ives deceits ; Tynd., Cov., Cran., Gen., Bish., assaults or crafty, assaults. The Devil, διάβολος, is mentioned here as the author and practiser of all subtle, malicious scheming. The malign powers of which he is the prince are noticed next.
Ver. 12. ὅτι οὐκ ἔστιν ἡμῖν [ὑμῖν] ἡ πάλη πρὸς αἷμα καὶ σάρκα: prem our) wrestling is not against flesh and blood. Reason for speaking of the μεθοδεῖαι τοῦ
383
12. ὅτι οὐκ ἔστιν ἡμῖν ὶ ἡ "πάλη πρὸς "αἷμα καὶ "σάρκα, ἀλλὰ f Here
only.
πρὸς τὰς “dpxds, πρὸς τὰς " ἐξουσίας, πρὸς τοὺς ‘ κοσμοκράτορας g Matt. xvi.
xv. 50; Gal. i. 16; Heb. ii. 14; Sir. xiv. 18.
h Ch. i. 21 reff.
17; 1 Cor. i Here only.
1 For ηµ., υμιν BDFG 52, 115-20, al., It., Syr., Ar.-pol., Slav. al., Lucif., Ambrst. ; ημιν SADSEKLP, etc., most mss., Vulg., Copt., Syr., al., Thdrt., Clem., Orig.,
Meth., all Cyp., Hil., Jer., Aug., Ambrst.
διαβόλου as dangers against which the Christian must stand his ground. The ὅτι is explanatory, = ‘‘the wiles of the Devil, I say, for it is not mere men we have to face’. The term πάλη, which occurs only this once in the NT, is used - in classical Greek occasionally in the general sense of a battle or combat (in the poets, e.g., Aesch., Cho., 866; Eurip., Heracl., 159), but usually in the specific sense of a contest in the form of wrest- ling. If it has its proper sense here, as is most probable, there is a departure for the time being from the figure of the panoply, and a transition to one which brings up different ideas. Has Paul, then, who elsewhere uses the more gen- eral figures of the μάχη, the ἀγών, etc., any special object in view in selecting πάλη here? There is nothing to indicate any such special object, unless it be to bring out the hand to hand nature of the conflict, “the personal, individualising nature of the encounter”’ (Ell.). The q defines the πάλη in view, viz., the physi- cal struggle, as not the kind of πάλη with which we are concerned—which is “ for us” (ἡμῖν). The ἡμῖν of the TR has the support of ΝΑΡ ΚΙ .ΡΒ, most cursives, and most Versions; tpiv is read by BD*G, Eth., Goth., etc. The case is somewhat evenly balanced. TrWH place ὑμῖν in the margin; Lach., Tisch., etc., keep ἡμῖν. The form αἷμα καὶ σάρξ occurs only here and (acc. to the best critics) in Heb. ii. 14. Elsewhere it is σὰρξ καὶ αἷμα ; but the sense is the same, = feeble humanity. The phrase occurs four times in the NT, always with the same general sense of man in the character of his weak- ness and dependence, but with slightly varying references; e.g., with regard to our corporeal being in τ Cor. xv. 50; Heb. 11. 14; our intellectual power in Matt. xvi. 17; our spiritual capacity as contrasted with invisible, diabolic agents (cf. Ell. on Gal. 1. 16). The idea of carnal desires or passions which is ascribed to the phrase here by some (Jer., Matthies, etc.) would be expressed by σάρξ with- out αἷμα.---ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὰς ἀρχάς: but against the principalities. The formula οὐκ---ἀλλά indicates not a comparative
negation, as if = “not so much against flesh and blood as against the ἀρχαί," but an absolute. Meyer regards the clause as a case of brachylogy, some term of more general sense than πάλη, ¢.g., μάχη or μαχετέον having to be understood, = “ for us there is not a wrestling with flesh and blood, but a fight with the princi- palities”. This on the ground that the idea of wrestling is inconsistent with that of the panoply. But while it is true that there is a change in the figure for the time being, there is nothing strange in that, neither is there any incongruity in representing the Christian’s conflict as a wrestling—an individual encounter and one at close quarters. On the sense of apxat, principalities or rulers applied here to the powers of evil, see on i. 21 above.—mpos τὰς ἐξουσίας : against the authorities. On ἐξουσίαι, here designa- ting demonic authorities, see on i. 21 ἂρονε.-- πρὸς τοὺς κοσμοκράτορας τοῦ σκότους [τοῦ αἰῶνος] τούτον: against the world-rulers of the darkness of this world (or, of this darkness). τοῦ αἰῶνος is inserted after σκότους by the TR, and is found in most cursives, and in such uncials as $°D®EKLP. It is omitted in Byg*D*FG, 17, 673, etc., and is re jected by LTTrWHRV. In the NT we have such designations as 6 ἄρχων τοῦ κόσμου τούτου (John xiv. 30), ὃ Θεὸς τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου (2 Cor. iv. 4), applied to Satan. The phrase koopoxpdtwp τοῦ σκότους τούτου occurs only here. The noun κοσμοκράτωρ is found in the Orphic Hymns (iii., 3, of Satan), in inscriptions (C. I., 5892, with ref. to the emperor), in Gnostic writings (of the devil), and in the Rabbinical literature in transliterated Hebrew form (of the angel of death, and of kings like the four pursued by Abra- ham, and Nebuchadnezzar, Evil-Mero- dach, Belshazzar; cf. Wetstein, in loc. ; Fischer’s Buxtorf, Lex., p. 996, etc.). According to usage as well as formation, therefore, it means not merely rulers (Eth., Goth.), but world-rulers, powers dominating the world as such and work- ing everywhere. τοῦ σκότους limits their dominion, however, to the world as it now is in the darkness of its ignorance