The Evil Behind the Evil
A Sermon by the Rev. S. Randall Toms, Ph.D.
St. Paul’s Anglican Church
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
October 25, 2026
At this time of year, we are constantly reminded as we drive through our neighborhoods that Halloween is approaching. The other morning, I was walking one of my dogs down a street in our subdivision where someone put up one of those giant 10-foot-tall skeletons with eyes that shone with different colored lights. Since we walk before sunrise, the flashing eyes looked very spooky. One of my dogs paid it no mind, but the other sensed something foreign on that street. She didn't stop to investigate, but she perked up her ears and kept a close eye on it until we got farther down the road. At this time of year, we often think skeletons, ghosts, vampires, and witches are some of the best symbols of evil. But these things have become playthings to us, and we no longer have a genuine concept of what evil really is and its real presence among us. We have little concept of how powerful evil is in our world.
For a true description of evil, we need to pay close attention to the apostle Paul in Ephesians 6. The world is full of evil. Every day, as we watch the news, read the newspapers, or search the internet, we face genuine evil. We hear of wars and hundreds, if not thousands, of people dying every day. We see violent protests in the streets of major cities around the world. We see the spread of promiscuous, immoral behavior displayed before as though such things were normal and virtuous. What explains all of this?
Well, we could start with the human heart. The heart of man is fallen. We are born with sinful, corrupt natures. It is natural for us to hate one another and want what belongs to others. As human history shows, the most natural thing for human beings to do is wage war against one another. Jesus said, “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: These are the things which defile a man” (Matt. 15:19-20). It’s not the sight of a 10-foot skeleton that should frighten us, but rather the sight of our sinful hearts. That is truly terrifying.
But sometimes the world's wickedness rises so high that we begin to see the truth Scripture teaches us—that, in addition to the sinfulness of our hearts, another kind of powerful evil exists in the world. Many rulers and political leaders are evil, but they are flesh and blood. We are up against another evil. In our text, St. Paul describes them in our epistle reading: “For 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.” It would take me many sermons to unpack for you the meaning of these words: “the rulers of the darkness of this world…spiritual wickedness in high places.” But I will try to summarize.
Early Christians might have been tempted to think only of the cruelty and wickedness of the Roman Empire. And truly, the Roman Empire, like all empires before it, butchered and enslaved people. When St. Paul wrote this epistle, the Roman Empire had not yet unleashed its full fury against the Christian faith, but it soon would. But the Roman Empire and its rulers were flesh and blood. St. Paul wanted people to see what lay behind the evil of the Roman Empire and all the world's empires.
St. Paul says that behind all of this evil is the devil, Satan, and all the demons of hell. Now, I know, in our day, people are too sophisticated to believe in the devil and demons. A few years ago, I talked to a man who said he didn’t believe in the devil. He believed that the devil was just a symbol for the evil in our own hearts. I said, “Well, what about when the devil tempted Jesus in the wilderness? Was he being tempted by the evil in his own heart?” If Jesus was not tempted by a real, personal devil in the wilderness, then we can reduce everything in the gospel accounts to nothing more than fables, symbols, and metaphors. In his commentary on Ephesians, Charles Hodge wrote, “If Satan and satanic influence are fables or figures, then all the rest of the representations concerning this spiritual conflict is simply metaphor…If Satan is really the prince of the powers of darkness, ruler and god of this world; if he is the author of physical and moral evil; the great enemy of God, of Christ, and of his people, full of cunning and malice; if he is constantly seeking whom he may destroy, seducing men into sin, blinding their minds and suggesting evil and sceptical thoughts; if all this is true, then to be ignorant of it, or to deny it, or to enter on this conflict as through it were merely a struggle between the good and bad principles in our own hearts, is to rush blindfold to destruction” (376-7). And this is indeed why our nation, and indeed the world, is rushing blindfolded to destruction, because we refuse to recognize the powerful force of Satan and his host. The problem, of course, is that we rely too much on Hollywood and fiction rather than Scriptural teaching about these evil forces in the world. When people see such representations of Satan and demons in popular media, no wonder they think it is only fiction. I don’t believe in The Exorcist. I do believe Holy Scripture.
