Stranger Things’ fifth and final season is finally here! As I rewatched the show, I was struck by how profoundly it illustrates the biblical story of a spiritual battle that takes place in a realm beyond our senses and yet, right in our very midst.
Netflix’s hit show begins in Hawkins, Indiana in 1980s America as a group of kids, along with their friends and family, discover a “strange” connection between their world and its mirror, a mysterious, hostile realm which they name “The Upside Down.” While the show begins with the peaceful nostalgia of America’s past, it quickly pulls you in when that peace is disrupted by the disappearance of Will Byers. His family and friends struggle with their loss: some mourn and sadly move on with their lives, while his mother Joyce and loyal friends Mike, Dustin, and Lucas desperately refuse to give up hope.
Throughout season one, the collective Hawkins crew—Will’s friends, family, and the neighborly sheriff Jim Hopper—learn more about this parallel dimension and the secret government lab connected to its origin. Through many trials and tribulations, including a battle against the Upside Down’s monstrous Demogorgon, Will’s friends and family manage to rescue him with the help of the superpowered El.
In season two, Will Byers is taken captive again, this time by the “Mind Flayer” who possesses him and uses him as a spy. Led by the Mind Flayer, the Upside Down begins to consume Hawkins as it tunnels beneath the town and unleashes an army of Demodogs. But through incredible displays of courage and desperation, the Hawkins crew saves Will and their town once again. In season three, the Upside Down’s forces begin to use rat and human bodies to build a version of the Mind Flayer right there in Hawkins, contrasting the shadowy figure that controlled Will from afar in the previous season. In a big battle of Americans versus Russians and teenagers versus a giant monster, the third season ends with a bittersweet victory that scars some of the Hawkins crew more deeply than the many injuries they received in battle.
Finally, in season four, the battle for Hawkins has higher stakes than ever before as the Upside Down’s leader, Vecna, begins to murder students across the town in order to establish a permanent connection between the realms. The season stalls out with a temporary-yet-costly victory over Vecna with casualties and losses for the Hawkins crew. As season five begins, one thing is certain: it will take everyone’s combined efforts to defeat the Upside Down’s dark legions and their leader once and for all.
Just as Mike, El, Dustin, Will, Lucas, and Max band together to face the threat of Demogorgons, the Mind Flayer, and Vecna himself, Christians are also called to collectively arm themselves with the knowledge, power, and presence of God.
Just as Stranger Things presents a reality of two opposing realms clashing, the New Testament uses literary metaphor, imagery, and imperative instructions to illuminate the Christian spiritual reality. Throughout the New Testament, Christians are challenged to be aware of spiritual warfare, resist the Enemy together, and rely on the power of Jesus in their lives.
The spiritual reality of Christians is described both in terms of realms and status as well as a struggle against the forces of evil. The Bible emphasizes that believers have entered into the realm of grace and new creation and may leave behind the ways of sin.
Throughout Romans 5-8, Paul describes sin as a realm of enslavement and death that Christ-followers have been freed to leave as they now inhabit God’s Kingdom, ruled by His grace.1 But the believers’ new status and domain of existence are also under attack by the forces of darkness. Ephesians 2:1-3 paints a picture of the entire world as an Upside Down-esque realm of darkness and ultimate death even as Ephesians 2:6 describes the reality of Christians as being “raised up with [Christ]” and “seated with Him in the heavenly places.”
In Ephesians 6:11-13, Paul urges believers to “put on the full armor of God” in light of the spiritual forces they must struggle against. He echoes this spiritual reality again in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 when he describes a spiritual war that is fought with the knowledge of God and the supremacy of Christ in believers’ lives. And finally, 1 Peter 5:8 warns Christians to be on alert against the Enemy who lurks and prowls around their lives like a great beast about to attack.
Throughout the New Testament, the Apostolic authors collectively urge Christians to look at the physical world through the lens of Jesus Christ and realize the spiritual reality they have entered through him. Through Christ’s death and resurrection, Christians enter victoriously into a new life that is full of freedom, love, and security (Romans 8:31-39). However, since God’s kingdom and ultimate redemption are not yet fully realized, the forces of darkness remain active in the present day, working spiritually behind the scenes. As a result, there is a here-and-not-yet sense to the victory described in the New Testament.
In many ways, Stranger Things illustrates these Biblical metaphors with striking potency. While not a perfect metaphor, the Upside Down progressively invading Hawkins as a mirror dimension seeking to consume and destroy certainly parallels the spiritual dimension described in the Bible. Like many of the series’ characters, believers cannot immediately recognize the Enemy’s spiritual activity in their lives. However, with collective attention and resistance, the Enemy’s movements become more clear to those who believe in Jesus; they become aware of the spiritual reality around them through the revelation of the Holy Spirit and the knowledge of God (1 Corinthians 2:10-16, 2 Corinthians 10:3-5). Just as Mike, El, Dustin, Will, Lucas, and Max band together to face the threat of Demogorgons, the Mind Flayer, and Vecna himself, Christians are also called to collectively arm themselves with the knowledge, power, and presence of God.
This is not simply a battle of good versus evil, though. It is also a communal endeavor against forces seeking to invade, sabotage, and destroy a community. Stranger Things’ contrast between the darkness of the Upside Down and the peace and safety of the Hawkins community continues to highlight just how profoundly good the bonds of love and loyalty are between Hawkins’ friends and families. It is the power of people united together by love and loyalty that overcomes overwhelming odds. This is a major theme within the New Testament and its instructions to believers: resistance against the powers and principalities is a communal practice. Just as Stranger Things presents a togetherness in Hawkins’ fight against evil, so too are Christians called to walk together in the newness of life as one Body of Christ (Romans 12:5, 1 Corinthians 11:23-24).
