The apostle was not referring to the god of this world as being what the church system has painted as the devil. The fact is, the devil that the church system promotes doesn’t exist. There is a devil, of course; but that particular devil is foreign to the scriptures. Only in their minds is there such a devil. Paul was talking about a devil that was religious in nature; namely, the religious order of that day — the Jewish priesthood, the scribes, the Pharisees, and the Sadducees. It was that old hierarchy, that subtle, religious system, that polluted priesthood of which he was speaking. He spoke the satan which was always the adversary of God’s elect. Corporately, those adverse/satanic men were the god of that world, that cosmos, that age! As sure as there is a many membered body of Christ — there was a many membered, corporate god, the elohim who ruled Israel, and there is one like it today!