noted the fact that the `principalities' of Ephesians 1:21 is the translation of

the Greek arche.  We now note that the word `prince' translates the Greek word

archon.  This is a verbal noun, derived from archo, translated usually `to

begin' but on two occasions `to reign over' or `to rule over' (Rom. 15:12; Mark

The English word `prince' is from the Latin princeps `taking the first

place', and only in a secondary sense is it used of the son of a sovereign.  The

word archon is used of the rulers of the Jews (Matt. 9:18), the prince of the

devils (Matt. 9:34), and the princes of the Gentiles (Matt. 20:25) in one

Gospel.  In John's Gospel, the title `the prince of this world' is found three

times, and `the prince of the power of the air' is not removed from `this world'

as a reference to Ephesians 6:12 will show.  The word translated `power' in this

title is not dunamis, but exousia, a word already found in Ephesians 1:21.  The

fact that arche and exousia (principalities and powers) have a prince (archon)

who exercises power (exousia) shows that there is a definite link between the

evil powers that work their way in this world, with the principalities and

powers beneath the feet of the ascended Lord.  This prince is said to be `the

prince of the power, or authority, of the air'.  Why `the air'?  Today, our

first thought when we speak of the air is that gaseous mixture of nitrogen,

oxygen and carbon dioxide that lies next to the surface of the earth, usually

styled the atmosphere.  The ancients, however, had no such knowledge.  To them

the air was the lower, even as the ether was the upper portion of the

atmosphere, and the air often became synonymous with mist, gloom and darkness.

The LXX uses the word aer but twice, namely in 2 Samuel 22:12 and in the

parallel passage in Psalm 18:11:

`He made darkness His secret place; His pavilions round about Him were

dark waters and thick clouds of the skies'.

The A.V. uses the English word `air' twenty-one times to translate the

Hebrew shamayim `heaven' when that word is associated with `fowls' or `birds',

showing that the heavens extended from the very surface of the earth to the

heights above.  When we remember the association which the Greek word had with

the lower regions of the atmosphere, and so with gloom and darkness, the fact

that this prince exercises his authority in the air, and that his spiritual

servants are called `the rulers of the darkness of this world' shows something

of the nature of his rule.  Moreover, in the Revelation when the seventh angel

poured out his vial, he poured it `into the air', and so important is this, that

we read `and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the

throne, saying, It is done' (Rev. 16:17).

Finally, when the Lord descends from heaven with a shout and with the

voice of the archangel, His redeemed people meet Him `in the air', a term

evidently conveying far more than may at first sight have been believed.  They

meet their Lord in that region, that once was ruled and invested by the powers

of darkness, and as the enemy of truth is dislodged and comes down to earth, so

the believer is translated to the vacated sphere in triumph.  We now come to a

consideration as to the way in which this prince of darkness works his will

among the children of men.

We have learned that those who were called and chosen to the high glory of

the church which is the fulness of Him that filleth all in all, were dead to

trespasses and sins, not, as the A.V. puts it, dead in trespasses and sins.