Think of a couple of examples of battles that might be fought in this world. Make one of them “big,” such as community, statewide, national or global, and the other one “small,” such as something you might encounter personally in your life.
Go ahead – write them down or make note of them. I want to ask a question about them at the end of this study.
1 By the meekness and gentleness of Christ, I appeal to you--I, Paul, who am "timid" when face to face with you, but "bold" when away!
Later, in verse 10, we’ll find out that Paul’s critics were accusing him of being a paper tiger. All words, no action. He wrote strong words but then was meek when he was present.
It’s much easier to say difficult things that need to be said in writing than in person. You have more time to formulate your thoughts, and you can say what needs to be said without people steering the conversation off on tangents.
And for someone who highly values relationships, time laughing, fellowshipping, worshipping, and enjoying each other’s company is far preferable to correcting them in person.
But I find it interesting that Paul begins is hard statements with “By the meekness and gentleness of Christ…”
Was Jesus bold or meek? He was meek and He taught His people to be meek. He said the meek would inherit the earth (Matthew 5:5. In Matthew 11:29 Jesus said “I am meek and humble in heart.” In Matthew 21:5 He said “your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” And Peter wrote “your beauty should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth to God” (1 Peter 3:4).
But however meek He was, Jesus never backed down from proclaiming truth and correcting error, even when doing so would upset other people to the point of killing Him. Truth and meekness blended together in Jesus.
2 I beg you that when I come I may not have to be as bold as I expect to be toward some people who think that we live by the standards of this world.
I’m guessing here that Paul’s appeal for money was being called “worldly” by his opposers – even though the money was to help destitute churches, not himself, and even though he used every accountability device he could to ensure there was no question.
Paul’s preference was to be meek when he visited Corinth again. But like Christ, his commitment to preserving God’s truth was greater than his desire to be pleasant and gentle. He already could see that there were some toward whom he would have to be bold.
Q: Paul was dealing with false teachers in the Corinthian church – teachers whose teachings seemed close enough to Christian teaching to blend in well; teachings that Christians were able to accept while feeling they could still be Christian. What types of modern thinking creeps into the church that is counter to biblical thinking?
3 For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.
Note that we
do wage war –
we do fight! Just not the way the world does. Our weapons are not the world’s weapons. Literally, in Greek, Paul writes in these verses that this isn’t a “fleshly” war and we don’t use weapons of the “flesh” (sarx, σάρξ).
The problems of the world are not the world’s problems to solve. They can’t do it.
The problems of the world are the church’s problems to resolve, through Christ. Our weapons have divine power. They can demolish worldly fortresses.
Q: What are weapons of the flesh? What does the world use to try to solve its problems?
Q: What are the divine weapons that we use?
5 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. 6 And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete.
A more literal rendering of v.5 is: “We destroy reasoning, and every barrier that is raised up against knowledge of God, and we make every thought a captive slave to obey Christ.”
7 You are looking only on the surface of things. If anyone is confident that he belongs to Christ, he should consider again that we belong to Christ just as much as he.
In order to win victories in this battle against the source of evil we must get below “the surface of things.” On the surface, it’s always people. Below the surface, it’s always spiritual forces. Our battle is not against people. It is against whatever evil powers control them. God saves humans and defeats Satan. We must also.
Q: So let’s make this real. Take your two examples of battles in this world. What does it look like to fight the battles only on the surface? How can we fight below the surface?
