I’ve been reviewing this passage this past week and thought I would post the highlights of Albert Barnes commentary on it. It is a powerful passage and I am likely not the only one who forgets to consider many of these points in my daily struggle against the world the flesh and the Devil.
2 Cor. 10: 3 For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. 5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ [ESV 2011].
I copied and pasted the commentary from the website, Bible Hub which has many Bible versions, commentaries, Bible dictionaries…and it is free. https://biblehub.com/commentaries/2_corinthians/10-3.htm
If you use the link, you may read the entirety of Barnes notes, and several other commentaries on this passage. Emboldening and bracketed statements are mine:
- The best of people are subject to these needs and frailties; the best of people are liable to err
- The warfare in which he was engaged was with sin, idolatry, and all forms of evil
- Paul was himself engaged as an apostle; and the idea is, that he went forth as a soldier under the great Captain of his salvation to fight his battles and to make conquests for him
- As in 2 Tim. 2:3-4: 3 Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4 No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him
- All Christians are engaged in a warfare; and it is equally true that they do not maintain their conflict “after the flesh,” or on the principles which govern the people of this world
- It is a warfare with the corrupt desires and sensual propensities of the heart; with eternal corruption and depravity, with the remaining unsubdued propensities of a fallen nature
- With the powers of darkness; the mighty spirits of evil that seek to destroy us; see Ephesians 6:11-17
- With sin in all forms; with idolatry, sensuality, corruption, intemperance, profaneness, wherever they may exist
- …It is the aim and purpose of his life [the Christian] as far as he may be able to resist and subdue them…. But his warfare is not conducted on worldly principles
- The Christian looks for his conquests only by the force and the power of truth, and by the agency of the Spirit of God
- Commentary on verse 4: …The ministry of the word is so styled, because that as war [in general] is waged in defence of men’s rights, properties, and liberties, and for the weakening of an enemy’s power and possessions, and for the enlargement of kingdoms and dominions; so this [spiritual war] is in defence of the truths and liberty of the Gospel, that they may continue and abide; for the weakening of Satan’s kingdom, by delivering the lawful captives, taking the prey from the mighty, turning souls from the power of Satan to God, and translating them from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of Christ Jesus; and so for the enlargement of his kingdom, by spreading the Gospel far and near
- The “weapons” with which this warfare is managed are the Scriptures of truth, the sword of the Spirit, the word of God…both offensive and defensive; such as serve both to establish and secure the doctrines of the Gospel, and to refute the errors of the wicked
- [These include gifts given by Christ; means of grace such as prayer, reading of the Word; hearing of preaching; the Lord’s supper; fellowship; meditation upon the word]
- Also [included are] the various graces of the Spirit, with which they are endued, may be taken into the account; such as the breastplate of faith in Christ, and love to himself, his people, word, ordinances, cause, and interest; the helmet of salvation, hope, the girdle of truth and faithfulness, and the excellent grace of patience to endure all hardships, reproaches, insults, afflictions, and persecutions, cheerfully;…
- [These weapons] are not carnal; such as the men of the world fight with, not the temporal sword; for Christ sent forth his apostles without that, naked and unarmed amidst their enemies, his kingdom not being of this world, and so not to be defended and propagated in such a way; or as the weapons the false apostles used, such as natural eloquence, fleshly wisdom, carnal reason, cunning craftiness, the hidden things of dishonesty, and great swelling words of vanity;…
- But [these weapons are] mighty through God: powerful and effectual through the blessing of God, and the influences of his grace and Spirit for the conversion of sinners, the edification of saints, the defence of truth, the confutation of error, the destruction of Satan’s kingdom, and the enlargement of Christ’s
- These weapons are not powerful of themselves; they are passive instruments, which are only efficacious when used by a superior hand; when the Gospel ministration is attended with “the demonstration of the Spirit, and of power”; and then they are serviceable to the pulling down of strong holds. The allusion seems to be to the falling of the walls of Jericho
- By strongholds are meant, the strongholds of sin and Satan; such as unbelief, pride, hardness of heart, &c. with which the heart of man is walled …against God and Christ, and the Gospel of the grace of God, and by which Satan fortifies himself, and keeps the palace and goods in peace, until the everlasting doors are thrown open, which were bolted and barred; and these walls of defence are pulled down by the King of glory, who enters in, which is usually done by the power of God, in the ministry of the Gospel: so sins are called strongholds, fortresses, and bulwarks, by the Talmudists (k), who give this as the sense of Ecclesiastes 9:14
- …fortresses of a man’s own righteousness, holiness, good works, and moral duties, in which he entrenches, and thinks himself safe: which the Spirit of God, in the ministry of the word, blows a blast upon, and which are cast down by it, that revealing a better righteousness, even the righteousness of Christ;…
- Comments on verse 5: Casting down imaginations – Margin, reasonings. The word is probably used here in the sense of device, and refers to all the plans of a wicked world; the various systems of false philosophy; and the reasonings of the enemies of the gospel
- And every high thing … – Every exalted opinion respecting the dignity and purity of human nature; all the pride of the human heart and of the understanding. All this is opposed to the knowledge of God, and all exalts itself into a vain self-confidence. People entertain vain and unfounded opinions respecting their own excellency, and they feel that they do not need the provisions of the gospel and are unwilling to submit to God. [That would also include all those preachers who do not preach on human depravity and sin.]
- And bringing into captivity … – The figure here is evidently taken from military conquests. The idea is, that all the strongholds of paganism, and pride, and sin would be demolished; and that when this was done, like throwing down the walls of a city or making a breach, all the plans and purposes of the soul, the reason, the imagination, and all the powers of the mind would be subdued or led in triumph by the gospel, like the inhabitants of a captured city
- Every power of thought in the pagan world; all the systems of philosophy and all forms of opinion among people; all the purposes of the soul; all the powers of reason, memory, judgment, fancy in an individual, were all to come under the laws of Christ,
- All doctrines …philosophy should no longer control them, but they should be subject to the will of Christ… All the plans of life… All the emotions and feelings of the heart should be controlled by him, and led by him as a captive is led by a victor
- The strongholds of philosophy, paganism, and sin should be demolished, and all the opinions, plans, and purposes of the world should become subject to the all-conquering Redeemer.
- End Commentary
So, when Christ spoke of self-denial; and when the apostle Paul spoke of spiritual warfare, the aforementioned is what they were referring to.
It is stated above, and I am discovering that if I do not abide in God’s means of grace (Bible reading; prayer; hearing preaching; Christian fellowship and the Lord’s supper), then the aforementioned is impossible because I am not in fellowship with the Holy Spirit. I would then be aloof in my relationship with Him and likely grieving Him.
In such instances, it seems that He allows me to find out how ineffective my warfare is in my own strength.
It seems that when one wants to submit to Christ, his first action should be to pray for the strength and religious affections he needs to abide in the appointed means of grace; then the points of encouragement above become a possibility.
I think that the Holy Spirit spends a lot of time showing Christians their idolatry; the poor use of time; their selfishness…such things that indicate they are not yet submitted to Christ; such things that keep them falling into sin; such things that might provide much self-understanding (of depravity, self-reliance, etc.), and a greater appreciation and love of God because of His mercy, longsuffering and grace.