War

…for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, and we are ready to punish all disobedience, whenever your obedience is complete. -2 Corinthians 10:4-6 (NASB)

The Christian life is one of warfare. It is evident in our text and many other passages of Scripture (consider Genesis 3:15 and Ephesians 6:10-20 for starters). This ongoing war was a primary reason Paul wrote his second letter to church at Corinth. He wrote to defend his apostleship because it and he were under attack (Chapters 1-7), to exhort the Christians at Corinth (Ch. 8-9), and to expose and confront the false apostles fighting against God’s people in the city (Ch. 10-13).

The context of this passage suggests that our battle comes from within the church. Because we fail to heed its admonition we have a crisis in the church today. Like Israel of old, we are failing to purge the evil from among us and are thereby guilty of seeking to worship God while entertaining harlotry.

We seem intent on fighting our spiritual battles with the carnal weapons of human wisdom and methods. Fundamentally it is because we have ceased believing that the Scriptures are sufficient and divinely powerful to destroy the fortresses of the world and the devil. Simply stated, we are not taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. We are unwilling to draw a line in the sand between righteousness and wickedness. This opens a wide door for wolves to get into Christ’s church.

In Corinth, the wolves were seeking to prey on the sheep and devour them. Their war strategy consisted in attacking the shepherd. That is the sort of thing wolves do. Remember they do not come looking like wolves, but disguised as sheep. Whether in church leadership or not, these false teachers have a few common characteristics: they despise authority, revile where they have no knowledge, are daring and self-willed, and perish in the rebellion of Korah. [For a more exhaustive list, see 2 Peter 2 and Jude. For details about Korah, see Leviticus 16:1-3.]

Men like this infiltrated the church at Corinth and tried to destroy it. The Corinthians had apparently given them a listening ear. Paul, on the other hand, gave them no quarter. People like this are in the church today. Many are giving them a listening ear, but for the love of Christ and His bride, we must be diligent to engage them in warfare with the divinely powerful weapon of God’s Word.

The problem at Corinth is a problem in our day, and it may not be hyperbole to say it is an epidemic problem. It is a problem that must be addressed. It was reportedly Luther who said: “If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are attacking at that moment, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved, and to be steady on all battlefields besides, is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point.”

Are you going to flee in disgrace by flinching at this point or will you prove your loyalty as a soldier of Christ by engaging the enemy where the battle is raging?