25 Winning the Spiritual War
(2 Corinthians 10:1–6)
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! 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. For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. 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, and we are ready to punish all disobedience, whenever your obedience is complete. (10:1–6)
As the word now indicates, this passage begins a new section of this epistle. (For a refutation of the view that chaps. 10–13 were originally a separate letter, see the introduction.) The first section (chaps. 1–7) focused on matters related to Paul’s restored relationship with the Corinthian church. In light of that restored relationship, the apostle felt it was appropriate to discuss the Corinthians’ participation in the offering for the Jerusalem church (chaps. 8, 9). In those first two sections Paul’s words were generally gentle, gracious, and conciliatory. But in this final section (chaps. 10–13) his tone abruptly changes, and his language becomes strong, authoritative, and confrontational. To understand why, it is necessary to review the situation of the Corinthian church when Paul wrote this epistle.
After founding the congregation and building it up for about twenty months (Acts 18:1–18), Paul left to minister elsewhere. Following his departure, word reached him that serious problems had arisen in the Corinthian assembly, motivating him to write a (noncanonical) letter to correct them (1 Cor. 5:9). Reports of further difficulties (1 Cor. 1:11), as well as some questions about which the Corinthians wrote him (cf. 1 Cor. 7:1), prompted Paul to write a second letter (1 Corinthians) to them. Soon, however, an even greater problem arose. Self-styled false apostles invaded the Corinthian church, vigorously assaulting Paul’s ministry, apostolic credentials, and character. They sought to destroy his reputation and set themselves up as the authoritative teachers, so the Corinthians would believe their damning lies. Paul responded to the threat with a sternly worded letter, known as the severe letter (2 Cor. 2:3–4), which brought about the repentance of the majority in the Corinthian assembly. (The severe letter, like the letter Paul refers to in 1 Corinthians 5:9, was not included in Scripture, and the letters have never been found. They are known to have been written only by the apostle’s references to them.)
But even though he acknowledged the repentance in the church, Paul was wise enough to know that the false teachers were still a force to be reckoned with. The general repentance of the congregation had likely only driven their poisonous stream underground. There some bided their time, hoping to rekindle the rebellion against Paul. In the meantime, they surely conducted more subtle warfare against him. To stamp out the last traces of the rebellion, the apostle launched a search-and-destroy mission to root out the remaining pockets of resistance at Corinth. His attack was two pronged. The preliminary bombardment, as it were, came in the last four chapters of this epistle; the final assault came when Paul visited Corinth a couple of months later (2 Cor. 12:14; 13:1). The last section of this epistle, then, is addressed to the recalcitrant minority; namely, the false apostles and their remaining deluded followers.
Fittingly, Paul began this section with a warfare analogy, which he frequently used to depict the Christian life. For example, defending his right to financial support, Paul reminded the Corinthians, “Who at any time serves as a soldier at his own expense?” (1 Cor. 9:7). He also exhorted Timothy, “Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier” (2 Tim. 2:3–4; cf. Phil. 2:25; Philem. 2). He told him to “fight the good fight of faith” (1 Tim. 6:12; cf. 1 Tim. 1:18).
Facing his own imminent death, he wrote triumphantly, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith” (2 Tim. 4:7). He urged all believers to put on their spiritual armor so they can effectively fight the forces of darkness (Eph. 6:10–18; cf. Rom. 13:12; 1 Thess. 5:8). From his conversion on the Damascus Road until his death, Paul’s life was a constant struggle. He battled the forces of the kingdom of darkness, both demonic (Eph. 6:12; cf. Acts 26:16–18) and human (cf. Acts 9:23–24; 13:6–12, 45, 50; 14:2–5, 19; 17:5–9, 13; 18:12–17; 19:23–41; 20:3, 19; 1 Thess. 2:14–16; 1 Tim. 1:20; 2 Tim. 4:14–15). He contended with false brethren (2 Cor. 11:26; Gal. 2:4) and false apostles (2 Cor. 11:13), those savage wolves that threatened God’s flock (Acts 20:29; cf. Matt. 7:15). He fought as well against the aberrant philosophies of the world (Col. 2:8; cf. Acts 17:18). Paul never fought, however, for his own honor; his goal was always to defend the truth of the gospel and the glory of his Lord. When he did reluctantly defend himself in this epistle, it was only to preserve his credibility as the apostle of Jesus Christ sent to declare the truth of the gospel of God. The issue was critical enough to overcome the reluctance of his characteristic humility and motivate him to this self-defense.
