Sunday, 3/11/18 –
Eph 6:12, The Angelic Conflict, Pt. 27, The Enemy, Pt. 24, Our Struggle. Lesson #18-028
Grace Fellowship Church
Pastor/Teacher, Jim Rickard
Stand in Warfare –
Eph 6:10-20.
2. The Enemy, vs. 11-12
Eph 6:11-12;
2:2; Mat 9:34; 12:24-30; 2 Cor 4:4; John 12:40; 1 John 2:11
Eph 6:12, “For
our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against
the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces
of wickedness in the heavenly places.”
In Eph 2:2, we read, “…according
to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the
sons of disobedience” There, we see that Satan is a prince of the demons
also known as the fallen angels, cf. Mat
12:24; 9:34; Luke 11:14-18.
Mat 9:34, “But the Pharisees were saying, ‘He casts out the
demons by the ruler of the demons’.”
As such, Satan is a king, and as a
king he has a kingdom. Our Lord said in Mat
12:24-30, “If Satan cast out Satan he is divided against himself; how shall
then his 'kingdom' stand?”
We also see in Scripture that
Satan is the “ruler of is world,” John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11, and the “whole world lies in the power of the evil
one,” 1 John 5:19.
Therefore, this world is his
kingdom or dominion, and it is doubtless of the fact that the world of “evil
spirits / demons / fallen angels,” are organized, and that Satan is at its
head, as he is also called, “the god of
this world,” 2 Cor 4:4.
2 Cor 4:4, “In whose case the god of this world (Satan) has blinded the
minds of the unbelieving, that they might not see the light of the gospel of
the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”
Being “the god of this world,”
also implies that he is the object of the world’s worship, while at the same
time it indicates he is the master mind and leader moving the evil spirit of
his godless activities in this world.
Now, what we see in Eph
6:12, is one of the listings in Scripture that describes with some nuance
the evil forces that Satan rules and leads, which are also antagonistic towards
Christians and therefore part of the enemy we battle against on a daily basis.
This verse tells us about Satan’s kingdom that works in conjunction with Him to
currently rule this earth. It begins with the Conjunction HOTI, “that, because,
since, for,” in the causative force that should be translated “because.” This introduces the reason
why we need to “put on the full armor of
God;” because of the spiritual warfare we are a part of.
“Our struggle is not
against,” begins with the Greek negative OUK, “not.” It is used as a negative for a statement of fact and goes
with the Indicative mood of the verb EIMI, “is,” that is also in the Present tense and Active voice. EIMI tells
us this is a continuous ongoing struggle that we, believers, are actively
involved in. With this we have the emphatic Personal Pronoun HEMEIS, in the
Dative, 1st Person, Plural for “our”
that includes all believers, including Paul.
Next, we have the Subject Nominative Singular of PALE, πάλη that means, “wrestling, struggle for victory, or hand-to-hand
combat.” PALE is only used here in the NT. It refers to the sport of wrestling
well known in ancient times. Brought to prominence by the Greek athletic games,
this competition required each wrestler to throw his opponent to the ground.
According to Thayer, the overcomer’s hand pinned the defeated’s neck to the
ground, and victory was declared. It denotes the struggle between individual
combatants, one-on-one fighting, in distinction from an entire military
campaign that would be noted in the word, STRATEIA. Therefore, Paul used it metaphorically to depict the Christian’s struggle in
overcoming our enemy, Satan and his cosmic system.
In Ephesians, the imagery is
military warfare between soldiers. Yet, PALE is a wrestling term. Therefore, it
gives us the imagery of close, hand-to-hand fighting or combat. This tells us
that the Devil and his cosmic system are not firing laser guided missiles at us
from a distance. No, they are up close and personal, hand-to-hand. This is also
seen in the word, “against,” which
is PROS in the Greek that literally means, “face-to-face.” Therefore,
this is a face-to-face conflict for victory.
Jesus told Peter in Luke 22:31-32a, “… Satan has asked to sift
you like wheat. But I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail ….”
Satan wanted to get up close and
personal with Peter, as he also did with Job, Job 1-2, as his cosmic system also does with you too.
As you know, Peter failed when
Satan sifted him at the arrest, trial, and crucifixion of our Lord, but our
Lord knew that Peter would grow stronger as a result, so that in the future, he
would be victorious when wrestling with Satan and also help others in their
struggles with the Angelic Conflict, Luke
22:32b.
Luke 22:32b, “… and you, when once you have turned again,
strengthen your brothers.”
Another interesting
fact about the meaning of PALE, is that in the ancient days of Greek wrestling,
when the loser was determined, his eyes where gouged out with the result of
blindness for the remainder of his life. With this imagery in view, our wrestling
against the powers of darkness is no less desperate and fateful.
Therefore, this tells us about the reality of the fight we
believers are in. In other words, if we do not put on the full armor of God so
that we can be victorious in this struggle with the cosmic system, we will be
defeated, and our spiritual eyes will be gouged out, which means we will be
blinded by Satan for the rest of our lives here on earth.
