2 CORINTHIANS CHAPTER 10:1-6,
“The Weapons Of Our Warfare Are Not Of The Flesh But Divinely Powerful”
By
1.
INTRO
1.1.
In our last study, we looked at Paul completing his admonition to
the Corinthians concerning their completion of their pledge to give towards the
relief fund for the mother church in
1.2.
In our study today, we are going to see that the apostle Paul now
enters the last section of this letter, and that his mode of writing in this
section changes dramatically
1.2.1. Some have said that this last
section of the letter, beginning at chapter 10, must have been a different
letter that was appended to the previous letter, however we will see that there
is a good reason for this change in style and this is because Paul now begins
to write to the minority group among the Corinthians who are his critics, and
specifically to the false “super-apostles” and their supporters who had come in
amongst the Corinthians
1.2.2. Paul in this last section of
the letter begins to be bold in confronting those who were causing problems in
the Corinthian church as he defends his apostleship
1.2.3. Paul begins to prepare the
church for his soon return to them by pointing out the fact that if they don’t
repent and make some changes right away that when he comes he will deal with
those who are causing the problems in a forceful and direct way
1.2.4. Paul responds to the
criticisms of the “super-apostles” in the Corinthian church by saying that
though he and those with him walked in the flesh the weapons of their warfare
were not according to the flesh but were divinely powerful for the pulling down
of fortresses
1.2.4.1.We are going to look at
spiritual warfare that we go through as Christians and how that we are to
continually rely upon the armor that God provides and not the weapons of the
flesh
1.2.4.2.We are going to concentrate
upon the fact that the Lord is always testing and challenging us so we will
dispel all false notions and hopes that we as Christians may have in our life
1.2.4.3.We will see that the Lord is
continually bringing down fortresses and imaginations in our lives through the
true knowledge of Him
2.
VS 10:1-2 - “1 Now I,
Paul, myself urge you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ—I who am meek
when face to face with you, but bold toward you when absent!2 I ask that when I
am present I may not be bold with the confidence with which I propose to be
courageous against some, who regard us as if we walked according to the flesh.” - Paul boldly confronts those who criticized
him for being bold in his letters but timid and ineffectual when in person
2.1.
In these verses, we see that the apostle Paul has begun to be direct
and confrontational towards the minority
group in the church who were critical of him and doubted his apostolic
authority.
2.1.1. Paul begins his
confrontation by using the emphatic, “Myself,” in order to distinguish
himself from the group of “super-apostles” within the church. Paul is showing that he was not bold and
intimidating in the manner of the “super-apostles,” rather his leadership was
in meekness and gentleness.
2.1.2. Paul now openly identifies
this group
whom he knew through the church rumor-mill regarded him as if he ‘walked
according to the flesh.’
2.2.
There was this minority group within the Corinthian church who had
begun to criticize Paul for various things and ultimately question his
authority as an apostle of Jesus Christ. These ones
criticized him saying that he was bold and even tried to scare them when he
wrote his letters, and yet when he was with them in person he was timid
and powerless to correct the people and the problems in the church.
2.2.1. Paul had visited the
Corinthians a year earlier, when he had come to them unexpectedly soon after
writing the letter of 1 Corinthians. We believe
that Paul had heard that there several in the church who were committing
fornication with the cult prostitutes as part of the worship of the fertility
goddess, and so he determined then that he had to come to them immediately and
confront those who were committing these sins.
However, during that visit there was a man who had openly opposed Paul
and kept him from being able to have the ministry that he had wanted to have
with them. The church didn’t stand up
for Paul and confront this man and make him stand down. Then, after leaving the church and telling
them that he was going to return soon to them, Paul instead wrote the “severe
letter” in which we believe he told them basically that they had to stand
behind him as their apostle and then also discipline this man that had opposed
him, otherwise Paul was no longer going to have anything to do with the
Corinthian church again, and it would no longer be considered a legitimate
church. Paul’s critics in the church,
fueled by these “super-apostles” who had come amongst the church, had criticized
Paul for being weak, timid, and ineffectual when in person (as evidenced by his
last visit), and then for being bold and trying to scare them when he wrote to
them.
2.3.
Paul appeals to this minority within the Corinthian church to consider that he
was the same all of the time, and he was never weak or timid, but rather
his ministry has validity because it paralleled the ministry of Christ, a
leader who was meek and gentle, not weak and timid.
