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| Principalities and Powers.
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34. It is indeed a thing so
unheard of to believe that a man can pronounce condemnation on the
fabric which he himself has reared, that I doubt not it will with
difficulty win credit; and I feel that what you desire is that I
should, if possible, produce from his writings instances of this so
clear that no room whatever may be left for doubting; that is, passages
in which that ‘other’ of which he is so fond is not named
at all; and this I will do. In this same book he declares his belief
that, in the end of the age,2880
| 2880 Sæculi; usually translated by
‘the end of the world,’ which, however, hardly gives the
true meaning. | Christ and
his saints will have their throne above the demons in such a way that
the demons themselves will act according to the will of Christ and his
saints who reign over them. In commenting upon the passage where the
Apostle says,2881
“That
in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in kindness
toward us in Christ Jesus,” after a few other remarks, he
says:
“We who formerly were held
bound by the law of the infernal place, and, through our vices and sins
were given over both to the works of the flesh and to punishment, shall
now reign with Christ and sit together with him. But we shall sit, not
in some kind of low place, but2882
above all
Principalities and power and Dominion, and every name that is named not
only in this age but in the age to come. For, if Christ has been raised
from the dead, and sits at the right hand of God in heavenly places,
far above all Principality and Power and Dominion, and above every name
that is named, not only in this age but in the age to come, we also
must of necessity sit and reign with Christ and sit above those things
above which he sits. But the careful reader will at this point make his
inquiry and say: What? is man then greater than the angels and all the
powers of heaven? I make answer, though it is hazardous to do so, that
the Principalities and Powers and Mights and Dominions, and all names
that are named not only in this age but in that which is to come must
refer (since all things are subjected to the feet of Christ) not to the
good part of them but the opposite; the Apostle means by these
expressions the rebellious angels, and the prince of this world, and
Lucifer who once was the morning star, over whom in the end of the age
the saints must sit with Christ, who communicates this privilege to
them. These powers are now infernal powers, abusing their freedom for
the worst purposes, wandering everywhere and running together down the
steep places of sin. But when they have Christ and the saints sitting
on thrones above them, they will begin to be ruled according to the
will of those who reign over them.”
Surely there is no ambiguity
remaining here; the passage needs no one to bring out its points. He
says in the most distinct terms, without bringing in the person of any
‘other,’ that the rebellious angels and the prince of this
world, and Lucifer who once was the morning star, will in the end, when
Christ sits and reigns over them with his saints, be fellows and
sharers, not only of his kingdom but also of his will; for to act
according to the will of Christ and of all his saints is to have
arrived at the highest blessedness, and the perfection which we are
taught in the Lord’s Prayer to ask of the Father is none other
than this, that his will may be done in earth as it is in
heaven. E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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