John 12:40, “He, (Satan), has blinded their eyes, and he
hardened their heart; lest they see with their eyes, and perceive with their
heart, and be converted, and I heal them.”
Rom 11:7, “What
then? Israel has not obtained that which he seeks for; but the election has
obtained it, and the rest were blinded.”
2 Cor 4:4, “In
whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so
that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is
the image of God.”
1 John 2:11, “But
the one who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and
does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes.”
Wisdom of Solomon 2:21, “Such things they did imagine, and were deceived: for their own
wickedness has blinded them.” (KJV
Apocrypha)
For the believer to be blinded by Satan means he does not
understand that he is not walking with Christ and is rejecting the things of
God. He is blind to his negative volition towards God and His Word, and is
blind to the fact that he is instead walking inside of Satan’s cosmic system.
This is the deception that Satan tries to bring into the life of the believer.
This is the meaning of the “hardening of your heart,” “scare tissue on your
soul,” and “black out of your soul.” This is the meaning of the vanity,
futility, darkened, excluded from the life, ignorance, hardness, callousness,
sensuality, impurity, with all greediness of Eph 4:17-19, and you don’t even realize it. This is the consequence
of not going forward in God’s plan daily. And, if you are not going forward,
you do not even know it, because your spiritual eyes have been gouged out by
Satan and his cosmic system.
Yet, because of the grace and love of God and the Lord Jesus
Christ, Jesus came and went to the Cross to heal those who have been blinded by
Satan, Mat 11:5; 15:31; Mark 10:51; Luke
4:18; cf. John 10:21. For the unbeliever the healing occurs upon their
belief in Jesus Christ as their Savior. For the believer the healing comes by
their faith in God’s Word, beginning with the Rebound Technique of 1 John 1:9, and then with the resultant
filling of the Holy Spirit, the consistent intake and application of Bible
Doctrine. Therefore, we see the vital importance of putting on the “full armor
of God,” so that we do not end up blinded by Satan and his cosmic system.
Now, in Eph 6:12, we
have OUK PROS, which first tells us what our struggle “is not against.” This is followed by the words, “flesh and blood.” In the Greek, it is
reversed, HAIMA KAI SARX, “blood and flesh.” It indicates the literal, but also
the figurative of natural life, human life, mortal nature, or physical life. In
other words, our warfare is not against the people of this world. In fact, we
are told to love our neighbors many times in Scripture, Lev 19:18; Mat 5:43; 19:19; 22:39; Rom 13:8-10; Gal 5:14; James 2:8,
etc. Therefore, regardless of religious, ethnic, or socio-economic status, we
are to express love to all of mankind, even our enemies, Prov 25:24; Mat 5:44; Rom 12:20.
Unfortunately, too many people, including too many
Christians, make other members of the human race as the objects of their hatred
and we fight against each other. But God says our enemy is not man but Satan
and his fallen angelic forces in the rest of this verse.
Yet, you might wondered, “Paul,
what do you mean we do not wrestle with flesh and blood? You have been beaten
with rods, imprisoned, left for dead, shipwrecked, endangered countless times,
and more. What do you mean our battle is not physical?”
Yes, we might suffer at the hands
of man, but we always have to keep in mind the true battle that is going on
behind the scenes. We have to keep in mind the spiritual warfare that we are
engaged in. That is what allowed Jesus to say, while He was hanging on the
Cross with insults being hurled at Him, “Father,
forgive them, for they know not what they do,” Luke 23:34. Therefore, we
know from the apostle Paul that behind our daily battles is another battle.
There is an unseen, cosmic, and spiritual battle in which we are engaged.
Paul tells us this with the contrasting Conjunction ALLA
that means, “but, yet, or rather”
and the Preposition PROS, “against,”
used four times in the description of our true enemy we are wrestling with
every day. It is broken down into four categories: “the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this
darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness...” The enemy includes: 1) Rulers,
2) Powers, 3) World forces of this darkness, and 4) Spiritual forces of
wickedness.
The number four in Scripture represents, God’s creative
works, creation, material things, and material completeness. It is the world
number and especially the city number. This tells us that these are created
beings who rule the world and its individual cities. The number four also has
the context of “division” within it, as these four scopes of demonic
authorities are divided from God and are trying to divide man from having a
relationship with God.
As such, our “wrestling opponents” are spiritual and
supernatural foes of evil, as we see in the last phrase, “in the heavenly places,”
EN HO EPOURANIOS in the
Dative case. The Adjective EPOURANIOS, ἐπουράνιος
comes from the root Noun HOURANOS that means, “heaven.” So, EPOURANIOS means,
“heavenly or celestial.” If used as a substantive, it can mean, “the
gods above.” But here it is used to emphasize the location of our opponent, not
in the sense of “sky,” but as the dwelling place of the divine.
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