"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!" (II Corinthians 10:5)
In last week's lesson (on II Corinthians 9:10-15), the apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthian believers that God "who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness...and that you will be enriched in everything for your liberality which through us is producing thanksgiving to God"! The "ministry" of your giving, he wrote, was "not only fully supplying the needs" of the poverty-stricken saints in the church of Jerusalem, but also "overflowing through many thanksgivings to God; and their obedience to the confession of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the liberality of their contributions was causing them to glorify God"! Which, as the Westminister Catechism notes, is "the chief end of man"! ("To glorify God and enjoy Him forever!")
But, as Rod pointed out to us last week, Paul's larger purpose, in getting the Corinthians to give, was to bring them to the place where they were "walking in the ways of the Lord"! And we turned to the Bible to learn more about what it means to walk with the Lord. Psalm 128:1 says, "How blessed is the one who fears the Lord and walks in His ways"! And John writes (in I John 1:7), "If we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Christ cleanses us from all sin"!
And we sang a memorable song which rang out this truth! "O God, You are my God, and I will ever praise You! I will see You in the morning, and I will learn to walk in Your ways; and step by step You will lead me, and I will follow You all of my days!"
And that set the scene for our lesson last night, on II Corinthians 10:1-6, which begins with a "now," indicating a whole new theme! And we find Paul's tone and tenor changing from being gracious and conciliatory (as it was in the first nine chapters) to being strong and authoritative, and confrontational--as he answers his accusers, defends his integrity, and introduces a "warfare motif"--writing about a spiritual battle in which he and all believers--and particularly the Corinthian believers--are involved on a daily basis!
The apostle Paul saw the Christian life as "a battle" (a spiritual battle!) and himself as a "soldier of Jesus Christ"! From the beginning, with his conversion, until the very end, it was "war"! And he wrote in light of it!
He challenged Timothy (in I Timothy 6:120 to "fight the good fight of faith," and to "take hold of the eternal life to which you are called"! Then, in II Timothy 2:3, " to endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ"! Noting that "no man who warreth entangles himself with the affairs of this world"!
And he wrote that famous passage to the Ephesians (and to us!) in Ephesians 6:10-17, which says: "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might! Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm agains the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything to stand firm! Stand firm, therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; in additon to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God! With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance for all the saints!" Whew!
And so, at the end of his life, he was able to claim (as he wrote in II Timothy 4:6-11), "I have fought a good fight! I have finished the course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give to me at that day; and not only to me, but to all who have loved His appearing!"
MacArthur writes that Paul "battled every, facing each day as if it were his last...battling to protect the truth, battling to protect the gospel from assaults, battling to advance it, to conquer the satanic realm of error, to preserve the honor and advance the glory of his commander-in-chief, the Lord Jesus Christ...for the preservation of the Word of God...For the security and strength of the church...against demons...against false teachers...against philosophies and falsd religions...But nothing more ongoing and unrelenting than the warfare waged for the preservation of the Corinthian church"!
The apostle Paul had spent over a year and a half building and strengthening the church of Corith, but after leaving soon heard word that they were engaged in serious sin; and so he wrote the so-called "lost epistle," followed by I Corinthians, which contained a plethora of correctives to a church engaged in sins on many different levels! But then word came back that they were even more serious sins, and the arrival of false teachers assaulting him and the gospel; and so he sent what is known as "the severe letter," which he said (in II Corinthians 2:4) he wrote "out of much affliction and an anguished heart, with many tears," and sent with Titus--to confront their sin, "not to make them sorrowful, but that they might know of his love for them"! And he was very depressed and downcast until he heard from Titus that the Corinthians had responded favorable to his letter and had repented, and even reported a longing for his return to them! All of which brought him great comfort and led him to write (in II Corinthians 7:7-10) "that though I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it--though I did regret it--for I see that that letter caused you sorrow, though only for a while--I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance, without regret, leading to salvation!" Wow!
Then he wrote II Corinthians, as MacArthur notes, "because he knew something any good soldier, and any good leader, knows--that though a rebellion has been for a moment ended, vestiges of it can be found in many places!" He knew that "they were still some glowing embers from the fire of accusations against him and in some places ready to be fanned into flames at the first opportunity! He knew false teachers were still hiding in the church!"
