Are Stoicheion really "Earth Spirits?"

This is part 2 of the series examining a teaching by another ministry about engaging the stoicheion for Kingdom works.

The Greek word stoicheion occurs in the original language of the New Testament several times, and the ministry in question teaches that it means "earth spirits", specifically the spirits of trees, rivers, mountains and other things in nature, which are sentient and can be loyal to Jesus or other powers. The ministry claims the Bible bears out that these earth spirits are real, although English translations of th Bible have mistranslated stoicheion. This post will examine these claims.

Stoicheion in the Bible

Stoicheion is a word in biblical Greek, which is the language the New Testament was written in. It occurs seven times in the Bible (below, the ESV translation is bolded). Twice in Galatians:

I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything, but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.

Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more?

Gal 3:4-9

Twice in Colossians (it's such a cool passage, I'm quoting the whole bit).

See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits (rudiments in the KJV) of the world, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness Are of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.

Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.

If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.

Col 2:8-20

Twice in 2 Peter:

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.

Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn!

2 Peter 3:10-12.

Once in Hebrews:

For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God.

Heb 5:12

From these passages, the ministry in question has crafted the teaching that stoicheion has been generally mis-translated, and should be rendered "earth spirits." Should it?

Of course, one word can have several different meanings. For instance, the word "run" has dozens of definitions. If I say, "Tomorrow, I'll run a marathon," I could mean any number of things. I could mean I'm running 26 miles, or serving as a race director for a marathon race, or beginning a long-lasting or difficult task, or even operating a Marathon gas station. You don't have enough context to know which definition I mean.

The question, then, is this: does stoicheion ever in any context mean "earth spirits?" Well, let's ask scholars; particularly scholars who don't have a theological bone to pick. They don't care what the word means. They just want to know what the author meant when using it.

Ask the Scholars

According to C. E. Arnold, Powers of Darkness: Principalities and Powers in Paul’s Letters, the word stoicheion in the New Testament refers to three different ideas. 

1. Basic principles of religious teaching such as the Law or (in Hebrews and Peter) of faith. The word is used to mean religious experience prior to Christ, in which people were enslaved to the Law, flesh, sin and death (depending on the specific passage). 
2. Essential, rudimentary substances of the universe, such as earth, water, air, and fire. Many Greek writers conceived of these four basic elements of the universe, as we modern people conceive of the Periodic Table of Elements.
   • While we think of Hydrogen, Oxygen, Nitrogen, and more than hundred other elements, the ancients had four basic building blocks of the universe. Certain Greeks believed that humans were bound to these elements and thus could not ascend into heaven.
   • In the city of Colossae, an idea developed that one could escape the cosmos by means of ascetic practices that would free the soul from earthly entanglements. By worshiping angels, they were appeasing the powers who ruled the elements and thus humans could escape the earthly realm to heavens beyond the moon.
   • It is against this background that the author of Colossians maintains that Christ is the one through whom believers may “die out from under the elements of the world” and so find deliverance.
   • This interpretation fails, however, in Galatians, where the elements of the world are not deities or spirits, but elements. The means of deliverance was asceticism, insight and worship of angels. 
3. Personal spiritual beings of the cosmos such as demons, angels, or star deities. The idea that stars and constellation had some control over human destiny goes all the way back to ancient Babylon.
   • The stars were associate with spiritual powers and then identified as spiritual powers. Plato spoke mythically of the deity of the stars, calling them “visible gods.”
   • Other Greek writers spoked that the sun, moon, and stars are also gods.
   • Ancient Hebrews also associated stars with divine beings.
   • In Colossae, Jewish and Hellenistic ideas coalesced into human bondage by these angelic star deities. A religion grew up around these deities, enslaving humanity to their will (a lot like modern astrologers and horoscope practitioners do).
   • Paul wants people freed from enslavement to these spiritual forces through faith in Christ. 
   • Thus, N.T. Wright argues that this word refers to “local presiding deities” or “national gods”. 

The Dictionary of Demons and Deities in the Bible basically agrees with Arnold, adding some additional interesting details of some Greek thinkers.

For instance, some Stoics taught that the spirits of animals or humans who died and spilled their blood imparted their spirits through the spilled blood onto the earth. From there, the spirit would migrate to the air, then to the water, and then to the sun. The elements (stoichieon) by nature did not want to hold onto these spirits, and so passed them on from one element to another. By "want", the idea isn't that the elements were sentient, but by nature, would pass these things on.

So in the Bible, stoicheion never means "earth spirits."

But what about outside the Bible? What about in other Greek texts? The Lexham Bible Dictionary helps us here: the word stoicheion in texts outside of the Bible.[ref]Michael R. Jones, “Elemental Spirit,” ed. John D. Barry et al., The Lexham Bible Dictionary (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016).[/ref]

“Outside the New Testament, stoicheion was used to indicate a range of meanings in the ancient world, including

• one item in a series letters of the alphabet or parts of a word
• a battle line
• a line of verse
• the basics of mathematics
• the basics of musical instruction or notes on a musical scale
• cosmic substances
• the natural elements (earth, air, fire, water)
• stars and celestial bodies
• the signs of the zodiac
• deities, or spirit beings such as angels or demons
• the length of a shadow"

Conclusion

These and many other scholarly sources make it clear the ministry in question is making up a new definition, one not found in any historical record, to justify its teaching. Elemental spirits are not "nature spirits." Ever. Not in the Bible. Not in any ancient Greek texts. The teaching in question has literally invented a new definition, imported it into the Bible, and then used that distortion, that lie, to justify their teaching.

The next post, are the talking trees of Judges 9, the talking river in Revelation and many other references to aspects of nature talking or worshiping evidence of earth spirits?

Or is this ministry hyper-literalizing and ripping scripture completely out of context to justify their behaviors?

Stay tuned.