As the battle begins against the forces of wickedness at Corinth, Paul appears in his soldier’s uniform to set the example for all to follow. He reveals four traits of a soldier who can triumph in the spiritual war: He is compassionate, courageous, competent, and calculating.
HE IS COMPASSIONATE
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! (10:1)
As noted above, the word now marks Paul’s transition to the final section of this epistle. But before beginning his assault on the false apostles and their followers, the apostle expressed his unwillingness to engage in combat. Good soldiers take no pleasure in using deadly force and do so only with great reluctance. Surveying the carnage at the battle of Fredericksburg, Robert E. Lee said soberly, “It is well that war is so terrible —we should grow too fond of it” (James M. McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom, The Oxford History of the United States [New York: Oxford Univ., 1988], 572). A noble warrior’s power is constrained by his compassion and exercised only when there is no other option. That is the spirit in which Paul introduced this forceful section of his epistle.
That does not mean, of course, that Paul doubted or downplayed the authority delegated to him directly by the sovereign Lord. In fact, he boldly asserted it by beginning, I, Paul, myself. Unlike the false apostles, Paul did not depend on any human source for his authority; as he sarcastically asked the Corinthians earlier in this letter, “Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some, letters of commendation to you or from you?” (3:1). His words manifested divine authority, and so would his power, if necessary, when he visited Corinth (cf. 13:1–3).
But before wielding his apostolic might, Paul first manifested his compassion. He urge[d] the insubordinate minority by the meekness and gentleness of Christ to end their rebellion and be reconciled to the truth. Instead of seeking personal vengeance on his enemies, Paul showed them the same patience that the Lord Jesus Christ had shown him (1 Tim. 1:16). Prautēs (meekness) is usually translated “gentleness” in the New Testament. It refers to the humble and gentle attitude that results in the patient endurance of offenses. Prautēs marks those free of anger, hatred, bitterness, and a desire for revenge. The word denotes not weakness, but power under control. Epieikeia (gentleness) is translated “kindness” in its only other New Testament appearance (Acts 24:4). When applied to those in authority, it means “leniency” and describes those who graciously refuse to insist on the full measure of their legal rights.
Of course, no one more perfectly manifested the attitude ex pressed in those two words than did Christ; no one had greater power or controlled it better. Peter set forth Christ’s gentleness and power under control as an example for believers to follow:
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 if, when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience? But if when you do what is right and suffer for it you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God. For you have been 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. (1 Peter 2:19–23)
Matthew 12:20 says of Christ’s gentleness with the suffering, “A battered reed He will not break off, and a smoldering wick He will not put out.” He gently said to the woman taken in adultery, “‘Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?’ She said, ‘No one, Lord.’ And Jesus said, ‘Neither do I not condemn you; go. From now on sin no more’” (John 8:10– 11). He prayed for those who crucified Him, “saying, ‘Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing’” (Luke 23:34). He even concluded His scathing malediction against the Jewish religious leaders with the tender, compassionate cry, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling” (Matt. 23:37).
Paul knew that Christ’s character sets the standard for all His soldiers to follow, since He commanded them, “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart” (Matt. 11:29). The apostle sought to imitate the Lord by patiently holding his power in check. Despite his being mistreated by some in the assembly, the apostle viewed using his rod against them only as a last resort (cf. 1 Cor. 4:21).
Perversely, Paul’s enemies put a negative spin on his compassion, scornfully condemning it as cowardly weakness. They slanderously accused him of being meek when face to face with them, but bold toward them when absent! Tapeinos (meek) is used elsewhere in the New Testament as a positive virtue, but Paul’s opponents meant it in a derogatory sense. When confronted face to face, his adversaries insinuated Paul was a weakling; in today’s terminology, he was a wimp. But put him a safe distance away, they sneered, and he would act as fierce as a lion.
It is true that Paul was humble. In 1 Corinthians 2:3 he wrote that he had been “with [them] in weakness and in fear and in much trembling.” But the false apostles took Paul’s genuine humility, his lack of confidence in himself apart from God’s power, and twisted it into cringing weakness. They were not completely unlike those in Israel, who expecting the Messiah to come in power and annihilate their enemies, rejected Jesus when He proved to be “gentle and humble in heart” (Matt. 11:29; cf. Isa. 53; Zech. 9:9).
