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Powers of Evil
Author: Lindsay Olesberg
Date: 26.08.2010
Category: Ephesians Study
Translations
In his excellent commentary on Ephesians, John Stott defined the “rulers and authorities in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 1:21, 3:10, 6:12) as angels and demons. I respectfully disagree.
Paul heaps up nouns to identify God’s enemies: rule and authority…power and dominion…every name that can be invoked…cosmic powers over this present darkness…spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. He names too many types of power to have meant just Satan, demons, and angels.
Don’t get me wrong. Paul certainly recognizes Satan as the highest enemy of Jesus and his Church. Satan is called “the ruler of the kingdom of the air who is now at work in those who are disobedient.” (Eph. 2:2). We are instructed to “not give the devil a foothold” (Eph. 4:27), to “take our stand against the devil’s schemes” (Eph. 6:10), and to “extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one” (Eph.6:16). But there are other forces of power affecting human life that are spiritual in nature but not necessarily demonic.
Supernatural powers and their earthly expressions dominate human life. Paul writes from a Roman prison, awaiting execution. The Roman Empire is surely a spiritual force of evil, and not just a political and economic force. The strength of Rome and its idolatrous claim of “Lord and Savior” for its emperor presses down upon the young church. The pressure to buckle and submit to Rome’s system is intense. And so Paul writes “be strong” and “stand firm” (Eph. 6:10,11, 13, 14). He knows the Ephesians are sorely tempted to shrink back from proclaiming the gospel, and so he prays for them (Eph. 1:17-19, 3:14-19) and asks them to pray for him to declare the gospel fearlessly (Eph. 6:20).
It was crucial that the church in Ephesus had the eyes of faith to see Jesus enthroned with his enemies at his feet. Knowing that truth enabled them to keep gathering for worship, proclaim the gospel, and care for the needy in Jesus name regardless of Rome’s response.
Corrupt governments, economic practices of discrimination, consulates that control visas– all of these have spiritual power behind them. But that power can be changed and influenced through the prayers and witness of the Church. Jesus has converted emperors and toppled systems like apartheid. God’s purposes in the world cannot be thwarted.
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Australia
Lindsay, thanks for your thoughts.
I’m not sure if I understand your thoughts correctly? It would appearthat you are suggesting that their are other spiritual forces in the worls that are neither of God or of the enemy satan?
Mark 9:40 Jesus makes a fairly clear distinction, for or against. In my thinking it;s either for the purposes of God or not.
Paul wants people to see that the battle is not people, but the powers of darkness that wage war against the purposes of God - I think his hope is that thought loving people we may disarm the power and influence of the enemy and see people won for the Kingdom.
Regards
Phil Henry
30.08.2010
United States
@ Phil_Henry:
Phil, thanks for your insightful question. It appears to me that the Biblical writers recognized many spiritual beings: territorial spirits (e.g. the prince of the kingdom of Persia, Dan. 10:13), the angels of churches (e.g. Rev.2:1, 8, 12, 18, 3:1, 7, 14), elemental spirits (e.g. Gal. 4:3, 8-9), etc. I think all of these are included in Paul’s reference to what I’ll abbreviate as "the powers".
Paul writes more about explicitly about the powers than any other NT author. In Col. 1:16, he says the powers were created by God and for God. In Rom. 8:19-22, he writes that all of creation is fallen and waiting to be redeemed. The powers are part of creation and can be influenced by prayer (2 Cor. 10:3-5). The powers are ignorant of God’s plans (1 Cor. 2:6-8) and will be conquered by Christ (1 Cor. 15:24-26). Though the powers impact human life, they do not have to power to separate us from God’s love (Rom. 8:38-39).
It is unclear to me what is the nature of the relationship between the powers and Satan. The powers are almost always talked about negatively. But Col. 1:16 leads me to believe that a power could submit to Jesus and be redeemed rather than experience the judgment of Satan.
30.08.2010
Australia
@ Lindsay_Olesberg:
Lindsay,
Our world view in the west so often doesn’t include the reality of spiritual beings, especially demonic ones, so it’s great to be talking about this because I see that the enemy’s strategy is often through lies and deception rather than a lot of outward manifestations.
In response to your comments, we must believe that Satan and all his forces are ultimately under God’s rule. But there was rebellion in heaven and there now exists two kingdoms, one being the Kingdom of God and the other being the kingdom of satan – his place of rule is on the earth and Jesus came to destroy the works of the enemy.
Jesus even gave the disciples the authority to do this (Luke 10:19). We see this conflict of the kingdoms throughout the ministry of Jesus. Yes we can influence the effect of evil in our world through prayer, acts of love and grace, forgiveness; (Jesus saw Satan fall like lightening – not too sure what that would have looked like). I’m not too sure about what their future is (Romans 8, I thought refers to the physical world which has suffered from the fall but not the spiritual beings who chose rebellion) – all we see Jesus doing is casting them out and bringing his rule to the circumstances. So for me that’s a safe place, their destiny is in the hands of God.
I would not encourage people to engage in seeking their redemption (this is not what I see happening in the ministry of Jesus or the early church), our focus should be people. These spiritual forces – although defeated they are a strong force (as we see evidenced across the world today), but Yes and amen to the access we have to God’s love that can’t be taken from us.
