NT Journey--2 Corinthians 10

A Different Fight     

The tone of 2 Corinthians changes in chapter 10.  Up to this point, Paul has been very conciliatory about his relationship with the Corinthians.  Even though things were still not great, over the first 9 chapters, he takes a pretty gentle approach.  As mentioned earlier and as you can see as you read this chapter, Paul's tone changes greatly here.  Perhaps he receives new information after writing the rest of the letter or it's also possible that the last three chapters are the letter written in the time between 1 and 2 Corinthians.  In any case, Paul says something in chapter 10 that I'd like to highlight.

Verses 3-5 say,

"For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. ⁴The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. ⁵We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ."

In these verses Paul acknowledges that the way we "fight" is different than the way the world fights.  For one, as Paul writes in Ephesians 6, "our struggle is not against flesh and blood."  The world might see us as enemies, but we are not to look at them in that way.  We are not opposed to unbelievers--we are for them.  Our desire is not that they are destroyed, but instead that God will bring them life.

Because of that, "we don't wage war the way the world does."  The world's weapons are geared for destruction and separation, for drawing fine lines and keep the sides in order.  But the weapons we have been given do the opposite.  Their intent is not to destroy people, but instead to destroy arguments and strongholds.

First arguments.  Paul was a master of teaching and debating.  His goal was truth.  Christians should not be afraid of truth.  If what we believe is true, then it should stand up to scrutiny and all the arguments formed against it.  Therefore, it's actually good to be open-minded, to seriously consider ideas even if they seem contrary.  We shouldn't be afraid if we believe God is real and His Truth is really true.

Second, Paul mentions destroying strongholds.  Strongholds are where people hide.  Whether someone is a "sinner" or a religious person, we all have these strongholds where we dig in our heels to hide from reality--the reality of our sinfulness and our brokenness.  For unbelievers, their stronghold might be things like not wanting to change a lifestyle they've grown accustomed to.  If they acknowledge that Jesus is Lord, it means they'll have to change the way they live.  For religious people, it means having to admit their own brokenness and admitting they don't have all the answers.

God has a way of breaking our belief that we are in control.  Truth is something much bigger than us and when we submit to it, we submit to God.  That's why we always approach truth with humility.  While the world fights with rhetoric and bravado, we "fight" with humility with Truth on our side.