The allegation that Paul was bold when absent but weak when present was a clever contrivance. Any way Paul answered could be twisted. If he reaffirmed his strength in his letters, or defended his meekness in their presence, he would seemingly confirm one of the false allegations. Therefore, to answer his opponents’ charges, Paul shows in the closing section of this epistle how his life and words weld strength to weakness, proving that one can be a bold warrior for the truth, while at the same time compassionate.
HE IS COURAGEOUS
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. (10:2)
Those who mistook Paul for a weakling were drastically mis taken. When all attempts at compassion were exhausted, Paul would fight fiercely to preserve his integrity for the sake of the truth. The biblical record of his courageous life speaks for itself. He faced hostile mobs, beatings, imprisonments, riots, shipwrecks, and plots on his life (11:23–33). Paul fearlessly proclaimed the gospel before the Jewish Sanhedrin (Acts 23), Roman governors (Acts 24, 25), King Herod Agrippa (Acts 26), even the emperor (Acts 25:11; 27:24). He also confronted those who proclaimed false doctrine (cf. Acts 15:2). Nor did he shrink even from publicly rebuking Peter, the leader of the Twelve (Gal. 2:11–14).
Because of his compassionate desire to spare the rebels, Paul called on them to repent. If they did, when he was present with them he would not need to be bold with the confidence he had in his authority. The aorist infinitive form of tharrhe? (bold) is ingressive, meaning, “to become courageous.” The apostle pleaded with them not to force him to display the confrontive courage of which he was capable. Courageous translates a synonym, tolma?, which has the connotation of being daring, of acting without fear regardless of the threats or consequences. When it came to defending the truth, Paul was absolutely fearless. He would not back away from a fight with those who threatened the church; as he wrote earlier to the Corinthians, “I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I shall find out, not the words of those who are arrogant but their power” (1 Cor. 4:19). Near the end of this epistle he wrote, “For this reason I am writing these things while absent, so that when present I need not use severity, in accordance with the authority which the Lord gave me for building up and not for tearing down” (2 Cor. 13:10).
The apostle would wage his war, if neccessary, against some, who regard us as if we walked according to the flesh. The false teachers and their followers slanderously accused Paul of living according to the flesh, that is, of being controlled by the sinful desires of un redeemed humanness arising in a corrupt heart. He was, according to them, motivated by evil self-interest, the lustful pursuit of money, and illicit desires.
Throughout this epistle, Paul defended himself against those scurrilous charges, which were at the heart of the conspiracy against him. In 2 Corinthians 1:12 he wrote, “For our proud confidence is this: the testimony of our conscience, that in holiness and godly sincerity, not in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God, we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially toward you.” Unlike the false apostles, Paul handled the Word accurately: “For we are not like many, peddling the word of God, but as from sincerity, but as from God, we speak in Christ in the sight of God” (2:17). Nor did he have a secret life of sin, having “renounced the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness or adulterating the word of God, but by the manifestation of truth commending [himself] to every man’s conscience in the sight of God” (4:2). “Make room for us in your hearts,” he begged the Corinthians. “We wronged no one, we corrupted no one, we took advantage of no one” (7:2). He had given the rebels fair warning. If they did not repent it would mean war— a war Paul was fully equipped to win.
HE IS COMPETENT
For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. 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, (10:3–5)
The battlefields of history are strewn with the wreckage of courageous, but ill-equipped, soldiers. At the famous battle of the Little Big Horn, George Armstrong Custer recklessly led his men against a much larger force of Sioux and Cheyenne warriors. In the ensuing battle his regiment was destroyed, and he and all 210 men under his immediate command killed. When the Nazi blitzkrieg rolled into Poland, a brigade of Polish cavalry gallantly, but foolishly, charged a formation of German tanks. The troopers’ lances and swords were no match for the panzers’ cannons and machine guns, and they were all slaughtered.