2.3.1. There is a big difference
between being “weak” and being “meek.” Meekness
has been defined as being “power under control,” however weakness is the
absence or lack of power.
2.3.1.1.The mighty horses that they would bridle and
use for work and pulling carriages were said in Paul’s time to be “meek,” in
the sense in which that Greek word was used.
That is, though the horses were mighty in strength, none-the-less when
they had been broken and bridled they would be under the control of their
master’s every wish.
2.3.1.2.It comes to my mind the
saying I once heard about a “patient” man:
“Beware the wrath of a patient man!” What Paul perhaps appeared to some to be on
the exterior, in reality he was not. He
was not weak but rather he was meek in Christ.
2.3.1.2.1.The Lord calls all
Christians to submit to Him and not to let anger and a desire for vengeance
control their life, but to be meek and gentle and leave vengeance to the Lord,
after all:
2.3.1.2.1.1.Jesus was a man who described Himself
in Matt. 11:29 as being “meek and gentle of heart,” “29 Take
my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye
shall find rest unto your souls.”
2.3.1.2.1.2.Jesus said that “…the meek shall
inherit the earth” (Matt. 5:5).
2.3.1.2.2.I have a friend of many
years who has been a pastor and an assistant pastor, and he is by nature a very
quiet and humble guy. It wasn’t until I had known
him for a few years before one day I suddenly saw that what appeared to perhaps
be weakness in his life was actually meekness.
When filled with righteous anger against a brother who was stubbornly unrepentant
in the church I saw the heart of a lion come out in boldly confronting this
brother’s willful rebellion and sin. His
boldness took my breath away. I believe
that the apostle Paul who was by nature very meek and gentle could also turn
and display a degree of ferocity that would make the most mighty tremble.
2.3.2. As an application, we
Christian husbands and fathers tend to naturally go off-track when we first try
to become the spiritual leaders that we read in the scriptures that we ought to
become. We know that we are to be the spiritual
leaders of our marriage and our home, but when we first begin to take our role
seriously the tendency is to try assume this responsibility of leadership in
the flesh. We tend to assume the
role first by thinking that it is our responsibility to make our wives
submit. If we have children we tend
to assume the role by scaring and intimidating our kids and becoming the
harsh disciplinarian.
2.3.2.1.What we have to learn is to
assume the role of spiritual leadership in our marriage and home by being meek
and gentle, and having power under constraint.
2.3.2.2.We need to realize that in
assuming the role of spiritual leadership that we need to love our wives in the
same way and extent that Christ loves the church, just as Paul wrote in Eph.
5:25, “25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the
church and gave Himself up for her.”
2.4.
There is a principle for pastors, church leaders, and all who are in
authority (including husbands and fathers) to learn here from the apostle
Paul: The Christian leader is not to
lead by throwing his weight around or intimidating others. This is not the model of leadership that
Christ has left us.
2.5.
We see in these last chapters of the letter that Paul is preparing the
church in
2.6.
Paul speaks here of this minority group as regarding him as if he ‘walked
according to the flesh,’ however what did he mean by this:
2.6.1. When we read Paul’s writings
we see that he spoke of ‘the flesh’ in three basic ways:
2.6.1.1.Being human beings we are
all made of flesh, having been created from dirt. Our frailty as human beings is then the
result of being made of flesh.
2.6.1.2.A man’s own natural
resources and strength in and of themselves would be that which he possessed in
‘the flesh.’
2.6.1.3.Abiding in the lower sinful
nature of man, the “old nature,” is also called “walking in the flesh.”
2.6.2. It appears that it is the
second usage of Paul’s that was intended by him here. This minority group in Corinth saw Paul as
being weak and ineffective in person and not really having the anointing of the
Holy Spirit in his life, after all he was always getting beat up and
enduring hardships in the ministry, and he had not been able to reign in his
detractors when he had visited them a year earlier.
2.6.2.1.Paul just wasn’t anointed by
God like they thought that they were.
3.
VS 10:3-4 - “3 For
though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh,4 for the
weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the
destruction of fortresses.” - Paul tells the Corinthians
that the weapons of his warfare are not of the flesh but divinely powerful
3.1.
All throughout this last section of the letter, Paul is confronting
directly this minority group of his detractors by comparing himself and his
ministry against theirs. Here we see
implied the fact that these “super-apostles” were using weapons of the flesh
for their warfare.
