Bible Study Tips: Ghosts In a recent class I had a person ask me a question that Ive never been asked before and according to several folks Ive talked to, neither had they but the question was; “where does the Bible stand on the subject of Ghosts?” Actually thats a pretty good question based on the number of TV shows that have people claiming to have ghosts in their workplaces, homes etc. and the “psychic investigators” who seem to spend a lot of time screaming and running around after talking themselves into a panic attack. That aside, there is obviously a lot of interest and belief in ghosts, so where does the Bible come down on it? The passages that prompted this question occur in the NT where the disciples were frightened at seeing Jesus walking on water and thought he was a ghost. Ghost in Greek is the word phantasma which has a root in the word phaino which means manifestation. Phantasma is only used twice in the NT, Mt. 14:26 and Mk 6:49, both relating the above. The only other somewhat related verse is in Lk 24:37 where the disciples were frightened by Jesus appearing among them. In this case the Greek word is pneuma or spirit, but the strong inference is that the disciples thought they were seeing a ghost. Luke 24:37 is a singularly unusual use of the Greek in making this reference, not wrongly, just unusual as typically it is in reference to the “Holy” Spirit, and less frequently as an unclean spirit with the two combined for 344 uses. The use in Lk 24 is probably a device to reenforce the fact that this was a physical manifestation of the Holy Spirit. It is obvious, that in the minds of the authors, ghosts and spirits are two different things. A point that becomes even stronger in the OT. But either way, the NT really doesnt shed a lot of light on the question, so lets proceed to the OT where things are considerably more complicated. Bear with me a bit but lets set a couple of definitions for clarity. Ghosts, are the manifestations of dead people to the living. Spirits on the other hand are supernatural beings with the ability to influence human events. Unclean spirits and demons are virtually synonymous. In the OT, there are two Hebrew words which are translated as ghost, it-tim and the other is ob which is pronounced like ov. The latter is translated as ghost only in Isa 29:4. In all other places it is translated as medium, namely a person who communicates with the dead. It-tim on the other hand has a wide variety of translations including medium so perhaps we should look at what is called the sense of these words. Sense is a form of word study where we look at the broader implication of a word; call it the feeling of the word if you will. In the case of both ov and it-tim when used to refer to ghosts, it implies a belief in ghosts while not conveying the actuality of ghosts. That however changes when speaking about supernatural spirits. There are numerous statements in the Bible making it clear that supernatural entities exist, both in the OT and NT. Now departing from a word study approach,, the OT makes one thing abundantly clear, God has no use for mediums nor the people who seek advice from mediums, the latter he refers to as whores, meaning unfaithful. We are told in 1 Chron 10:13 that this is why Saul died; he had sought the advice of a medium thus breaking faith with God. In other parts of the Bible, mediums are to be put to death. So is Gods reaction towards mediums solely a matter of breaking faith with God or is there more at play here? I really have been unable to discover any instances where the Bible gives any sense to the idea that ghosts, i.e. the spirits of dead people speaking to the leving are real. Contrary to that there is ample evidence that supernatural spirits, ie. supernatural beings do exist and in the case of unclean spirits/demons, they are quite dangerous. Now here is where I must depart from what the Bible tells us and or infers to what I take from the Bible as a whole on the matter. I cannot say categorically that ghosts do not exist, but I am of the mind that they do not and what mediums and others say are ghosts are actually demonic spirits impersonating the dead. That would be in the character of those spirits and would serve their purpose by infusing a degree of spiritualism that is not of God. So Gods anger towards mediums and those who seek them out is the anger of a Father betrayed but also the anger of a Father attempting to protect his children from harm. So thats my take, ghosts no, spirits yes. Feel free to weigh in.
Posted on: Wed, 16 Jul 2014 20:33:04 +0000
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