Finally to the nut cuttin. I too believe we war against flesh and blood too much. Like I said before, start your thread about what you believe and hear what other Christians think. Not all is divisive and I've learned from Christians and non-Christians alike by reading information from outside the box of tribalism. I read the information they post and give my 2 cents worth of reply.
I disagree. The secular authorities: I've watched this world de-evolve into the hate fest that it is today due to half-truths, misinformation, and sometimes lies. They've created distrust among the people and want to keep us divided and it's a distraction.
"For our fight is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world,"
The last part is not out there somewheres but in every man's heart, ego, and worldview.
Brother, I get you. Tell me what you want and don't leave me guessing. Are you telling me not to give my opinion? What should we talk about on this forum? Peace
I will try and answer your questions, as I understand them to the best of my ability. First, let me say that what I want is simply to share what God commanded His children and what Christ taught in context with the issues that face Christians today. I believe you should indeed share your opinion and as a Christian, I would hope that your opinion, like my own, is based solely on Christ's teachings and God's word. That's why I shared the info that I did, so as to help put the issue into context with what the Bible says. I will also note that before I replied, i did read the article that was included and did a precursory check on the Angry Bear and found the article not to be so divisive and the Angry Bear doesn't seem to be involved in the aforementioned half truths, misinformation and lies, so I don't want to give the impression that I was referring to you personally or the source which you shared as being in any way a part of that problem.
What I do object to is when Christians engage in half-truths, misinformation and lies. As you note, it has de-evolved into a hate fest and Christ taught us not to get ourselves involved in politics or hate. The problem isn't an open discussion of issues (such as abortion). When I discuss such issues, I always try and start with what Christ said and did and what God said before stating my opinion based on the subject. In this case, your initial question seemed sincere so I shared what I know about what God said and what Christ did. Then I stated my opinion that since Christ steered clear of making a fuss about the secular legalities of abortion, I think we as Christians should follow His example.
I am somewhat confused with your reference to Ephesians 6:12, but if you are saying that Paul is telling the Ephesians to become involved in partisan politics or to fight the government, I don't agree. I know that most English translations might tend to make it sound as if that's the case but a deeper dive into the actual original Greek of this passage shows a slightly different take on what Paul told us we should fight. First there's "principalities". Most English translations used the very last note in Strong's.
Strongs's #746: arche - Greek/Hebrew Definitions - Bible Tools. from 756; (properly abstract)
a commencement, or (concretely) chief (in various applications of order, time, place, or rank):--beginning, corner, (at the, the) first (estate), magistrate, power, principality, principle, rule.
But I always want to get to the truth by looking at what other's have to say. For instance, Ellicott's says "Principalities and powers describe simply angelic powers, whether of good or evil. But in the following clauses Paul defines them as powers of evil, and appears to indicate two different aspects of this evil power. The original phrase is striking, against the spiritual powers of wickedness in the heavenly places.”
Barnes says; "But against principalities - "There can be no doubt whatever that the apostle alludes here to evil spirits. Like good angels, they were regarded as divided into ranks and orders, and were supposed to be under the control of one mighty leader. It is probable that the allusion here is to the ranks and orders which they sustained before their fall, something like which they may still retain."
ELlicott's says of "the rulers of the darkness" "Properly, the world-rulers of this darkness. This phrase is simply a poetical expression of the idea conveyed by the title “the prince of this world,” applied to Satan in John 12:31; John 14:30; John 16:11" Of powers it says "Milton represents Satan as addressing the fallen angels in similar language: "Thrones, dominations, princedoms, virtues, powers.""
As for "the rulers of the darkness of this world" that is a translation of later Greek texts. The earliest texts don't include the words that are translated "of this world". Those were added later. The original text translates simply "the rulers of darkness" and of course we know who that is. I'll not go into great detail about when and why the extra verbiage was added, but it's an interesting look at how man has over the centuries taken liberties with the original texts to make them better fit what they want them to say, if you are so inclined to such study.
I have obviously provided short excerpts from a few of the better known and reliable commentaries, concordances and lexicons. If you happen to be interested in Greek translation, I would suggest this verse is a good place to start and in addition to those which I have already listed, I certainly recommend the following texts; Expositor's Greek Testament, Meyers New Testament Commentary and for a fairly easy to understand and somewhat broad Lexicon, Thayer's Greek/English Lexicon of the New Testament. There are many others but those are a few that are my go-to to get a broad perspective on these types of issues.
My point is that Paul, in my opinion (and according to many knowledgeable scholars) is talking of the same powers that Christ taught us to fight, those of Satan and evil and is not equating those powers with any particular worldly authority or leader. Just as a general belief, I don't believe that Paul would purposely tell us to involve ourselves in anything that Christ taught us not to.Now, if that wasn't your point, please disregard the diatribe and let me know if you had something else in mind.
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