𝗣𝗥𝗜𝗡𝗖𝗜𝗣𝗔𝗟𝗜𝗧𝗜𝗘𝗦 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗣𝗢𝗪𝗘𝗥𝗦 𝗜𝗜

 Anthropologists like David Graeber (𝘋𝘢𝘸𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨) and James C Scott (𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘕𝘰𝘵 𝘉𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘎𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘥, 𝘈𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘎𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯) shows how states consolidate power by controlling land, grain, labor, and bodies, while people throughout history have resisted through flight, mobility, shifting cultivation, hidden economies, and alternative communities. Now, if we set this next to Luke 9–10 and the language of the Principalities and Powers, the parallels are striking:

 𝟭. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝘀 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗗𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻

The archai (principalities, rulers), exousiai (powers, authorities), and kosmokratores (world-rulers) Paul names are not only invisible cosmic forces but also the visible institutions through which empires rule: taxation, military conscription, corvee labor, debt, slavery, and enforced loyalty.

 Scott argues that states emerge by fixing people in place—sedentarization, taxation in grain, control over surplus. The Powers in Paul’s language look like these same infrastructures elevated to a cosmic register.

 Thus, the “fall of Satan” = collapse of the powers’ capacity to trap people in debt, hierarchy, and forced obedience.

 𝟮. 𝗝𝗲𝘀𝘂𝘀’ 𝗜𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗮𝘀 𝗡𝗼𝗻-𝗦𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗣𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗲

Jesus sends the twelve and the seventy with no purse, no staff, no sandals, no secure housing. They must:

 Live off hospitality → wholly depend on reciprocity rather than coercion by the state for surplus extraction.

 Be mobile → like the nomads and “hill peoples” Scott describes, free from fixed taxation and grain-tribute.

 Shake the dust off their feet if a town refuses → no coercion, no obligation, no loyalty oath.

 This is non-state economics: not extraction, but gift and hospitality. Not grain-store taxation, but table fellowship.

 𝟯. 𝗔𝗹𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗣𝗼𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗦𝘂𝗯𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗶𝘁𝘆

Scott shows that states demand subjects through censuses, taxation records, oaths, and conscription.

 But Jesus’ disciples form a counter-subjectivity: Their identity is in the name of Jesus, not in Caesar’s census. Their security is in mutual care, not state armies. Their allegiance is to God’s kingdom, not Rome’s sovereignty.

 This is exactly what early Christians carried forward: refusing oaths, resisting conscription, sharing goods in common (Acts 2–4). Their solidarity was a way of “being ungoverned” by the state and governed instead by God.

 𝟰. 𝗦𝗮𝘁𝗮𝗻’𝘀 𝗙𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗮𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗮𝗽𝘀𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗜𝗻𝗳𝗿𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗣𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿

Scott’s term “infrastructural power” describes how states sink roots of control, dependence and extraction into everyday life (through roads, grain depots, taxation, borders).

 When Jesus’ disciples move freely, eat freely, and live without allegiance to empire, they puncture the infrastructure that sustains Satan’s (Rome’s) authority.

 The “lightning fall” of Satan symbolizes a sudden crack in the seemingly total control of the state. It is the embryonic realization in the life of this small community that points to a future expectation!

 𝟱. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗞𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗱𝗼𝗺 𝗮𝘀 𝗮𝗻 𝗔𝗻𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗰 𝗖𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿-𝗣𝗼𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆

For Scott, non-state peoples (tribes, hill societies, nomads) preserve zones of autonomy outside empire.

 For Jesus, the Kingdom of God is just such a counter-polity: It creates autonomous communities based on reciprocity, not extraction. It resists capture by principalities and powers. It looks fragile (no armies, no surplus, no walls), but it is precisely here that Christ sees Satan’s fall.

 𝗦𝗼, 𝘁𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝘁 𝘁𝗼𝗴𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿:

Jesus’ sending of the seventy enacts the kind of non-state, fugitive, autonomous practice both Graeber and Scott highlight in their books. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗹𝘆 𝗝𝗲𝘀𝘂𝘀-𝗺𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗮 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗻 𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗲, 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗮 𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹-𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗰 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝗳𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗼𝗺 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿𝘀, 𝗮𝗻 “𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗯𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗴𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗱.” 𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗳𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗹𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗵𝗼𝘀𝗽𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝗼𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆, 𝗝𝗲𝘀𝘂𝘀 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗲𝗿𝗻𝘀 𝗮 𝗰𝗼𝘀𝗺𝗶𝗰 𝘂𝗽𝗵𝗲𝗮𝘃𝗮𝗹: 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗼𝗳 𝗦𝗮𝘁𝗮𝗻, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿𝘀.

 It is to this that Jesus pointed to in Luke:

𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘗𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥, “𝘚𝘦𝘦, 𝘸𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘧𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘥 𝘠𝘰𝘶.”

𝘚𝘰 𝘏𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮, “𝘈𝘴𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘭𝘺, 𝘐 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘭𝘦𝘧𝘵 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘳 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘳 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘰𝘳 𝘸𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘰𝘳 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘯, 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘥𝘰𝘮 𝘰𝘧 𝘎𝘰𝘥, 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦.” Luke 18:28-30