1. Mark 1:24 (ESV)
  2. Exposition

Why does the spirit say that he knows who Jesus is?

Mark 1:24 (ESV)

24 “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are the Holy One of God.”

It looks like a confession, but here it must be understood in the framework of the custom of achieving power over a demon or over the person who seeks to drive him out, by naming him. This displays the demon’s fear. He wards Jesus off.1