What did the unclean spirits call Jesus?

A:It seems likely that around 70 CE, at the time Mark (the first New Testament gospel) was written, it was desirable for Jesus and his followers not to call him holy, or the Son of God. Jesus consistently referred to himself simply as the Son of man. However, outsiders such as unclean spirits could call Jesus the Son of God, as could the high priest or centurion, and readers would have understood, just as Christians do today. So we have:

• (Mark 1:24) The man with an unclean spirit saying, "Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth, art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the holy one of God."
• (Mark 3:11) Unclean spirits, when they saw him fell down before him, saying, "Thou art the Son of God."
• (Mark 5:7) The man possessed by a legion of demons said, "What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God?"

When Matthew was written, during the eighties of the first century, and even later when Luke was written, it was no longer a problem for Jesus to be referred to openly as the Son of God. Christianity and Judaism were parting company and the gospels no longer needed to consider Jewish sensitivities. Luke 4:34 was copied more or less verbatim from Mark 1:23, so keeps the reference to the unclean spirit calling Jesus "the holy one of God."