Is spiritual warfare real? – Ephesians 6:10-13, Part 2

Is spiritual warfare real?  Perhaps the most famous biblical passage about spiritual warfare is Ephesians 6, verses 10-20, about the Armor of God.

For the next couple months, we will be studying the Armor of God.  This week we are looking at verses 10-13, the introduction to the passage. The writer of this passage is the Apostle Paul, and he is writing to the Christians in the city of Ephesus, which at the time was a very important city in the Roman Empire.  It’s temple to Artemis/Diana, a Greek/Roman goddess, was one of the wonders of the ancient world.  Perhaps because of this pagan temple, spiritual activity was visually and obviously present in the town.  In Acts 19, we read that Paul spent a lot of time in Ephesus.  More than two years.  Here’s one episode from that time:

“God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them. Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, “In the name of the Jesus whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.” Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. One day the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?” Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding.”

That gives us an idea of why Paul wrote what he wrote in his letter to the Ephesians, a letter he sent approximately 3-5 years after he had spent all that time with them.  Here is what Paul said in Ephesians 6:10-13,

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 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. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place.”

Notice that Paul assumes the reality of the spiritual forces of evil.  That is the question we started with.  Is it real?  Paul answers an unequivocal YES.  In fact, he says in verse 12 that our struggle is far less physical and far more spiritual. 

Paul is really challenging our modern, scientific thinking here.  We tend to have a scientific, medical, rational, physical answer for everything.  And we are not necessarily wrong.  Science is real because God created the world, the universe, in a beautifully organized way.  There are laws of science, and they are laws because they can be repeated over and over.  Science and faith are not mutually exclusive. From the very basic rules of math, that 2 + 2 = 4, to the complex Einsteinian speed of light, e=mc². 

This week The Sphere opened in Las Vegas.  The Sphere is an astounding building.  It is the biggest man-made spherical building in the world, and its exterior is covered with high-definition video panels, so it can look like a giant basketball, the moon, or any design, photo, video they want to display on it.  Inside, it is a state-of-the-art audio/video venue, with a massive high-definition panel that is like 10 Imax screens put together.  And the first band doing a concert residency there is U2, so I just had to point that out since they are my favorite. I mention all this because The Sphere’s website has a page dedicated to the extensive and intricate science that it took to build this marvel. 

Our contemporary human thought-process is that with enough money, study, experimentation, and research, we can accomplish anything.  Send a human-driven rocket to the moon?  Check.  We did that in 1969.  Send a robot-driven rocket to Mars?  Check.  Been there, done that.  Cure diseases?  Check, check, and many checks.  Connect the world via the internet and satellites?  Check, and check. 

But Paul says that there is another reality.  It’s not a matter of science.  It’s not physics, trigonometry, geometry or engineering.  Paul is saying that our battle is not against flesh and blood, not against what we can see and touch, but against a spiritual enemy. 

Photo by Duncan Sanchez on Unsplash