And so, in this final section of II Corinthians, Paul directs strong and bold words at those remaining rebels, the recalcitrant minority still entrenched there, hiding in the church! He comes back with "weapons of war," and guns blazing! Presenting himself in his soldier uniform with a soldier's mentality!
And it makes me want to sing again (as we did last night): "Onward Christian soldiers, marching off to war, with the cross of Jesus going on before...!" Or the song I remember singing as a child, "I may never march in the infantry, ride in the calvary, shoot the artillary; I may never zoom o'er the enemy (I used to sing, "zoom over Germany"!), for I'm in the Lord's army..." (Anybody ever sing that one?)
And he begins in verse 1 with, "Now I, Paul, myself urge you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ...identifying himself clearly and authoritatively, not only as the founder of the church of Corinth, but as the father of all believers there, and speaking as a called spokesman of God, with the gospel of Jesus Christ! Not as a soldier of anger and revenge, but with the patience and compassion of Christ!
I Peter 2:19-20 says, "For this finds favor, if for the sake of conscience toward God a person bears up under sorrows when suffering unjustly! For what credit is there, when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience? But if when you do what is right and suffer for it, this finds favor with God!"
Verses 21-24 (of I Peter 2) go on to say: "For you were called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously; and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds we ae healed!"
Matthew 12:20 (quoting from the prophet Isaiah) says, "A battered reed He (speaking of Christ) will not break off; and a smoldering wick He will not put out, until He leads justice to victory!"
John 8:7 records how He responded to the scribes and Pharisees when they brought before Him a woman caught in the act of adultery: And after scratching something in the dust on the ground, He looked up and said, "He who is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone!"
MacArthur noted that "even Jesus' most scathing and blistering diatribe against the religious leaders, ended up with him uttering: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often I would have gathered you as a hen gathers her chicks, but you would not!"
And so Paul, "the warrior," in this passage, responds (in verse 1) "with the meekness and gentleness of Christ! ("A noble soldier, a great soldier, a soldier who will win the spiritual warfare is both compassionate and courages," MacArthur writes!)
And he describes himself the way his critics in Corinth viewed him: "meek when face to face with them, but bold toward them when absent" (and when writing his letters)! They pictured him, basically, as "a wimp"--and even accused him of "walking according to the flesh"! (And, in verse 10, noted that "his letters are weighty and strong, but his personal presence is unimpressive and his speech contemptible"!)
And so, in verses 3-4, he admits that as a natural man he does "walk in the flesh," but, more importantly, that he "does not war in the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powered for the destruction of fortresses"! And he goes on to say, additionally in verse 5, that "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..."! (The Phillips' translation puts it this way: "Our battle is to bring down deceptive fantasy and every imposing defence that men erect against the true knowledge of God. We even fight to capture every thought until it acknowledges the authority of Christ!')
MacArthur writes that "the formidable spiritual strongholds manned by the forces of hell can be demolished only by spiritual weapons wielded by godly believers--singularly, the 'sword of the Spirit' (or the Bible!), since only the truth of God's Word can defeat Satan's falsehoods. This is the spiritual warfare! Believers are instructed to assault error with truth!"
Jesus prayed to the Father, for His disciples, in John 17:17: "Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth!"
And Hebrews 4:12 says, "For the Word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart!"
And not only are our weapons of warfare powerful enough for the destruction of mighty fortresses, but also able to "destroy speculations (or arguments) and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God"! And this would include (again, according to MacArthur) "any thoughts, ideas, reasonings, philosophies, and false religions which are the forts in which men barricade themselves against God and the gospel"! "Taking the thoughts captive" involves "the rescuing of those inside from the damning lies that enslave them"!
The apostle Paul was ready and eager to return to Corinth, but he wanted to come with "meekness gentleness," but he was ready too, he wrote (in verses 3 nd 7) to be "courageous and bold"--and to "punish those who continue to disobey," if that was required!
There's war out there, my brothers!
And so, like Paul, "Fight the good fight of faith!" And, "Put on the whole armor of God!" And, "Endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ!" And, "Take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ!" And stay in the Word! And "walk with the King, and be a blessing"!
Til we meet again!''
