Powers and Principalities
In the life of Christ, we see him undertake three main activities. The first is his preaching ministry - where he announced the coming of the kingdom in our midst, and the character of those who dwell in it. Second is his healing ministry, where he delivers countless thousands of suffering souls from physical ailments and even death. Finally is his exorcism ministry, where he releases those chained in bondage to evil spirits - conquering them once and for all, mysteriously, on the cross.
The modern world tends to scoff at the idea of the demonic. We now consider ourselves too advanced scientifically to entertain the idea of disembodied evil spirits influencing our lives and drawing us to the road of evil. Yet this confidence in the scientific paradigm dispelling all traces of the demonic (or angelic) is entirely misplaced.
Does modern science have room for spirits?
The modern materialist reductionism which has held so much sway in scientific and philosophical circles is crumbling. It is no longer possible to be scientifically literate and hold a view of the world as a kind of elaborate mechanism, of purposeless atoms merely knocking into each other.
Modern physics now speaks of the world as permeated by abstract “fields” which extend through-out the universe, with atoms and particles now represented as energetic excitations of these fields. The configurations of these fields which we observe are now thought to be smears of probability, mere possibilities, until an observer witnesses them and they collapse into firm reality.
Under these new discoveries, reality sounds a lot more thought-like than the old mechanical model, much more feasibly permeated by spirit than before. Not only that, but the materialist reductionistic paradigm has utterly failed in accounting for human consciousness. Indeed, if it wasn’t so serious, it would be humorous - this overly confident world-view has been completely hopeless in explaining the consciousness of those who hold to this very world-view! The arena in which this world-view arises has been completely unexplained by this very world-view.
It was promised that with advances in neuroscience that, sooner or later, the reductionist would have a complete explanation of consciousness via scientific means. Yet, after decades of brain science we are as far from explaining consciousness as ever. It is not even clear how general anaesthetics work, despite their ubiquitous use.
As a result, the materialist reductionism is crumbling, even in academia. We are now seeing the emergence of strange ideas such as panpsychism, where consciousness is now thought of as an irreducible property of materiality, and even rocks and atoms have a small amount of it. Under this view somehow all these little bits of consciousness in the atoms and molecules of our brain combine to produce the field of awareness that we now enjoy. A strange idea to be sure, yet indicative of the dawning realisation that reality needs something of the spirit within it.
This was a long digression, but important to show that, despite the popular understanding of science causing doubt about the existence of things like angels and demons, disembodied intellects or spirits, the latest science and philosophy is opening the door for these types of realities again.
Spiritual warfare and the kingdom
So with that out of the way, let’s go back to the idea of spiritual warfare in the Christian life. If one of Christ’s main accomplishments in his incarnation was the defeat of evil powers, then we Christians, who are now the body of Christ, can expect to be engaged in the same warfare.
The advance of God’s kingdom on earth, the advance of the new creation inaugurated at the resurrection, is also at the same time the driving back of the spiritual forces of evil in the world. Indeed, death entered the world through the yielding of the first man and woman to the temptation of the adversary.
There was an important tradition at the time of Christ and St Paul (see the book of Enoch), which spoke of mankind, even the Israelites, being under the sway of evil angels and spirits. Indeed, this tradition even blamed the lack of ability of Israel to obey the Mosaic Law, the Torah, on the overpowering of the wills and intellects of the Israelites by these spirits - the principalities and powers who hold sway over the world. This Enochian tradition saw freedom from these powers to only be possible at the end of time, when God finally defeated them.
Therefore Christ and St Paul would likely have understood the need for these powers of death and destruction to be defeated before the people of Israel and indeed the world could be free to work for the good. This defeat of the powers was tied up in the minds of many Second Temple Jews with the resurrection and the new creation, however they only saw this as happening at the end of time.
Christ defeated these powers of death by resisting the temptation of these powers, even to his own death on the cross, and hence by his victory he was resurrected in glory and became the first fruits of the new creation. The new creation and resurrection came early - it has been inaugurated before the end of time.
Yet while ultimate victory is certain, we are still engaged in extending Christ’s victory throughout creation, through the power of the Holy Spirit. As such, we must work against the powers in every moment of our lives, who will certainly resist our efforts. While they are defeated, and the new creation will inexorably come, they still have power over those of us who give it to them.
So how can we advance the kingdom of the new creation?
