Powers of Darkness: Principalities & Powers in Paul's Letters

"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.

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. –Ephesians 6:12This is a fascinating five-star book by a guy who believes in demons. He reasons that because belief in the spiritual world of demons and angels was prevalent among New Testament authors, we should believe the same today. In the preface, Arnold states “If we want help from the Bible for dealing with the problem of evil, we must be willing to take seriously what the Bible takes seriously: the intense involvement in life of a figure named Satan and his powers of darkness.” However, Arnold’s beliefs (other than the occasional call to take these things seriously) do not get in the way of excellent research into Biblical Demonology, and I thoroughly enjoyed his book.I think Arnold is correct in stating that virtually everyone in Jesus’ day believed in such powers, and in astrological signs. Witches, demons, magic, divination, these things were to be feared and opposed. Angelic battles in heaven drove the fortunes of the nations they represented on earth.By the time of Jesus, opposing gods were no longer considered on par with Yahweh, and were relegated to the level of demons or mere idols. The Serpent of Eden was unanimously equated with Satan by the early church (and still is today by many Christians). The church fathers strongly believed Satan himself animated the gods of the nations with his powers of darkness, based largely on the writings of Paul. (Note that Arnold takes the conservative approach of assuming Pauline authorship of all the letters traditionally ascribed to him, and that he leans quite heavily on the book of Ephesians.) Paul is not alone in emphasizing dark powers; the book of Acts records four instances of magic and divination, and Jesus often performed exorcisms, but Arnold’s study relates to Paul.Unless you’ve studied the topic, many of Paul’s references to dark powers may not be obvious. All of the terms Paul used for the powers can be found in Jewish documents of the Greco-Roman period, so scholars agree on what they imply. The Testament of Adam lists the angelic powers according to their various orders, from the lowest to the highest. The lowest order is angels, followed by archangels, archons, authorities, powers, dominions, and then the high orders, thrones, seraphim and cherubim. Paul seemed unconcerned about rank and order, but used many of these words.Only by really immersing yourself into first-century beliefs can the writings of Paul be put in perspective, and Arnold does this. His insistence that such dark powers surround us today brings Paul’s superstitious world even more alive. Great book.

The book was a good survey of Paul’s demonology. It was reflective of the world 20 years ago, so a little dated.The kindle version I read was not very good.

Interesting approach to Principalties.

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.

Several years ago I asked a Christian professor/author friend of mine (Dean Fleming) for a book that would help me prepare a set of sermons for our Nazarene congregation on the Powers of Darkness. Dean studied with Clinton Arnold and knew that Arnold had written on this topic. I found the book an excellent source. I did build a sermon series on it. The series is posted on my website under this same name: Powers of Darkness.

I was asked to review this book recently as I prepared to present a paper on the topic. I must say I was not familiar with the author, but after reading his book I must say it is one of the best books I have read concering the topic of Spiritual Warfare. The author presents a clear exegitical study of the New Testament with helpful conclusions for the Church today. A companion book that would read well alongside this book is  I Am Not Afraid: Demon Possession and Spiritual Warfare

O autor busca a percepção do entendimento que as sociedades greco-romana e a judaica tinham sobre o mundo espiritual na época do trabalho missionário do apostolo Paulo, incluindo os escritos pseudoepígrafos, as lendas e as superstições. O enfoque está nas explicações sobre o mundo espiritual estabelecidas na carta aos Efesios, com objetivo de traze-las para os dias atuais, facilitando o entendimento das hierarquias e o modelo operacional dos seus protagonistas. A publicação é antiga e se apresenta um pouco defasada, mas contem inúmeros elementos para fortalecer o conhecimento.

This is a development from Arnolds Doctoral Disertation in Scotland. A wonderful and insightful book full of good scholarship and good biblical principals. A must for any ministers library. I think it is great.

Extremely valuable book. We have a hard time believing there is a demonic influence in the world. This changes that misconception.

Reality that is not illusionary is stated with due attention.