Lowell
In last week's lesson (on II Corinthians 9:10-15), the apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthian believers that God "who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness...and that you will be enriched in everything for your liberality which through us is producing thanksgiving to God"! The "ministry" of your giving, he wrote, was "not only fully supplying the needs" of the poverty-stricken saints in the church of Jerusalem, but also "overflowing through many thanksgivings to God; and their obedience to the confession of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the liberality of their contributions was causing them to glorify God"! Which, as the Westminister Catechism notes, is "the chief end of man"! ("To glorify God and enjoy Him forever!")
But, as Rod pointed out to us last week, Paul's larger purpose, in getting the Corinthians to give, was to bring them to the place where they were "walking in the ways of the Lord"! And we turned to the Bible to learn more about what it means to walk with the Lord. Psalm 128:1 says, "How blessed is the one who fears the Lord and walks in His ways"! And John writes (in I John 1:7), "If we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Christ cleanses us from all sin"!
And we sang a memorable song which rang out this truth! "O God, You are my God, and I will ever praise You! I will see You in the morning, and I will learn to walk in Your ways; and step by step You will lead me, and I will follow You all of my days!"
And that set the scene for our lesson last night, on II Corinthians 10:1-6, which begins with a "now," indicating a whole new theme! And we find Paul's tone and tenor changing from being gracious and conciliatory (as it was in the first nine chapters) to being strong and authoritative, and confrontational--as he answers his accusers, defends his integrity, and introduces a "warfare motif"--writing about a spiritual battle in which he and all believers--and particularly the Corinthian believers--are involved on a daily basis!
The apostle Paul saw the Christian life as "a battle" (a spiritual battle!) and himself as a "soldier of Jesus Christ"! From the beginning, with his conversion, until the very end, it was "war"! And he wrote in light of it!
He challenged Timothy (in I Timothy 6:120 to "fight the good fight of faith," and to "take hold of the eternal life to which you are called"! Then, in II Timothy 2:3, " to endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ"! Noting that "no man who warreth entangles himself with the affairs of this world"!
And he wrote that famous passage to the Ephesians (and to us!) in Ephesians 6:10-17, which says: "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might! Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm agains the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything to stand firm! Stand firm, therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; in additon to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God! With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance for all the saints!" Whew!
And so, at the end of his life, he was able to claim (as he wrote in II Timothy 4:6-11), "I have fought a good fight! I have finished the course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give to me at that day; and not only to me, but to all who have loved His appearing!"
MacArthur writes that Paul "battled every, facing each day as if it were his last...battling to protect the truth, battling to protect the gospel from assaults, battling to advance it, to conquer the satanic realm of error, to preserve the honor and advance the glory of his commander-in-chief, the Lord Jesus Christ...for the preservation of the Word of God...For the security and strength of the church...against demons...against false teachers...against philosophies and falsd religions...But nothing more ongoing and unrelenting than the warfare waged for the preservation of the Corinthian church"!
The apostle Paul had spent over a year and a half building and strengthening the church of Corith, but after leaving soon heard word that they were engaged in serious sin; and so he wrote the so-called "lost epistle," followed by I Corinthians, which contained a plethora of correctives to a church engaged in sins on many different levels! But then word came back that they were even more serious sins, and the arrival of false teachers assaulting him and the gospel; and so he sent what is known as "the severe letter," which he said (in II Corinthians 2:4) he wrote "out of much affliction and an anguished heart, with many tears," and sent with Titus--to confront their sin, "not to make them sorrowful, but that they might know of his love for them"! And he was very depressed and downcast until he heard from Titus that the Corinthians had responded favorable to his letter and had repented, and even reported a longing for his return to them! All of which brought him great comfort and led him to write (in II Corinthians 7:7-10) "that though I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it--though I did regret it--for I see that that letter caused you sorrow, though only for a while--I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance, without regret, leading to salvation!" Wow!
Then he wrote II Corinthians, as MacArthur notes, "because he knew something any good soldier, and any good leader, knows--that though a rebellion has been for a moment ended, vestiges of it can be found in many places!" He knew that "they were still some glowing embers from the fire of accusations against him and in some places ready to be fanned into flames at the first opportunity! He knew false teachers were still hiding in the church!"
