Princes

In John 14:30, Jesus references the devil as the "prince of darkness." At this Christmas season, my mind was quickly turned to Isaiah 9:6, where Jesus is prophesied to be the "Prince of peace." What a contrast. Although the original words for "prince" may have been different, the Vulgate Latin word for both is "princeps", which, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is the origin of our modern word, "prince." The older, Latin sense carried the meaning "instigator, founder, person who is pre-eminent in a particular sphere, leader, chief, ruler." I like that better. Prince has ameliorated in meaning such that today, it seems like a good thing, whereas in the past, in may have been more neutral. I think it's interesting to think of the devil as the " 'instigator' of darkness," and Jesus as the " 'Founder' of peace." He, our Savior, is pre-eminent in our salvation, the true source of peace in our lives; He provides the peace we cannot do without. He will lead us to eternal peace. Christ is our Prince--even our King. If the devil is ruler of the darkness, those who follow him are being led through the dark, ruled by gloom, and chief among shadowy deceit. The next time I read "prince" in the scriptures, I will mentally try retranslating it as "chief" or "ruler" or "one who is pre-eminent" in the particular context, and hopefully, as in this case, it will make more sense to me.