 |  |
This expresses in O.T. terms much the same sense of absolute security and positive
exaltation above the Prince and the authority of the air that we find in Eph. 1: and Col. 1:
The Psalm approaches to the "positional" element, which we have sought to show, when
it reveals the basis of this perfect security in the words: "He that dwelleth in the secret
place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty."
We must now take up our study and consider other equally important questions, and
the first shall be an examination of the terms used to describe the conflict. Eph. 6:
contains no word that can be translated "fight", "war", "battle", "campaign",
"conquest", or any other military term so familiar to those who engage in "prayer
warfare", and who use this scripture as their warrant. Should it not cause the believer to
halt and consider that if a system of teaching is obliged to go outside the Scriptures for its
terms, then that system bears the marks indicating the preaching of "another Jesus",
"another Spirit", and "another gospel" of which the apostle warned the Corinthians, and
which he characterized as the teaching of Satan transformed into an angel of light?
The words used in Eph. 6: to define the nature of the conflict are, "stand against",
"withstand", "stand", and "wrestle". The original uses the Greek word histemi, with
pros and anti. Anthistemi is used by both Peter and Paul. It is the word translated
"resist" in I Pet. 5: 9. Both Peter and Paul have given to their respective charges clear
instructions as to their attitude toward the devil and his agents, and both in perfect accord
with their respective callings. Trouble is caused by the persistent attempt of some to rule
the members of the Body of Christ by the rules that belong to the "royal priesthood and
holy nation". The latter pass through a "fiery trial" and wait for the salvation of their
souls "in the last time", a salvation of which O.T. prophets spake, but on which the
epistles of the church of the mystery are silent.
The word translated "wrestle" is pale, and does not occur elsewhere in Scripture.
Fortunately the word is too well-known to students of the history of Greece to admit of
argument. Bloomfield gives the following examples of its figurative use in classical
Greek:--
"Socrates wrestles with Miletus with bonds and poison: Plato wrestles with a tyrant's
anger, a rough sea, and the greatest of dangers: Xenophon wrestles with the prejudices
of Tissaphernes, the snares of Ariaeus, the treachery of Meno, the machinations of
royalty; and Diogenes wrestles with poverty, infamy, hunger and cold."
This is a fairly comprehensive summary of the way in which the idea of wrestling can
be applied, and if we substitute the man of God for Socrates and the others, and put
"principalities and powers" for the snares, machinations, &100:, in the above quotation, we
shall approach a fairly true understanding of the apostle's meaning. It is, moreover,
common knowledge that the Greeks wrestled quite naked, a fact that is still evident to any
art student of the "antique", and still with us in the word "gymnasium", which is derived
from gymnos, "naked" (Matt. 25: 36, 38, 43), "bare" (I Cor. 15: 37), and "exercise"
(Heb. 5: 14). It must be perfectly obvious that if we at this distance can perceive some
incongruity in the thought of anyone "wrestling" in complete "armour", the apostle was
fully alive to it also.