Aristotle wrote The Art of Rhetoric in which he defines rhetoric as "The faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion." Aristotle favored persuasion through reason but he recognized that sometimes the audience might not be able to follow the line of reason. He acknowledged that in some cases persuasive language and techniques might be needed. Aristotle assumed the speaker was trying to teach a truth. He also saw that rhetoric gave a man the weapons he needed to refute those who used rhetoric for evil purposes. According to Aristotle, sometimes you had to fight fire with fire.
Our most recent example of this came to us in the last election (pick any election). Each side claims the truth and uses every means and measure the refute the claims of the opponent. More time is spent fighting fire with fire, than speaking the truth. To win is not to convince the people; winning means decimating the opposition.
This is exactly what was being used against Paul in Corinth. Paul was faced with answering the rhetoric. He had to choose to engage with the opposition or focus on the convincing the audience he had the truth.
2 Corinthians 10:1
Paul shifted gears here and began by letting these folks know that he was pleading with them, but he is doing it by meekness and gentleness. He was going to sound tough and maybe a little harsh but everything he said would out of love and caring. He wanted this church to be a Christ centered church and live in the fullness of the grace of Jesus Christ. He wanted these people to be living in the Spirit; and in his zeal to bring that to them, he sometimes came across harsh. This was no different than the love of a parent for a child. We love them so much, we are willing to make them mad because correction is so important.
Paul's demeanor apparently bothered some of the Christians at Corinth. They accused him of being humble and quiet when in their presence and then speaking harsh and bold in their absence. Their contention was that he barked loud from a distance and then cowered in fear in their presence. But Paul wanted them to know he was attempting to operate by the meekness and gentleness of Christ.
The word translated to meekness is prautes and means gentleness or mildness. Aristotle said this prautes was the midpoint between too angry and never angry at all. This is a person who, if you ever see them angry, it's at the right time for the right reason. It's compassion and caring, it's patient endurance of unfair treatment. The meek and gentle person would not retaliate to unfair treatment.
The word translated to gentleness is epieikeia; the Greeks de?ned this quality as 'that which is just and even better than just'. We might see this as a grace that picks up when justice is carried to the point where it is unjust.
Paul used these words to describe Jesus. Not angry, but willing to get angry and capable of anger when it was called for; at the right time, place and reason. Yet, He was gentle beyond explanation; gentle to point it seemed illogical. Paul was getting ready to 'rough up' the Corinthians. He assured them that what appeared as rough was just pleading; and done with meekness and gentleness in an effort to emulate Christ.
Unfortunately, meekness is often characterized as powerless, almost as if a meek person is knocked around by the world and powerless to do anything about it. That's just not right. The best definition of meekness I've ever heard is 'power under control.' That's a picture of Jesus Christ, having the ultimate power to deal with sinful men, to deal with any circumstance, yet, he is meek and gentle with us bringing us to a right understanding, offering us life when we don't deserve it, offering light when we deserve darkness.
Meekness is characterized by Jesus Christ, being God that spoke the world into existence, yet, He remained silent, endured the scourging, the mocking and spitting and the cross. When, in reality, he could have changed the entire circumstance with a thought. That is meekness, that is power under control. In His Grace and mercy; in his loving kindness and patience with us, he waits. Still today he waits. It's His desire that none would perish, that every man that would turn to him might have that opportunity.
As Paul comes to the Corinthians in meekness and gentleness, he was attempting to be Christlike and represent well the God he served. In this assault against Paul, these guys were making it an issue that Paul was meek in their presence and then bold when he wrote them. They thought he was wishy washy and being careful not to make anyone mad. They had implied he lost his courage to speak boldly in their presence.
There is no indication of why these accusations were made other than it was an opportunity to assault Paul when he wasn't among them. No one could read Paul's letters and come to the conclusion that he was two-faced.
2 Corinthians 10:2
It's as if Paul were begging them, "Don't mistake my humility that some folks see in me with weakness and the inability to act with authority." Paul was completely capable of being bold. I can't imagine anyone thinking otherwise. In fact, Paul knew he would have to be bold to some when he got there. Though he hoped that there would be complete reconciliation and he would come in peace and love.
One of the accusations made against Paul was that he walked according to the flesh. This was an accusation that he morally gave into the desires of the flesh. That's just an incredible accusation. You can imagine how that would play out in a rumor mill. It would be incredibly damaging.
I think this shows the force behind the people who opposed Paul. These weren't men with a minor theological or doctrinal difference. These men were just making stuff up trying to defame Paul as they tried to win over the Christians there and lead them astray. They had no problem with lies and we know Satan is the father of lies. Paul calls these men servants of Satan in the next chapter and why wouldn't he, they weren't serving Christ and there are only two sides in this game.
