John Bengel Commentary - Ephesians 6:12 - 6:12

Online Resource Library

Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | Download

John Bengel Commentary - Ephesians 6:12 - 6:12


(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)

This Chapter Verse Commentaries:

Eph 6:12. Οὐκ ἔστιν, is not) The evil spirits lurk concealed behind the men who are hostile to us.-ἡ πάλη) the wrestling.-πρὸς αἷμα καὶ σάρκα, against blood and flesh) Comp. Mat 16:17, note. דם ובשר, blood and flesh, viz. (mere) men, were weak, even at Rome, where they kept Paul a prisoner.-ἀγγὰ, but) After a very distinct mention of good angels, ch. Eph 1:21, Eph 3:10, he thus appropriately speaks also of bad spirits, especially to the Ephesians; comp. Act 19:19. The more plainly any book of Scripture treats of the Christian dispensation and the glory of Christ, the more clearly, on the other hand, does it present to our view the opposite kingdom of darkness.-πρὸς, against) Against occurs four times [after ἀλλὰ]. In three of the clauses the power of our enemies is pointed out; in the fourth, their nature and disposition.-κοσμοκράτορες, the rulers of the world) ‘mundi tenentes,’ The holders of the world, to use the word of Tertullian. It is well that they are not holders of all things; yet the power not only of the devil himself, but also of those over whom he exercises authority, is great. There seem to be other kinds of evil spirits, that remain more at home in the citadel of the kingdom of darkness: principalities, powers. This third class is different, inasmuch as they go abroad and take possession, as it were, of the provinces of the world: rulers [holders] of the world.-τοῦ σκότους, of the darkness) Herein they are distinguished from angels of light. This is mostly spiritual darkness, ch. Eph 5:8; Eph 5:11; Luk 22:53, which has wickedness presently after as its synonym; yet even to them natural darkness is more congenial than light. The contest is much more difficult in darkness.-τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου, of this world) The word κοσμοκράτορας, the holders (rulers) of the world, directly governs the two genitives σκότους and αἰῶνος, of the darkness and of this world, according to [in relation to] either part of the compound word. Κόσμος, world, and αἰῶν, age, are to be referred mutually to each other, as time and place.[99] The term, Holders (rulers) of the world, is the ground on which this wickedness is practised. There are princes of the darkness of the world in the present age. The connection between κόσμος, world, and αἰὼν, age, is not grammatical but logical: κόσμος, world (mundus), in all its extent; αἰὼν, world, age (sæculum), the present world, in its disposition (character), course, and feeling. I cannot say κόσμος τοῦ αἰῶνος, as, on the contrary, I can say αἰὼν τοῦ κόσμου.-τὰ πνευματικὰ, the spiritual things) The antithesis is blood and flesh. These spiritual things are opposed to the spiritual things of grace, 1Co 12:1, and are contrary to faith, hope, love, the gifts [of the Spirit], either in the way of a force opposite [to those graces], or by a false imitation of them. Moreover, as in the same epistle, 1Co 14:12, spirits are used for spiritual things, so here spiritual things are very aptly used for spirits. For these spirits make their assault with such quickness and dexterity, that the soul does not almost think [generally is not aware] of the presence of these foreign existences lurking beneath, but believes that it is something in itself within which produces the spiritual temptation; and even πνευματικόν, spiritual, in the singular, may be taken as a kind of military force, in the same way as τὸ ἱππικὸν, horsemen, is applied in Rev 9:16, and τὸ στρατιωτικὸν is else where used of an army; so that here τὰ πνευματικὰ, viz. τάγματα, may be used as in Zosimus, 1. 3: τὰ πεζικὰ τάγματα, ξενικόν, The bands of infantry, a foreign force. Aristot. 3, pol. 10, p. 210.-ἐν τοῖς ἐπουρανίοις, in places above the heavens) Even enemies, but as captives (ch. Eph 4:8, note), may be in a royal palace, and adorn it.

[99] Κόσμος refers to place; αἰὼν to time: The world-rulers of the age; the world-rulers of the darkness. But Engl. V. makes αἰῶνος governed by σκότους, of the darkness of this world.-ED.