“…for our struggle is not against blood and flesh but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” -Ephesians 6:12
I recently finished two books that deal with a similar theme though they belong to very different genres.
Stephen King’s The Mist is a short horror novella about a family stuck inside a grocery store while a dangerous mist overtakes the outside town. Monsters are hiding out in the fog, and the folks within the store are torn about how to proceed. Should they stay in and shelter while they wait for help? Should they leave and attempt to rescue their families still at home? Factions break out, and everyone is swept up into an anxious frenzy. And eventually, the factions themselves, or at least one of them, become just as monstrous as the creatures lurking outside.
John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath deals with a similar theme, albeit from the perspective of America’s Great Depression. In his novel, Steinbeck talks about a group of farmers who were unable to save their family’s farm. They stand helpless against what they describe as a “machine” or a “monster.” There is one very powerful chapter in the book that I’d like to quote from long-form as I believe that will do it the most justice:
“The owners of the land came onto the land, or more often a spokesman for the owners came. They came in closed cars, and they felt the dry earth with their fingers, and sometimes they drove big earth augers into the ground for soil tests…Some of the owner men were kind because they hated what they had to do, and some of them were angry because they hated to be cruel, and some of them were cold because they had long ago found that one could not be an owner unless one were cold. And all of them were caught in something larger than themselves.”[1]
“The Bank – or the Company – needs – wants – insists – must have – as though the Bank or the Company were a monster, with thought and feeling, which had ensnared [the owners]. These last would take no responsibility for the banks or companies because they were men and slaves, while the banks were machines and masters all at the same time. Some of the owner men were a little proud to be slaves to such cold and powerful masters. The owner men sat in their cars and explained. You know the land is poor. You’ve scrabbled at it long enough, God knows.
The squatters nodded – they knew, God knew. If they could only rotate the crops they might pump blood back into the land. Well, it’s too late. And the owner men explained the workings and the thinkings of the monster that was stronger than they were. A man can hold land if he can just eat and pay taxes; he can do that. But – you see, a bank or a company can’t do that, because those creatures don’t breathe air, don’t eat side-meat. They breathe profits; they eat the interest on money.”[2]
“We’re sorry. It’s not us. It’s the monster. The bank isn’t a man. Yes, but the bank is only made of men. No, you’re wrong there – quite wrong there. The bank is something else than men. It happens that every man in a bank hates what the bank does, and yet the bank does it. The bank is something more than men, I tell you. It’s the monster. Men made it, but they can’t control it.[3]
What do these two books have in common?
In each, there is something “in the air.”
There’s something that has slipped from the control of individual humans and that something has become personified. In King’s work, the true monster was the faction stuck within their powerful and violent group-think (to borrow a phrase from Orwell). In Steinbeck’s work, the Bank was the monster that gobbled up the lives of the Oklahoman farmers – but even those working for the bank felt powerless to stop the greedy system.
A sociologist might label what Steinbeck and King were talking about as a systemic force.
And these forces aren’t just found within the pages of literature. They are real. They’re all around. There are dynamics baked into society that have the power to shape behavior and outcomes, often in a way that the individuals within that society don’t have much control over.
For example, think about the way public schools are often funded. Schools, at least in the area where I live, get their money from property tax. This means that an elementary school in a nice neighborhood with houses that have higher tax rates will be able to draw more funds from the community. Yet, a school within a poor neighborhood will be limited. The school in the nicer neighborhood will be able to afford better quality teachers and new facilities, which will lead to a better education for those who attend that school. The school in the poor neighborhood won’t be able to afford these things, which can often result in lackluster education. The nicer school will produce students with more opportunity, who will then be able to afford to live in nice neighborhoods and pay higher property taxes themselves. The poor school may produce students with less opportunity, and they may not be able to secure jobs that allow them to move out of their neighborhoods in the future.
No one likes this. It is a monster that feeds on classism, envy, and greed. Yet, almost everyone within it feels powerless to change it.
The World Grabbers
There is somewhat of an odd subplot in scripture that spans both the Old and New estaments.
I say subplot because the characters within it never take center stage in any of the narratives. They are all over, but they’re always in the background. And they go by many names. They are called the “gods,” “princes,” “angels,” “powers,” “principalities,” “elemental spirits,” or my favorite: the “world grabbers.”[4]
In Deuteronomy, the LORD gives a warning to his people Israel concerning idolatry. They are not to worship any images of created things, like birds or golden calves. God then goes on to state that they are also not to bow down to anything in “the heavenly array—do not be enticed into bowing down to them and worshiping things the Lord your God has apportioned to all the nations under heaven” (Deuteronomy 4:19). This statement is clarified later in the book. Deuteronomy 32:8 states that “When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when he divided all humankind, he set up boundaries for the people according to the number of the sons of God.”
