2 Corinthians 10
Daily Bread
2 Corinthians 10
Paul's Defense of His Ministry
1By 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! 2I 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. 3For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5We 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. 6And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete.
7You are looking only on the surface of things.[a] If anyone is confident that he belongs to Christ, he should consider again that we belong to Christ just as much as he. 8For even if I boast somewhat freely about the authority the Lord gave us for building you up rather than pulling you down, I will not be ashamed of it. 9I do not want to seem to be trying to frighten you with my letters. 10For some say, "His letters are weighty and forceful, but in person he is unimpressive and his speaking amounts to nothing." 11Such people should realize that what we are in our letters when we are absent, we will be in our actions when we are present.
Observation:
Paul is resisting the attempt by some in the Corinthian church to get him in a “tit for tat” argument, regarding how is handling this situation. Some have said that Paul is real bold in his letters, and then meek when he comes to visit. Though they are trying to bait him into getting into that kind of argument, he passes on the attempt.
Instead he takes the high road and focuses on the spiritual battle which is fought with spiritual weapons. God’s Word is not something that is debate-able, it is able to demolish worldly arguments based on worldly wisdom. Instead of thinking in a worldly way Paul disciplines himself to make every thought captive to Christ. What a goal?
So often when we get in arguments, we get a sharp tongue that is activated when we are personally offended or taken to task by an adversary. Paul exercises “self control” by not getting into that kind of argument. Paul concludes by saying, “If anyone should boast they should boast in the Lord.”
Application:
Words are very powerful. They can be used for good and bad. James says though the tongue is small it can set into motion a destructive forest fire quickly. One of the hardest things to control is our tongue. With our tongues we can praise God and undermine a fellow brother or sister.
Paul says, “Let your yes be yes and your no be no. Anything beyond that is of the devil.” We must remember that once we say something we can’t take it back. James concludes with great wisdom in James 4, “Therefore you should be slow to speak, slow to anger and quick to listen.” Though many tried to get Paul off course by keeping his thoughts and words captive to Christ and stayed obedient to keep the course and stay on the high road.
What the situations tempt you to stray from the words Christ. If someone tries to pull you into a worldly argument, stay firm, listen and take every thought and make it captive to Christ. If you are tempted to boast, boast in the Lord!
Prayer: Guard our lips Lord and help us to use arguments that come from Your Word and Your wisdom. May our thoughts be captive to you and not to the world. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
2 Corinthians 10
Paul's Defense of His Ministry
1By 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! 2I 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. 3For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5We 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. 6And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete.
7You are looking only on the surface of things.[a] If anyone is confident that he belongs to Christ, he should consider again that we belong to Christ just as much as he. 8For even if I boast somewhat freely about the authority the Lord gave us for building you up rather than pulling you down, I will not be ashamed of it. 9I do not want to seem to be trying to frighten you with my letters. 10For some say, "His letters are weighty and forceful, but in person he is unimpressive and his speaking amounts to nothing." 11Such people should realize that what we are in our letters when we are absent, we will be in our actions when we are present.
Observation:
Paul is resisting the attempt by some in the Corinthian church to get him in a “tit for tat” argument, regarding how is handling this situation. Some have said that Paul is real bold in his letters, and then meek when he comes to visit. Though they are trying to bait him into getting into that kind of argument, he passes on the attempt.
Instead he takes the high road and focuses on the spiritual battle which is fought with spiritual weapons. God’s Word is not something that is debate-able, it is able to demolish worldly arguments based on worldly wisdom. Instead of thinking in a worldly way Paul disciplines himself to make every thought captive to Christ. What a goal?
So often when we get in arguments, we get a sharp tongue that is activated when we are personally offended or taken to task by an adversary. Paul exercises “self control” by not getting into that kind of argument. Paul concludes by saying, “If anyone should boast they should boast in the Lord.”
Application:
Words are very powerful. They can be used for good and bad. James says though the tongue is small it can set into motion a destructive forest fire quickly. One of the hardest things to control is our tongue. With our tongues we can praise God and undermine a fellow brother or sister.
Paul says, “Let your yes be yes and your no be no. Anything beyond that is of the devil.” We must remember that once we say something we can’t take it back. James concludes with great wisdom in James 4, “Therefore you should be slow to speak, slow to anger and quick to listen.” Though many tried to get Paul off course by keeping his thoughts and words captive to Christ and stayed obedient to keep the course and stay on the high road.
What the situations tempt you to stray from the words Christ. If someone tries to pull you into a worldly argument, stay firm, listen and take every thought and make it captive to Christ. If you are tempted to boast, boast in the Lord!
Prayer: Guard our lips Lord and help us to use arguments that come from Your Word and Your wisdom. May our thoughts be captive to you and not to the world. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
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