Ephesians 6:12

6:12 For our struggle ¹  is not against flesh and blood, ²  but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world rulers of this darkness, ³  against the spiritual forces ⁴  of evil in the heavens. ⁵ 

Ephesians 3:10

3:10 The purpose of this enlightenment is that ⁶  through the church the multifaceted wisdom ⁷  of God should now be disclosed to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly realms.

Ephesians 2:2

2:2 in which ⁸  you formerly lived ⁹  according to this world’s present path, ¹⁰  according to the ruler of the kingdom ¹¹  of the air, the ruler of ¹²  the spirit ¹³  that is now energizing ¹⁴  the sons of disobedience, ¹⁵ 

Ephesians 1:21

1:21 far above every rule and authority and power and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.

[6:12]  ¹ tn BDAG 752 s.v. πάλη says, “struggle against…the opponent is introduced by πρός w. the acc.”

[6:12]  ² tn Grk “blood and flesh.”

[6:12]  ³ tn BDAG 561 s.v. κοσμοκράτωρ suggests “the rulers of this sinful world” as a gloss.

[6:12]  ⁴ tn BDAG 837 s.v. πνευματικός 3 suggests “the spirit-forces of evil” in Ephesians 6:12.

[6:12]  ⁵ sn The phrase spiritual forces of evil in the heavens serves to emphasize the nature of the forces which oppose believers as well as to indicate the locality from which they originate.

[3:10]  ⁶ tn Grk “that.” Verse 10 is a subordinate clause to the verb “enlighten” in v. 9.

[3:10]  ⁷ tn Or “manifold wisdom,” “wisdom in its rich variety.”

[2:2]  ¹¹ sn The relative pronoun which is feminine as is sins, indicating that sins is the antecedent.

[2:2]  ¹² tn Grk “walked.”

[2:2]  ¹³ tn Or possibly “Aeon.”

[2:2]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “domain, [place of] authority.”

[2:2]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “of” (but see the note on the word “spirit” later in this verse).

[2:2]  ¹⁶ sn The ruler of the kingdom of the air is also the ruler of the spirit that is now energizing the sons of disobedience. Although several translations regard the ruler to be the same as the spirit, this is unlikely since the cases in Greek are different (ruler is accusative and spirit is genitive). To get around this, some have suggested that the genitive for spirit is a genitive of apposition. However, the semantics of the genitive of apposition are against such an interpretation (cf. ExSyn 100).

[2:2]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “working in.”

[2:2]  ¹⁸ sn Sons of disobedience is a Semitic idiom that means “people characterized by disobedience.” However, it also contains a subtle allusion to vv. 4-10: Some of those sons of disobedience have become sons of God.