So, Paul says, "We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers." Here, “flesh and blood” means man, people. In Galatians 1:16, when Paul says the gospel was revealed to him, he says that he didn't consult “flesh and blood, ” That means that he didn’t consult people, like the other apostles. He didn’t need to do so. The gospel had been revealed directly to him through the revelation of Christ, so he didn't need to consult flesh and blood, other human beings. So, when Paul says we do not wrestle with flesh and blood, he means we are not wrestling with people. Failure to realize this truth explains why we are so ineffective in our battles with evil in this world. We spend our time wrestling with people. We need to spend our time wrestling with what is behind the people. Paul would have said, “Don’t spend your time wrestling with Rome. Spend your time wrestling with the powers behind Rome—the world, the flesh, the devil, and the hosts of hell.
In this passage, St. Paul says we are wrestling against the devil, principalities, and powers. He argues that behind the visible, human conflicts Christians may face are invisible, spiritual enemies. This doesn’t mean that wicked rulers aren’t the ones persecuting the church or that humans can’t become instruments of Satan to treat the followers of Jesus Christ cruelly. But St. Paul shows the spiritual enemies behind those who battle against Christ and his people. These invisible spiritual beings are actively engaged in warfare against the people of God right here in this world. We can’t see them, but that doesn't mean they aren't real. They can tempt us, deceive us, and do all that they can to undermine our faith in Jesus Christ. Modern people, especially, tend to think everything in our lives can be explained by what we can see. But Paul shows us that a spiritual world exists, filled with spiritual beings, and some of them are our enemies. These forces are behind the wickedness we see manifesting in the world.
Scripture does not teach that wicked rulers cannot persecute the Church or that human beings cannot become instruments of Satan. But Paul directs our attention beyond the human instruments to the spiritual enemies behind them. In verse 11, St. Paul writes, “Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil." And then in verse 12 he says, “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood.” We must put on the armor of God because we are not battling against flesh and blood. We are battling principalities and powers, the rulers of darkness and spiritual wickedness. These principalities and powers are obviously spiritual enemies. It would be strange if Paul was talking about the devil as our spiritual enemy and then started talking about kings and princes being our spiritual enemies. No, these principalities and powers are also spiritual in nature—the fallen angels. The words “principalities” and “powers” were sometimes used to describe earthly rulers. Here, the Greek words refer to rule, authority, and power. So, some people have mistakenly thought that Paul is speaking about earthly rulers. But here, he refers to them as spiritual rulers, because Paul says they rule the darkness of this world. Then, he refers to this evil as “spiritual wickedness in high places.” The words “spiritual wickedness” literally translate to “spiritual forces of evil.” These forces are spiritual, not human. Furthermore, Paul uses the word “in high places,” meaning “in the heavenly places” or “in the heavenly realms.”
St. Paul uses the phrase “heavenly places” several times in Ephesians. For example, in Ephesians 1:20-21, he describes the power of God “which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come.” There is that phrase “heavenly places.” Christ is seated at the right hand of God in the heavenly places, that is, in a spiritual realm, not the realm of flesh and blood. Christ is exalted above earthly kings, presidents, and emperors. His dominion is over all things, visible and invisible.
The Apostle Paul uses this language again in Ephesians 2:1-2: “And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.” Notice that Satan is called the prince of the power of the air, another reference to heavenly places. The important thing is that this prince of the power of the air, Satan, influences human beings, leading them to walk in disobedience to God.
Then, St. Paul uses this language again in Ephesians 3:8-10: “Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; And to make all men see what the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God.” This is an amazing verse. St. Paul teaches that one day, those of us saved by the grace of God will be put on display to show the manifold wisdom of God. Who will gaze upon this display of God's wisdom? Principalities and powers! But notice again where these principalities and powers are located—“in the heavenly places.” Heavenly, angelic beings are going to witness the manifold wisdom of God that God demonstrated in saving us from sin, death, and hell. So, these principalities and powers are not all evil. Some are good and some are evil. The point is that a spiritual realm exists in which angels and demons operate. So, when Paul speaks of principalities and powers in Ephesians 6, he is referring to the devil and his angels, who operate in the spiritual realm.
