expression of inward life, as Shakespeare says, "the apparel oft proclaims the man",

and in the practical section the words "put off" and "put on" literally refer to clothing.

Eph. 2: 2 and 10 contrast the walk of the old and of the new, but it is left to

chapters 4:-6: to develop this practical aspect, as it does in 4: 1, 17; 5: 2, 8 and 15.

Here, in Eph. 2: the walk that characterized the believer's past was "according to the

course of this world". The word translated "course" here is aion, literally an age, but not

to be limited merely to lapse of time, the word carries with it something of character,

even as we say today "the golden age", "the age of innocence". This meaning the A.V.

has attempted to give by the rendering "course". Weymouth translates the passage freely

In other contexts, the Apostle speaks of "the rudiments of the world" in much the

same way. It is the most natural thing "to walk according to the course of the world" for

otherwise, there would be a mad scramble, a traffic jam, and progress would be

impossible. Yet in spite of this "sweet reasonableness", the fact remains that this world is

at present in a state of enmity with God, and to walk in harmony with its ends and aims is

contrary to the will of God and to the design of His great salvation. After having said so

far, the Apostle draws aside a veil, and shows that what on the surface appear to be the

free actions of free agents, are many times the result of a spiritual power that is using

the desires of men to accomplish his own ends. This spiritual power is named "The

prince of the power of the air". We have already noted the fact that the "principalities" of

Eph. 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 10: 42).

The English word "prince" is from the Latin princeps "taking the first place", and only

in a secondary sense it is 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 Eph. 6: 12 will show. The word translated "power" in

this title is not dunamis, but exousia, a word already found in Eph. 1: 21. The fact that

arche and exousia (principalities and powers) have a prince (archon) who exercised

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

compound of nitrogen, oxygen and carbon 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 II Sam. 22: 12 and in the parallel passage in Psa. 18::