In addition to being compassionate and courageous, the Christian soldier must also be properly armed for the struggle. If any of his adversaries imagined that Paul was not a competent soldier, they were in for a rude awakening. The apostle gave his opponents fair warning that he was armed with the “the weapons of righteousness” (6:7) and ready for battle. His statement, For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh is a play on words. In verse 2 the false teachers had accused Paul of walking in the flesh in a moral sense—of being corrupt and immoral, driven by lust, greed, and pride. Playing off his opponents’ moral use of the term, Paul affirmed that he did walk in the flesh in the physical sense; that is, he was a man. He denied the false charge that he was corrupt (cf. 1:12) but acknowledged the reality of his humanity. Though he was an apostle of Jesus Christ, he bore that authority in a frail human body. He was, as he wrote in 4:7, nothing but a clay pot, living in a transitory “earthly tent” (5:1), with an “outer man” that was “decaying” (4:16).
But though Paul walked in the flesh in the physical sense, he did not war according to the flesh. He was a man, but he did not go to battle using human weapons. Strateuomai (war) means “to engage in battle,” or “to serve as a soldier.” All believers are soldiers in the spiritual war against the kingdom of darkness; there are no exemptions or deferrals. They fight for the truth of Scripture, the honor and glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, the salvation of sinners, and the virtue of the saints. In Ephesians 6:12 Paul defined the battle as a “struggle … 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.” These demonic powers are behind the evil world system.
A spiritual war, however, cannot be successfully fought with fleshly weapons. Therefore, the weapons in Paul’s arsenal were not those of human ingenuity, human ideology, or human methodology. Human reason, wisdom, plans, strategies, organizations, skill, eloquence, marketing, religious showmanship, philosophical or psychological speculation, ritualism, pragmatism, or mysticism are all ineffective weapons against the forces of the kingdom of darkness, the “powers … world forces of this darkness … [and] spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Eph. 6:12). They cannot rescue sinners from the “domain of darkness” (Col. 1:13) or transform believers into Christ’s likeness. Such weapons gain only superficial, temporary, and deceptive victories at best.
To successfully fight the spiritual war requires weapons from the heavenly arsenal. Only those divinely powerful weapons are suited for the destruction of the enemies’ fortresses. That term would convey to the New Testament reader the thought of a formidable stronghold. Corinth, like most major cities in Greece, had an acropolis. Located on a mountain near the city, the acropolis was a fortified place into which the inhabitants could retreat when attacked. Ochurōma (fortresses) was also used in extrabiblical Greek to refer to a prison. People under siege in a fortress were imprisoned there by the attacking forces. The word was also used to refer to a tomb.
Fleshly weapons cannot successfully assault the formidable strongholds in which sinners have entrenched themselves. Such impotent weapons cannot bring about the destruction of those fortresses, which Paul defined specifically as speculations (logismos), a general word referring to any and all human or demonic thoughts, opinions, reasonings, philosophies, theories, psychologies, perspectives, viewpoints, and religions. The fortresses in view here are not demons, but ideologies. The notion that spiritual warfare involves direct confrontation with demons is foreign to Scripture. Christians who verbally confront demons waste energy and demonstrate ignorance of the real war. We are not called to convert demons, but sinners. The battle is rather with the false ideologies men and demons propagate so that the world believes them. Doomed souls are inside their fortresses of ideas, which become their prisons and eventually their tombs—unless they are delivered from them by belief in the truth.
Paul further defined sinners’ strongholds of ideas as every lofty thing—that is, any unbiblical system of thought exalted as truth—that is raised up against the knowledge of God. There is the key. Spiritual warfare is not a battle with demons. It is a battle for the minds of people who are captive to lies that are exalted in opposition to Scripture. In 1 Corinthians 3:20, he called them the useless reasonings of the worldly wise —all the anti-biblical ideologies, false religions, and pseudo gospels spawned by Satan. Paul knew those fortresses well, having lived his entire life before his conversion in one of them. He was a zealous follower of the Judaism of his day, which had turned from its Old Testament roots and become a ritualistic system of works-righteousness. In Philippians 3:4–6 he described the stronghold in which his confidence had rested:
Although I myself might have confidence even in the flesh. If anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more: circumcised the eighth day, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless.
