Mathetes

Hi there,

a quick question from Ephesians 2. Here is the Greek:
Translation:
Although since the ruler is in the accusative and the spirit in the genitive, they cannot be the same. A better translation of the sentence would be: "the ruler of the kindgom of the air, of the spirit who is now...", that could be either "the ruler of the kindgom of the air, the ruler of the spirit who is now..." or "the ruler of the kindgom of the air, the ruler of the kingdom of the spirit who is now...".

Not that it makes much more sense, anyway.

So who is this guy, this "ruler of the kingdom or the air"? Satan? Aeolus? A djinn?

ISVfan

Satan.He is allowed to rule the earth till Christ comes back.

GakuseiDon

Satan. "Ruler of the powers of the air" and "ruler of the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience" makes sense according to the "Middle" Platonic views of the day.

Demons lived in the air, and Satan was the head honcho of the demons (thus "ruler of the powers of the air"). Demons also acted through and influenced people (thus "ruler of the spirit of disobedience"). The final form of "Ascension of Isaiah" has Satan working through people to have Christ crucified, for example.

Mathetes

Hi, guys. Thanks for answering.

I would like some more specific information, though. What links Satan to the "ruler of the air"?

What do you mean? I know a couple of things about Plato thought, and I do not get this.

Demons live in the air? Is this a Jewish tradition? It certainly is not a Greek tradition, where a "daimon" is just a supernatural entity that can live anywhere, in the heavens, the earth or the underworld. I would like to see a reference somewhere, like the LXX, the Hebrew text, the apocrypha, etc., where these supernatural entities are somehow linked to the "air element".

I'm not trying to be confrontational. Just want to go a bit deeper than the "he looks like a bad guy, so it must be Satan" argument that I keep reading in Christian websites.

Julian

Middle Platonism is actually a Greek tradition. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_Platonism

Julian

DrJim

IF I remember correctly, the Ascension of Isaiah has the prophet lifted up to the 7 heavens. On his way ot the first one, he passes the "firmament" where there are all manner of entities quarelling and so forth and this is linked to warfare on earth from the earliest times. In earlier texts, such as 1 Enoch, one of the chief fallen "watchers" (Azael, I think), teaches warfare to humans. Now, these texts do not put "satan" in the air but I think the ascension does share with Ephesians something of the same kind of thought: that evil entities rules the air. Of course, in early Judaism, and perhaps early Christianity too, there were many names for the chief of the bad guys: Satan, Belial etc. Every text seems to have its own take on issue, but Ephesians is not way out of line with some other traditions.

Jim Linville

Sarpedon

Yes, it was assumed to be Satan by early christians...

Fun aside: early christians believed that Satan caused thunderstorms, so they took to ringing churchbells during storms in the belief it would drive him off and make the storm go away. :rolling:

GakuseiDon

It is deemed "Middle Platonic", a category created by scholars to indicate ideas that came between classical Platonism (pre 2nd C BCE) and neo-Platonism (post 3rd C CE).

It is an idea used by Greeks & Romans, and Hellenized Jews like Philo of Alexandria and Paul.

The universe consisted of two layers. There was a supra-lunar realm that extended above the firmament, where gods and angels existed, as well as idealised nature forces (the sun and constellations for example) existed. The supra-lunar realm was generally considered "perfect" - unchanging and eternal. This would include what we would call "Heaven".

Then there was the sub-lunar realm, which extended from the firmament to the earth. This realm was considered "imperfect" - subject to change and decay. For Hellenized Jews and Christians, demons and humans lived in the sub-lunar realm. Demons were made of "spiritual" substances like air or fire, and lived in the air as well as around humans.

Greeks and Romans also believed in "daimons" who lived in the air, but these daimons weren't necessarily bad. Some were the spirits of heroes, for example. The Greeks said that Socrates consulted with daimons, which early Christians tut-tutted, declaring all daimons were bad.

I recommend the "Ascension of Isaiah" as a good place to start.

Mathetes

Thanks for the pointers, guys.