Finally,
be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor
of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s
schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but
against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of
this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the
heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that
when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and
after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the
belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of
righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness
that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take
up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming
arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of
the Spirit, which is the word of God.
And
pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and
requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for
all the Lord’s people. Pray also for me, that whenever I speak,
words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the
mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray
that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should (Ephesians 6:10-20)
NIV.)
When
we think of the martyrdom of the early Christians, too often we
assume that their martyrdom was primarily the result of a difference
in condign power. That is, the early Christians were martyrs because
they lacked sufficient brute force. Actually, a profoundly different
reality obtained. For the early Christians it was not a matter of
insufficient condign power, but of overwhelming conditional power –
the power that arises from certainty based upon religious belief. We
need to take quite literally Paul's assertion that: For
our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers,
against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and
against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. The
simple fact is, if the early Christians were to make up an enemies
list, it would not include the names of anyone. They simply did not
see other people as their enemies. Following the example of Jesus,
they even fully identified with their enemies. They saw instead that
their enemies were not material, but modes of thought and belief to
which they too could be susceptible – such constituted their
enemies list. They made a radical decision – we will not fight
with the weapons of flesh and blood, we will only fight with the
weapons of spirit. This decision was based upon the simple fact that
the weapons of condign power are inappropriate instruments in
conditional-power combat. Ideological wars in which unspeakable
atrocities are committed only serve to testify that death is the only
way that anger and rage find to close off thought – though we know
from history that thoughts are not interred with the dead. Hence our
enemies are not mortal, but are comprised instead of principalities,
powers, and thoughts. To be fully realistic we must come to see that
thoughts have an existence outside the cortex (however notional this
may seem).
In
our own time we have seen this viewpoint exercised in the actions of
Dr. Martin Luther King. His enemies list included no man – not even
the most rabid racists. His enemies list included only modes of
thought to which he in abject honesty realized that he too could be
susceptible. He identified the real enemy and in love skillfully
applied the right tools in effective opposition.
A
great advance in civilization will occur when the limits, even
mortality, of condign power is recognized and the forces of
conditional power (including principalities and powers) are accepted
as vital working hypotheses. The most significant immediate result
will be an increase in compassion and empathy and a concurrent
decrease in cruelty.
(An interesting read that treats condign, compensatory, conditioned power is The Anatomy of Power by John Kenneth Galbraith.)
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