2 Corinthians 10:3-6
Paul confirms he walks in the flesh. He's referring to walking physically in a fleshly body and his flesh was no different than ours. It is sinful by nature and will incline each of us toward lusts of the flesh. Paul was no different, he was just a man. However, he said, he didn't war according to the flesh. These men of Corinth who despised Paul and cast doubt on this apostolic authority were using carnal weapons to wage their war. These weapons are human weapons. These are the weapons that come natural to us. When we think we've been wronged in any way, our natural reaction is to respond in the flesh. Our entire armory of carnal weapons is opened up and ready for use. Our nature tempts us to use those weapons to overpower, dominate, manipulate and out-maneuver our enemy. That's the way the Corinthians thought, that's the way they thought a person should respond when wronged; come out with both guns blazing, ready to take out the enemy with whatever means necessary. That's why when Paul comes to them with gentleness and meekness they have no respect for him.
They were looking for a harsh response. When he didn't respond the same way they would have, it confused them. It made no sense. They were itching for a fight, but Paul wouldn't engage in their kind of battle. Paul said he didn't engage in warfare that way. His weapons were the ones God equipped him with. These spiritual weapons worked in five ways:
- To pull down strongholds
- Cast down arguments
- Fight against every high thing that exalts itself against God.
- To hold every thought captive
- Punish disobedience remaining disobedience when others are brought to obedience.
Paul may have been making reference to Proverbs 21:22.
A wise man scales the city of the mighty,
And brings down the trusted stronghold.
The word stronghold might also be fortress, fort or castle. The Corinthians would understand Paul's reference to a stronghold. South of the city of Corinth on top of a hill was a fortress that the people of the city could seek refuge in. When Paul speaks of these fortresses metaphorically, these people would see this fortress that they believed couldn't be conquered. It couldn't be penetrated by the enemy and it couldn't possibly be pulled down.
What are these strongholds Paul is talking about? What are these arguments? What are these high things that exalt itself against God? Every day in this world men grasp some vain humanistic thought and they embrace it and they set up their own stronghold. They create for themselves a stronghold that is comfortable to them and doesn't cause any pain. No change or turning away from sin is required in these strongholds because they are personally made by us, for us. Every day, men and women enter their strongholds and they bar the door to reason and evidence. They make arguments to defend their position. And in this sinful world they get all the support they need from Satan and his demons.
Our nature is at war with God. The person who is un-regenerated is at war with God. Most of us remember what that was like before we were born again. It's that desire to have what I want, when I want it. It's my life. I'm in control and I'll have it my way and no one will tell me how to live it. That's what the world promotes and anyone that is trying to sell or promote anything is trying to appeal to that nature in you.
The bible says if we aren't born again, we are at enmity with God. There is no middle ground, you've either accepted God's way and bowed to him, dying to yourself, or you are at war with God.
It's in the heart of mankind to think of themselves as smarter, more sophisticated, more effective, more powerful than God's ways. Men will embrace and empower this kind of thinking. They will declare it high thinking and exalt it over God. We create thoughts, ideas, philosophies, false religions and ideologies to create our arguments for holing up in our strongholds and holding out against the God of the universe. Simply put, carnal, worldly minds think they know more than God does! I'm continually amazed by it, even though I thought that way myself at one time as many of you probably did also. Our challenge now, as believers is to never build another stronghold or engage in those carnal arguments. As Christians, we've learned, there is little difference between a stronghold and a prison. What we once held so dear now makes us uncomfortable to even remember. Paul saw some at Corinth holding onto strongholds and probably trying to move others into that same place.
Paul said the weapons he uses to fight against these things aren't carnal. He gives us details of those weapons in Ephesians 6. These are the weapons of warfare for a Christian; the Truth, the gospel, faith, salvation and the word of God. In the context of Ephesians, it was warfare against principalities and power, the evil in this dark world. The strongholds, arguments and high thinking of men are the means by which Satan blinds mankind to the reality of God.
We aren't to seek out war against Satan but we are called to stand. When there are strongholds of vain philosophies and false religions those strongholds are pulled down by the truth. The truth, the gospel message, faith, salvation and the word of God are truly powerful. Isn't it interesting that the world takes such great offense to any of these things, yet they embrace the false religions and philosophies in tolerance and diversity.
The Corinthians thought Paul was a spineless wimp because he wouldn't fight back in the same manner as those men who attacked him. Paul said he could be bold, but he hoped to come to them in meekness and gentleness giving them a chance to repent; Instead of warfare with accusations, arguments, lies, deceit and so on. Paul used the truth and the word of God. He was not engaging in warfare for personal victory. He was looking to preserve and win the souls of those who have been locked up in those strongholds. He wanted to free those people who are captive to the teaching of these false apostles and the false religions.
