Powers Of Darkness: Principalities and Powers In Paul's Letters [Paperback]

Many people since the Enlightenment, in attempt to relate to a naturalistic worldview, have "demythologized" the Bible's mention of demonic powers of darkness into symbols of nonpersonal realities. "The demonic" becomes viewed as a cultural or mythical way of referring to the evil thoughts and actions of individuals, corrupt social-economic-political institutions, socio-cultural norms, group habits, beliefs or intellectual paradigms. The Pauline epistles' "principalities" and "powers" become understood as identical to the other hostile powers of sin, the law, flesh and death. Sigmund Freud thought the "devil" was nothing more than the expression of individual repressions. Carl Jung rejected the metaphysical realities of the "powers" as only powerful psychological realities.

Jesus and Paul both indeed assumed the world as filled with evil spirits hostile to God and humanity; Jesus and Paul understood Satan as a powerful supernatural being. So did their Jewish and pagan contemporaries and antecedents.

(A) Jesus' Teachings about Demons:

Jesus' conflict with the powers of darkness constitutes a major and ongoing theme in all four Gospels' account of Jesus' earthly ministry. To his contemporaries, one of Jesus' most remarkable features was his casting out of demons and his doing so on his own authority.

Jesus taught that Satan holds unbelieving humanity in bondage and that Jesus has come to release the captives in Satan's kingdom. Jesus' many exorcisms clearly demonstrated his power over the evil one; and Jesus' exorcisms were a sign of the presence of God's kingdom. The demons themselves seemed clearly aware this key significance of Christ's earthly mission. The devil's three temptations of Jesus (Mathew 4:1-11, Mark 1:12-13, Luke 4:1-13) aimed to divert Jesus from his divinely intended redemptive mission; and Jesus' responses were characterized by the Son's unity of purpose with the Father. Perhaps it is in this sense that Jesus said "the prince of this world ... has no hold on me" (John 14:30). Christ's death and resurrection marked the decisive defeat of Satan. There exists an "eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels" (Matthew 25:41). Though the earthly Jesus' exorcisms liberated a few persons from the devil's power, Jesus' death and resurrection could liberate the entire humankind.

Jesus extended his mission through his disciples, giving the disciples "power and authority over all demons" (Luke 9:1, see also Luke 10:1-23). These disciples met with victory over Satan's power and influence. Nonetheless, such sensational success is less noteworthy to oneself than one's own heavenly status. All who exercise faith in Christ and "abide" in him can share in Jesus' victory over Satan and the powers of darkness.

(B) Pauline Demonology:

Whereas Acts is less concerned with the pagan converts' concerns (like how to manage their new allegiance to Christ, given their former religious practices), the Pauline epistles focus more on such concerns because Paul ministered to establish gentile churches.

Paul taught that the pagan gods have no real existence as such , but supernatural and indeed demonic ; and Paul' above teaching regarding the demonic is representative of the Judaism's establishment. However, Paul and Barnabas chose not to publicly denounce the Athenian gods as demons in Acts 17, but as "worthless things", a common Jewish reference to pagan gods. Paul's above vocabulary in reference to the demonic is rooted in Jewish literature of Greco-Roman times. Paul taught that all powers were originally created by Christ and that all powers owe their continued existence to Christ. Christ is supreme over all powers.

Paul conceived of two ages: the "Present Evil Age" and "Age to Come"; demons are part of the Present Evil Age" but are doomed at Christ's second coming. The powers of darkness have limited knowledge of God's plan. Paul concurred with John's 13:27 that the powers of darkness thought God's purposes could be neutralized by precipitating Christ's death . Christ's death and resurrection won a once-for-all victory over the demonic powers . God exalted Christ supreme over the entire realm of spirits.

Satan held unbelieving humanity captive ; both Jews and gentiles, prior to conversion, are enslaved to and spiritually blinded by the powers of darkness . By virtue of identification with Christ's work on the cross, the Christian has been freed from Satan's kingdom into Christ's kingdom. Just as Christ holds a position of superiority to the powers of darkness, so too do believers. The Holy Spirit is the only spirit-being whom Paul advocated should have a place in any Christian's life.

Demons are intimately involved in people's affairs of life by working in and through humans, for example in Jesus' crucifixion. God sovereignly uses Satanic forces . Satan is occasionally allowed by God to torment or to hinder a Christian, but God's grace is sufficient . Christians are granted divine protection .