Now, to clarify a point: when we say angels, the devil, and demons are in the heavenly places, we are not saying that they are physically located in heaven, as though the demons are in the same place where Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father. Paul is not speaking in geographical terms; he is saying these beings belong to another realm, a spiritual one. For centuries, many commentators taught that these evil spiritual forces were located up there, above us in the atmosphere, looking down on us. I wish they were up there! Unfortunately, they are very much here among us. But their activity is in the spiritual realm, influencing our spiritual lives.
Paul describes them as “the rulers of the darkness of this world.” Literally, he calls them “world-rulers.” This is the only time the New Testament uses this word. But these “world-rulers” are not rulers of a political kingdom or geographical territory. They are the rulers of darkness. Remember that in John 12:31, Jesus referred to Satan as “the prince of this world.” When the apostle Paul uses the word “darkness,” he almost always means “ignorance, blindness to spiritual truth and reality.” In Romans 1:21-22, St. Paul writes, “Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,” Notice that Paul describes people outside Christ as those whose hearts were darkened, and they became fools, ignorant, irrational. This is the purpose of Satan. To darken the heart and mind, so people will not understand the truth or see the glory of God. In II Corinthians 4:3-4, Paul writes, “But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” The god of this world, Satan, has blinded the minds of people. Their minds are darkened so that they cannot understand the truth. Ephesians 4:17-18 is probably the most important passage on this subject: “This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart.” Notice the accumulation of those words: understanding darkened, ignorance, blindness.” St. Paul is teaching us that behind all this darkness that has descended upon our world are the devil himself and these evil principalities and powers. We imagine the devil and his angels doing all sorts of evil things in this world, but Satan’s chief purpose is to cause ignorance. This is how he exerts his influence in the world. He leads people into ignorance and misunderstanding, because when you combine the naturally sinful heart of man with moral and spiritual blindness, the results, of course, are catastrophic. As we look at the world today, and our nation in particular, these are the words we would use to describe our culture: ignorant, foolish, blind, dark. When I watch the news and read newspaper editorials, I am astounded by how ignorant, foolish, and irrational people have become. We are living in a land that has become morally and spiritually absurd. Scripture teaches us that behind this darkness that has descended upon the mind and understanding is Satan and the hosts of hell.
So, that is the situation we find ourselves in as Christians. When we look at all the evil, it is so tempting for Christians to say there is nothing that we can do about it. Actually, Christians are the only ones who can do anything about it. The problem is spiritual, and the only solution is spiritual. Christians are the only ones who can deal with this situation because we are the only ones who know God, who know the truth, and have the power of the Holy Spirit. Christians are the only ones who can do anything about this moral and spiritual darkness because we are the only ones who can wrestle with these principalities and powers, the spiritual forces of wickedness behind the evil in the world.
While it is true that we are the only ones who can do anything about this spiritual darkness, we can’t eliminate it with guns. War will always lead to more war. We can’t do anything about it at the ballot box. As nations descend further into sinfulness, they will elect people to enact sinful laws. And that is why St. Paul does not tell Christian people, “Take up arms and march on Rome.” Go through the history of the Roman Empire and study how many revolts the empire faced down through the centuries—military revolts, tax revolts, slave revolts—and what became of them? Nothing. And even when Rome was eventually overthrown, did it bring peace on earth, good will toward men? No, just another form of darkness arose.