Now you have to imagine this letter being read in front of this divided church. Paul just said his spiritual weapons were more powerful than the weapons that are used against God. There's a clear implication that these guys Paul is addressing in Corinth are enemies of God. One of two things happened at this point when this letter was read aloud before the church. Their eyes were opened because the truth was spoken and they could no longer ignore it or they were seething with anger and seeking revenge. They were either changed by this weapon of truth Paul spoke about or they were ready to go to war with their carnal weapons.
By the truth, by faith, with the gospel message, from the word of God every thought must be brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. When our lives are Christ centered, and reflect the God we serve, we must bring our thoughts captive when these goofy philosophies and thoughts of the world are put in front of us. We have power over our thoughts.
One of the philosophies of that day was that we had no control whatsoever of our thought life. This set them up to be manipulated by these false apostles and teachers. Paul tells us differently and we know we are not at the mercy of our carnal thoughts. God's spiritual weapons hold them captive, putting down these thoughts we know are damaging to our faith and work against God.
Paul said at the end of verse 6, "and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled". Paul was giving them time to complete their obedience, not necessarily just obedience to Paul, but to Jesus Christ. There was a time for the obedience to be fulfilled. Then he would deal with and punish those that were disobedient. This was Paul reflecting Christ before the church.
Jesus Christ came in meekness and gentleness; many have mistaken that as some kind of weakness. For now, He is patient, waiting so that no man would perish. He is allowing the fulfillment of obedience. When the waiting is over, when Christ comes again, he will come ready to punish all disobedience; He will come with a sword. He will come in boldness, as the judge, as the lion of the tribe of Judah.
We know that mankind hasn't changed all that much in a few thousand years. So, I'm sure there were those that accepted Paul's challenge and defied him as they held tightly to their high thinking, their vain arguments while being barred up in their stronghold. As Christians, we continue to speak the truth, the gospel and hopefully break through the strongholds. Some will be obedient when it is fulfilled. Others seem to be holding out for punishment for their disobedience. Regardless of the world's response, we don't change our tactics and begin to fight with carnal weapons.
Weapons mighty in God are used to:
- Pull down strongholds
- To pull down was to raze it to the ground; flat!
- The stronghold was their way of thinking.
- Casting down arguments
- Casting down is same root word as 'pull down'.
- The arguments were reason, computation, calculation, imagination and thought.
- Cast down every high thing that exalsts itself
- The same casting down applies to the 'high things'
- This 'thing' was anything that is lifted up to compete with God.
- Holding every thought captive.
- The faithful in Christ were called to use the weapons to hold every thought captive.
- This brought about obedience.
- Being ready to punish disobedience.
- When those holding their thoughts captive were obedient, they would also be ready to punish the disobedience.
The mighty weapons are truth, the gospel message, faith, salvation and the word of God. We might think of prayer as the fuel for these weapons.
2 Corinthians 10:7
When these false apostles rolled into Corinth they were embraced by some of the people there. The false apostles then made accusations to Paul and the Corinthians repeated them and suddenly Paul was despised. The Christians in Corinth had tested the credentials of these teachers and that was a good start. However, they were not using the correct means of testing. What should an apostle look like anyway? Looking at outward appearance wasn't a very good test for apostleship. Yet that is what they did. Here was Paul, poor, broken down, barely clothed, ragged and unfed and the false teachers were well dressed, affluent, educated and very religious bearing commendations.
A passage from an early Christian writing describes Paul this way, "A man of small stature, with a bald head and crooked legs, in a good state of body, with eyebrows meeting and nose somewhat hooked." So, Paul was somewhat unimpressive in the looks department. Because of this these folks were dismissing Paul. Paul's response to them, if they were in Christ they needed to look at themselves, they may find that not all of them were all that pleasing to the eye either. It appears the Corinthians wanted to be judged by the heart but they judged others by appearance.
Since Paul was bold in his writings they may have expected a tall, imposing figure with great speaking abilities. What they got was a short, balding, homely apostle. The false teachers used this to attack Paul and bring doubts to the other believers at Corinth.
2 Corinthians 10:8-11
The Lord gave Paul his authority as an apostle. That authority was given for the edification of the church. As an apostle, Paul was to build up the church. Now, with the current state of relationship with Corinth, Paul had to argue the authenticity of his authority. He wasn't called to use his apostleship to bring these people, or the church, to destruction.
