II Corinthians 10:1 Now I Paul myself beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, who in presence am base among you, but being absent am bold toward you:
2 But I beseech you, that I may not be bold when I am present with that confidence, wherewith I think to be bold against some, which think of us as if we walked according to the flesh.
3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:
4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)
5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
6 And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.
Working with people is a challenge. Every individual is different. Some are more compatible with others and some are grating. Christians need to learn to function under the love of Christ.
The devil is always busy trying to cause tension. He loves to cause tension among true children of God. We must remember that Paul is writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. He was human and could have been in the flesh at times, but everything he wrote was under God’s direction. He was not acting alone.
Paul had been accused of being a bully. He was accused of being very humble in front of them, but very bold toward them when absent. Being a godly leader comes with challenges. Godly leaders are not often appreciated. When a saved person does not want to submit to God properly, they will find fault with godly leaders.
The church in Corinth had spiritual problems. They needed to address those problems. We have seen that most had addressed some of the problems. Obviously they were a work in progress. That will be the case for true Christians as long as we live.
In verse 2 Paul stated that he would rather not need to be so bold toward them. In verse 1 he pointed to the Lord Jesus Christ and he used that character quality in his approach to the people. Paul needed to be bold toward those who claimed to be God’s children but wanted to attack him. As we have noted before, God appoints godly leaders. Sometimes a church can assume they own their pastor. They voted on the man and they have the constitutional requirements that they wrote up, etc. Every godly church member needs to remember that they have the privilege of looking after the material needs of their pastor, and they can be a spiritual support to him, but they do not have the authority to tell him what to believe. If he goes astray, the Bible has a plan for how to address a pastor that is in the wrong. If he is doing right, but they do not like it, they need to take it up with God.
A pastor needs to remind the people that God is in charge and He gave His Word on all things. Christians need to submit to His authority.
In verse 3 we are reminded that we live in this world. We are human beings. However, true saints do not fight in the flesh. We are in a spiritual battle. Whether in the church, or outside the church, there is a spiritual battle. The battle will be different in the church, than outside of the church. The world wants to destroy Christianity. Canada has had a number of churches burned down in the past couple of years. When Mr. Trudeau was our P.M. he sympathized with the arsonists. No one in the government corrected or rebuked him.
Inside the church there can be conflicts as well because true saints do not always walk in the Spirit.
In verse 4 we are reminded that we have weapons that are powerful through God. I read of a criminal who was hiding in his house and would not communicate with authorities. They used a drone to enter his house and find out where he was. They knew the man was armed and they did not want to endanger their officers. Once the drone located him, they equipped the drone with a powerful magnet and sent it to his location. The magnet was strong enough to pull the weapon out of the man’s hand and disarm him. Then they sent in robotic dogs to clear a path to the man so that the officers could go in and arrest him. They were trying to avoid injury to their officers and they were successful in that instance.
In the spiritual realm, the weapons are not swords and knives or guns. The weapons are Truth. The Holy Spirit is working on the person’s heart and the person seeking to help is using the Word of God faithfully to address the matter.
We see that we can develop strong holds. We can hold positions quite firmly, even though they are wrong. In verse 5 they are called imaginations. There is much bad theology. However, that bad theology is held as though it were true. Church splits happen due to bad theology, most of the time. A bad pastor could sneak in and seek to corrupt the church with bad teaching. Most churches today have bad pastors, but the people like it that way.
True saints want to be in a righteous environment. To maintain that righteous environment, God’s Word is employed accurately. It is not used as an abusive weapon, but as a faithful weapon that cannot be altered.
We see as well that the goal of the spiritual war is to tear down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God. It is not a matter of being a Joseph Smith or a Taze Russel or a Kenneth Copeland who want to promote heresy. It is about a godly man who wants to help others to see the imperative of choosing godliness over carnality.
Every thought of the true child of God needs to be brought under the authority of God. Opinions mean nothing. Show me the Bible verse that supports what you want me to believe. Running away does not fix the situation. If I am wrong, I need to be corrected. If you are wrong, you need to be corrected. The Bible is the Authority.
We see in verse 6 that we cannot be a help to others until we have first of all become submissive to God’s authority. Again, in false churches, they want conformity to their social agenda. There is generally much latitude given there. Just don’t rock the boat with something more Biblical. A true Christian cannot remain in a New Evangelical church because the Holy Spirit is not there and He does dwell in the true child of God. There could be some Christians in New Evangelical churches, but they are carnal. They are fighting against the Word of God and if they are truly saved, they will be chastened of the Lord. God wants them out of there. We saw that already in the end of chapter 6 and the beginning of chapter 7.
In God’s economy, He does not expect His children to hold their noses and remain in a corrupt church. He expects His children to honour Him and that means getting into a true church where they can grow and serve Him faithfully.
Pastor Bartel