“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the archons, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this darkness, against the spiritual beings of evil in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:12)

“because in Him All were created in the heavens and upon the earth, the visible and the invisible, whether potentates or dominions or beginnings (archai) or authorities – All have been created through Him and onto Him” (Colossians 1:16)

“giving thanks to the Father…who has delivered us from the authority of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of His beloved Son” (Colossians 1:12-13)

“Then the end will come, when He hands over the kingdom to God the Father after He has destroyed all beginning (archen), all authority, and all power. For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is Death. For “God has put everything under His feet.”” (1 Corinthians 15:24-27)

So two thousand years later, I confess bafflement as to how to clearly distinguish an aeon from an archon from a principality/principle from an authority from an arche from a power from a dominion. The Greek philosophers annoyingly altered the meanings of words depending on which school you belonged to and from one philosopher to another – even from teacher to student. There are also accusations that the Greek philosophers borrowed terminology from Hellenic mystery cults, which just complicates things even further. I’m sure at one point, these heaven-dwelling and earth-dwelling entities mentioned in the Pauline epistles had more solidly defined abilities and limits as well as more clearly defined overlaps with one another than is interpreted today in English.

If I had to guess, I’d say that Death was seen as an evil heavenly being whose domain was Hades. These spiritual entities – both good and evil – were, arguably, all named entities back in the earliest days of Pauline Christianity:

“For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named” (Ephesians 3:14-15)

Some of their names may have been preserved in the writings of the Gnostics.