384
k=Col.i, τοῦ " σκότους τούτου, πρὸς τὰ ᾿ πνευματικὰ τῆς πονηρίας ἐν τοῖς
13; Luke XXil. 53.
1 Constr., here only.
3 ἐπουρανίοις.
πὶ Matt. xxii. 18 al.; Rom. i. 20 al.
13. διὰ τοῦτο °dvahdBere τὴν " πανοπλίαν τοῦ θεοῦ,
n Ch. i. 3 reff.; Ps. xli. 1, xlviii. 5.
ο Acts vii. 43, XX. 13, 14, xxiii. 31; 2 Tim. iv. 11; Deut. i. 41; Jer. xxvi. 3.
1 Add του αιωνος, with \h°D°EKLP, etc., Syr.*, al., Mac., Ath.-ms., Chr., Thdrt., al.; om. $*ABD*FG 17, 673, 80, most vss., Clem., Orig.-oft., Ath., Eus., Bas., Nyss., Cyr., Cypr., Lucif., Hil., Ambrst., Jer., Tert., etc.
and evil, and suggests the destined termin- ation of their operation.—mpés τὰ πνεν- ματικὰ τῆς πονηρίας : against the spirit- forces of wickedness. The repetition of the πρὸς before each of the four powers named in the clause has rhetorical force. Such renderings as “spiritual wicked- ness” (Tynd., Bish., AV), ‘ spiritual craftiness ” (Cran.), spirituales nequitiae (Erasm., Beza, Wolf., etc.), are inade- quate. The phrase τὰ πνευματικά is not the same as τὰ πνεύματα, but means properly speaking the spiritual things (so Wicl., “ the spiritual things of wicked- ness"). It is possible that the neut. adj. has the collective force here; in support of which Meyer and others adduce such ρω. aS τὸ πολιτικόν, τὸ ἱππικόν, τὰ
Πστρικά, εἰς, But τὸ πολιτικόν seems to mean the whole of that section of the community which consists of πολῖται ; τὸ ἱππικόν, also τὰ ἱππικά (Polyb., iii., 114, 5) means cavalry ; and τὰ λῃστρικά is used for pirate-vessels. The Ben τὸ λῃστικόν, however, has both the sense of piracy (Thucyd., i., 4, 13), and that of a band of robbers (Thucyd., ii., 69). This may perhaps justify the sense of spirit- bands or spiritual hosts here. But it seems most consonant with usage to give the term τὰ πνευματικὰ τῆς πονηρίας the simple sense of “the spiritual things,” i.e., ‘elements or forces of wickedness,” without connecting with it the doubtful connotation of armies, hosts, or hordes (cf. Abb., in loc.). The πονηρίας is the gen. of quality, = the spirit-forces whose essential character is wickedness.—éyv τοῖς ἐπουρανίοις: in the heavenly regions. On τὰ ἐπονράνια see under i. 3 above. The phrase, of which this is the fifth occur- rence in the Epistle, is most naturally understood in the local sense which it has in the previous instances. Some depart from this sense and make it = the heavenly blessings, giving at the same time the meaning of “ for,” “in behalf” to ἐν, = "' for the heavenly possessions ”. So even Chrys., Theod., and Oec., fol- lowed by Witsius, Wolf., etc. But év ςαπποῖ-- ὑπέρ or περί, not even in Matt. vi. 7; John xvi. 30; Acts vii. 29; 1 Cor.
ix. 4. Others, retaining the local sense, take the phrase as a designation of the scene of the combat, e.g. = ‘‘in the king- dom of heaven,” that being the region in which Christians contend with the ene- mies of God (Matthies), or “in the air” as contrasted with the solid ground (Riick.). But the term qualifies τὰ πνευματικά. Forming one idea with that, it dispenses with the article ; cf. τὰ πετεινὰ τοῦ ἀέρος, Matt. vi. 26; τοῖς πλουσίοις ἐν τῷ viv αἰῶνι, τ Tim. vi. 17, etc. It defines the domain of these spirit-forces. Their haunts are those superterrestrial regions, not the highest heavens which are the abode of God, Christ, and angels, but those lower heavens which are at once subcelestial and superterrestrial. The ΒΡ and the idea may be suggested y the Jewish notion of a series of seven heavens, each distinguished from the other, the third or (later) the fourth, ¢.g., being identified with Paradise. Cf. Morfill and Charles, Book of the Secrets of Enoch, p. xl. The phrase expresses, therefore, much the same idea as the phrase τοῦ ἀέρος in ii. 2, The reason why Paul uses ἐν τοῖς ἐπουρανίοις and not ἐν τῷ ἀέρι here may be, as Meyer suggests, his wish to “bring out as strongly as possible the superhuman and superterrestrial nature of these hostile spirits ”’.