3.1.1. The “super-apostles” came to
the Corinthians with the proof of their legitimacy being letters of
recommendation from men which they had received. However, the apostle Paul has already shown
that he didn’t need any commendation letters from men because the Corinthians
themselves were his letter of commendation written on men’s hearts. The fact that he had won so many to Christ
and been used by God in the planting of the church in
3.1.1.1.In the mainstream
denominations today a person’s calling and credentials for ministry are
legitimized by a seminary degree that he has received. If a man has graduated from a certain
seminary then he is deemed to have the credentials for ministry. Others in the church look at a
certification of ordination as giving a man credentials to preach or
affirming his calling. However, I would submit to you that none of these things
determines whether or not a man has been gifted and called by God into the
ministry. Further, many times these
seminaries that are supposed to prepare men for ministry actually undermine
their faith as they are required to study more of the works of men, many of
whom are even liberal heretics, than the word of God. Plus, for many there is very little to none
actually ministry experience that a person is involved in as part of his seminary
education.
3.1.1.1.1.We in the Calvary Chapels do
not require a seminary degree as part of accepting a man into the ministry,
though he must have spent a very lengthy period of time studying the Bible, and
we do in fact have a
3.1.2. Churches often do employ
carnal means to try to fight the spiritual warfare that we are in as Christians
in this world. Churches organize committee after committee,
appoint boards for this and for that, organize money raising campaigns for
building projects or to meet Sunday School needs, etc., etc., and though those
types organizations or schemes are not evil in and of themselves, the Lord
wants to direct our battles and warfare and He wants us to wage war in the
power of God, by the power of His might.
3.2.
Paul realized that in and of himself, that is in his flesh, he did not have the
power to do anything for God. After
all, Jesus taught His disciples, “…apart from Me you can do nothing,”
(John 15:5).
3.3.
In Eph. 6:11-12, we read about Paul describing the implements we
are to use in spiritual warfare as Paul writes that he knew that he was
involved in spiritual warfare but he was never really battling against flesh
and blood for wicked spirits are controlling this world that is in rebellion
against God, “11 Put on the full armor of God, that you may be able to
stand firm against the schemes of the devil.12 For our struggle is not against
flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world
forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the
heavenly places.”
3.3.1. Spurgeon once preached about how we
are to employ the full armor of God in the spiritual warfare that we find
ourselves in, ““The weapons
of our warfare are not carnal”; yet the spiritual weapons which can be wielded
by the Christian minister, and indeed by every Christian man, are not to be
despised, for while not fleshly, they are mighty through God. God is in them;
God is with those who use them. The sword of the Spirit, which is the word of
God, the arrows of truth which pierce the consciences of men, the weapon of all
prayer, the influence of the Holy Ghost-that divine power-such weapons as these
are by God’s power made mighty to the overthrow of spiritual principalities and
powers. Truth and holiness are the appointed engines for the pulling down of
the castles of evil. Blessed is he who in every conflict for God takes heed to
use none other weapons than those which the Lord hath hung up in the tower of
David, builded for an armoury, wherein do hang a thousand bucklers, all shields
of mighty men. Those only can fight the Lord’s battles successfully who come to
him to be armed for the fight, and reject all fleshly force. The spiritual
shall be victorious, but others must fail.”
3.4.
Paul writes that with the divine weapons of warfare that they were to
bring about the, ‘destruction of fortresses.’
3.4.1. Paul saw that the real
problems that people have occur because of placing their trust in the wrong
places. We tend to think that we can
handle situations in our own strength, we look for wisdom and truth to the
wisdom and the philosophies of men when they are an empty cistern that can hold
no water, and meanwhile we don’t go to the only One who could give us true
wisdom and understanding, the Lord.
3.4.1.1.Prov. 3:5-6 tells us that we are not to lean on our own
understanding but to acknowledge the Lord in all of our ways and that in our
doing so He would direct our paths, “5 Trust in the Lord with all your
heart, And do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He
will make your paths straight.”
3.4.1.2.The Christian life is a
life-long journey that each child of God takes where we continually have the
Lord challenge us concerning the fact that our thinking is wrong.
3.4.1.2.1.In Isaiah 55:8-9, the
Lord tells His people just how much greater are His thoughts that ours, “8 “For
My thoughts are not your thoughts, Neither are your ways My ways,” declares the
Lord. 9 “For as the heavens are higher
than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your
thoughts.”
