Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Ephesians 6:12
we wrestle Lit., our wrestling is. War and the games are associated in the language of 2 Timothy 2:4-5. But here, as Ellicott observes, there need be no mingling of metaphors. War involves wrestling, in many a hand to hand encounter. The Gr. word (palê, wrestling) is found only here in Gr. literature, but is cognate to palæstra, and other familiar words.
The Apostle takes it for granted that the Christian life is, from one point of view, essentially a conflict. "We" obviously, by context, means all Christians as such. Cp. 1 Corinthians 9:25, &c. But it is a conflict maintained, in Christ, with Divine power and from a dominating position.
flesh and blood Lit., "blood and flesh"; but English usage makes the other order better, as a rendering. The phrase occurs (in the opposite order of words) Matthew 16:17; 1 Corinthians 15:50; Galatians 1:16; Hebrews 2:14. It denotes (as 1 Corinthians 15) humanity in its present mortal conditions, or (other reff.) humanity simply. "Man," as now constituted, will not inherit the eternal kingdom; "man" did not illuminate St Peter; "man" did not teach the Gospel to St Paul; Christ so became "Man" as to be able to taste death. The thought here is not that we are not wrestling with our bodily desires, or weaknesses, but that we are not wrestling with mere mortal men. True, they may be our ostensible and immediate enemies or obstacles, but behind them is the central force of evil in the spirit-world. See the language of Revelation 2:10, and Abp Trench's note upon it (Epistles to the Seven Churches, p. 104). It will be observed how forcible is the testimony of the Apostle here to the objective existence of the world of evil spirits. He not merely takes it for granted, but carefully distinguishes it from the world of humanity. See further, Appendix G.
principalities … powers Lit., the principalities, &c. See Ephesians 1:21; Ephesians 3:10; and notes. Here, as Romans 8:38; Colossians 2:15; the ref. obviously is to personal evilspirits as members and leaders of an organized spirit-world. For allusions to such organization, under its head, cp. the visions of the Revelation, esp. Revelation 12:7; Revelation 12:9. And cp. Matthew 25:41; 2 Corinthians 12:7. Note also the "Legion" of evil spirits (Mark 5:9; Mark 5:15; Luke 8:30), compared with the "more than twelve Legionsof (holy) angels", Matthew 26:53. Great numbers and organized action are at once suggested by the military word; a word used on both occasions with profound earnestness and appeal to fact.
The leadersof the host of evil are alone mentioned here, and in the parallels, as are the leaders of the host of good in Ephesians 1:21, &c. The "plebeian angels militant" (Par. Lost, x. 442), are taken for granted, represented in their chiefs.
the rulers of the darkness of this world Lit. as R. V., the world-rulers of this darkness. The words "of this world" (or rather "age") are probably an explanatory insertion.
" This darkness" is the present order of things on earth, in its aspect as a scene of sin. As such it is dark, with the shadows of delusion, woe, and death. See Luke 22:53 (a suggestive parallel) and other reff. under Ephesians 4:18.
" The world-rulers" :the context obviously points to personal evil spirits, exercising rule, in some real sense, over the world; and the question is, what does the world (cosmos) mean here? See in reply Ephesians 2:2 and note. "The world" here, as very often in St John, and often in St Paul (esp. in 1 Cor.), denotes not the Universe, nor the earth and sea, but humanity as fallen and rebel. As such, it is the realm of these powers of evil. Their Head is the usurping, but permitted, Cæsar of this empire, which is not so much local as moral; and his subordinate spirits are accordingly "imperial rulers" within it, for him. The Gr. word (cosmocratôr) appears in Rabbinic literature, transliterated (see Ellicott here). It is used sometimes there as a mere magniloquent synonym for "king." But we may be sure of a more special meaning in a passage like this.
For allusions to the mysterious "authority" of the Evil Power over the human "world," in its ethical aspect at least, cp. Luke 4:6; John 14:30; John 16:11; 2 Corinthians 4:4; 1 John 5:18. It has been asked whether this authority is connected with a previous lawfulpresidency of the great Spirit now fallen, over this region of the Universe. But "God knoweth" is the best answer to such enquiries, till the veil is lifted. The fact of the present authority is our chief concern; and in this respect we are plainly warned that there is a real antagonism between the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of the Evil One, and that in both cases we have the phenomenon of a spiritual dominion expressing itself through human organization and institution. See further on Ephesians 2:2, above.
spiritual wickedness in highplaces] Lit., the spiritual things of wickedness in the heavenly places. R.V. paraphrases "the spiritual hosts, &c."; and this well gives the meaning. The idea is of beings and forces, spiritual as distinguished from material, belonging to and working for "wickedness." Wickedness is viewed as having its visible and invisible agents, and these are the invisible.
" In the heavenly places" :the fifth occurrence of the phrase in this Epistle (cp. Ephesians 1:3; Ephesians 1:20; Ephesians 2:6; Ephesians 3:10). The adjective occurs also Matthew 18:35; John 3:12; 1 Corinthians 15:40; 1 Corinthians 15:48-49; Philippians 2:10; 2 Timothy 4:18; Hebrews 3:1; Hebrews 6:4; Hebrews 8:5; Hebrews 9:23; Hebrews 11:16; Hebrews 12:22. The connexion of it with anything evil is confined to this passage, and is confessedly startling. Of the several expositions offered, the oldest, given by St Jerome here, seems best to meet the case; that which interprets "heaven" as the large antithesis to "earth" (cp. Matthew 6:26, "birds of the heaven"; &c.), and "heavenly," accordingly, as "un-earthly," super-terrestrial, belonging to the region of things unseen and (in power) superior to man, of which the impalpable sky is the parable. See above on Ephesians 2:2, "the authority of the air." The import of the words, then, is that we have to deal, in the combat of the soul and of the Church, with spiritual agents of evil occupying a sphere of action invisible and practically boundless. In St Ignatius" Ep. to the Ephesians, c. xiii, the same Gr. adjective is used, with an almost certainly similar reference. See Bp Lightfoot there (Ignatius, vol. ii. p. 66), and our Introduction, p. 28.
G. THE CONFLICT WITH PERSONAL EVIL SPIRITS. (Ch. Ephesians 6:12.)
We have remarked in the notes on the strong testimony given by this verse, with its exact wording, to the real and objective existence of such personal beings. We may add that such testimony still gains in strength when it is remembered that it was first addressed (at least among other destinations) to Ephesus, and that Ephesus (see Acts 19) was a peculiarly active scene of asserted magical and other dealings with the unseen darkness. Supposing that the right line to take in dealing with such beliefs and practices had been to say that the whole basis of them was a fiction of the human mind, not only would such a verse as this not have been written, but, we may well assume, something would have been written strongly contradictory to the thought of it. As it stands, the passage is in full accord with main lines of Scripture doctrine, in both Testaments.
H. OLD TESTAMENT QUOTATIONS AND REFERENCES IN THE EPISTLE
Genesis
quoted
Eph.
Exodus
quoted
Eph.
Psalm
quoted
Eph.
(see note).
Psalm
referred to
Eph.
Psalm
quoted
Eph.
Psalm
referred to
Eph.
Canticles
referred to
Eph.
(possibly).
Isaiah
referred to
Eph.
Isaiah
quoted
Eph.
with probable recognition also of Isaiah 51:17; Isaiah 52:1 (see note).
In view of the fact that the Church addressed in the Epistle is a Church of Gentileconverts, these quotations and allusions illustrate instructively the degree to which the Apostle took it for granted that all his converts would study the Old Testament as the Word of God.