Legion: The Multiplicity of Sin and Divine Purification

When the demon-possessed man cried out, "My name is Legion" (Mark 5:9), he revealed a terrible truth: sin is not singular but legiōn—a multitude. The Biblical Illustrator identifies this legion as anger, malice, intemperance, murder, impurity, unfaithfulness, dishonesty, hypocrisy, ingratitude, disobedience, envy, covetousness, blasphemy, and atheism. Each represents a repudiation of Elohim's authority, a defiance of His power, and contempt for His holiness.

This legion causes all error, conflict, cruelty, and suffering in our world. Like a foul demon, it has poisoned everything it touches, transforming man—the noblest work of God—into the destroyer of his own soul.

Yet Christ's response reveals His purifying mercy. When He drove the demons into the swine—animals forbidden by Mosaic law—He demonstrated a crucial principle: where Christ enters, sin must depart. The destruction of the two thousand swine was not weakness but judgment with redemptive purpose. It functioned as John the Baptist did in Judaea, stimulating conscience and awakening solicitude for repentance.

God perpetually employs even evil as His instrument for correction, permitting no evil that Christ cannot employ for good. The Gadarene miracle becomes a call to repentance: men must choose between their sins and their Saviour. The swine will be driven from our hearts only when Christ truly enters them.