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Scripture Reading: 2 Cor. 10:1-6
As we read the book of 2 Corinthians, we may think that by the end of chapter nine Paul has covered all the necessary points and that there is no need for him to write further. However, in the last four chapters of this Epistle Paul covers another crucial matter which is in his heart. This is the matter of his apostolic authority. He said a little about this in 1 Corinthians, but because the time was not right, he did not cover it adequately. When 1 Corinthians was written, the situation was not ready for Paul to come to the matter of his apostolic authority. But by the time of 2 Corinthians 10, the storms have ceased, and everything is calm. Thus, with everyone quiet and at peace, there is a tranquil atmosphere. In such an atmosphere and condition, Paul comes to the question of his apostolic authority. In chapters ten, eleven, twelve, and part of thirteen, Paul places this matter before the Corinthians and deals with it from different angles.
Because he is an excellent writer, Paul always deals with any matter thoroughly, not leaving ground for any argument. As we shall see, this principle is true of Paul’s vindication of his apostolic authority. The Corinthian believers needed to be clear about this, and we also need to be clear about it.
In 10:1 Paul says, “But I myself, Paul, entreat you through the meekness and forbearance of Christ, who as to appearance am indeed lowly among you, but absent am of good courage toward you.” Notice that this verse begins with the word “but.” “But” here indicates a contrast. In chapters eight and nine the apostle spoke pleasantly with the dear saints in Corinth, encouraging them to have fellowship in the ministry to the needy saints in Judea. Immediately after that, he desires to make himself more clear to them by vindicating, with a severe and unpleasant word, his apostleship, even his apostolic authority. This was due to the vague and clouded situation caused by the false, Judaistic apostles (11:11-15), whose teaching and assertion of what they were had distracted the Corinthian believers from the fundamental teachings of the authentic apostles, especially from the proper realization of Paul’s standing as an apostle.
We need to be impressed with the fact that this section of 2 Corinthians stands in sharp contrast to the preceding section. Paul’s word in chapters six through nine is pleasant, but at times his word in chapters ten through thirteen is severe and even unpleasant. As we read the last four chapters of this book, we may wonder if Paul has lost his tender, intimate concern. Some may even criticize him for his severity. Actually, it was because Paul was so spiritual that he could write these chapters in the way he did.
In 10:1 Paul tells us that he entreated the Corinthians through the meekness and forbearance of Christ. But he does not tell us the purpose of his entreaty. He tells us how he entreated, but he does not say why he entreated. If you read through the rest of this chapter, trying to find the purpose of Paul’s entreaty, you will not be able to find it. Paul simply does not state the purpose of his entreaty. Did he, then, make a mistake in writing? No, Paul’s concern is with how he entreats the saints rather than for what purpose he entreats them. This indicates that Paul’s way of entreating is more important than the purpose of his entreaty. For this reason, Paul points out that he entreated the believers through the meekness and forbearance of Christ.
Suppose a brother who is giving a message cares only for his purpose in giving that message and not for the way he gives it. That would be a serious mistake. We should learn of Paul to pay even more attention to the way we do something than for our purpose in doing that thing. Actually God cares more for the way we do things than for our purpose, our goal, in doing them. However, many Christians today care hardly at all for the way of doing things; they care primarily for the purpose, the goal, the result. There is a saying that the end justifies the means. Those who heed this saying do not care about the way of doing things; they care only for their purpose. This concept is deplorable and needs to be condemned.
Christians may think that as long as their intention is to do a work for the Lord, they need not care about the means used to accomplish it. For example, in preaching the gospel they may use worldly methods or entertainment. Therefore, I want to emphasize that in the Bible God shows that He cares more for our way than He cares for our purpose. As a heavenly ambassador, Paul also cared more for the way of doing things than he cared for the purpose. This is the reason he describes the way he entreated the Corinthians, but does not mention the purpose. May we all learn of him in this matter.
