f Satan" (Matt. 13:38; Jno.
8:44), and Paul so addressed Elymas, the sorcerer, according to Acts
13:10. The same class is also twice called the "children of
disobedience" (Eph. 2:2; Col. 3:6), and once it is called the "children
of wrath" (Eph. 2:3).

It is evident that these are descriptions of the same class of people,
since both terms are employed together in Eph. 5:6: "Let no man deceive
you: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the
children of disobedience." The exact cause of that wrath is stated in
Rom. 1:18 (R.V.): "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against
all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hinder the truth in
unrighteousness;" the word "hinder" being the same as is used in II
Thes. 2:7, where the Holy Spirit is said to be restraining the working
of lawlessness in this age. Therefore, the willing neglect and disregard
for the testimony of God by the world, has allied them with Satan, and
placed them under the wrath of God, which must find its righteous
execution in due time if grace is not accepted.

Again, Satan is revealed as directing and empowering the children of
disobedience: "And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses
and sins; wherein in times past ye walked according to the course of
this age, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit
that now worketh in the children of disobedience" (Eph. 2:1, 2). The
real force of this passage, also, is dependent upon the meaning of one
word; the word "worketh" being the same as is used in Phil. 2:13, where
God is said to impart His wisdom and strength to the believer: "For it
is God that _worketh_ in you both to will and to _do_ of his good
pleasure." Additional light may be had as to the reality of this
relationship from the following passages in which the same original word
is used: "And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same
God that _worketh_ all in all" (I Cor. 12:6); "But all these (gifts)
_worketh_ that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man
severally as he will" (I Cor. 12:11); "And what is the exceeding
greatness of His power to usward who believe, according to the working
of His mighty power, which He _wrought_ in Christ when He raised Him
from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenlies"
(Eph. 1:19-20); "For He that _wrought effectually_ in Peter to the
apostleship of the circumcision, the same was _mighty_ in me toward the
Gentiles"