It cannot refer to civil magistrates, or an ordinary plaintiff, for these are not necessarily false accusers. But the worst of all the wresting of Scripture in this connection occurs in explaining our celestial warfare. The teaching is very plain. We wrestle not against blood and flesh, but with spiritual forces of wickedness among the celestials. As this is fatal to the idea that the slanderer is merely a state of mind, it is twisted so as to get rid of all spiritual forces.
Spiritual forces are ecclesiastics.
We are to fight the false ecclesiastical powers in direct contradiction of the statement that we do not wrestle with blood and flesh. When a theory leads to such plain denials of Scripture, it is self-condemned. Such a commencement is fatal. No truth can come of it. It is not merely unscriptural but nebulous.