In 10:1 Paul says that he entreats through the meekness and forbearance of Christ. This indicates that the apostle, being firmly attached to Christ (1:21) and one with Him, lives by Him, behaving in His virtues. All the virtues of Christ were becoming Paul’s virtues. Meekness was a virtue in the humanity of Christ by the divine life. Christ’s meekness is not a simple matter, for it is in His humanity and by the divine life. When He was on earth, He lived a human life by the divine life. Through this mingling of divinity and humanity the virtue of meekness was manifested.
The principle is the same with Christ’s virtue of forbearance. Forbearance is another virtue of Christ lived in His humanity by the divine life. Do you know the difference between meekness and forbearance? To have the virtue of meekness means that you do not invade others or fight with them. Instead, you are willing to give in. The meek give in to others. But those who are strong in a natural way fight and refuse to give in. At the least, they want to stand their ground. The meek, however, give in, do not fight, and do not invade others’ territory. To have forbearance means that you are willing to allow others to invade you. This means that to have forbearance is to suffer affliction and injury. To have meekness is not to invade others, but to give in to them; to have forbearance means that you are willing to be invaded by others. These are two of the virtues Christ lived in His humanity by the divine life.
Because Paul lived Christ, the virtues of Christ became his. The phrase “through the meekness and forbearance of Christ” indicates that Paul was one with Christ and took Christ as his life. Therefore, he entreated the believers not by himself, but entreated them through the virtues of Christ, in particular through Christ’s meekness and forbearance. Paul entreated others by Christ, in Christ, and with Christ.
After telling us the way he entreats, Paul goes on to speak of the kind of person he was. He says in verse 1, “I myself, Paul,...who as to appearance am indeed lowly among you, but absent am of good courage toward you.” This description of Paul’s person fits in with the subject of 2 Corinthians. The subject of this Epistle is the kind of person Paul was and the kind of life he lived. Paul did not care that much for the work he did; he cared much more for his person and living. As we have pointed out, in chapter ten he does not even mention the purpose of his entreaty. He was so concerned about the way he entreated that he did not mention why he entreated.
Regarding his person, Paul says that he was lowly when among the Corinthians, but was of good courage when absent from them. The apostle was bold, having courage to speak out in his Epistle the real situation among the Corinthians. We can learn from Paul to be meek when in the presence of others, but to be bold when we are absent from them. When you are with a particular person, you should not be too bold. However, you may be bold in writing a letter to that person. Some may say, “I can be bold when I am present with a person; however, when I am absent from that one, my boldness seems to evaporate.” This indicates that your boldness in that person’s presence is not proper. If your boldness does not evaporate after you have left a person’s presence, then it may be a proper kind of boldness. Paul was very bold in writing to the Corinthians. But if we could be in Paul’s presence, we would find him meek and lowly.
There is much for us to learn from the way Paul conducted himself. Whenever we want to treat a person in a bold way, we should wait until we are no longer in that person’s presence and see if our boldness remains. This was Paul’s way of dealing with the Corinthians. He entreated them through the meekness and forbearance of Christ, and he was lowly among them, but he was bold in writing to them. In these verses we see Paul’s meekness, forbearance, lowliness, and proper boldness.
In verse 3 Paul goes on to speak of spiritual warfare: “For walking in flesh, we do not war according to flesh.” Being human, the apostles are still in the flesh. Hence, they walk in flesh. But they do not walk, especially in the spiritual warfare, according to flesh. Rather, they walk according to spirit (Rom. 8:4).
In verse 3 Paul seems to be saying, “Because we are still in the old creation, we are still in flesh. But we do not walk according to flesh. In particular, we do not war according to flesh. I do not deny that I am still in the flesh, but I am not a person who lives, speaks, and acts according to the flesh. On the contrary, I walk according to spirit. Therefore, in the matter of spiritual warfare, I fight according to spirit. Corinthians, you have been altogether mistaken in thinking that we apostles fight according to flesh. No, our warfare is according to spirit.”
