Ephesians 2:2—the air

With reference to Ephesians 2:2—Thirdly, eis aera (greek) , rendered "in the air," is devoid of "the" in the Greek. It may be rendered in various ways, according to the preposition used, and with or without an indefinite article. I prefer that which may be found in harmony with Paul's use of the word elsewhere, when speaking of the administration of the existing order, commonly styled "world." Thus in Eph. 2:2, where be reminds the saints of what they were as pagans before they obeyed the truth, he says, "in which sins formerly ye walked about according to the course of this order (kata ton aiwna tou kosmou toutou), according to the ruling of the authority OF THE AIR; of the Spirit which now works in the sons of disobedience: among whom also we all were conversant in times past in the lusts of our flesh." Here "the course of the order" is parallel with "the ruling of the authority of the Air"; which is based upon and nurtured by that flesh-and-blood "spirit" which rules in all sinners, and is essentially rebellious against God. In these phrases "the Air" and "he Spirit" are parallel. The ruling of the authority of the existing course of things is the Air or Spirit working. It is the Spirit of disobedience incarnate in the authorities exercising dominion and power over the nations, with whom Paul and his co-laborers "wrestled." Thus he says in 6:12, "the contest for us is not against blood and flesh,** but with the sovereignties, with the authorities, with the world-rulers of the darkness of this Course (!greek!)) with the spirituals of the wickedness, in the upper regions." These uppers (!greek!) are "the Air," which by metonomy is put for all politically contained.

The Air, in apostolic times, which penetrated everywhere, was the power of the Fourth Beast. This Aerial Power, or Spirit, encountered Paul wherever he went proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and assailed him through the constituted authorities, Jewish and Gentile. He contended against them, endeavoring to open men's eyes, and to turn them from the darkness of the existing course, in which the spirituals of the system, the Chief Priests and Rabbis of Israel, and the Imperial Pontifex Maximus, and all the priests of his idolatrous worship, flourished to their heart's content. The Chief Priests, Pharisees, and kings of Judah, Caesar, and all the civil and ecclesiastical or spiritual, authorities of the Roman empire, were the sovereignties, authorities, and world rulers of the darkness -- all of them the spirituals of the wickedness, constituting, in the aggregate, the Uppers; or, as it is expressed among us, "the Uppertendom" of the order of things at that