3.4.1.2.2.The Lord is always placing
us in various testings and trials that we go through in order to show us how
that our thinking is wrong. These divine testings will
continue until the very day we go to be with Jesus.
3.4.1.2.2.1.Have you noticed that the
Lord first teaches you something about Himself from His word, and then
almost immediately you suddenly find yourself being placed by God in a test
in order for you to find out if you truly have learned what the Lord wanted to
teach you, or not?
3.4.1.2.2.1.1.If you fail the test, then
the Lord keeps bringing you into testings until you finally pass the test
because you have learned what He was trying to teach you.
3.4.1.2.2.2.In these testings He places
us in, the Lord reveals that we aren’t truly walking by faith for instance, and
we repent of that sin. Yet, later the
Lord perhaps shows us that we are relying upon human wisdom more than we had
previously imagined, and we repent, and, the cycle of testings just continues
to go on and on.
3.4.1.2.2.3.I remember those several
early years in my walk with the Lord how that I was constantly having the Lord totally
deflate my bubble because it seemed that every one of my natural instincts
and reactions where consistently the direct opposite of what the Lord would
have me to think and to react in situations. After those revealing incidents I would
sometimes sit and think about how that if I would just consistently do just the
opposite of what my instincts told me to do that I would probably be where the
Lord would have me to be. However, that
is not how as people tend to react.
3.4.1.2.2.3.1.Even today, more times than
I’d like to admit, I again have my bubble burst as the Lord tests me concerning
that which I trust in.
3.4.1.2.2.4.The question that is ever
before us when we go through these testings and as God reveals the truth to us
from His word is whether or not we will hold to the word of God or not.
3.4.1.2.2.4.1.In my quiet time this morning
I was reading the last chapter of Joshua and it caught my attention that in
that chapter that it was after all of the battles and all of the victories of
the people of Israel in the land of promise, and now Joshua was very old and
ready to pass on, that he challenged the people to, “Choose this day who you
will follow,” whether the Lord or the gods and idols of the other nations, and
then that Joshua told them that as for he and his house that they would follow
the Lord.
3.4.1.2.2.4.2.As a pastor I have to tell
you that it has been heart breaking for me to see many Christian people who
have come into the church and even been growing for days, weeks, and sometimes
even many years, and then one day something comes up to them from the word of
God that they don’t like and refuse to submit to, and then they end up
backsliding.
3.4.1.2.3.What we are really needing
to do as believers in Christ is to come to truly know the Lord, not just to have
intellectual or book knowledge of Him, but to know Him from His word and also
to know Him by personal experience. We
need so much to concentrate upon spending time alone with God, times in
prayerful meditation and prayer, times in seeking the Lord Himself (not just
learning about Him).
3.4.1.3.Many people outside the
church today have created a god in their imaginations. I hear them talk or write about God in the
media and they say things about God like, “God helps those who help
themselves,” or “God loves everyone and would send no one to hell!, “ or “God
loves everybody and it doesn’t matter what a person believes as long as they
believe something,” or “Just as there are many paths over the mountain there
are many ways to God,” etc., etc., but all of these kinds of statements
contradict the clear teaching of the word of God, and people who believe these
kinds of things will have a rude awakening one day when they stand before God
and realize that the god that they had created does not exist he was just a
figment of their own imagination!
3.5.
In the Corinthian church, Paul was attempting to overthrow the fortress
of the enemy that he had placed up when the “super-apostles” had arrived,
been received by the church, and began to undermine the faith of those in the
Corinthian church. He knew that unless
this group was removed from the church that the church was going to go astray
from the Lord and become an apostate group.
3.5.1. This was the “fortress” in
the Corinthian church needing to come down that was primarily in view for the
apostle Paul as he is writing these things.
The Corinthians had allowed these “super-apostles” to coax them away
from the simplicity of a person’s eternal salvation being determined by faith
in Christ plus nothing.
4.
VS 10:5 - “5 We are
destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge
of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,” - Paul tells the Corinthians that he and those
with him were destroying speculations, everything raised up against the
knowledge of God, and taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ
4.1.
In this verse, the word ‘thought’ which is translated from the
Greek word ‘noema’ can also mean “mind” depending upon the
context where it is found. I think that
Paul’s primary emphasis in this chapter is to confront the wrong understanding,
or “mind,” of the “super-apostles” and their teaching, and thus this word could
or perhaps should be translated here as “mind.”
