Scripture Daily

Context No. 988 of 4322 · 2 Corinthians

Context · Reflection

2 Corinthians 10:1-6: in context

1Now I Paul, myself, entreat you by the humility and gentleness of Christ, I who in your presence am lowly among you, but being absent am bold toward you. 2Yes, I beg you that I may not, when present, show courage with the confidence with which I intend to be bold against some, who consider us to be walking according to the flesh. 3For though we walk in the flesh, we don’t wage war according to the flesh; 4for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before God to the throwing down of strongholds, 5throwing down imaginations and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, 6and being in readiness to avenge all disobedience when your obedience is made full.

Paul appeals to the Corinthians by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, aware that some accuse him of being bold in his letters but weak in person, of operating by mere human means. He answers that although he lives in the flesh, he does not wage war according to the flesh. The weapons of his warfare are not worldly; they have divine power to demolish strongholds, to tear down arguments and every proud obstacle raised against the knowledge of God, and to take every thought captive to obey Christ.

Paul is describing a real war, but not one fought with the world's tools. The strongholds he means are not fortresses of stone but of thought, arguments, ideologies, and every proud pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, the mental and spiritual fortifications behind which people hide from the truth. And you do not knock those down with cleverness, force, manipulation, or charisma, the fleshly weapons. His campaign is aimed at capturing the mind: taking every thought captive to obey Christ. That is a striking picture of the actual battlefield of faith, the interior world of what we think, assume, and believe. Real spiritual warfare happens in the demolition of false ideas about God and the surrender of our reasoning to Christ. It suggests that transformation is not mainly about behavior modification but about which thoughts rule us, and that the fight is to bring even our private, hidden reasoning under his lordship. The mind is where the strongholds stand, and where they must fall.

What arguments or assumptions in my own mind stand raised against the knowledge of God, and am I willing to take even those thoughts captive to obey Christ?

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