Rev. David Holwick
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
February 9, 1992
Ephesians 6:10-13
PRINCIPALITIES AND POWERS
I. Illustration of modern terrorism.
Where were you in 1973?
I was a junior in high school in Heidelberg, Germany.
500 feet away was the U.S. Army headquarters where our dads worked.
It was surrounded by a wall and the military police always checked
our identification cards when we went in.
A lot of my classmates would go over there for lunch.
That particular afternoon as people were leaving the cafeteria, a
powerful explosion devastated the area.
The car bomb killed two people immediately and injured several others.
All of us had read about the notorious Beider-Meinhof terrorist gang,
but it never seemed real until that day.
From that point on, the checkpoint police carried guns at their sides
and searched every car.
Normal security was no longer good enough.
II. Christians are involved in a silent but deadly struggle.
A. Everybody faces typical struggles.
1) Tension within a family.
2) Problems with people at work.
3) Obnoxious neighbors.
a) Paul has been dealing with these relationships.
b) He calls these struggles against "flesh and blood."
B. Sometimes these struggles take on a spiritual nature.
The town of Leadville, Colorado, had a gold rush in 1877.
Prime property was snatched up all over town by people eager
to make a fortune.
Lots were so valuable people tried to steal them by hook or crook.
Even the clergy had their church properties jumped.
The Reverend Mr. T. A. Uzzell arrived in town, bought a lot and
started the first church in the area.
A few days later he saw that a group of strange men had unloaded
lumber on his lot and were about to put up their own building.
The minister explained that he was building a church there.
The strangers told him to fold his church and fade away.
So the Reverend Mr. Uzzell took off his coat, rolled up his
sleeves and waded into those who were trying to dispossess him.
The church was built. #1595
C. Christians also face a harder struggle.
1) People can be tough.
2) But there is an unseen, spiritual warfare that is tougher.
3) Some are totally unaware of it, others are overwhelmed by it.
III. The enemy we face.
A. The existence of evil forces is assumed in this passage.
1) No biography or origin of evil or Satan is given.
2) Ephesus had much experience with the occult.
a) Jewish exorcists rashly used Jesus' name. Acts 19:13-17
b) Converts burned their books of magic. Acts 19:18-20
3) If God has created a New Society, Satan wants to destroy it.
a) Where the Church has taken down barriers, he wants to
re-erect them.
B. "Struggle/wrestle" metaphor may refer to hand-to-hand combat.
1) Military imagery dominates the end of Ephesians.
2) Transition from peaceful family life to warfare is jarring.
3) Is also realistic. Christians are not escapists.
C. "Rulers, authorities, powers..." 6:12
1) Popular theme in modern theology.
a) Liberals see in them human institutions like gov't.
b) Nazism, racism, etc.
c) A form of "demythology."
2) Paul's thought cannot be limited to this.
a) He sees evil as real and personal and "in heavenly places."
b) Satan is not as powerful as God, but he is just as real.
c) He is well organized, and out to defeat God's kingdom.
IV. Our devil is too small if... " #1287
A. He is merely a personification.
1) To many, even God is an afterthought.
2) Satan is more than a symbol.
a) Jesus believed in him.
b) Even our cultural has hints of recognizing this.
The Academy award nominated movie "Broadcast News" has a part
where the hero gives an amazing description of what the
Devil is like.
He doesn't have horns and a pointy tail. Instead, he is...
"Attractive, nice, and helpful. ... But bit by little bit,
he'll lower our standards where they're really important."
B. Satan is consigned to long-ago times and faraway places.
1) Satan roams over the whole earth. Job 1:7
2) Whole world is under his power. Jn 12:31; 14:30; 1 Jn 5:19
C. We assume he leaves Christians alone. 1 Pet 5:8
1) The Devil tried to tempt Jesus.
2) He cannot steal your salvation, but he can ruin your
spiritual effectiveness.
D. We decide he is not capable of performing miracles.
1) The Bible says he can. 2 Thess 2:9; Rev 13:13
2) Power of occult and New Age may be genuine.
a) But not everything that "works" is from God.
b) Judge the fruit.
E. We think we are smart enough, quick enough, strong enough, or
holy enough to resist him on our own.
1) Paul's two exhortations:
a) General: Be strong in the Lord. 6:10
b) Specific: Put on the whole armor of God. 6:11
2) Exhortations reveal balance of Bible.
a) We cannot be so self-confident we they we can gain
victory by our own strength.
b) Neither can we be so self-distrustful that we think we
have nothing to contribute to the victory.
1> "Be strong" equals "be strengthened" (passive present).
V. What area of your life is most open to Satan's attack?
A. Insecurity and fears.
B. Temptations and addictions.
C. Spiritual laziness.
1) It is time to finally take responsibility for our own
spiritual maturity.
2) Most of us are undisciplined, lazy, weak, and inexperienced.
If attacked, we would be overwhelmed.
VI. What God has done to help you.
A. Jesus Christ has defeated the power of the devil.
1) His death on the cross spelled Satan's doom. 1 Cor 2:7-8
B. Satan is defeated, but not yet destroyed.
1) God has power available to gain the victory.
2) Moral turmoil of Romans 7 is not last answer.
VII. What you must do to win the victory.
A. Accept Christ as Savior.
B. Turn over every area of your life to him.
1) The Ephesians burned their occult books.
