Spiritual Warfare in Paul’s Letter to Ephesus (2)

• Posted on sdgale
• in 'CHOP Talk' Blog
• on December 3, 2012
• 1 Comment.

(This article is the third in a series tracing the theme of spiritual opposition in Ephesians.)

VJ (Victory in Jesus) Day

Jesus stated at the close of Matthew’s Gospel account that all authority on heaven and on earth and under the earth had been bestowed upon Him.   Didn’t all authority already belong to Jesus?  Hasn’t He always been king?

Yes—and No.  Jesus has ruled over creation as Creator God from all eternity.  But it was as the King of glory who humbled Himself as a man truly and fully human, was born under law, achieved a perfect obedience in respect to that law through His life and cursed death on the cross, and was raised in victory from the dead, that a kingdom was bestowed upon Him.

That kingdom is a redemptive kingdom.  His authority is redemptive kingdom authority.  Jesus is the true Melchizedek, the priest-king, the prophetic Word made flesh, who is now seated in resurrection victory for His church.  His kingdom cannot be shaken and continues to grow throughout the earth and across generations until it will one day be consummated.  The age to come will erupt in fullness and the old order of things will pass away, along with the fallen kingdom ruled by the Prince of Darkness Grim.

On the heels of the Sentence of Ephesians 1:3-14 Paul records his prayer (Eph. 1:15-23) for those emancipated by Jesus from the kingdom of this world and brought into the kingdom of the Son God loves.   Basically, his prayer has to do with our perceiving the rule of Christ and living in the resurrection power of the new life.

Colossians, the sister epistle to Ephesians, carries much the same structure and themes. There Paul puts the kingdom authority of Christ in deliverance terms.

“May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” (Colossians 1:11–14)

What drives Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 1 is the resurrection and ascension of Christ to the right hand of the Father.  Jesus reigns on high for His church.  He will reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet (cf. 1 Cor. 15:24-28).  But right now, He rules “far above all rule and authority and power and dominion” (1:21).

Again, the variety of expression in Colossians helps us to see the nature of Christ’s rule.

“And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.” (Colossians 2:13–15)

Here we get an idea of what the reign of Christ looks like and how it impacts us in dealing with the spiritual opposition described in Ephesians 6.  The word “Satan” means two things.  It can be rendered “Adversary” or “Accuser.”  Satan acts as a prosecuting attorney pressing the offenses of our sin against us before the judgment seat of the holy God.  Jesus paid for those sins, thus disarming the devil.  The debt of our sin was settled at the cross; we bear it no more.

Now Jesus reigns on high interceding for us.  He represents us before the judgment seat of God as our advocate.  Our every sin is paid for by His blood, as described in the declaration of the Sentence of Ephesians 1:3-14.  The righteousness of Christ Himself is credited to our account.  His record is ours before the throne of God.  The covenant curses we deserve were spent at the cross.  The cup of wrath was drained to its very dregs by the One who stood in our place.  In Christ, God is faithful and just to forgive all our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (cf. 1 John 1:8-2:2).

Satan’s primary role as accuser is neutralized.  He is disarmed of offenses to prosecute against us.  Christ has triumphed—for us.

The power Paul prays that we would know in increasing measure is the power of the new age.  We are to live in the Christ’s victory, no longer in fear, no longer slaves to sin, no longer in abandonment and despair.   We are to live not as those without hope, but as children of God, sons and daughters of light (cf. 1 Thess. 4:13-5:11). Our hope is not “hope so” but a confident expectation, an assured conviction, a vibrant certainty that rests in the finished work of Christ. Paul highlights that ground of hope:

“But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him.” (1 Thessalonians 5:8–10)

We might note in Thessalonians a taste of the panoply of the gospel bound up in Christ that Paul will develop more fully in Ephesians 6.  Our wherewithal in the face of spiritual opposition comes from bearing the breastplate of faith and love and the helmet of salvation bound up in God’s saving purpose realized in our Lord Jesus Christ.

(continued)

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Note: Those interested in a more general study of spiritual warfare will find an brief overview in What is Spiritual Warfare? (Basics of the Faith Series).  My book, Warfare Witness: Contending With Spiritual Opposition in Everyday Evangelism, addresses evangelism from the perspective of spiritual warfare.  A study guide to the book is available under CHOP resources.