Ephesians 6:12

If we want to obey God and resist the devil, we are in for a struggle. It is not easy to become a mature Christian nor is it automatic. It takes diligent, sustained effort (cf. Philippians 2:12-13). This is part of our human responsibility in progressive sanctification.

This struggle does not take place on the physical level primarily, though saying no to certain temptations may involve certain physical behavior. It is essentially warfare on the spiritual level with an enemy that we cannot see. This enemy is Satan and his hosts as well as the philosophies and feelings he promotes that people implement. Stott refuted the view that the principalities and powers are only structures of thought, especially embodied in the state and its institutions. [Note: See ibid., pp. 267-75.]

Some commentators believe that Paul described four different orders of angelic beings here. Probably the four terms used of our spiritual enemies in this verse do not identify four separate kinds of adversaries as much as they point out four characteristics of all of them. "Rulers" stresses their authority and "powers" or "authorities" their strength. "World forces of this darkness" or "powers of this dark world" point to their wide influence in the world, and forces "of wickedness" or "spiritual forces of evil" relate to their evil character. They operate in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 1:3; Ephesians 1:20; Ephesians 2:6; Ephesians 3:10). Presently Satan and his hosts have access to God in the sense that they can communicate with Him but not in the sense that they can coexist in fellowship with Him (cf. Job 1-2).

The idea that certain demons have special authority over specific territories comes from Daniel 10:13 where we read that the "prince [Heb. sar, head, official, captain] of Persia" withstood Michael, one of the "chief princes [same Hebrew word]." It is impossible to know whether all demons have territorial authority and whether all territories have demonic heads because we do not have sufficient revelation. Clearly some demons have territorial assignments, but it seems unwarranted to conclude that all of them do.

"Nowhere in the NT do we find a territorial view of demons. Jesus never casts out a territorial demon or attributes the resistance of Nazareth or Jerusalem to such entities. Paul never refers to territorial spirits, nor does he attribute power to them-despite the paganism of cities where he established churches." [Note: Gerry Breshears, "The Body of Christ: Prophet, Priest, or King?" Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 37:1 (March 1994):15. See also Robert A. Guelich, "Spiritual Warfare: Jesus, Paul and Peretti," Journal of Pentecostal Studies 13:1 (Spring 1991):33-64.]

John Armstrong refuted from Scripture several of the teachings of some modern deliverance ministries. He wrote the following.

"In the face of growing citizen militia groups, committed to arming themselves in order to defend personal freedoms, it seems ironic that the church has forgotten that she is spiritually armed for an entirely different battle. As the church, in response to various culture wars, increasingly turns to numerous battles ’with flesh and blood’ rather than to the primary battle with ’the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places’ (Ephesians 6:12), one must wonder if we have forgotten the teaching of the New Testament itself." [Note: John H. Armstrong, "How Shall We Wage Our Warfare?" in The Coming Evangelical Crisis, p. 227.]