C. Resist temptation.
D. Develop your spiritual strength through prayer and Scripture.
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Original sermon, Jan 30, 1983, West Lafayette, OH
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I. Climax of Ephesians.
A. Christian life is a warfare.
B. Warfare is primarily against spiritual forces.
1) Breaks in unexpectedly, following family instructions.
C. Evil is more than pressure from environment.
1) Spiritual powers of wickedness exist.
2) They are enemies of Christ.
II. Be strong in the Lord.
A. More than "psyching" self up.
B. Means to be made strong by Christ.
1) Present tense, continuing experience.
III. Put on full armor of God.
John Stott, "God's New Society" (Ephesians)
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I. The reality of our opposition.
A. Ephesians stresses unity, purity and harmony.
1) Realities on earth can be much harsher.
2) Paul reminds us of our opposition.
a) The Devil.
b) Principalities and powers.
B. The existence of evil forces is assumed.
1) No biography or origin is given.
2) If God has created a New Society, Satan wants to destroy it.
a) Where the Church has taken down barriers, he wants to
re-erect them.
C. We have to struggle against evil.
1) "Wrestling" metaphor may refer to hand-to-hand combat.
a) Transition from peaceful family life to warfare is jarring.
b) Is also realistic. Christians are not escapists.
2) The Christian life is warfare.
a) Paul is calling for a macho attitude toward life.
b) There is no truce until death.
1> "Finally" is "henceforth" in best manuscripts.
2> Means "for the remaining time."
c) The peace of Christ is experienced only in the midst of
struggle against evil.
II. The enemy we face. 6:10-12
A. The enemy must be known to gain a victory over him.
1) By underestimating him we may think we don't need God's armor.
B. The struggle is against demonic forces.
1) It is not primarily against human beings.
a) (Normal meaning of "flesh and blood", Matt 16:17; 1 Cor 15:50; Gal 1:16; Heb
2:14)
C. Three main characteristics of evil.
1) They are powerful.
a) "Principalities and powers" may refer to different ranks,
but definitely emphasizes power and authority.
b) "World rulers."
1> Used in astrology of planets which control fate of
mankind.
2> Jesus offered this by Satan. Matt 4:8-9
3> Whole world is under Satan's power. Jn 12:31; 14:30; 16:11; 1 Jn 5:19
c) Jesus has conquered evil, but Satan has not yet conceded
defeat or been destroyed.
2) They are wicked.
a) Power itself is neutral. Evil uses power destructively.
b) "Present darkness." Darkness represents falsehood
and sin.
c) "Spiritual hosts of wickedness." They operate in the
sphere of invisible reality.
d) No Geneva Convention in evil's methods.
3) They are cunning.
a) "Wiles of devil." Stratagems better?
1> Transforms self into "angel of light." 2 Cor 11:14
2> Seduction can be as lethal as outright force.
A> Wiles used in 4:14 of false teachers.
b) Devil wants to persuade people he doesn't exist.
D. Only power of God can defend and deliver us.
1) The devil has power, but the power of God is stronger.
a) God's power raised Jesus from the dead, and exalted him.
b) God's power has broken the power of sin over us, and
exalted us.
1> Demonic forces also work in heavenly places, but they
are defeated.
2> "Strong,mighty,power" used in 6:10 are also used in
1:19 of God's work of raising Jesus from the dead.
III. The principalities and powers.
A. Different interpretations.
1) Personal, demonic forces.
2) Structures of thought (religion, authority, etc), especially
as embodied in the government.
a) Economic, social and political forces.
B. Popularized by (Rupp and) H. Berkhof in 1950:
1) Powers are identified with the "elemental spirits of the
universe" of Gal 4:3,9 and Col 2:8,20.
2) Powers must be Christianized or neutralized.
C. View of Caird in 1950:
1) More biblical, but low view of Paul's theology.
2) Three principal powers are isolated.
a) Pagan religion and power, including the state.
1> Eph 3:10 teaches the state has already begun to be
redeemed through Christian social action.
b) God's law, but turned into demonic religion.
c) Elements of nature in bondage to the Fall.
3) In a later commentary he concedes Paul is referring to
personal spiritual beings.
a) Demonic forces stand behind the human structures.
D. View of Markus Barth in 1959.
1) Powers are the state, death, moral and ritual law, and
economic structures including slavery.
2) Later he concedes Paul belief in supernatural powers.
E. Examples above are ingenious but unconvincing.
1) Modern theologians are embarrassed by supernatural.
2) Social structures are important in modern age but ignored
in NT.
3) Powers become structures in disguise.
a) Sometimes human authorities are referred to, but it is
always clear from the context. Lk 2:20
b) Demonic powers are described with human political terms
because they are seen as having political organization.
F. Three problems with reinterpretation, according to Ephesians.
1) Jesus is exalted above all supernatural powers, not just
human ones. 1:20-21
2) Same reference to the "heavenlies" occurs with powers in 3:10.
3) Christians' spiritual warfare is not with "flesh and blood"
but with supernatural forces in 6:12.
a) Twice the devil is mentioned in the context.
b) The supernatural armor fits supernatural opponents.
c) Jesus had not problem with angels and demons, so Christians
should not.
G. Demonic forces can use human institutions.
1) But they should not be identified together.
2) And human institutions should not all be viewed too negatively.
a) They should not be demonized, neither should they be
deified.
