2 Corinthians 10
For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We 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.
2 Corinthians 10:5b
We are in a battle—a spiritual battle (verse 3). This is not the internal, spiritual fight between our sinful nature and our new, spiritual self; this is the mission to win lost souls for God. The call to Christianity is a call to abandon the pursuits of the world and to follow Christ. Our world—and our natural, sinful selves are resistant to this call; we need weapons with divine power for this war (verse 4).
The divine power given to us by God has power to (verse 4–5):
1. ‘demolish strongholds’
2. ‘demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God’
3. ‘take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ’.
In other words, the power of the Holy Spirit:
1. breaks down all barriers to accepting the Gospel
2. overcomes the foolish, worldly thinking that is in opposition to God’s truth
3. transforms minds and brings every thought under the lordship of Jesus Christ.
This was the confidence that Paul had in his mission to the unbelievers in his time. This is the same confidence we can have in our evangelism today. It is only by the power of God that the light of His Word can replace the darkness of our world. Let us pray for these divine weapons as we take the Gospel out to our family, friends, neighbours, and colleagues.
Both #1 and #2 in the points above are once-off events which occur prior to our conversion; #3 is an ongoing process which begins with our conversion and continues until the end. To ‘take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ’ (verse 5) is the same idea as to ‘be transformed by the renewal of your mind’ (Romans 12:2). Just as the world needs divine power to come to faith in the Gospel, we too need the Holy Spirit to keep us from falling for the temptations of the world.
May we soak ourselves in God’s Word, earnestly seek Him in prayer, and encourage one another in our fellowship together until we take captive every area of our lives and bring it to obedience under Christ.