“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds; casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.”—11 Cor. 10:3-5.
(Translation, RCH) . . .we serve and fight as a soldier. For the weapons of our military service are not fleshly, but powerful for God, fit for the demolishing of (enemy) fortifications. We are continuing to demolish (deceptive) reasonings and every exalted thing (men have) raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.
I. The Course Invincible to Victory
Il. The Conquest Securing Subjection
Paul refers to the battle between truth and error, between the wisdom of God and the wisdom of the world, between the Christian religion and the world’s philosophers and men of science. It is the age-old battle where the one side has its every thought taken captive to the obedience of Christ and the opposing side consists of “free thinkers.” It is the Word of God opposed to the word of man; divine revelation against humanism.
The Christian is not to try to fight the battle for the Bible, or the good fight of faith the way men of the world fight to maintain their non-Christian (anti-Christian) position. Some men of the world think that the only weapon they need is an intellectual needle to pop the balloon of superstition they deem Christianity to be. Yet they, and especially the liberal theologians in the church, have heavy artillery levelled against the gospel, in the face of which the battle becomes more serious and dangerous. We do not use weapons like those levelled against us. We must resort to the Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God. Think of the satanic arguments of the devil against Jesus and the defensive and offensive implement He successfully employed against him. Jesus fought with the invincible Word of God. He did not first resort to clever human reasoning to prove that there is a Word of God. For the weapons used in this warfare are the scriptures of truth, the whole armor of God, the weapons used to secure the bastion of the faith and to attack and destroy the errors of the lie.
Our enemies have very sophisticated equipment to use in attack against us and our gospel. They as veterans of war come against us with their powers of logic, their philosophies, their imposing array of science. How small and weak we are against all this show of strength! We need, and have, mightier weapons than those mentioned in Eph. 6: 11ff. To destroy enemy fortifications, the heavy weaponry of the ballista, the catapult and the battering ram are needed. This is the divine artillery Paul is talking about. It is not of man’s ingenuity, but of God, furnished by God and “for God.” It is folly to think that human devices can stand. “Why do the heathen rage, and the peoples imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against His Messiah. . . He who sitteth in the heavens shall laugh. The Lord shall have them in derision” (Ps. 2:1-4). Trusting in the divine weaponry wielded in the power of God’s Spirit, the battle cannot go any other way than to victory. Even if Jerusalem is lost, as it was, Jerusalem’s children have the victory. The gospel never went down to defeat and never will.
“We are taking every thought captive. . . “—expressive of the true conversion of man in which he throws down the weapons of his warfare against God to become obedient to Him as King and Savior. So, in surrender and submission to all Christ’s commandments and ordinances, the converted man receives and embraces by faith all of Christ’s truth and doctrine. The grace of God has captivated him, the power of God having demolished all his refuges, not against, but with his will, to willingly and cheerfully bow to the sovereign scepter of Christ’s kingdom. His formerly held philosophy, his way of conforming the Bible to science and his reasoning and arguments to satisfy his own unbiblical thinking are all demolished in favor of the Cross “tow” ring o’er the wrecks of time.” The truth (the knowledge of God) demolishes the lie. Actually, what refuge have they who stand not on the Christian position? The castles or forts they take refuge in, such as, evolutionism, modernism, Pelagianism, Arminianism and antinomianism are all wrecked fortifications. It is foolish to hide in the rubble of these wrecks. What safety can possibly be found in them? Christ and His truth provide the only safe refuge.
By the preaching of the Word, the thinking, reasoning and arguments of men against the knowledge of God (the gospel) are wrecked, overcome, taken captive to the obedience of Christ. Then we do not any more devise our own thinking, but strive to think God’s thoughts after Him. Our minds and hearts now listen only to Christ. Our thinking operates in total submission to Him. The evidence that we have the knowledge of God is our obedience to Christ. For they have no knowledge of God who do not obey Christ. So now we have done with our clever thought—contrivances and our ivory tower of intellectual pride. Now our delight is in willing and happy obedience to Christ.
It is by the work of the ministry of the Word and the preaching of the gospel that we wage a spiritual warfare against spiritual enemies. This ministry and warfare is not carried on according to human maxims and theorems. For the weapons of our warfare are the gospel and the keys of the kingdom. So then, our weapons are not carnal. Physical force (cp. The Inquisition) is not the method of the gospel. Not by (human) might, nor by (man’s) power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord. Our weapons are mighty for God, very powerful in God’s hands, because they are His and become effectual with His blessing on them. By His own weapons the Lord takes the field and all opposition falls conquered before His victorious gospel. He does not need human nor divine-human weapons.
Satan has many strongholds exalted against the knowledge of God. Not the universities as such, but the proud philosophies which come out of these institutions are some of these strongholds. The devil gathers men into these to keep them from the faith and from obedience to Christ, so to keep them slaves to his own power. But there is a conquest which the preached Word gains in which these strongholds against the knowledge of God are hurled down and obliterated. What remains is a new creature in Christ, with heart, mind and thought captive no longer to the devil, but to Christ and to His sole authority.
“Weakest means fulfil His will, mighty enemies to still.” (Cp. Jehovah’s use of Israel’s ram’s horn trumpets in the overthrow of Jericho under Joshua.)
So Paul was set for the defense of the gospel; and every Christian should believe that he is, too. How do we strive for the gospel? Two ways, according to the scripture text now dominating our thoughts: (1) we are casting down imaginations and every high thing exalted against the knowledge of God, and (2) we are bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. Being re-oriented to the knowledge of God (the gospel) we desist from seeking our own pleasure and speaking our own word to take sole delight in the Lord and His thoughts (Isa. 58: 13, 14). The thoughts of the unregenerate are void of God (Ps. 10:4), are an abomination to the Lord (Prov. 15:26), and are evil (Mt. 15:19). The thoughts of the regenerate are just (Prov. 12:5). This biblical antithesis in thought must be understood; we must aim to be always conscious of it, let it permeate our own thinking, and use it to structure our witness. By grace we have been conquered through the preaching of the Cross and held captive to Christ’s love; the Lord thus making His once enemies His friends forever. So the gospel is the mighty power of God for salvation to deliver captives (everyone who believes) from the bastions of heathendom, the strongholds of idolatry, the fortifications of unbelief and the dungeons of the powers of darkness. Praise ye Jah!
(To be continued, D.V.)
Suggestions for Further Study:
- Read The Reformed Confession Explained, H. Beets, pp. 34-71 on the Doctrine of Scripture.
- Read the Beacon Lights articles: “The Christian and This Age of Error,
‘The Christian and the Truth,” ‘ ‘The Christian Buying the Truth,” ‘The Christian and Where He Begins” (Sept. 1981 issue). “The Christian With Eyes Opened” (Feb. 1982 issue), and the two articles on Reformed Apologetics in The Standard Bearer, Vol. 57, No 4, Nov 15, 1980 and No 7 Jan 1, 1981