In verses 4 and 5 Paul continues, “For the weapons of our warfare are not fleshly, but powerful to God to the overthrow of strongholds, overthrowing reasonings and every high thing rising up against the knowledge of God, and taking captive every thought unto the obedience of Christ.” Since spiritual warfare is not against flesh, but against spiritual forces (Eph. 6:12), the weapons should not be fleshly but spiritual. These are powerful to overthrow the strongholds of the enemy.
Reasonings and thoughts are in the mind and of the mind. These are the strongholds of Satan, God’s adversary, within the mind of those who are disobedient to God. Through spiritual warfare, the reasonings must be overthrown and every thought taken captive to obey Christ.
The high things in verse 5 refer to haughty things within the reprobate mentality against the knowledge of God. These must also be overthrown by spiritual weapons.
The goal of this spiritual fighting is to tear down Satan’s strongholds in the reprobate human mind. These strongholds are the proud thoughts, the high thoughts and imaginations in man’s mind. The haughty imaginations and proud thoughts are strongholds built up by Satan in the human mind. These stand against the knowledge of God. The goal of our fighting is to tear down these strongholds. People are rebellious against God because of these strongholds, these high reasonings and haughty thoughts. Therefore, we must fight against these things so that every thought may be taken captive unto the obedience of Christ.
In verse 6 Paul says, “And being ready to avenge all disobedience, whenever your obedience is fulfilled.” The word avenge here is a bold and severe word in the way of blame. Paul’s reference to obedience indicates that our obedience affords a base for the Lord to deal with others’ disobedience.
In Paul’s time a number of Jews believed in Christ and then assumed the position of teachers. In their teaching they gave a prominent place to the law. As a result, in their teaching there was a mixture of the New Testament gospel with the Old Testament law. This caused trouble, especially when the gospel came to the Gentile world under the apostleship of Paul.
The Judaizers, those who confused the New Testament with the Old Testament, did not agree with Paul. In fact, there was a great discrepancy between Paul’s teaching and theirs. Some of them went to the Gentiles deliberately to visit the churches in order to propagate their Judaistic teachings. As a result, they caused a great deal of damage to the churches. According to the books of Galatians and 1 and 2 Corinthians, we see that these Judaizers went to Galatia and Achaia, stirring up the believers and causing trouble. In 1 and 2 Corinthians we see that the believers at Corinth had been infused with Judaistic teachings and stirred up by them.
Paul’s word in 10:5 concerning reasonings and high things rising up against the knowledge of God was spoken with reference to the teachings of the Judaizers. This was the background of what Paul wrote in this verse. We have seen that Paul says that the warfare of the apostles was to overthrow strongholds, reasonings, and high things that rise up against the genuine and proper New Testament knowledge of God. Furthermore, Paul says that the goal of his warfare was to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. In particular Paul has in mind those thoughts which have their source in Judaistic teachings.
On the one hand, the Judaistic teachers claimed to be of Christ. On the other hand, they taught many things concerning the law that actually were against Christ. They believed in Christ and yet taught matters that were contrary to Him. They did not have a full surrender to Christ or an absolute obedience to Him. In their thinking there was something that needed to be subdued. Therefore, Paul’s teaching in 2 Corinthians is a fighting against Judaistic thoughts, reasonings, and imaginations. It is a fighting to take captive to the obedience of Christ those thoughts which were influenced by Judaistic teachings.
Verse 6 indicates that among the saints in Corinth there were some who, under the influence of Judaistic reasonings and thoughts, were rebellious. For this reason, Paul said that he was ready to avenge all disobedience when the obedience of the Corinthians had been fulfilled. The disobedience in this verse refers to that of the Judaistic teachings. Paul’s readiness to avenge this disobedience had a condition, and this condition was the obedience of the Corinthians. It was first necessary for them to become absolutely obedient to the gospel of Christ. They could not be partly for the New Testament gospel and partly for the Old Testament law. To be even partially for the law was rebellion and disobedience. When the Corinthians became utterly obedient to the New Testament gospel, the situation would be right for Paul to avenge all disobedience. The situation in Corinth would afford him a base to deal with the disobedience of the Judaizers. This is the proper interpretation of this portion of the Word.
