Copyright © 2010 Landon Matthew Coleman All rights reserved. The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary has permission to reproduce and disseminate this document in any form by any means for purposes chosen by the Seminary, including, without limitation, preservation or instruction. PRINCIPALITIES AND POWERS: A HISTORICAL AND BIBLICAL STUDY WITH STRATEGIC APPLICATION IN NORTH AMERICAN CHURCHES A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy by Landon Matthew Coleman May 2010 UMI Number: 3411367 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. UMI 3411367 Copyright 2010 by ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This edition of the work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. Pro uesr ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, M148106-1346 APPROVAL SHEET PRINCIPALITIES AND POWERS: A HISTORICAL AND BIBLICAL STUDY WITH STRATEGIC APPLICATION IN NORTH AMERICAN CHURCHES Landon Matthew Coleman Read and Approved by: Timothy K. Be ugher Date March /O,WIO To Brooke, "Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all." (Proverbs 31 :29) TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS. Vlll LIST OF TABLES ...... , ............ ................ ........... IX PREFACE...................................................... X Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION..................... 1 Thesis ....................................... , . 3 Walter Wink. 5 C. Peter Wagner. 7 Clinton Arnold. 10 Proposal . 15 Background ............................................ 17 Delimitations ........ 19 Methodology ......... 21 Outline ...... , .................... , ................. ' . 22 2. HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES ON THE PRINCIPALITIES AND POWERS. 24 The Early Church. 27 Identity of the Principalities and Powers . 28 Response of the Church. 35 IV Chapter Page Summary.......................................... 40 The Medieval Period ..................................... 41 Identity of the Principalities and Powers. 41 Response of the Church. 49 Summary.......................................... 53 The Refonnation .. 54 Identity of the Principalities and Powers. 55 Response of the Church. 60 Summary.......................................... 65 The Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries. 65 Identity of the Principalities and Powers. 67 Response of the Church ..................... , . .. .. 76 Summary.......................................... 81 Conclusion .................................. 82 3. CONTEMPORARY PERSPECTIVES ON THE PRINCIPALITIES AND POWERS ........................... 83 Walter Wink. 83 Worldview Assumptions ... 85 Identity ofthe Principalities and Powers. 88 Proposed Response of the Church. 95 Historical Justification for Approach. 100 C. Peter Wagner. 101 Worldview Assumptions ..... 102 v Chapter Page Identity of the Principalities and Powers. 108 Proposed Response of the Church. 115 Historical Justification for Approach. 123 Clinton Arnold. 126 Worldview Assumptions ............................ 126 Identity ofthe Principalities and Powers. 129 Proposed Response of the Church .... " .. ... 132 Historical Justification for Approach. 138 Summary ......................... , ... ... 139 4. BIBLICAL PERSPECTIVES ON THE PRINCIPALITIES AND POWERS........................... 141 Passages . 141 Clear Passages. 143 Governmental Passages . 171 Corroborating Passages . 175 Drruna. ...... .. ... .. .. .. .. ..... ... 193 Creation. 194 Fall............................................... 195 Initial Defeat . 196 Struggle ................................ 197 Final Defeat ............................ 199 Summary. 199 VI Chapter Page 5. PROPOSED STRATEGY FOR THE CHURCH'S STAND AGAINST THE PRINCIPALITIES AND POWERS. .. .. .. .. 201 The Church in the Kingdom. 203 A Biblical Worldview .. 211 Anti-Supernaturalism. 213 Individualism. 219 Standing as the Church. 224 Commit to Being the Church. 228 Commit to Teaching Christology ............ 232 Commit to Teaching Soteriology . 236 Commit to Teaching Demonology .................... " 240 Commit to Praying Corporately. 244 Commit to Evangelizing the Lost ............ 247 Commit to Putting on the Armor. 250 Summary ............ 253 6. CONCLUSION..... 254 Areas for Further Study. 256 Appendix 1. SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPLEMENTING THE PROPOSED STRATEGY IN A LOCAL CHURCH. 259 BIBLIOGRAPHY. 263 Vll LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ANF The Ante-Nicene Fathers NPNF The Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers NPNF2 The Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers: Second Series Vlll LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1. The principalities and powers - terms and passages. 