Quoted from John Eadie’s Commentary on Colossians (p.174) by T. J. Crawford in Doctrine of Holy Scripture, p.127.
H. E. W. Turner, Patristic Doctrine, p.47.
Rudolf Bultmann, Kerygma and Myth, pp.4–5.
1 Chr. 29:11; Isa. 9:6–7.
Rev. 12:1ff.; Matt. 2:1–18; 4:1–11; John 6:15; Matt. 16:23, RSV; John 13:27.
E.g. Mark 1:24 (demons); Matt. 4:23 (sicknesses) and Mark 4:39 (nature).
Luke 10:18; 11:21–22; Mark 3:27.
John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11.
Since about the Second World War, and in particular the publication of Hendrik Berkhof’s Christ and the Powers and G. B. Caird’s Principalities and Powers, there has been lively debate about the identity of Paul’s ‘principalities and powers’. Previously everybody seems to have agreed that he meant personal spiritual agencies, both angelic and demonic. But, not least because archai (rulers) and exousiai (authorities) are used by him in relation to political powers, it has been suggested that Paul himself had begun to ‘demythologize’ the concept of angels and demons, and that he sees them rather as structures of earthly existence and power, especially the state, but also tradition, convention, law, economics and even religion. Although this attempted reconstruction is popular in some evangelical (as well as liberal) groups, it remains unconvincing. The addition of ‘in the heavenly realms’ in the Ephesians passages, and the antithesis to ‘flesh and blood’ in Eph. 6:10, not to mention the world-wide extent of the powers’ influence, seem to me to fit the concept of supernatural beings much more readily, although of course such beings can and do use structures as well as individuals as media of their ministry. For further study see my discussion in Ephesians, pp.267–275; E. M. B. Green in Satan’s Downfall, pp.84 ff.; and especially the full discussion entitled ‘Principalities and Powers’, by P. T. O’Brien, pp.110–150.
F. F. Bruce, Colossians, p.238.
J. Jeremias, Central Message, p.37.
Peter O’Brien, Colossians, p.133. Cf. p.124.
Ibid., p.127.
Ibid., p.129.
H. C. G. Moule, Colossian Studies, p.159. It was ‘as if the cross’, wrote Calvin, ‘which was full of shame, had been changed into a triumphal chariot!’ (Institutes, II.xvi.6).
Alexander Maclaren, Colossians and Philemon, p.222.
John 19:11; Matt. 26:53; Mark 15:30.
2 Cor. 13:4; 1 Cor. 1:25; John 14:30.
F. F. Bruce, Colossians, p.239.
Acts 2:24; Eph. 1:20–23; 1 Pet. 3:22.
Acts 26:18; 1 Thess. 1:9; Col. 1:13. Among animists, now usually called ‘traditional religionists’, who live in fear of the spirits, the concept of a ‘power encounter’ with Jesus Christ is particularly important. ‘The turning of a people to serve the true and living God is normally a response to some evident and convincing demonstration of the power of Christ over the spirit powers (experiential), rather than a mental assent to truths about Jesus Christ (cognitive)’ (Christian Witness to Traditional Religionists of Asia and Oceania, Lausanne Occasional Paper No. 16, p.10). See also the Lausanne Occasional Papers which relate to Christian witness among similar peoples in Latin America and the Caribbean (No. 17) and in Africa (No. 18).
Rev. 20:1–3; Matt. 28:18–20.
Ps. 110:1; Phil. 2:9–11; Rev. 20:10, 14; 1 Cor. 15:24–28.
Mark 8:31; 9:31; 10:34.
John 10:17–18; cf. 2:19.
Acts 2:23–24; 1 Cor. 15:1–8.
1 Thess. 4:14; 2 Cor. 5:15.
Rom. 6:1–4; Luke 24:30–35.
E. M. B. Green, Empty Cross, p.11.
E.g. Acts 2:24; 5:31; Rom. 1:4; 1 Cor. 15:12ff.
C. E. B. Cranfield, Romans, Vol. I, p.252.
James Denney, Death of Christ, p.73.
1 John 2:13; Rev. 3:21.
1 Cor. 15:57; Eph. 1:20–23; 2:4–6; Mark 3:27.
Eph. 1:20–23; 6:10–17.
1 John 5:18; 1 Pet. 5:8.
Heb. 6:5; 1 John 2:8; Rom. 8:21.
Heb. 2:14 (the devil); Rom. 6:6 (the ‘flesh’ or fallen nature); 2 Tim. 1:10 (death).
Gal. 3:23 and 13; Rom. 6:14; 10:4; Gal. 5:18.
Gal. 5:19–21; Titus 3:3; John 8:34–36; Rom. 6:6.
1 John 2:15–16; John 16:33; 1 John 5:4–5.
Rom. 12:1–2; Gal. 6:14.
Boswell’s Life of Johnson, Vol. II, p.212.
1 Cor. 15:26; John 11:25–26.
Matt. 8:16–17; Isa. 53:5; 1 Pet. 2:24.
E. M. B. Green, Satan’s Downfall, p.220.
O. Bauernfeind’s article on the nikaō word group.
For ho nikōn see Rev. 2:7, 11, 17, 26; 3:5, 12, 21 (twice); 6:2; 21:7.
