What are the spiritual hosts of wickedness (Ephesians 6:12)?

The conflict, then, is against Satan and his hosts, whatever the instrument used. Principalities and powers are spiritual beings in a position of rule with power to carry out their will. They may be good or evil beings; here they are evil beings, and their wickedness would seem to take a twofold direction. In reference to the world they are the rulers of the darkness of this world; in reference to Christians they are the “spiritual power of wickedness in the heavenlies”. The world is in darkness, in ignorance of God, and these spiritual beings rule and direct the darkness of paganism, philosophy, science falsely so-called, and infidelity, as well as the superstitions, corruptions and modernism of Christendom. The Christian is brought into the light, and blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places. The opposition to the Christian takes, then, a religious character by spiritual beings who seek to rob him of the truth of his heavenly calling, beguile him into a path that is a denial of the truth, or into conduct that is inconsistent with it.

Further, we are instructed as to the character of the opposition. It is not simply persecution, or a direct denial of the truth; it is the far more subtle and dangerous opposition described as “the wiles of the devil”. A wile is something that looks fair and innocent, and yet beguiles the soul from the path of obedience. How often, in this day of confusion, the devil seeks to lead those who have the truth into some by-path, which at the beginning deviates so little from the true course that to raise any objection to it might seem fastidious. There is one simple question we can each ask ourselves by which every wile may be detected, “If I pursue this course where will it lead me?”

Our struggle is not with flesh and blood so that natural weapons will avail nothing; our foes are principalities and authorities, the universal lords of darkness, the spiritual power of wickedness in the heavenly places. Here are unveiled the great forces of evil that influence this world in its hateful opposition to all that is of God; powerful spiritual beings, wielding mighty diabolical influence over the minds and hearts of men. These have immense spheres of spiritual authority which have become alienated from God in their fall, authority used to oppose God and to thwart His designs for the blessing of men. From their heavenly spheres of rule they bring their darkening influence to bear on men whose hearts are filled with hatred against God, who become their willing instruments for opposition to God's testimony. Such is the moral darkness in which man is found, his mind blinded in wilful ignorance of God, the prey to wicked spirits, and pursuing a course that leads to eternal ruin. In the conflict this dreadful array of evil is against us: we meet the wicked spirits as we seek to enter into God's presence for communion with Him regarding the rich spiritual blessings He has given us in Christ in the heavenly places; we meet their human agents down here in seeking to earnestly contend for the faith once delivered to the saints. If we compared the opposition of the forces of evil with our weakness we might well be dismayed, but in the presence of the Lord and the power of His might the great giants disappear.

The adversaries that are contemplated here are not human but Satanic. They exist in the world of spirits and not in flesh and blood. Satan is their chief, but they are spoken of as principalities and powers, and also as "world-rulers of this darkness" (R.V.). We know very little about them, and do not need to know. It is enough for us that their evil design is unmasked. They are "world-rulers" for the whole world system is controlled and dominated by them, little as the human actors on the world stage may suspect it. The effect of their domination is darkness. Here is the explanation of the gross spiritual darkness which fills the earth. How often after the Gospel has been very clearly preached have we heard people express their wonder that unconverted folk have listened to it all without a ray of light entering their hearts. In this scripture, and also in 2 Corinthians 4:4, is an explanation which removes all element of wonder from the phenomenon.

Christian warfare or conflict is with the devil and his wiles, with the principalities, the powers, the rulers of the darkness of this world, and with the spiritual armies of wickedness in the heavenly places (literal translation).

This revelation given here concerning the powers of darkness, the principalities, the rulers of the darkness of this world and the wicked spirits in the heavenly places, is important and demands a closer attention. The Scriptures clearly teach that there is a vast dominion of darkness over which Satan is the head and that, as the god of this present age, he has rulers over this world and a large army of wicked spirits in the heavenlies. He is the prince of the power in the air. The sphere above the earth, the aerial heavens and beyond are tenanted by these wicked spirits, which under the headship of Satan form with principalities and powers, his kingdom. How mighty this being is, what powers are at his disposal, how vast his dominion, how numerous the fallen angels, the wicked spirits which possess the heavenly places, no Saint has ever fully realized, nor can it be all known, till the day comes in which the God of peace shall bruise Satan completely under our feet. Satan has even access into heaven itself The first two chapters of the book of Job acquaint us with this fact. See also 1 Kings 22:19-23.

Now Satan has legions of spirit beings at his command: Ephesians 6:12 speaks of them: "principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this world, wicked spirits in the heavenly places" (margin). These find an outlet for their diabolical energies, and express their evil character in the great movements of the world — political, social, economical, military, and religious; they are very plausible but most deceptive, and their real object is the forcing of God out of the world and the final destruction of men. And men are carried on the tide of these movements, believing, the while, that they have originated them, and that the outcome of them will be the final glory of man.