To the Galatians he wrote, “I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries among my countrymen, being more extremely zealous for my ancestral traditions” (Gal. 1:14). That zeal caused him “to do many things hostile to the name of Jesus of Nazareth” (Act 26:9). Paul “used to persecute the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it” (Gal. 1:13; cf. Acts 8:1, 3; 9:1–2, 13–14, 21; 22:4–5; 1 Cor. 15:9; Phil. 3:6; 1 Tim. 1:13). But on the Damascus Road, his vaunted fortress crumbled under God’s power, and he was led captive to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Like Paul, before salvation, all unbelievers have a fortress in which they attempt to hide from the true knowledge of God. Those fortresses take endless forms in philosophy, psychology, world religions, cults, apostate forms of Christianity, or evolutionary naturalism—a predominant fortress in Western culture today. Naturalism, as its name implies, is the belief that nature is ultimate reality. James Sire defines it with the following propositions:
- Matter exists eternally and is all there is. God does not exist.
- The cosmos exists as a uniformity of natural cause and effect in a closed system.
- Human beings are complex “machines;” personality is an interrelation of chemical and physical properties we do not yet fully understand.
- Death is the extinction of personality and individuality.
- History is a linear stream of events linked by cause and effect but without an overarching purpose.
- Ethics is related only to human beings.
(See chapter 4, “The Silence of Finite Space: Naturalism,” in The Universe Next Door, second edition [Downers Grove, Ill: InterVarsity, 1988], 61–83)
Naturalism attempts to fortify itself against God by altogether shutting Him out of public life, social policy, the courts, and eliminating all biblical influence in morality and ethics. This and all the other deceptive and deadly ideologies must be destroyed and the incarcerated sinners rescued.
The objective of our warfare is to change how people think— taking every thought they have and making it no longer captive to a damning ideology, but captive to the obedience of Christ. To do so, the proper weapon is necessary. To assault and throw down the fortresses of false religions, opinions, beliefs, and philosophies, only one weapon will suffice: the truth. That is so obvious that Paul does not mention it. Only one thing exposes and corrects lies—the truth. Thus, the only offensive weapon in the Christian soldier’s armor is “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Eph. 6:17). Spiritual warfare is an ideological conflict, fought in the mind by assaulting the proud fortresses of ideas that sinners erect against the truth. Aichmalōtizō (taking captive) literally means, “to take captive with a spear.” Using God’s truth, believers smash enemy fortresses to the ground, march the prisoners out, and bring them into subjection (obedience) to the Lord Jesus Christ. They rescue sinners from the domain of darkness, “snatching them out of the fire” (Jude 23). After being taken prisoner by Jesus Christ on the Damascus Road, Paul immediately asked, “What shall I do, Lord?” (Acts 22:10). The rebellion of his sinful, proud heart was ended; the walls of his fortress crashed down in ruin, and the Lord Jesus Christ conquered his heart. Such is the experience of all the redeemed; the term the obedience of Christ is a synonym for salvation (cf. Acts 6:7; Rom. 1:5; 15:18; 16:26; Heb. 5:9).
The key to being successful in spiritual warfare is becoming proficient at wielding the sword of the Word of God against the lies people believe. It is impossible to fight error without knowing the truth. Just as soldiers train constantly in the use of their weapons, so also must Christian soldiers constantly study the Scriptures. Only the power of God’s truth can smash the lies of satanic false systems; to those “who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Cor. 1:18). The gospel “is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Rom. 1:16; cf. 2 Cor. 6:7; Heb. 4:12). Paul exhorted his protégés Timothy and Titus to “preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. … Speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine” (2 Tim. 4:2; Titus 2:1). Only then would they be able to heed his exhortation, “Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 2:3).
HE IS CALCULATING
and we are ready to punish all disobedience, whenever your obedience is complete. (10:6)
The competent soldier understands the crucial importance of timing. Rather than fire blindly and risk killing friendly troops, he waits until the enemy is clearly in sight. Paul had the courage and the competence to punish all disobedience at Corinth. He would not allow the purveyors of error to destroy the church. But he also had the discipline to wait until the church’s obedience was complete. Paul would not unleash his formidable apostolic power on anyone until each had taken his stand. That way, it would be clear who accepted the truth and who rejected it. Paul would be compassionate to the former, but the latter would find him to be a courageous and highly competent opponent.
It is not a question of whether Christians will fight the spiritual war for the truth against lies; the battle is unavoidable. But those who are successful in the conflict will imitate Paul’s compassion, courage, competence, and caution.