The way I understand your thoughts in relation to ministry, is to not be ignorant, to use the resources of heaven to allow us to stand against the enemies attacks, even if they come from very human institutions.
Bless you
Phil
30.08.2010
United States
@ Phil_Henry:
Phil,
Thanks for engaging with me in this conversation. I appreciate being able to wrestle with these ideas with someone.
Let me give an example of how I see awareness of the powers functioning in ministry... In South Africa under aparteid, there was spiritual evil functioning along side (or behind) the oppressive government. The church in South Africa engaged this power in prayer and in acts of of truth, compassion, and justice. Most of the work of the church was unrecognized by the rest of the world. (Michael Cassidy has wonderful stories, which I believe he is writing into a book.) The remarkable way in which the DeKlerk government stepped aside, was a spiritual victory and not just a political or social one.
After spending time with Christian leaders in South Africa and hearing their vision for their country, it appears to me that the "powers" of South Africa are in the process of being "redeemed". By that I mean that they are being turned from being racist, oppressive, and violent to what they were intended by God. The extent that the government and society of South Africa (and the spirit behind it) functions righteously and justly is an indication of how "redeeemed" the powers are.
I’m using the term "redeemed" to mean brought back to their intended state, not "saved and awaiting eternal life with Jesus."
Awareness of the reality of the powers motivates us to pray and reminds us that "our battle is not against flesh and blood" (Eph. 6:10).
31.08.2010
South Africa
Surely is is not a matter of "either/or" but rather "both/and". St Paul spoke of the need to "be subject" to rulers and authorities in Romans 13, yet in Ephesians 6:10-12 he says that our struggle is against them.
The point is that the state is one of the defences established by God against chaos in nthe world, but when men worship the state and nteat it as absolute it becomes demonic.
See, for example <a href="http://khanya.wordpress.com/2010/08/27/angels-and-demons-and-egregores-book-review/" target="_blank">Angels, demons and egregores</a>.
31.08.2010
Canada
Hello Lindsay: an interesting study is to follow the phrase (unique to Ephesians) "the heavenly places" through ephesians and to see who "lives there." In 1:3 it is us, blessed in Christ with every blessing (listed from 4-14). The next is 1:19--there it is Christ far above the unclean powers (the powers are always malevolent in this book). In 2:6-7, it is us joined to Christ in his magnificent session, on display to all creation forever as a manfestation of his kindness. In 3:10, it is us being shown off as those who reveal God’s wisdom to the powers. Finally in 6:12, it is us, in the Lord, doing battle with the unclean spirit-beings. All of this happens in "the heavenly places". What does this mean? The place of greatest blessing is the place of greatest conflict. So also, the place of greatest conflict is the place of greatest blessings. In the presence of the demons, God blesses us forever to display his kindness to the unclean spirits, to demonstrate that they have lost the battle forever. Underneath this motif is the prayer motif, which God uses to call forth power to stand firm, in the believer, as we do battle with the unclean spirits who would seek to distract us from participation in Christ the Lord.
I personally believe that the letter was written to assuage the fears of those converted out of the Bacchantes, the artemis cult and who were afraid of the power of the unclean powers. The point of the letter is to indicate that the recipients who are conjoined to Jesus’ resurrection participate in the grand scheme of our Lord to sum up all creation in Him.
Blessings,
David Chotka
26.08.2010
United States
@ DavidChotka:
Thanks for your thoughtful response David.
I think that Paul uses the phrase "heavenly places" because it was part of the ancient worldview. Specifically, Paul’s worldview was shaped by Jewish and Greco/Roman thinking. Paul saw the cosmos as a multi-layer universe of ascending power. The universe (the heavens, the air, and the earthly regions) is ordered hierarchically. There are multiple layers of heaven, with God Almighty reigning from the highest heaven. “The air” is an invisible, non-corporeal realm (the lowest part of the heavenly realms). Human life is affected by the various spiritual powers in the heavenly realms through their manifestations on earth. Angels act as God’s proxies in any realm.
Both the spiritual and physical realms are real. Activity in one realm affects the other. Everything earthly has its heavenly counterpart and vise-versa (e.g. prayer on earth is matched by prayer by the angels in heaven.) Every event is a combination of both the spiritual dimension and material dimension of reality. (E.g. “war in heaven” 2 Kings 6:15-17, Rev. 12:17)
What Christ has done in the heavenlies is not an abstraction but has very real impact on life on earth. His victory means life and hope for his people. Prayer enables us to see what is really happening behind our earthly experience.
26.08.2010
South Africa
@ Lindsay_Olesberg:
Amen to that, Sister! Thank you for your reminder of the link between prayer, the supernatural, and the natural world. We are often so focused on the here and now, the material, that we forget that there are spiritual realities beyond what our eyes can see, and that the proper way to respond to hardship and suffering, or things not going our way as believers, is through prayer. Ephesians 6 instructs us to "put on the armour of God" and "above all, to pray." Point being, God works through prayer, protects through prayer, responds to prayer. A church or individual that is therefore not dependant on prayer is not acknowledging its dependence on God.
This should lead us all to follow Paul’s instruction "above all, to pray."
27.08.2010
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