The apostle’s vocabulary elsewhere makes it clear that he understood and presumed the Deuteronomy 32 worldview:22 •“rulers” (archontōn or archōn) •“principalities” (archē) •“powers”/“authorities” (exousia) •“powers” (dynamis) •“dominions”/“lords” (kyrios) •“thrones” (thronos)23 •“world rulers” (kosmokratōr) These lemmas have something in common—they were used both in the New Testament and other Greek literature to denote geographical domain authority. At times these terms are used of humans, but several instances demonstrate that Paul had spiritual beings in mind.
