Luke 8:30

Luke 8:30, in plain English

Jesus asked the man his name. 'Legion,' he answered, because many demons had gone into him. Even his name had been stolen and replaced by his oppressors.

Why it's here

A Roman legion was thousands of soldiers. The name reveals the sheer scale of this man's suffering: he was not just bothered by evil but utterly overwhelmed by it. Jesus was undaunted.

Who's speaking

Jesus questions the demonized man, and the demons reply.

Where it sits in the story

When Jesus asked his name, the answer was heartbreaking: 'Legion.' He did not even have his own name anymore. Thousands of demons had stolen everything, even his identity.

The scholarly reading

When asked for his name (ti soi onoma estin), the response 'Legiōn' indicates multiple demons possessing the man. A Roman legion comprised approximately 5,000-6,000 soldiers, suggesting an overwhelming number of demonic entities.

Language and setting

The name 'Legion' may carry political overtones in a region under Roman occupation, linking demonic oppression with imperial subjugation. Asking the name was standard exorcism practice, as knowing a spirit's name was believed to confer authority over it.

Voice

Jesus asks the question, and the demons respond through the man with the name 'Legion.'

Significance

Jesus asked the man his name. The response was chilling: 'Legion,' because a vast horde of demons had taken up residence inside this one man, overwhelming his identity entirely.

28When the man saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before Him, shouting in a loud voice, “What do You want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg You not to torture me!”

29For Jesus had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. Many times it had seized him, and though he was bound with chains and shackles, he had broken the chains and been driven by the demon into solitary places.

30“What is your name?” Jesus asked.

31And the demons kept begging Jesus not to order them to go into the Abyss.

32There on the hillside a large herd of pigs was feeding. So the demons begged Jesus to let them enter the pigs, and He gave them permission.

Read all of Luke 8 — A storm, a legion of demons, a bleeding woman, and a dead girl — Jesus moves through a world of chaos and brings order with a word or a touch.