Matthew 9:32-33

“After they had gone away, a demoniac who was mute was brought to him. And when the demon had been cast out, the one who had been mute spoke; and the crowds were amazed and said, ‘Never has anything like this been seen in Israel.’”

Question:

What is Unity’s belief on the Devil and references to the Devil?

Comment:

Unity’s defining affirmation is a belief in “One Presence and One Power, active in the universe and in my life.” There is, therefore, no power opposite to God. There is only God, the realm of infinite possibility, in which we live and move and have our being.

Contained within that infinite realm is the possibility that we might, through fear or limited understanding, mis-use the Presence and Power to create expressions of those fears and that ignorance. We then react to those expressions as if they had their own reality, not recognizing that we have created them ourselves. They have no reality in Divine Mind, and they will dissolve as our faith and understanding grow. This manifestation of shadow consciousness is, for example, the “Devil” against whom Jesus must stand in his wilderness experience. 

In this passage, I think we see how “demons” may appear in the New Testament as ways of describing the indescribable spiritual power Jesus demonstrates through his healings. Jesus heals in many ways, but always by awakening the perfection that each of us contains in potential. To onlookers who knew nothing of the scientific process of curing symptoms, much less the more profound spiritual Truth of healing, it seemed like magic. It seemed as if Jesus were removing a demon. And, indeed, he was, if we understand the demon to be emblematic of the negative energies of misplaced faith that underlay the apparent dis-ease.

Blessings!

Rev. Ed