The Christian life involves struggle against the powers of darkness. Satan has various schemes to tempt, attack, defraud and exploit Christians possibly back into enslavement , sometimes by self-presenting in a very positive light . The powers of darkness may work through influences internal to a person ("the flesh" -- people's inner drive to act deviant to God's righteousness) and influences external to a person ("the world" -- societal beliefs, attitudes, preferences, habits) . This can include false teachings and the "lawless one" .

Christians engage in this spiritual struggle through God's truth, righteousness, proclamation of the gospel of peace, faith, salvation, the word of God, and praying in the Spirit. Paul never used the language of "demonization" or "demon possession" but giving a "foothold (or opportunity) to the devil" (Ephesians 4:27). One such foothold is perhaps unchecked anger . The Pauline did not discuss the principles and procedures for exorcism, though Acts 16:16-18 mentions Paul cast out a demon in Philippi.

Unlike Paul's contemporary Jewish literature, Pauline demonology makes no mention of angelic rebellion and fall, the name of angelic powers (except perhaps once) , the order within the angelic hierarchy, territories ruled by demons --- Paul was more concerned with the pressing and practical questions of the devil's wiles in actual life. Paul also never invoked angels or special knowledge about various evil spirits' functions to overcome demonic power, and never connected power of darkness with any specific country or territory. It was not Paul's purpose to explain exactly how the demons operate. Instead Paul stressed the need for Christians to recognize the existence of power demonic emissaries in the Christians' daily affairs and that these can be overcome through reliance on God's power.

"Immersed in a culture that says evil spirits do not exist, Western Christians struggle even to begin the task of spiritual warfare. We spend more time wondering if we really should believe in demons than struggling with how we should respond to them. On this topic some of us suffer double-mindedness. Although mental assent is given to the likelihood that evil spirits exist since it is affirmed in the Bible, in reality it makes no practical difference in the way we live our day-to-day lives. When dealing with a personal problem such as illness or depression, medical and psychological services are the only considered alternatives. Little thought is given to the spiritual side. Even in Christian ministry the spiritual dimension is often ignored." (p.148).

This paragraph sums up one of the reasons why Clinton E. Arnold, an associate professor of New Testament at Talbot Theological Seminary, wrote this powerful little book. In it Arnold explores the teaching of the Apostle Paul on the powers of darkness, the evil spirits that the Bible portrays as conducting an active systemic and personal warfare against human beings and especially against God's people.

Much of Paul's teaching has been ignored in the church for the simple reason that the great Apostle uses terms for spirit beings that, while familiar in New Testament times, seem to moderns to indicate general principles rather than discrete spiritual entities. Such words as "principalities and powers" strike moderns more as abstract ideas than the equivalent of "demons and evil spirits." Yet, as Arnold documents, in the religions and the demonology of the first century Roman Empire, just such "power" words were used to designate the supernatural entities that were believed to inhabit the spiritual universe and to impact the lives of human beings.

In the first century pagan gods and demons were commonly referred to as principalities or rulers (archai), powers or authorities (exousiai, dunameis), dominions (kyriotetes), thrones (thronai), angels or messengers (angeloi), world rulers or powers (kosmokratores) spiritual forces (pneumatika), rulers (archontes), elemental spirits, sometimes wrongly translated `basic principles' (stoicheia), and demons (daimonia). As this last word, demons, occurs in only two passages in Paul's writings, it's not surprising that most readers of English Bibles assume that Paul has little to say sbout the hostile spiritual forces that are at war with God and his people. Yet once we understand the full vocabulary Paul uses to deal with the spirit world, however, we discover that the theme of spiritual warfare with demons and evil spirits is as prominent in Paul's epistles as it appears to be in the Gospels. In fact, we learn far more from Paul's letters about the nature our struggle with not only the world and the flesh but also with the devil than we learn from the Gospel accounts!

The great strength of Arnold's book is found not only in his careful demonstration of the way these power terms for demons were used in the first century, but also in his careful description of the magical practices associated with them as those in the first century sought to placate and manipulate the spirits for their benefit. Paul's teachings are set against the practices common then and now, and emphasize how believers find in Christ, who is supreme in the spirit world as well as in our own, freedom from fear of very real occult powers and gain victory over them.

I strongly recommend this book for anyone seeking to understand what the Epistles teach about spiritual warfare with the devil, and in 2010 I plan to examine each passage in Paul's writings that deals with spirit beings using this `power' vocabulary.

This is a great overall introduction to the concept of spiritual powers as understood in the NT times. Dr. Arnold's background in early church history and practice makes the book that much more rewarding. I do agree that there are places where Dr. Arnold could have cited more sources for further investigation. All in all, however, he hits the mark in compiling a book that will help Christians (and others) better understand the NT Scriptures.