This is a spiritual battle, so the weapons that Paul lists here in Ephesians 6 are all spiritual. What do you do in an evil world like this, surrounded by evil? You put on the armor of God—the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the sandals of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, and prayer. Do those look like the weapons with which we overcome political tyranny? No. But they are the weapons to defeat what is behind the political tyranny. We wrestle using prayer. We wrestle by proclaiming the Gospel that there is no way to God except through Jesus Christ. These are our only weapons, but they are sufficient. As St. Paul writes in II Corinthians 10:3-4: “ For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds.” The weapons of our warfare are not carnal (fleshly), but spiritual. So, by all means, do your duty. Be a good citizen. Vote. Work to establish Christian principles and virtues in every area of life. But it is far more important that you pray. If you look at the section of Prayers and Thanksgivings in our Book of Common Prayer, we have A Prayer for Congress, For a State Legislature, For Courts of Justice, For Our Country, In Times of War and Tumults, In Time of Calamity, For the Army, For the Navy, For Social Justice, For the Family of Nations. Praying those prayers diligently and urgently is how we wrestle.
The only hope for our world is that people will be converted to Jesus Christ. This is the only way that they can be delivered from the darkness that rules the world. We must remember that it is our duty as Christians to seek the conversion of those very people who are in darkness and who want to destroy the Christian faith. St. Paul himself was proof that a person may be an instrument of Satan, consciously or unconsciously, and yet be converted and become the greatest missionary the world has ever known. And then St. Paul began to use those spiritual weapons. When our Lord Jesus Christ called Saul of Tarsus, he didn’t tell him to organize a military campaign, march around Rome, and expect God to work a miracle and bring the empire to an end. No, Jesus said to Saul, “But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee; Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee, To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me” (Acts 26:16-18). That’s it. That is all that Christ called the great apostle to do. And that is still the primary mission of the church: to turn people from darkness to light, to free them from the power of Satan. The government can’t do that. Education can’t do that. Social justice programs can’t do that. Only the preaching of the gospel and prayer can accomplish those goals. Those who know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior can testify to this. As Paul wrote to the Colossians: “Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son.” There you have the description of the Christian. A Christian is someone who has been delivered from the kingdom of darkness and has been transplanted into the kingdom ruled by Jesus Christ. The one great mission of the Church is to see that all people are delivered from the kingdom of Satan and become citizens of the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, I know this may not seem enough. We believe only politicians can save us. We believe that prayer and the preaching of the gospel are not enough. But we must remember that though Satan and forces of hell are very powerful, Christ has already been exalted above them. This same epistle, which talks about these evil spiritual forces in the heavenly places, also tells us that we are seated with Christ in heavenly places and wrestle against spiritual wickedness in heavenly places. This may seem like a contradiction. Ephesians 2:6 tells us we are seated with Christ in the heavenly places. Ephesians 6:12 tells us we wrestle with spiritual enemies in the heavenly places. But this should give us great courage. We are seated because Christ has already won the decisive victory and secured our standing before God. We wrestle because, although the victory has been won, the conflict with the powers of darkness continues in this earthly life. But though this battle is fierce, we remember the words of the apostle Paul in this Epistle that Christ is seated far above all principality and power. No ruler of darkness comes anywhere close to the power of our Lord Jesus Christ. These enemies we face are defeated. He won his victory over them through his death, burial, resurrection, and glorious ascension. They may still rage against the Church. They may still tempt, deceive, and attack God's people. But they cannot overcome the one who sits on the throne of the universe, and we are seated in the heavenly places in him.
This week, as we celebrate the Reformation, let us remember the words of Martin Luther, who lived during a time of great spiritual darkness:
And though this world with devils filled
Should threaten to undo us.
We will not fear for God hath willed
His truth to triumph through us.
The prince of darkness grim,
We tremble not for him.
His rage we can endure,
For lo! His doom is sure.
One little word shall fell him.
As Luther stood almost alone against the spiritual darkness of his time, let us do the same. If this were merely a war against the evil human institutions of this world, what hope would we have of survival, much less triumph? Though we know that behind all the evil human institutions of this world are the supernatural forces of evil, we also know that the power of Christ is with us. We have the authority to overcome this evil, because Jesus is seated at the right hand of God, and all authority and power in heaven and earth has been given to him; therefore, Satan and all this diabolical darkness will one day be defeated. As St. Paul says in Romans 16:20: “And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.”