‘The Ruler of the Power of the Air’ in the Salvific Story of Ephesians 2
Daniel K. Darko
Daniel K. Darko (Ph.D, King’s College, University of London) is Professor of New Testament at Gordon College
Abstract: Post-enlightenment theological articulations of what salvation entail often ostracize Satan in the process and limit the experience to a transaction between God and humans. The idea of ‘salvation by grace’ is however borrowed from Ephesians 2 where pre-conversion life was purportedly lived under the domain of Satan. The human condition is engineered by diabolic influence. Thus, people are saved from satanic influence and its attendant consequences of sin, social breakdown, fleshly
impulses etc. to belong to a people of God. Spiritual warfare is meant to curb
pressures from evil powers to maintain faithful standing in God. Salvation would be incomplete, according to Ephesians 2, if it did not include deliverance from the control of ‘the ruler of the power of the air.’
Key Words: Ephesians, salvation, Satan principalities, Spirit