Paul wasn't one to brag or boast about what God called him to. In fact, Paul was humble about his calling, yet, he was bold about the purpose of his calling. Paul quoted one of the accusations against him. "For his letters are weighty and powerful, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible." Paul gave his assurance; what they were in word will be reflected in their deeds when they arrive. In other words, Paul the 'weighty and powerful' words they saw would play out in action, in spite of their appearance. These men were worried more concerned the structure of his sentences than the content of his message. They were worried about his appearance of power and strength and not the power behind the words he spoke. Paul said he would come as the 'bold Paul' that terrified them by letters. They said his letters would terrify some. Paul said he had no problem coming to them in the way they saw him in the letters.
You can imagine these high-falutin false apostles. They knew how to look the part and they spoke with eloquent speech. Paul is pointing out that they were dismissing his letters and the content of them because of his looks. They were disregarding the content of his message because his speech wasn't eloquent. He spoke in common language; in ways that would make a teacher angry and cause the great orators of the day to dismiss him.
2 Corinthians 10:12-14
Paul wouldn't allow himself to be measured against these false apostles. They commended themselves and then became their own measuring stick. They set the standard and then measured themselves against what they thought they should be. This is no standard at all and Paul says it's just not wise. He wasn't going to play that game with them.
Paul wouldn't class himself; he left that to Christ. His ministry was guided by the Holy Spirit. It was the 'well done' of Jesus Paul was working for, not the 'well done' of false apostles or even the saints of Corinth.
The false teachers and apostles that were stirring up problems in Corinth had fallen into the trap that putting down, or criticizing another, somehow built them up. A wise man in my life once said, "Blowing out another's candle doesn't make your burn brighter."
This sphere of influence is the place where God appointed Paul to work in his ministry. This 'sphere' Paul speaks might be like running a race in your own lane. God gave Paul a lane to run in and that lane would take him to places where his influence would be important. Outside that, in the other lanes, that was not Paul's worry.
Corinth was in Paul's lane. He had taken the gospel there and the Lord used him to start that church. Paul was within the boundaries.
If things worked as they should, the church of Corinth would grow and mature and their circle of influence would grow larger. As they planted other churches, as they reached out in all directions, then their sphere grew and Paul's grew right along with it.
Paul is saying, he is the one who brought the gospel message to them. The Corinthians were in Paul's lane, then these other guys came along. Because they don't have a lane, they end up working in Paul's sphere of accomplishment. They had not only stepped into Paul's sphere but they had also made the accusation that Paul shouldn't have a sphere. This was a double dose of deception on their part.
2 Corinthians 10:17-18
It doesn't matter what the Corinthians think, or what Paul thinks, or what these false apostles think of themselves. The one who is commended is the one the Lord commends. He is the one who sets the sphere or puts a man in his lane at the race of life and ministry. He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.
Paul was taking issue with this minority of folks that still stood against him and stood against the Lord. They had embraced false teaching and had set up a stronghold and high mindedness and vain arguments. They continued on ignoring what was right before their eyes and Paul was getting serious with them. He wasn't going to debate and argue with them. They were clearly willing to lie, fabricate accusations, and do whatever else needed to preserve their way. They commended themselves.
Paul tells us we are to deal with these things with spiritual weapons. The Holy Spirit shows us strongholds in our life, He may have brought one to mind earlier. He may be showing you a stronghold that needs pulled down. We live in a world of high mindedness where men explain why God isn't fair or just in their eyes. Daily we hear vain arguments of humanists and their most sacred argument is that in spite of overwhelming evidence of a creation, there is no creator. They hold strong to their faith that 'nothing went bang and formed everything'
We saw him deal in Meekness & gentleness in a loving way. Not without boldness, but, in fact willing to escalate to whatever boldness required at any time. He refused to stoop to their level, to respond carnally. He spoke the Truth to them while they wanted to have a name calling contest. He didn't get fancy, he operated within his sphere. Holding fast to the weapons God gave him, knowing those weapons were sufficient. Because we are in a Spiritual battle, the battle is the Lords, it wasn't Paul's and it's not yours or mine.
Paul didn't change his message in an effort to appeal to them. He brought the truth of God that no man can ignore. Deep inside every man, there is the knowledge of God. That truth opens the door to the gospel message; that we have all come short of God's holiness; and we need a savior. That savior paid for our sins on the cross. That gospel message is received by faith, not my works or being good enough or anything else. By faith, men are led to salvation.
We deal with strongholds in the world the same way we deal with the ones in our own lives, just as Paul did. Holding fast to the spiritual weapons; the Truth, the gospel, faith, salvation and the word of God.
©2006, 2010, 2016, 2022 Doug Ford, Calvary Chapel Sweetwater
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