MennoNet.com

There have been a number of articles on Ephesians, Chapter 6 and usually they reference it's directives as spiritual warfare.

What do you think of this term and this chapter?

MaxPC wrote:There have been a number of articles on Ephesians, Chapter 6 and usually they reference it's directives as spiritual warfare.

What do you think of this term and this chapter?

I believe in spiritual warfare and find the Spiritual Warfare Worldview to be quite compelling and quite different from what is often taught in Reform groups. Greg Boyd has many sermons and explanations of this view. For those interested here is an overview and there is a 3 part youtube series by Boyd that I found quite interesting. Imo, Boyd is quite Anabaptist in his views.

http://reknew.org/2015/03/spiritual-warfare-what-is-it/

MaxPC wrote:There have been a number of articles on Ephesians, Chapter 6 and usually they reference it's directives as spiritual warfare.

What do you think of this term and this chapter?

I was hoping to hear from folks that are Anabaptist about this. We came from a denomination that was good at emphasizing teaching about spiritual warfare. To me this is very important part of our walk with Christ- we need to Know Christ and we need to know the enemy- because it is not 'flesh and blood' that we wrestle with. To me, it helped me so much to understand what all was going on in the spiritual realm either working for or against me- and to look past the 'flesh and blood' to know it was who/what was speaking into the life of that 'flesh and blood' that was causing the problem.

Is this subject talked about at all from the pulpit in Anabaptist churches?

Often we talk about the enemy of our souls and recognise we are in a battle against sin, worldliness, and the devil.

The "worldfare worldview" (as some call it) is integral to my faith and understandings of the world and it's events. We must be able to distinguish spirits- to know what is of God and what is not.
I think that spiritual warfare is very prevalent in the NT... I think when people aren't adequately taught this, many problems may arise.

Are there any Anabaptist reads of this term? If not this term exactly is there a similar term used in Anabaptist discussion on this concept?

We use "spiritual warfare" in sermons.

I've heard the idea and term "Spiritual Warfare" discussed quite a bit in the Anabaptist context...I think two-kingdom theology leads to this understanding of the battle is going on in the cosmos. Although in Anabaptist circles, the approach to the topic is usually a bit more more pragmatic and less senationalistic than the approach our Pentecostal brethren use.

Dan Z wrote:I've heard the idea and term "Spiritual Warfare" discussed quite a bit in the Anabaptist context...I think two-kingdom theology leads to this understanding of the battle is going on in the cosmos. Although in Anabaptist circles, the approach to the topic is usually a bit more more pragmatic and less senationalistic than the approach our Pentecostal brethren use.

Certainly.. I was dragged to a Charismatic church a year or two back... they had Revolutionary War flags, battle axes, and swords mounted about the alter.

At first when I read this, I felt a bit ambivalent. Then I remembered the military terms used in the NT and realized that it's not nearly so novel as some things I've heard.