"We have to do with the effect down here," says F. E. R. But the apostle says we have to do with the sources up there. The express aim is to assert that our wrestling is, not against blood and flesh which are down here, but against principalities, against authorities, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against "spiritual [hosts or powers of] wickedness in the heavenlies." This I venture to affirm is the right rendering; and it is dead opposed to "things or influences," which sense in the context is nonsense; for this would-be renderer himself means "influences which are abroad in Christianity" [? Christendom], and can hardly mean to call the evil spirits "things" on high. The apostle speaks here solely of spiritual beings of subtle energy and malice banded against us; and all the more seriously, because they rule the world's darkness from that heavenly elevation by their wiles as quasi-deities. He does not speak of "spiritual things or influences" in the heavenlies, but a man as far as possible from being an apostle, for he contradicts the true one. Nor does he seem to be aware that infidelity and rationalism are as real if not as rampant in Popish lands as in Protestant, though the latter are generally more open and outspoken.

A walk of faith in the Lord Jesus will always awaken the opposition of enemies, Satan and people energized by Satan. David found himself often attacked by human enemies, and when simply depending on God, he was enabled to defeat them without real difficulty. Our enemies today are "spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places," that is, Satan's angels who seek constantly to undermine our faith in the Lord Jesus. But if we have on "the whole armor of God" (Eph. 6:11) we shall be enabled to stand against them and defeat their evil intentions. They will stumble and fall.

These rebellious principalities and powers rule over the darkness of this world. Light is the atmosphere in which God dwells, which He diffuses all around Himself. Wicked spirits deceive and reign in darkness. Now this world, not having the light of God, is entirely in darkness, and demons reign in it; for God is not there — except in supreme power after all, turning everything to His glory, and, in the end, to the good of His children.

But if these principalities rule in the darkness of this world they do not possess merely an outward force; they are in the heavenlies, and are occupied with spiritual wickedness there. They exercise a spiritual influence, as having the place of gods. There is then, first, their intrinsic character, their mode of being, and the state in which they are found; second, their power in the world as governing it; and third, their religious and delusive ascendency, as lodging in the heavens. They have also, as a sphere for the exercise of their power, the lusts of man, and even the terrors of his conscience.

To resist enemies like these we need the armour of God. The manifestations of this power, when God permits it, constitute the evil days. All this present period of Christ's absence is, in a certain sense, the evil day. Christ has been rejected by the world, of which, while in it, He was the light, and is hidden in God. This power, which the enemy displayed when he led the world to reject Christ, he still exercises over it: we oppose it by the action and the power of the Holy Ghost, who is here during the Lord's absence. But there are moments when this power is allowed to show itself in a more especial manner, when the enemy uses the world against the saints, darkening the light which shines in it from God, troubling and leading astray the minds of professors and even of believers — days, in a word, in which his power makes itself felt. We have to wrestle with this power, to resist it all, to stand against everything in the confession of Christ, of the light; we have to do all that the confession of His name requires in spite of all and at whatever cost, and to be found standing when the storm and the evil day are past.

Verse 12. "For we wrestle not with flesh and blood," etc. The quality of our adversaries, and the manner of our warfare, are now further opened to us. First, we wrestle not with flesh and blood, According to our birth and lineage, so is our conflict. We are born, as believers, not of flesh and blood, but of God. Hie enemies are, therefore, ours. We inherit, with the treasures of His love, His eternal enmity against the Wicked One (Ex. 17:16). As it respects personal enmities, dead men can have none. And weare dead with Christ. It is because we are also risen with Him that we find ourselves exposed to the enmity of that which crucified Him, and still disallows His name. Of the enemies arrayed against us, there is, indeed, a fearful number, and of mighty power. When we consider them under the names and descriptions which they here receive, we may well feel as grasshoppers in their sight. But they are in the land which is the Lord's, and our calling is to dispossess them by the power of His might (cp. Num. 13:30-33).

The conflicts of God's people are according to the nature of their calling. When Jehovah owned a people in the flesh, they fought in His name against fleshly adversaries. Israel was led to battle after quite a different manner from the Church. It is because our calling is a heavenly one, that the scene of our conflict is laid there. "Wicked spirits in heavenly places" are appreciable as antagonists to those only who by faith have present access into heaven. Our heritage is there; and there, consequently, the adversary as yet disputes our right. In the present enumeration of our enemies, we have to distinguish between the rulers of the darkness of this world, and the efforts of spiritual wickednesses in heavenly places. Satan has no rule there. He and his angels are not yet definitively banished from the heavens. They are permitted still to infest them, until the decisive moment comes for the open manifestation of the kingdom of God and the power of His Christ. But he, whose presence as the accuser of the brethren (Rev. 12:7-11) in heaven is endured yet a little while, is the ruling power in the world. As opposed to Christ, the true Light of the world, he is styled the ruler of its darkness. In the preceding verse the devil, in his unity, is shown to be an adversary; as was also the case in chap. 2:2, where we have had him described, in his working, as the prince of the power of the air. In the present passage, the doctrine of Satanic power is stated distributively, adverse agencies and energies being enumerated, all of which are to be referred to that one pre-eminent power of evil, of whose existence and working we have such abundant testimony in the word of God. Accordingly, separate mention is made of principalities, powers, and spiritualities of wickedness. They stand thus in evil contrast to those other principalities and powers whose abiding seat is in the heavens, and who learn with joyful admiration the manifold riches of the Divine wisdom, as witnesses of the present work of God in the salvation of His Church.