And so, in this final section of II Corinthians, Paul directs strong and bold words at those remaining rebels, the recalcitrant minority still entrenched there, hiding in the church! He comes back with "weapons of war," and guns blazing! Presenting himself in his soldier uniform with a soldier's mentality!
And it makes me want to sing again (as we did last night): "Onward Christian soldiers, marching off to war, with the cross of Jesus going on before...!" Or the song I remember singing as a child, "I may never march in the infantry, ride in the calvary, shoot the artillary; I may never zoom o'er the enemy (I used to sing, "zoom over Germany"!), for I'm in the Lord's army..." (Anybody ever sing that one?)
And he begins in verse 1 with, "Now I, Paul, myself urge you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ...identifying himself clearly and authoritatively, not only as the founder of the church of Corinth, but as the father of all believers there, and speaking as a called spokesman of God, with the gospel of Jesus Christ! Not as a soldier of anger and revenge, but with the patience and compassion of Christ!
I Peter 2:19-20 says, "For this finds favor, if for the sake of conscience toward God a person bears up under sorrows when suffering unjustly! For what credit is there, when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience? But if when you do what is right and suffer for it, this finds favor with God!"
Verses 21-24 (of I Peter 2) go on to say: "For you were called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously; and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds we ae healed!"
Matthew 12:20 (quoting from the prophet Isaiah) says, "A battered reed He (speaking of Christ) will not break off; and a smoldering wick He will not put out, until He leads justice to victory!"
John 8:7 records how He responded to the scribes and Pharisees when they brought before Him a woman caught in the act of adultery: And after scratching something in the dust on the ground, He looked up and said, "He who is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone!"
MacArthur noted that "even Jesus' most scathing and blistering diatribe against the religious leaders, ended up with him uttering: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often I would have gathered you as a hen gathers her chicks, but you would not!"
And so Paul, "the warrior," in this passage, responds (in verse 1) "with the meekness and gentleness of Christ! ("A noble soldier, a great soldier, a soldier who will win the spiritual warfare is both compassionate and courages," MacArthur writes!)
And he describes himself the way his critics in Corinth viewed him: "meek when face to face with them, but bold toward them when absent" (and when writing his letters)! They pictured him, basically, as "a wimp"--and even accused him of "walking according to the flesh"! (And, in verse 10, noted that "his letters are weighty and strong, but his personal presence is unimpressive and his speech contemptible"!)
And so, in verses 3-4, he admits that as a natural man he does "walk in the flesh," but, more importantly, that he "does not war in the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powered for the destruction of fortresses"! And he goes on to say, additionally in verse 5, that "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..."! (The Phillips' translation puts it this way: "Our battle is to bring down deceptive fantasy and every imposing defence that men erect against the true knowledge of God. We even fight to capture every thought until it acknowledges the authority of Christ!')
MacArthur writes that "the formidable spiritual strongholds manned by the forces of hell can be demolished only by spiritual weapons wielded by godly believers--singularly, the 'sword of the Spirit' (or the Bible!), since only the truth of God's Word can defeat Satan's falsehoods. This is the spiritual warfare! Believers are instructed to assault error with truth!"
Jesus prayed to the Father, for His disciples, in John 17:17: "Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth!"
And Hebrews 4:12 says, "For the Word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart!"
And not only are our weapons of warfare powerful enough for the destruction of mighty fortresses, but also able to "destroy speculations (or arguments) and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God"! And this would include (again, according to MacArthur) "any thoughts, ideas, reasonings, philosophies, and false religions which are the forts in which men barricade themselves against God and the gospel"! "Taking the thoughts captive" involves "the rescuing of those inside from the damning lies that enslave them"!
The apostle Paul was ready and eager to return to Corinth, but he wanted to come with "meekness gentleness," but he was ready too, he wrote (in verses 3 nd 7) to be "courageous and bold"--and to "punish those who continue to disobey," if that was required!
There's war out there, my brothers!
And so, like Paul, "Fight the good fight of faith!" And, "Put on the whole armor of God!" And, "Endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ!" And, "Take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ!" And stay in the Word! And "walk with the King, and be a blessing"!
Til we meet again!''
Lowell
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