John Calvin Commentary Matthew 8:28

"And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gadarenes, there met him two possessed with demons, coming forth out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man could pass by that way." — Matthew 8:28 (ASV)

The error of those who think that Mark and Luke relate a different miracle from this has already been refuted. It is the same country that was opposite Galilee, as Luke expressly states, and is described by the three Evangelists; all the circumstances agree. Who then will believe that the same things, so fully coincident in all points, happened at different times?

Two demoniacs met him. Commentators have been led into the error of separating Matthew’s narrative from that of the others by this single difference: that he mentions two, while the others mention but one. There is probability in the conjecture of Augustine, who thinks that there were two, but accounts for only one being mentioned by saying that this one was more generally known, and that the aggravation of his disease made the miracle performed on him the more remarkable.

Indeed, we see that Luke and Mark use many words in describing the extraordinary rage of the devil, making it evident that the wretched man of whom they speak was severely tormented. The circumstance of their highlighting one particular instance of Christ’s divine power is not inconsistent with Matthew’s narrative, in which another, though less known, man⁵⁴⁷ is also mentioned.

⁵⁴⁷ “Combien qu'il ne lust pas rant eognu que le premier;” — “though he was not so well known as the former.”;” — “though he was not so well known as the former.”