4.1.1. Of course, in a secondary
way the thought patterns that all of us as believers have is a secondary
application for this verse, for this verse can have a more general application
for us. We believers are all to learn to
take each of our thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ! No thought that is offensive to God should be
allowed to remain in our minds but must be purged out with God’s help.
4.2.
In preaching and teaching the word of God, Paul saw his ministry as not
only building up people in the truth, but also bringing down all of their false
notions and hopes which if not checked will eventually undermine their faith in Christ
and spiritual walk.
4.2.1. People come to Christ and
into the church with all kinds of baggage in their false notions and beliefs
about God. Many times the teachings that people in the
church see on television or hear on the radio, or which they have learned while
attending another church, can lead them to make wrong applications in their
Christian walk. The teacher of the word
of God must confront error that is taught and believed by Christians as well as
present the truth of the word of God.
4.3.
Not only does Paul indicate that in his teaching and preaching that he
is destroying fortresses of wrong teaching and thought, he says that personally
he is disciplining himself to align the thoughts of his mind with the truths of
the word of God.
4.3.1. In Phil. 4:8, after
exhorting the Philippians to pray about everything and telling them that in
doing so that they will have the peace of God that passes all comprehension,
Paul goes on and talks about the things that we should let our minds dwell
upon, “8 Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable,
whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good
repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your
mind dwell on these things.”
4.3.2. In Col. 3:16, Paul
writes about how that we are to let the word of God richly dwell within us and
let it guide and direct us to teach and admonish one other with Psalms and
hymns and spiritual songs, “16 Let the word of Christ richly dwell within
you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns
and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”
4.3.3. You see, what is key about
our minds is that as we think so will we do. Our
thought life is key to our success in our walk with the Lord. Our mind has been compared to the bit that is
placed in a horses mouth to direct it.
As you move the bit, so will the horse go. If we are letting our mind think all of the
cruddy and worldly thoughts that people in this world think, then in short time
we shall also be doing the things that they do.
If on the other hand we let God’s word fill our hearts and thoughts then
the word of God will begin to guide our lives in ways even that we could never
expect.
5.
VS 10:6 - “6 and we
are ready to punish all disobedience, whenever your obedience is complete.” - Paul tells the Corinthians that he is ready
to punish all disobedience when he comes to them
5.1.
As has been mentioned, Paul in this last section of the letter is
trying to explain to the Corinthians that he is not one way when he writes to
them and another way when he is present with them. He is the same person all of the time.
5.2.
Paul has already told us that he sought to spare the Corinthians by not
coming to them after that last difficult visit that he had made to them, and so
it was not in weakness nor timidity that he had not returned right away and
openly confronted and rebuked those who were in sin and rebellion against the
Lord and his apostleship. He wrote the
“severe letter” to them instead of coming to them because he loved them and
knew that it would be too difficult for them, as well as him, if he had
returned right away in person. The
writing of the “severe letter” was done because of Paul’s great love for the
church and to spare them such pain that they might not be able to endure.
5.3.
Paul in this last section of the letter is warning the church that the
same boldness that he has shown in writing that “severe letter” he will exhibit
in person towards those who are in sin, that is, if the church does not in the
meantime do their own policing and discipline those offenders.
6.
CONCLUSION:
6.1.
In conclusion, I would have each of us today recognize that God’s ways
are not always our ways, nor His thoughts our thoughts. He is so high above you that you ought to
expect that the Lord will continually be making you aware of false notions and
hopes, and of ways in which you look for strength in the wrong places
6.2.
Diligently seek the Lord each day, and as you do, ask the Lord to take
away the blinders from your eyes so that you can get a true glimpse of Him in
all of His splendor, one which will also result in your realizing that there is
yet in you another fortress or imagination that He is wanting to bring down
6.2.1. It always works such that
when we truly seek the Lord that He reveals the truth about us, for His word
says, “In Thy light we see light.”
6.2.2. As the Lord reveals the part
in you that is untrue to His nature, trust in His love and care for you, as you
respond to His love and “work out what He is working within your heart”
6.2.3. Do not shy away from the
light of God but trust that the same light that reveals the truth in you will
also show you the way to effectively work it out within your life!
6.2.4. Let’s always hold to the
Lord of God and never turn away from submitting to anything that it reveals to
us
6.2.5. Whatever you do, never let a
tower of pride in your life erect itself against the knowledge of God…