Re: ARCWN THS EXOUSIAS TOU AEROS

From: Edgar M. Krentz (emkrentz@mcs.com)
Date: Sun Jan 04 1998 - 18:38:02 EST


>At 15:39 98/01/03 -0600, you wrote:
>>> ...an afterthought to that mail on DIKH...
>>>
>>> is hO ARCWN THS EXOUSIAS TOU AEROS (Eph2:2)
>>> pagan or Jewish? ARCWN suggests Jewish but
>>> TOU AEROS??? Is it something related to the
>>> local worship of Artemis?
>>>
>>> Sorry if this off the wall.
>>> Steven
>>
>>I take this as a reference to the god AIWN. Leontocephalos male, winged,
>>with a snake coiling around his body. There are two differentancient
>>statues of him [lifesize, so to speak] in the Vatican Library. Related to
>>time, fate, and chance, and so related to the STOICEIA TOU KOSMOU.
>>
>>The reference to the goddess in Acts 28:4 must be to DIKH, justice or
>>vengeance, presented as a being.

> Hi Edgar
> Thanks - I don't cc b-greek as you didn't
>
> Sorry what are your reasons for identifying with
> AIWN? (my knowledge of Greek religion is very
> limited) was he supposed to be ruler of AHR?
> Or is it a local connection with Ephesus??
>
> Steven

Since I didn't send the first reply to b-greek, I thought I would send the
entire bit interchange to the list.

If you look at Ephesians 2:2, KATA TON AIWNA TOU KOSMOU TOUTOU is set
parallel to KATA TON ARCONTA THS EXOUSIAS TOU AEROS, then identified again
as TOU PNEUMATOS TOU NUN ENERGOUNTOS ....

I think these three Greek phrases are parallel, identifying one power of
those called rulers (ARCAS), authorities (EXOUSIAS), the world-rulers of
darkness (KOSMOKRATORAS TOU SKOTOUS) IN EPH 6:12.

AIWN, therefore, is a spirit being (DAIMONION) hostile to human kind. I
then looked for such a deity in Roman religion, and found him in the god to
whom I referred above, whose statue(s) can be seen in the Vatican library.

If this topic interests you further, I suggest that you look at the book by
John Ferguson, RELIGIONS OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE (Cornell University Press back
in about 1972, often reprinted in paperback). Or you might want to look at
the trilogy by Walter Wink, NAMING THE POWERS, ENGAGING THE POWERS,
UNMASKING THE POWERS, all published by Fortress Press.

One scholar put it, " The sky hung low in those days." There was a lot of
magic and reverence of these powers in popular religion--and that is what
Ephesians is all about.

You might also want to check out the two books by Clinton E. Arnold:
EPHESIANS, POWER AND MAGIC: THE CONCEPT OF POWER IN EPHESIANS IN LIGHT OF
ITS HISTORICAL SETTING (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1992) and THE COLOSSIAN
SYNCRETISM: THE INTERFACE BETWEEN CHRISTIANITY AND FOLK BELIEF AT COLOSSAE
( Grand Rapids: Baker, 1996.

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Edgar Krentz
Professor of New Testament
Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago
Telephone: (773) 256-0752
e-mail: Office: ekrentz@lstc.edu;
Home: emkrentz@mcs.com
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