Principalities & Powers

Throughout his letters, and especially in Ephesians and Colossians, the apostle Paul mentions "principalities" and "powers." Newbigin did a great job looking into this and helping point out what the apostle may be referring to when he writes this sort of thing.

The word Paul uses for powers is stoicheia, which is literally "elementary spirits," or "ruling spirits of the universe" (p. 203). When Newbigin discusses this, he uses the example of kingship. The king may die and another king arise, but the kingship remains. The power is the kingship more than any individual king. So the battle is not simply with those who wield power, but the power that is above and beyond the person who has it. It is a spiritual battle.

Paul points out in Colossians 2:15 that these spirits, or powers, have been disarmed by Christ's work, though not destroyed. The truth to powers is that there has to be systems and controls in our world to prevent anarchy. So Christ has disarmed them and shown that he is above all powers, but he has not destroyed them because they are necessary. The role of the church, then, is to judge between good and bad powers.

Last weekend I watched The Corporation, a documentary about modern day corporations that are literally buying everything imaginable and taking complete control of human life. The wild thing was to realize that most people in these despicable corporations were "good people." They want to help the environment. They hate sweat shops. The celebrate life and equality. Yet their corporations turn out to be the poster-children for evil. How is this? I believe it has to do with principalities and powers. Furthermore, I believe that the church must have a response to these unmasked, disarmed powers if it is to be the Church of the risen Christ. Our response is a violent reaction to those spiritual powers beyond the men and women running corupt corporations and governments, requiring the full armor of Christ as we engage the powers and call them to live into their original, God-given calling.

Peace,
Matt

Currently Reading: Genesis, a commentary by Walter Brueggemann. It is amazing!