Ephesians 6:12

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. 'For the [ hee (G3588)] wrestling to us [so 'Aleph (') A, Vulgate. But B Delta G f 'to you'] ('the wrestling' in which we are engaged) is not against flesh,' etc. Not merely against feeble man, but against powerful spirits of evil. 'Wrestling,' for it is a hand-to-hand and foot-to-foot personal, individual struggle: to wrestle successfully with Satan, we must wrestle with GOD in irresistible prayer, like Jacob (Genesis 32:24-1; Hosea 12:4). Translate, 'the principalities ... the powers' ...

12._For we wrestle _(171) _not. _To impress them still more deeply with their danger, he points out the nature of the enemy, which he illustrates by a comparative statement, _Not against flesh and blood. _The meaning is, that our difficulties are far greater than if we had to fight with men. There we resist human strength, sword is opposed to sword, man contends with man, force is met by force, and skill by skill; but here the case is widely different. All amounts to this, that our enemies are such as no human power can withstand. By _flesh and blood _the apostle denotes men, who are so denominated in order to contrast them with spiritual assailants. This is no bodily struggle. Let us remember this when the injurious treatment of others provokes us to revenge. Our natural disposition would lead us to direct all our exertions against the men themselves; but this foolish desire will be res...

10-18 Spiritual strength and courage are needed for our spiritual warfare and suffering. Those who would prove themselves to have true grace, must aim at all grace; and put on the whole armour of God, which he prepares and bestows. The Christian armour is made to be worn; and there is no putting off our armour till we have done our warfare, and finished our course. The combat is not against human enemies, nor against our own corrupt nature only; we have to do with an enemy who has a thousand ways of beguiling unstable souls. The devils assault us in the things that belong to our souls, and labour to deface the heavenly image in our hearts. We must resolve by God's grace, not to yield to Satan. Resist him, and he will flee. If we give way, he will get ground. If we distrust either our cause, or our Leader, or our armour, we give him advantage. The different parts of the armour of heavy-a...

Verse 12. _FOR WE WRESTLE NOT AGAINST FLESH AND BLOOD_] Ουκ εστιν ἡμιν ἡ παλη προς αἱμα και σαρκα· Our _wrestling_ or _contention is not with men_ like ourselves: _flesh and blood_ is a Hebraism for _men_, or _human beings_. Galatians 1:16. The word παλη implies the athletic exercises in the Olympic and other national games; and παλαιστρα was the _place_ in which the contenders exercised. Here it signifies warfare in general. _AGAINST PRINCIPALITIES_] αρχας. _Chief rulers_; beings of the first rank and order in their own kingdom. _POWERS_] εξουσιας, _Authorities_, derived from, and constituted by the above. _THE RULERS OF THE DARKNESS OF THIS WORLD_] Τους κοσμοκρατορας του σκοτους του αιωνος τουτου· The rulers of the world

FOR WE WRESTLE - Greek, “The wrestling to us;” or, “There is not to us a wrestling with flesh and blood.” There is undoubtedly here an allusion to the ancient games of Greece, a part of the exercises in which consisted in wrestling; see the notes on 1 Corinthians 9:25. The Greek word used here - πάλη palē - denotes a “wrestling;” and then a struggle, fight, combat. Here it refers to the struggle or combat which the Christian has to mainrain - the Christian warfare. NOT AGAINST FLESH AND BLOOD - Not with people; see the notes on Galatians 1:16. The apostle does not mean to say that Christians had no enemies among men that opposed them, for they were exposed often

EXPOSITION EPHESIANS 6:1 CHILDREN, OBEY YOUR PARENTS IN THE LORD: FOR THIS IS RIGHT. The first duty of children is obedience, and "in the Lord," _i.e. _in Christ, this duty is confirmed. The ἐν Κυρίῳ qualifies, not "parents," but "obey," and indicates that the element or life which even children lead in fellowship with Christ makes such obedience more easy and more graceful. The duty itself rests on the first principles of morality—"for this is right." It is an obligation that rests on the very nature of things, and cannot change with the spirit of the age; it is in no degree modified by what is called the spirit of independence in children. EPHESIANS 6:2 Honor thy father and mother (which is the first c

FOR WE WRESTLE NOT AGAINST FLESH AND BLOOD,.... The Syriac, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions, and some copies, read "you", instead of "we". This is a reason why saints should be strong in the Lord, and why they should put on the whole armour of God, and prepare for battle, since their enemies are such as here described: not "flesh and blood"; frail mortal men, such as were wrestled against in the Olympic games, to which the apostle alludes. For this wrestling, as Philo the Jew says e, concerning Jacob's wrestling, is not of the body, but of the soul; see Matthew 16:17; and the meaning is, not with men only, for otherwise the saints have a conflict with men; with profane men, and wrestle against them, by bearing a testimony against their enormities, and by patiently enduring their reproaches, and conquer them by a constant adherence to Christ, and an exercise of faith upon him, which gets th...

Ephesians 6:1. _Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right._ Fitting by nature, and pleasing in the sight of God. Ephesians 6:2. _Honour thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise: That it may be, well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth. And ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of tire Lord._ For the duties are like birds with two wings, or like a pair of scales, balance for each side. There is the child's duty, but there is the parent's duty too. Ephesians 6:5. Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear an

EPHESIANS 6:12 h`mi/n {B} Whereas the preponderance of external evidence (î46 B D* G Y 81 _al_) appears to support u`mi/n, the natural tendency of copyists would have been to alter h`mi/n to u`mi/n, since the rest of the paragraph involves the second person. A majority of the Committee preferred h`mi/n as being perhaps the more difficult reading....

6. THE WARFARE AND THE PANOPLY OF GOD CHAPTER 6:10-20 __ 1. The warfare (Ephesians 6:10) 2. The panoply of God (Ephesians 6:13) Christian warfare or conflict is with the devil and his wiles, with the principalities, the powers, the rulers of the darkness of this world, and with the spiritual armies of wickedness in the heavenly places (literal translation). This revelation given here concerning the powers of darkness, the principalities, the rulers of the darkness of this world and the wicked spirits in the heavenly places, is important and demands a closer attention. The Scriptures clearly teach that there is a vast dominion of darkness over which Satan is the head and that, as the god of this present age, he has rulers over this world and a large army o