Note 17 at Eph. 1:21: The power that is now working in believers is the same power that worked in Christ to raise Him from the dead (see note 16 at v. 19, above). Everything we have as believers in Christ comes from our union with Him. Therefore, what is true of Him is true of us too. So, in the same way that Jesus is now "above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion. . ." so are we.

This is one of the greatest passages in the New Testament on the authority of the believer. In this passage we see that we have come to share in Christ's throne, to partake in the authority which that throne represents, and to exercise divine power and dominion. There is no place in the New Testament that we are told to ask God to do something about the devil, but rather the church is told to do something about the devil. This is because delegated authority has been given to the church over the works of the enemy. Paul's prayer is that the church may be enlightened to this fact.