This battle is very much relational, not only because of the major theme of community, but also because of the one who empowers Christians in the fight. At the heart of the Apostle Paul’s letters is the message that believers have been joined with Christ and now live their lives in him.2 The Christian life is the reality of being brought into the blessing, presence, power, and identity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This is the starting point of everything in the Christian life. Therefore, as they wage war against the forces of darkness, the people of God are never alone. While the Hawkins crew band together in relational unity to fight, they have no sense of greater dependence or hope beyond each other. In contrast, the Christian life is one of overwhelming hope and confidence that abounds in relationship with the resurrected and exalted Messiah.
Just as Stranger Things presents a togetherness in Hawkins’ fight against evil, so too are Christians called to walk together in the newness of life as one Body of Christ.
There are other ways in which Stranger Things diverges from the New Testament’s spiritual paradigm. First, victory is certain in Jesus. Christians resist an Enemy that has already been defeated (Romans 16:20, Colossians 2:15). While the Enemy is still active and capable of attack, they have been dealt a death-blow by Jesus at the cross and empty grave.3 This sense of hope and confidence is missing in the darkness and despair of Stranger Things, especially as the show enters its later seasons. Adrenaline-fueled determination drives the Hawkins crew; there is no sense of certain victory. The only hope to be found is in their own ability to somehow overcome unlikely odds. The Christian’s hope, on the other hand, is grounded not only in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, but also in their relationship with a God who reigns supreme over all other spiritual forces. The imagery of the Warrior-God4 supplying armor to those in the fight is a powerful metaphor by which Paul urges believers’ to “put on the full armor of God” and resist the spiritual forces that are beyond the physical world (Ephesians 6:11).
Another huge contrast between the show and the New Testament is the portrayal of realms. While the Upside Down is a brilliant and vivid depiction of clashing realms, there is a sense of spatial separation that strays from the New Testament’s perspective. For Christians, the physical and spiritual realms completely overlap; their world is immersed in a spiritual struggle whose battlefield is the physical world. There is no separate dimension, but rather, a dimension that exists around the believer but lies beyond their physical senses. Contrasted with the Upside Down’s nearby pocket dimension, the spiritual/physical dualism of the New Testament is completely immersive. This leads to the Biblical writers urging believers to live on high alert against the Enemy’s activity.
After all the comparisons and contrasts, what should be our takeaways? Stranger Things and all its imagery is incredible and will certainly finish with quite the climatic “bang” in its final season. Viewers should be able to find the parallel portraits as a helpful visualization of what is true and real.
The show can also encourage our imagination to look beyond the material world. According to one New Testament scholar, the idea “is pressed on us that this world is all there is and that reality is fully and completely constituted by what I can see from this earthly perspective.”5 The New Testament repeatedly seeks to shake us out of this Matrix-like lie and instead, “expand the horizons of our imagination so that we envision reality from the perspective that Jesus Christ rules this world and longs for us to enjoy his redemptive reign.” We need “a radical reorientation of our vision of the world.”6 Only with such a renewed, comprehensive vision of reality may Christians truly operate with a sense of self, community, and God within their world that is truly rooted in Jesus.
But Stranger Things fails to capture the hope, confidence, and faith-dependence with which Christians navigate the world. The show doesn’t capture the pervasive, all-encompassing spiritual reality of the Christian life.7 Even so, Christians can watch Stranger Things with a thoughtfulness to their own spiritual reality and allow the show’s imagery to capture their imagination. Rather than settling for the comfortable, materialistic culture of the West, we need to wake up to the reality of Christ in our lives and resist the demonic forces seeking to capture our affections, attention, and affirmation.
All Bible quotes are from the NASB translation.
- Croasmun, Matthew D. 2023. “Sin, Guilt.” In Dictionary of Paul and His Letters: A Compendium of Contemporary Biblical Scholarship, edited by Scot McKnight, Second Edition, 976–82. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic: An Imprint of InterVarsity Press. Logos Bible Software. ↩︎
- Gorman, Michael J. 2023. “In Christ.” In Dictionary of Paul and His Letters: A Compendium of Contemporary Biblical Scholarship, edited by Scot McKnight, Second Edition, 476–82. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic: An Imprint of InterVarsity Press. Logos Bible Software. ↩︎
- Reid, Daniel G. 2023. “Satan, Devil.” In Dictionary of Paul and His Letters: A Compendium of Contemporary Biblical Scholarship, edited by Scot McKnight, Second Edition, 954–57. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic: An Imprint of InterVarsity Press. Logos Bible Software. ↩︎
- Keener, Craig S. 2014. The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament. Second Edition. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic: An Imprint of InterVarsity Press. Logos Bible Software. ↩︎
- Gombis, Tim. The Drama of Ephesians: Participating in the Triumph of God. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic: An Imprint of InterVarsity Press, 2010, Apple Books. ↩︎
- Ibid. ↩︎
- I realize any metaphor or visualization will fall short of the New Testament’s theological complexity and that, to my knowledge, the Duffer Brothers did not even intend to try to capture the portrait of the New Testament. ↩︎
