Real Opposition - Walter Wink

Walter Wink is known for his view that the "principalities and powers" are not actual heavenly beings, but rather the socio-political forces that operate within human institutions to accomplish evil. He believes that viewing them as personal beings is too mythological for rationalistic Western minds to accept. While I disagree that we should abandon the view that they are actual beings, that is not my focus here.

Here is what caught my attention from Wink’s chapter. He is writing about the role of principalities and powers in the context of unanswered prayer. I am applying his insights to our experiences of frustration and failure when we pursue Kingdom of God outcomes in our workplaces. If God is all-powerful and wants us to be agents of His Kingdom in our work arenas, why do so many of our efforts have such little impact? This question mirrors the familiar prayer dilemma...If God is good, loving, and all-powerful, then why has my prayer for what is good and loving (for myself or others) not been granted?

Wink writes, “Most of us were taught that unanswered prayer is a result of either our failure or God’s refusal. Either we lacked faith (or were too sinful and impure, or said the wrong thing or asked for the wrong thing) or God said no out of some inscrutable higher purpose” (p. 67). He then elaborates that while these may be reasons that apply to some situations, ultimately neither of these explanations makes sense for all situations. Any failure of ours does not limit what God is able to do. And when we try to attribute terrible outcomes to "some inscrutable higher purpose" we can begin to lose any meaningful sense of the character of God. It is impossible to reconcile a good and loving God as the author of what feels so wrong to us.

Wink then offers that the reality of principalities and powers needs to be considered. “What we have left out of the equation is principalities and powers. Prayer is not just a two-way transaction. It also involves the great socio-spiritual forces that preside over so much of reality” (p. 68). He points to Daniel 10, where an angel tells Daniel that he had been delayed by an opposing angel prince of the kingdom of Persia. There is real conflict in the heavenly realm. It is not that God and Satan are equal powers locked in a battle. God is sovereign and all-powerful, but that does not mean that God always prevails in this fallen world. Wink writes, “What God is able to do in the world is hindered, to a considerable extent, by the rebelliousness, resistance, and self-interest of the powers exercising their freedom under God” (p. 70).

It does not seem right to us to talk about God being hindered or effectively opposed. Our logic believes that if God is truly sovereign, He cannot be opposed, and therefore everything that happens must be His will. However, Scripture teaches both that God is sovereign and that there are spiritual powers effectively opposing Him. I believe Wink is correct when he writes, “God’s ability to intervene against the freedom of these rebellious creatures is sometimes tragically restricted in ways we cannot pretend to understand” (p. 70). I think the fact that this does not make sense to our minds is one reason that Satan and opposing spiritual forces were omitted when telling the overarching Biblical story at that conference. When our minds focus on the sovereignty of God, our logic leaves no room for forces that can effectively oppose Him.

While the relationship between God and Satan is inscrutable to us, the idea that there are forces opposing God’s will does make sense out of many of our experiences at work (and in life). Here is an explanation for disappointing outcomes when pursuing the Kingdom of God that avoids explanations or understandings that can be quite harmful.

First, it is not because we did not perform correctly or well enough. When that is what we think, we end up blaming ourselves or others. If we think we are at fault, we can easily adopt unhealthy practices of striving and overwork in our desire to seek first the Kingdom of God. If we end up blaming others (perhaps to protect ourselves from blame), we can easily foster relational conflict amongst colleagues navigating a stressful situation.

Second, it is not because we were mistaken in thinking that God wanted us to pursue that goal or that He had some other purpose. When that is what we think, we lose confidence that we can know God and what He is calling us to do. This uncertainty easily leads us to draw back and become more passive at our work, as we no longer know what pursuing the Kingdom of God is supposed to look like. We might even conclude that God does not care about our work reflecting His Kingdom after all—or at least not in a way that we are able to relate to.

Understanding that we may be opposed by principalities and power—forces capable of hindering our success—can keep us from these counterproductive paths. But what is the path that it puts us on? I will look at that in the next post.