"Good Friday," Easter, and Spiritual Warfare

Today, April 18, is what Christians often call Good Friday, and two days from now is Easter Sunday. These are two of the most significant days for Christians, but they are not usually linked to what is often referred to as spiritual warfare, which is largely based on Ephesians 6:10~17 in the New Testament. 

Spiritual warfare is not interpreted the same by all Christians. As might be expected, the understanding and emphasis of moderates/progressives tend to be quite different from that of conservatives/traditionalists.

The decisive verse regarding spiritual warfare is found in Ephesians 6:

… we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places (v. 12, KJ21).

Conservative evangelical Christians tend to interpret these words as referring to personal struggles of individual Christians. For example, John Mark Comer, a well-known evangelical pastor and author, writes about spiritual warfare in his book Live No Lies.

Comer (b. 1980) interprets spiritual warfare primarily as the struggle of individual Christians against the lies that rob them of the enjoyment of personal peace and freedom.

Shane Claiborne (b. 1975), a progressive “evangelical,” interprets spiritual warfare quite differently:

This [2024] election was about principalities and powers – racism, patriarchy, xenophobia. This is not just about Trump. Certainly he has unleashed some of our worst demons. But this is bigger than one man. It is about spiritual and systemic powers that seek to harm some of our most vulnerable neighbors.*¹

The best interpretation of spiritual warfare I know of is by William Stringfellow, a lawyer and lay theologian. I wrote about him and his understanding of “principalities and powers” in my Jan. 5, 2018, blog article, and I encourage you to (re)read that post (see here).*2

In that article, I cited these words from one of Stringfellow’s most important books, An Ethic for Christians and Other Aliens in a Strange Land (1977). He wrote there that “principalities and powers” are not some esoteric spiritual forces of evil in a nonvisible realm.

Rather, Stringfellow explained, they are “all authorities, corporations, institutions, traditions, processes, structures, bureaucracies, ideologies, systems” and the like (p. 27).

That blog post made seven years ago was about the spiritual warfare evidenced by Herod’s “slaughter of the innocents” soon after Jesus’ birth. But even more, Jesus’ crucifixion on “Good Friday,” and his resurrection on that first Easter Sunday, are also prime examples of spiritual warfare.

Jesus, the light of the world, combats Satan, the “prince of this world,” according to the New Testament (see John 8:12, 14:30, NIV). In Paradise Lost, John Milton refers to Satan as “the prince of darkness,” the embodiment of evil.

The Lord’s Prayer points to an ongoing cosmic conflict between God’s kingdom of light and the devil’s temporary kingdom of darkness (Rev. 12:7~10). Through Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection, the Triune God won the decisive battle against the formidable force of evil (= “Satan” or the devil).

The good news of Easter is not primarily about the hope of future life in a far-off heaven by those who believe in Jesus. Rather, it is about the kingdom (kindom) of God becoming victorious here and now, God’s will being done on earth as it is in heaven.

But the fight between light and darkness, good and evil, is by no means over. Spiritual warfare continues. That is why God-believers are admonished to put on “the whole armor of God” so that they may be able to “stand against the wiles of the devil” (Eph. 6:11, KJ21).

It is with great sadness that we see spiritual warfare apparent now even between Good Friday- and Easter-celebrating Christians aligned with decidedly different understandings of the Gospel of Jesus.

One side is composed to a large degree by MAGA Christians who see Trump’s assassination attempt as linked to spiritual warfare and also interprets that warfare as being primarily against abortion and LGBT people.*3

On the other side are those of us who see the force of evil working through the destructive power structures elucidated by Stringfellow. Those structures, unfortunately, include the current Trump Administration.

I encourage you to click on this link and read Thinking Friend Jarrett Banks’s Palm Sunday prayer at First Christian Church in Lynchburg, Virginia. He expressed so well the side I want to identify with. What about you?

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*¹ These words are cited in a Nov. 8, 2024, post by John Fea (see here).

*² The Wikipedia article about Stringfellow (1928~85) correctly mentions that his work has been advanced by New Testament scholar/professor Walter Wink (1935~2012), who wrote a trilogy on “the powers.” It also notes his influence on “evangelical social activists” such as Jim Wallis and Shane Claiborne.

*3 About three weeks ago, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said, “I certainly believe in spiritual warfare. And I think I saw it firsthand, especially throughout the campaign trail with President Trump. And I think there certainly were evil forces. And I think that the president was saved by the grace of God on July 13 in Butler, Pennsylvania, and he's in this moment for a reason."

On March 22 a Catholic priest speaking at a conference in California emphasized “the reality of spiritual warfare in the fight against abortion, the demonic attacks against the family and life issues, and the connection between abortion, the culture, and the spiritual forces of darkness.”

And then this on April 2: “Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and two of her fellow GOP congresswomen discussed her bill banning transgender medical services for children and the ‘spiritual warfare’ surrounding gender ideology” (see here).