On Monday night we continued looking at several scriptures which have a pointed impact on the days we live in. Here are the notes from the study:
The Scripture: 2 Corinthians 10:3-5
“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds,5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ, 6 and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.”
Why it’s essential: We live in a time when more and more, everyone is being drawn in to battles over all different kinds of things. We need to understand what the Christian battle is, and how it is that Christians fight their battles, or we’ll get tempted to adopt means that leave us without God’s power and assistance in the fight.
Reading the rest of the letter, we see that Paul was responding to opposition he faced. But he wants people to know that he does not fight like they do.
1. Christians do live normal lives, in one sense, like everyone else (v.3)
2. A similarity: Everyone has battles. Christians have a specific battle.
We might say that for those who aren’t followers of Christ, the battles could be summed up as self-preservation and self-promotion or group preservation and promotion.
A difference: Our battle is for preserving and promoting the “knowledge of God” (v.5) Paul mentions this in 2:14 (we diffuse the knowledge of God everywhere), and 4:6 (See also John 17:3)
The primary “weapon” used to promote the knowledge of God is the Christian message–the Gospel. The Gospel is the story of what God has done in Jesus, and about how powerful that work Christ did was, so that even today if anyone believes, they will be connected to his work of life and redemption in a way that grants them eternal life, because to see how great Jesus is–is actually to see that the Glory of God is shining through him, and then you start to know God for who he really is. (The gospel is related to everything that helps people find a living connection to the true God.)
3. Another difference—the weapons we use.
- The weapons which we do not use: “carnal” – devised and consisting of simply human means
- The weapons we do use: “mighty in God” – defined by that fact that they have God’s power in them. (Is 31:3)
In other words, Christians don’t use the same means to accomplish our purposes as those who do not know God (or have his power to call on). There are weapons which people have made, which work for those battles–weapons for self promotion and self preservation. (Think things like: Money, Militaries, Tanks Guns and Bombs, Politics, Mass Organization, Marches, Riots, Media, Advertising, Cult of Personality, Gossip, Theft, Gang mentality, Cheating, Lying, Exclusion)
Instead, we have weapons which come with God’s strength, for God’s battle. Things which clear obstacles to knowing God, and put him on display so he can be known. (6:3-10)
4. The object of our weapons: strongholds, defined as “arguments,” “high things,” and “thoughts.” These strongholds are fortresses, things which are not easily defeated, which are heavily defended. They are arguments and things “lifted up” in opposition to the knowledge of God. i.e. They are things that work to keep people from coming to know God. Specifically, they are patterns of though—promoted by culture, unspoken assumptions, and explicit argumentation—which we learn how to destroy.
Takeaways:
- We definitely need to make sure we are clear about what our battle is. Do we see that this is the way to look at our families, our schools, our education, our workplaces, our marriages, our futures? As we look out at our culture, or at our schools or work places or even sometimes our own families, we should always realize—the real issue here is that there are strongholds which are like fortresses keeping people from knowing God.
- In everything we face, we should ask the question: What will help people know God better in this situation? Or, what can I say and do which will serve the overall purpose of my life, to spread the knowledge of God?
- We should then evaluate the way we act, and what we pursue, by becoming familiar with God’s way of doing things, and using his standards to judge and determine our behavior. Do we know how to wield the weapons which are “mighty in God”?