Participating in the victory
Like Christ, through love and self-sacrifice, but also by defeating temptation. Indeed, it can probably be argued that, unless we become proficient at discerning and rejecting temptation, our efforts, which we suppose to be acts of charity and mercy, may turn out to be rather the stoking of pride and ego.
For just as we are Christ’s body, under his headship and powered by his Spirit, working in the world for his kingdom, so also there are evil principalities and powers seeking to act in the world through us. They are seeking to remove us from Christ’s body, his actions in the world through us, and instead have us work in their “body” - where we implement their schemes and disordered desires.
This is why watchfulness and our thought lives are so important. It is why St Paul warned us to take every thought captive for Christ. Spiritual and intellectual beings seek to speak with us through our thought lives, and this is why the Desert and Eastern Fathers spoke so much about the guarding of the heart and intellect.
“The devil, with all his powers, ‘walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour’ (1 Peter 5:8). So you must never relax your attentiveness of heart, your watchfulness, your power of rebuttal or your prayer to Jesus Christ our God” St Hesychios the Priest, On Watchfulness and Holiness.
Not only do spiritual beings attempt to deceive us through our thoughts, but also our bad habits, our culture, the world etc. These can ultimately be traced back to the past operation of the principalities and willing or careless human beings and societies. If you’re disinclined to believe in the real existence of entities such as demons, perhaps you can at least believe in corrupt human motives eventually permeating many aspects of society, especially power structures, which we then imbibe as part of living in a culture.
In any case, it is very easy to fall into a kind of automatic mode of living, where we simply play out a “program”. We don’t reflect on or resist the automatic thoughts or impulses which arise within us, and so we live a kind of enslaved life. This is especially easy to do in the modern world, with the plethora of distractions available to us, which tend to lull us into sleep. In such a state, we can very easily embody the schemes of the principalities and powers.
The internal battle
Our natures, which are very good, then become smothered in evil patterns and thoughts. But all is not lost. Let’s consider what St Paul has to say in the letter to the Romans. In Chapter 7, he laments a state of being which he previously inhabited. He talks about not being able to do what he wishes to do, but rather he ends up doing what he doesn’t want to do. He mysteriously says that sin dwells within him, and hence it is not him - that is, his higher intellect and reason - operating, but rather the sin that is in him.
This is the state of slavery that we have been discussing. It is the state of a kind of spiritual sleep and helplessness, where one is enslaved to the powers of sin which come and go freely within our thought-life and consciousness, and where we are somewhat helpless to carry out their schemes. In such a state, he is at war with himself - his “inner man” may delight in God’s law - yet there is an opposing force which often has its way.
As such, there is disunity and disorder in his soul - and we know that when there is disunity and disorder within a being, death is the ultimate result. This state of the soul is therefore a kind of spiritual death playing itself out. However, chapter 7 of Romans ends with a sign of hope. St Paul asks who will deliver him from this “body of death” - and he answers - the grace of Jesus the Messiah.
We then find ourselves in the glorious chapter 8 of Romans. In this chapter we learn that the law of sin and death is overthrown by the Spirit of Christ. By the Spirit’s power dwelling in us we are now free to live in the Spirit, rather than being enslaved to the things of the flesh - that is, the passions (I will speak more about the passions in a future instalment). Therefore, the Spirit can reconstruct us from the disunity and disorder of our spiritual death, and lead us back to the original unity and peace of our first parents in paradise.
Help from the Fathers
We have that power through our life in Christ and through the Spirit, yet do we know how to live in such a way that this power is actualised within us? The Fathers are a great resource to embark on this path - they have identified ways of spiritual combat which enable us to break free, by the power of Christ and the Spirit, from these powers.
As mentioned previously, the “method” if you want to call it that, of achieving true freedom from the slavery of the flesh, the world, and the devil is watchfulness. Or, today, we might call it a form of Christ-infused mindfulness. It is the practice of frequently drawing into the silence of your heart, either pushing out thoughts or letting them slide by, invoking the name of Jesus in prayer, and residing in the resulting peace. Once one is ensconced in that peaceful cocoon, one is able to see all the external and internal impulses that seek to drag us away from the peace of Christ. Then we can abide in freedom and tranquility.
That’s a quick introduction to watchfulness, but a fuller treatment will have to wait until another instalment.
See you next time.