There is a lot of scholarly debate as to what these Deuteronomy passages are trying to describe. But, at face value, they seem to tell us that the LORD has both created and appointed “gods” (or “archangels/angels”) as rulers of individual nations, and these beings live somewhere in the heavenly realm. This seems to be confirmed elsewhere in the Old Testament. Psalm 89 records for us a song that contains this line: “The heavens praise your wonders, Lord, your faithfulness too, in the assembly of the holy ones. For who in the skies above can compare with the Lord? Who is like the Lord among the heavenly beings? In the council of the holy ones God is greatly feared; he is more awesome than all who surround him” (Psalm 89:5-7). These figures also show up in Job. They, along with Satan, make some sort of report to the Lord about what’s been happening on earth: “One day the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satanalso came with them. The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered the Lord, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it” (Job 1:6-7).
Likewise, Daniel 10 records for us an apocalyptic narrative in which an angel is trying to relay information to the prophet but is temporary halted by the “prince” of Persia. Michael, one of the chief “princes” of Israel has to intervene in order to allow this messenger to continue forward (Daniel 10). This means that beings aren’t just passive or static. They can take action against even angels, and it seems like they can do so contrary to what the LORD might want.
Psalm 82 continues to talk about these created “gods” as rebellious creatures:
“God presides in the great assembly; he renders judgment among the gods: “How long will you defend the unjust and show partiality to the wicked? Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked. “The gods know nothing, they understand nothing. They walk about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken. “I said, ‘You are “gods”; you are all sons of the Most High.’ But you will die like mere mortals; you will fall like every other ruler.” Rise up, O God, judge the earth, for all the nations are your inheritance.”
In some mysterious way, these “gods” are sewing injustice and partiality into the nations that they were tasked to oversee. Instead of promoting the goodness and love of the LORD, they are helping to bring about sinfulness.
These beings are also written about by Paul in the New Testament.
Paul tells us in a few places that Jesus, as God’s Son, is seated above the “powers” in divine hierarchy. At the resurrection, God the Father seated Jesus “at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come” (Ephesians 1:20-21). A similar list appears in his letter to the Romans. There, Paul states that: “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38).
In 1 Corinthians 2:6-8, when writing about wisdom acquired from the Spirit, Paul explains that God’s wisdom has confounded these “powers.” In some way, they had a hand in Jesus’ crucifixion and believed they had put a stop to God’s Messiah (1 Corinthians 2:8). They did not understand that God’s power was made manifest in weakness; by killing Jesus, they only made God’s might more evident. Furthermore, the church itself is supposed to be about the business of displaying God’s might to the “world grabbers.” When Jewish and Gentile Christians form a new community together, in unity under the lordship of Jesus, the division that these “powers” have sewn into the fabric of this reality is confounded. When the church acts as one body, God’s wisdom is “made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 3:10).
But Paul often reminds his audiences that these “gods” still hold sway over people groups, including Christian communities, by way of idolatrous practices and ideologies. Those who follow Jesus as Lord must step away from the influence of the “world grabbers” and bow down only to the God from whom all things came into being (See: 1 Corinthians 8:4-6, Colossians 2:8, Galatians 4:8-11, Ephesians 2:1-2, Ephesians 6:10-20).
What Are We to Do with This?
There are two main schools of thought when it comes to interpreting the “powers and principalities” language in scripture. Some scholars like Michael Heisser contend that the Bible is describing a literal reality. There truly are archangelic beings that have been appointed over each nation. And some popular-level authors, like Hal Lindsey, might explain that these powers have direct and personal influence over even the most mundane things. Did you lose your wallet, or did the power go out in your house? That might be the work of a malevolent spiritual being.
On the other hand, many scholars have taken a more minimalist approach. That is to say, these scholars question whether the biblical authors intended to describe literal “gods.” Maybe these ancient writers were merely conveying concepts such as systemic force through the language of their time.
Personally, and especially because these characters in scripture have been backgrounded to the degree that they are, I do not see any real reason to have a hard opinion one way or another for two reasons:
1). No where does scripture tell us to directly engage these “gods.” They are distinct even from angels and demons in that their influence on humanity isn’t personal but large scale. Demons, in the Gospel narratives inhabit bodies. And angels are often messengers that speak to individuals or to small groups of people. These “world grabbers” don’t operate like that at all.
I once visited a charismatic church in which the pastor urged his congregation to call out and “bind” the “god of Lansing.” His sermon was on exactly this topic, and explained to the folks there that these “powers” still have direct influence over nations or even large cities. Christian action in response to this, according to him, was to use our prayer to stunt the work of these beings so that they would be paralyzed in their efforts to control culture. However, I do not see this directive anywhere in scripture. Churches are called to display God’s wisdom to the “powers,” and we are to resist their influence, but we are never told to engage with them.
