Tenchi
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2 Corinthians 10:1-6 (NASB)
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 need 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.
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.
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,
6 and we are ready to punish all disobedience, whenever your obedience is complete.
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 need 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.
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.
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,
6 and we are ready to punish all disobedience, whenever your obedience is complete.
Many times, I've heard Christians speaking on the matter of spiritual warfare cite verses 3-5 from the above passage. "Take every thought captive!" they urge others, "Cast down vain imaginations!" they proclaim. But what, exactly, does it mean to do these things? How do you "take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ"? How do you "cast down (destroy) vain imaginations (speculations) and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God"? If doing so is an important feature of spiritual warfare, it seems to me it's vital that Christians know how to do these things. Do you? Are you daily doing these things?
In context - and context is always king in understanding any word, verse or passage correctly - Paul was telling the believers at Corinth that he wanted to meet them with meekness and gentleness, not with authoritative boldness, as he did those who opposed him. Paul then wrote of "warfare" and by what means he engaged in it. Does Paul mean particularly warfare against demonic forces, against "spiritual wickedness in high places" (Ephesians 6:12)? No, in context, he is referring to those who "regard us as if we walked according to the flesh," who, Paul goes on to explain, held him in contempt:
2 Corinthians 10:10-11 (NASB)
10 For they say, "His letters are weighty and strong, but his personal presence is unimpressive and his speech contemptible."
Against these detractors, Paul waged warfare, not in fleshly power, but by the might of God (Ephesians 3:16, 6:10; Philippians 4:13). In the Spirit's power, Paul dealt with his human opponents by casting down their speculations and lofty ideas raised up against the knowledge of God. What was Paul talking about? He went on to explain in his letter to the Corinthian believers:
2 Corinthians 11:3-4 (NASB)
3 But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.
4 For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully.
There were some at Corinth among the believers who were complicating and fouling Christian devotion to Christ, preaching a Jesus and Gospel different from what had been originally delivered to the Corinthian believers. Paul waged warfare against these corruptors of God's truth by declaring His truth with authoritative boldness, in the Spirit's power, in so doing casting down their "speculations and lofty things." He also took these false ideas "into captivity," subjecting them (making them obedient) to the truth about Christ.
Paul, then, was not speaking first and foremost about warfare against spiritual - that is, demonic - powers, but against human enemies of his apostolic authority and teachings. Of course, behind these enemies of Paul there were demonic powers at work (Ephesians 6:12), but a bold declaration of the Truth, in the power of the Spirit, was equally effective against them, too.
So, how does one operate in the power of the Spirit?
Submission.
If one is not submitted to the Spirit, one is in rebellion to him. There's no neutral middle ground to stand on between these two states. So long as one is not consciously and constantly under the Spirit's authority and control, one is a spiritual rebel and cut-off from the Spirit's transforming work and power. The key, then, to acting in the Spirit's power is being under his control, being submitted to him.
Romans 6:13 (NASB)
13 and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.
Romans 8:14 (NASB)
14 For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.
Romans 12:1 (NASB)
1 Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.
James 4:6-10 (NASB)
6 But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, "GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE."
7 Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
9 Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom.
10 Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.
1 Peter 5:6 (NASB)
6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time,
Knowledge of the Truth.
Paul's knowledge of the truth was vital to contending with the falsehoods and deceptions of both his human and demonic opponents.
2 Corinthians 11:6 (NASB)
6 But even if I am unskilled in speech, yet I am not so in knowledge; in fact, in every way we have made this evident to you in all things.
Colossians 3:8-10 (NASB)
8 But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth.
9 Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices,
10 and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him
Ephesians 4:17-24 (NASB)
17 So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind,
18 being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart;
19 and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.
20 But you did not learn Christ in this way,
21 if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus,
22 that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit,
23 and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind,
24 and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.
Holiness.
Known sin from which one has not repented and which one has not confessed to God bars the way to fellowship with Him and the filling of the believer by/with the Holy Spirit. What communion does light have with darkness? What fellowship can righteousness have with unrighteousness (2 Corinthians 6:14-18; Psalms 66:18; Isaiah 59:2; 1 Peter 3:10-12)? None. Necessary, then, to being filled with the Spirit and enabled by him to resist the devil is a righteous, "set apart" life.
When next you find yourself contending against "spiritual wickedness in high places" and human opponents of Christ and the Gospel, remember Paul's example and, in the power of God, a thorough knowledge of Scripture in hand, with boldness bring "speculations and lofty things" - and, indeed, every thought - into subjection to Christ, the Author of the Truth (John 14:6) to which all believers are to be in obedience.
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