readily enough. I think that I am not in the least inferior to these super-apostles. I may be untrained in speech, but not in knowledge; certainly in every way and in all things we have made this evident to you.
2 Corinthians 11:1-15 (NRSV)
Did I commit a sin by humbling myself so that you might be exalted, because I proclaimed God’s good news to you free of charge? I robbed other churches by accepting support from them in order to serve you. And when I was with you and was in need, I did not burden anyone, for my needs were supplied by the friends who came from Macedonia. So I refrained and will continue to refrain from burdening you in any way. As the truth of Christ is in me, this boast of mine will not be silenced in the regions of Achaia. And why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do!
And what I do I will also continue to do, in order to deny an opportunity to those who want an opportunity to be recognized as our equals in what they boast about. For such boasters are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder! Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is not strange if his ministers also disguise themselves as ministers of righteousness. Their end will match their deeds.
Satan is indeed a deceiver (Genesis 3:13; John 8:44; Revelation 12:9), and was indeed an anointed cherub, an angel of light (Ezekiel 28) before he fell. It is not impossible that he could appear as the ghost of a deceased person for a particular deceitful purpose, which is why we are told to test the spirits, for not every one comes from God (1 John 4:1, which is again about testing those who claim to have a prophetic gift).
Conclusion
Can this verse about Satan appearing as an angel of light be used as an anti-ghost text, to say that the dead cannot come back and therefore all ghosts must be demonic impersonators, agents of Satan, acting as angels of light? Simply put, no! It’s a verse which in context is talking about false teachers who were attempting to muscle in on Paul’s gospel message by presenting another gospel which wasn’t the one of Jesus.
Sadly, you can hear the caller at the end of the video has not been convinced by the host’s thin eisegesis of various texts. The caller had seen a ghost and has been told he was incorrect and that he’d seen a demonic impersonation. He was obviously not impressed that his experience had been glibly written off as a demonic impersonation, especially as he felt this wasn’t so. This is why resources like the Churches Fellowship for Psychical and Spiritual Studies, and this website, exist – to promote deeply biblical thinking which doesn’t settle for thin answers that don’t stand up under scrutiny.
Here’s the passages that prove he did see a demon: Ecclesiastes 9:5, 10, which says plainly that “the living know that they will die; but the dead know nothing…for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going
1 Thessalonians 4:13-14
[13] But I would not have you to be ignorant, brothers, concerning them which are asleep, that you sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. [14] For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
Once, you die, you are not more. There’s hundreds of verses in the bible that proves this. Why do people believe in ghosts? Because they either don’t read the bible or don’t believe it.
Thanks for your comment Mandie.
If you take a look through the Articles Database you’ll find that both your assertion that Ecclesiastes 9:5 proving the dead are no more, and the biblical metaphor of sleep for death meaning that there is no awareness for the physically dead in the afterlife are both actually more than the verses you’ve quoted, and actually suggest the opposite of what you’ve shown.
Ghosts – Do The Dead Know Nothing?
Do the Dead Sleep?
You see, whilst you think there’s hundreds of verses in the Bible that disprove ghosts as human spirits, actually you’re taking them out of the contexts in which they were originally written, and indeed, ghosts appear in many parts of the Bible, just with different Hebrew names for them.
People are struggling because they think they know their bibles and what it says on ghosts, but actually only know what they’ve been told and haven’t done the research under the bonnet through contextual Bible study and research. What you think you know about what the Bible says about ghosts, isn’t the case when you dig down into the scriptures.
Do check out the articles database, as many of your questions are answered in there using the Bible.
People believe in ghosts because they have a reality of first hand experiences which shallow understandings of the Bible don’t answer. This is why this website exists – to provide a biblical understanding of the afterlife that was what the first century Christians believed, as per Jude 3, holding to the faith first received.
Thanks again for your comment and enjoy studying the Bible deeper with those articles.
Im more confused now that I’ve read this and other articles here. I saw in my camera 📷 a black mist float from the ground up to the sky till I could not see it anymore. I need to know if it was a ghost 👻, spirit or whatever. In frightened to be in my own home . Are there spirits or not? If so what are they?
Hi Linda,
It’s very difficult to discern what might be going on due to not having any film footage of what you describe. There are various scientific explanations which could account for mist / smoke rising up into the sky, and it’s always important to try and explain these things using science before reaching for any paranormal explanations, otherwise one can end up becoming scared of something which is merely a natural phenomena. Try not to reach for a paranormal explanation as your first port of call.
You could upload the video to the Cloud and send me a link, and I can have a look to see what might be happening.
In the meantime, spend some time in prayer and ask for God’s peace to descend upon you and your household. Many times this often helps to alleviate any fear as well.
Every blessing,
Matt