142 IX PREFACE This dissertation is the result of the prayer and support of many people. I would not be who I am or where I am without my wife, Brooke. Her love, patience, support, and encouragement, not to mention her refusal to let me quit, have carried me along. Our sweet girls, Emma and Noelle, have provided me with constant and indescribable joy in the midst of tiring work. My parents and friends, Bill and Karen Coleman, have taught me more than they will ever know about life and ministry. My grandparents, MeeMee and Joe, have been everything grandparents are supposed to be, and their love and support have been invaluable. My in-laws, Jaime and Pam Midkiff, have been remarkably encouraging, supportive, and patient throughout my time in seminary. My pastor, David Evans, instilled in me a love for sound theology and expository preaching. I am also indebted to Larry and Tina Adams. They are really more family than friends, and God used their generosity and encouragement to guide me into . and sustain me through the Ph.D. program. Two other groups of people deserve thanks. First, the faithful believers at North Benson Baptist Church not only have put up with me for three years, but also have taught me much about the church. I have been blessed to serve as their pastor. Second, my professors at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary have been exemplary, especially Chuck Lawless, Tim Beougher, and David Sills. Their passion for knowing Jesus Christ and making him known has been a blessing to my life and ministry. x I began this dissertation with a love for the local church, and during the writing of this dissertation that love has only grown. I pray that these pages would encourage and challenge the next generation of believers to stand together against the principalities and powers, and I pray that God's wisdom would continue to be revealed to the principalities and powers through the church of Jesus Christ. Landon Coleman Frankfort, Kentucky May 2010 Xl CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Over the centuries, churches, missionaries, and lay Christians have utilized numerous strategies in attempting to make disciples of all men. For example, the early church relied heavily on ground-level spiritual warfare. I More recently, in the eighteenth century, the Moravians implemented a strategy that included commerce and economic activities.2 A century later in 1854, Henry Venn proposed a strategy that would result in self-governing, self-supporting, and self-propagating churches.3 In the last century, Donald McGavran promoted a strategy that took into consideration the way peoples become Christian.4 IC. Peter Wagner defines ground-level spiritual warfare as the casting out of demons. C. Peter Wagner, Warfare Prayer: How to Seek God's Power and Protection in the Battle to Build His Kingdom (Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 1992), 16. Ramsay MacMullen explains the evangelistic importance of ground-level spiritual warfare for the early church: "The manhandling of demons - humiliating them, making them howl, beg for mercy, tell their secrets, and depart in a hurry - served a purpose quite essential to the Christian definition of monotheism: it made physically (or dramatically) visible the superiority of the Christian's patron Power over all others." Ramsay MacMullen, Christianizing the Roman Empire: A.D. 100-400 (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1984), 28. 2William J. Danker, Profit for the Lord: Economic Activities in Moravian Missions and the Basel Mission Trading Company (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 1971), 35. 3Stephen Neill, A History ofChristian Missions (London: Penguin, 1990), 221. 4McGavran asked, "How do peoples become Christian? ... The question is how, in a manner true to the Bible, can a Christward movement be established in some 1 2 The development of missiological strategies continued during the latter half of the twentieth century. During this era, scholars used the biblical concept ofthe "principalities and powers" as the foundation for two novel and divergent strategies. 5 Duane Garrett explains, Two distinctive Protestant approaches to the 'powers' have emerged. One is that of Walter Wink:, whose writings form the theological undergirding for the political activism of liberal Protestantism. The other began in charismatic churches but now has gained wider acceptance among traditional, evangelical Protestants; it is the 'spiritual warfare' movement.6 Few would disagree that Walter Wink: is the leader of what Garrett calls the liberal Protestant approach, and most would agree that C. Peter Wagner is the leader of what Garrett calls the spiritual warfare approach.7 Additionally, this paper