2). When Paul or the Old Testament Psalmists describe the fallen nature of these beings, they do so by describing the systemic forces they have caused within our reality. They use them to talk about social or economic injustice and corrupted ideologies. These writers were using the available vocabulary of their time to point out to their audience the widespread effects of sin upon the world. They may truly have believed these beings existed and were behind such things. Or maybe they didn’t, and were only using them as a literary vehicle to talk about systemic force.
But it really shouldn’t matter to us one way or another – the effects of sin and the systemic forces that hold together largescale oppression and evil absolutely exist. And it is these things, not the “powers” themselves, we’ve been tasked to address.
A Few Additional Thoughts
Just like King and Steinbeck, the Bible describes for us the reality of systemic forces at work in our world.
There truly are systems of injustice woven into the fabric of culture that can seem almost impossible to overcome. Yet we have been given a responsibility to resist them. And it is by our resistance that the monsters behind these systems will become aware of God’s wisdom at work in the world. They are put on notice – their reign is coming to a close. Our resistance also shows the watching world that the options these monsters give us aren’t the only ones available in spite of how terribly difficult it might be to think otherwise.
But what might this look like?
Let us revisit our conversation about how public schools are funded.
As I mentioned above, public schools are often funded through property tax. This means that schools located in neighborhoods with families who have higher incomes often do much better, and produce students who are more successful than schools located in poorer neighborhoods. This problem, especially to those located in communities with poorly funded schools, might seem rather insurmountable at first. You can’t raise property tax in a neighborhood that can’t afford to pay it.
But what if, along with this tax, local churches helped to meet the needs of the school – or at least invested in the future of the students attending that school?
What if a church took upon itself to shift its yearly budget in order to buy the supplies that school’s teachers might not be able to afford? What if a church provided free after-school tutoring and a safe place for recreation? What if a church helped to find sustainable work for students after graduation? This all might seem rather out-of-the-box or far-fetched, but I am describing something that is actually happening in inner city Indianapolis. Englewood Christian Church[5] saw the social and economic strains of their local community and completely reoriented how they functioned as a congregation in order to meet those needs in the name of Jesus.
Or maybe we should consider the distortion that Paul was concerned with in the book of Ephesians.
Nations and communities have formed around the logic of the “powers.” That is to say, people groups have been pitted against one another. Yet a sure sign of Gods inbreaking kingdom, according to Paul (Ephesians 2:14-20, 3:6-10), is the introduction of new communities that form against the dividing lines sewn into the fabric of culture.
It’s no surprise that churches in this country are severely compromised in this way. We have oriented our faith communities by the logic of the “powers” since the very beginning of this country’s existence. Virtually every church in the United States is divided by race and socioeconomic status. Some of this has to do with the demographics of the cities our churches find themselves in – and some of it doesn’t. In one of his sermons, Martin Luther King Jr. quipped that “11:00 a.m. on Sunday morning is the most segregated hour in America.” This is still true in many ways even 60 years on.
And I am not entirely sure that it’s getting better.
I don’t know a single person who would voice support for our current racial divide. If pressed, most people feel powerless (or ambivalent) to change it. Even so, while many people dislike how things are, some believers have gotten caught up in today’s culture of anger, and have become engulfed in fear of anyone who is different. I recently attended a fundraising dinner for a ministry that helps provide financial assistance so that teenagers in rural Honduras can attend college. There were several Honduran representatives of this organization at this dinner who took turns speaking about their experiences with the ministry. However, many of them could only speak Spanish and needed to give their speeches through an interpreter. When one church leader discovered this, he took it upon himself to criticize one of the speakers by yelling out: “speak English!” I wonder if he’d be surprised to learn that Jesus himself didn’t speak English but Aramaic.
But this truly seems to be the current means of division being sewn into our culture. Good Christians have been very busy arguing online about Spanish speaking Super Bowl performers. They’ve been very busy sharing support for government agencies kidnapping Latino Christians (despite that over 70% of being taken have no criminal convictions)[6].
What might happen if we took all the effort we put into our anger and used it to resist the forces driving it?
These things might seem completely insurmountable. But they aren’t. Jesus has already defeated the “world grabbers” and they know it. His kingdom is coming soon. And the new humanity that his resurrection created is already here, at least in part.
Let us commit to creative resistance, through the power of the Spirit, so that we too might display the wisdom of God “to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms.”
[1] John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath, (New York: Penguin Books, 2006), 31.
[2] John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath, (New York: Penguin Books, 2006), 32.
[3] John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath, (New York: Penguin Books, 2006), 33.
[4] I get “world grabber” from the Greek word κοσμοκράτορας that Paul uses in Ephesians 6:12. It is often translated as “cosmic powers” in English. But literarily, it is a compound noun that smashes together the word cosmos (world) and the verb krateo (to seize, to take, to have power).
Scripture Simplified 