>> Jen: Hi, faithful listeners. My name is Jen. I am the host of the Bible Explained podcast, and I am very excited that you're here to share a delicious cup of coffee with me because we're going to be talking about an entire chapter of 2 Corinthians today. 2 Corinthians 10. Stay tuned for that. So this is the chapter where Paul tells us to take
every thought captive. We're gonna get into that theme today as well as several other themes, because 2 Corinthians 10, even though it's a short chapter, it's got a lot in it, and I honestly could have broken it up, I guess, into two episodes, but I ended up not doing that. So we're gonna read the entire chapter today. This is Second Corinthians 10, and as usual, I'll be reading from the web.
Now. I, Paul myself, entreat you by the humility and gentleness of Christ, I, who in your presence am lowly among you, but being absent, I am bold toward you. Yes, I beg you that I may not, when present, show courage with the confidence with which I intend to be bold against some who consider us to be walking according to the flesh. For though we walk in the flesh, we don't wage war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the
flesh, but mighty before God. To the throwing down of strongholds, throwing down imaginations, and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God, and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being in readiness to avenge all disobedience, when your obedience is made full, do you look at things only as they appear
in front of your face? If anyone trusts that he is Christ's, let him consider this again with himself, that even as he is Christ's, so we are also Christ's. For even if I boast somewhat abundantly concerning our authority, which the LORD gave for building you up, and not for casting you down, I will not be ashamed that I may not seem as if I desire to terrify you by my letters. For his letters, they say, are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech is
despised. Let such a person consider that what we are in this world by letters when we are absent, such are we also indeed when we are present. For we are not bold to number, or compare ourselves with some of those who commend themselves, but they themselves, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves with themselves, are without understanding. But we will not boast beyond proper limits, but within the boundaries with which God has appointed to us
which reach even to you. For we don't stretch ourselves too much as though we didn't reach to you. For we came even as far as to you with the good news of Christ, not boasting beyond the proper limits in other man's labors, but having hope that as your faith grows, we will be abundantly enlarged by you in our sphere of influence so as to preach the good news, uh, even to the parts beyond you, not to boast in what someone else has already done. But he who boasts, let him boast in the
LORD. For it isn't he who commends himself who is approved, but whom the LORD commends. This entire chapter is about Paul defending his authority to correct the Corinthian church. Because, as you can see from the chapter, the Corinthians had some complaints against Paul. Nothing new there. It seems like the Corinthians always had a complaint against Paul.
But the newest complaint now is that Paul was only bold when he was far away, but when he was actually with the Corinthians, he was very meek and couldn't speak very well and didn't really follow any of the things that he preached from far away. Basically, they considered Paul to be like a. A keyboard warrior.
You know, the people who are on, like, YouTube and stuff who just say the nastiest things behind the keyboard because they know they're never going to get caught doing it, but they would never say any of those face to face with that person. So that's what the Corinthians thought Paul was. They thought he was just bold from far away. And so Paul would write them these, you know, really mean letters, but never really follow through on them when he was
face to face with them. And that's basically what he says in the first verse. He says, now I, Paul myself, entreat you by the humility and gentleness of Christ, I, who in your presence am lowly among you, but being absent and bold towards you. So, of course, Paul is being very facetious, uh, there. He's teasing them because he knows what they
are saying about him. So Paul's like, yes, you know, I beg of you, you, Corinthians, because I am very, you know, bold when I am far away from you guys, but not in person. I beg of you that when I come to you, I won't have to be bold and discipline you in person, because you don't really want that. Verse 2. Yes, I beg of you that I may not, when present, show courage with the confidence with which I intend to be bold against you who consider us to be walking according to the flesh.
So, yeah, Paul's like, you don't want me to be bold with you, Corinthians when I get there, because I will be. I will be bold with you. So I am begging you now, from far away, don't make me discipline you when I am at your church. As my mom used to say, don't make me come over there or don't make me stop this car. It's like what Paul is saying to the Corinthians. But you might be like, well, how does Paul have any right to discipline
the Corinthian church? Well, that's kind of what Paul is getting at in this entire chapter, is that he does, in fact, have the authority to discipline the Corinthians, mainly because he was the one who was an authority on the Scriptures, who started the Corinthian church. So of course he has the authority to tell them what they are doing wrong and to discipline them when they are doing something against
the gospel of Christ. And one of the things the Corinthians were doing wrong was they were spreading this rumor that Paul and the other apostles were nothing but worldly men just looking out for themselves. The only reason they were preaching the gospel was so that they could gain things for themselves. And that's what he says here. He says, some of you consider us to be walking according to the flesh. So then in verse three, he says, yes, we do walk in the flesh, but we don't wage
war according to the flesh. And let me pull that verse up in the NLT version, verses 2 and 3 out of the NLT says, I am begging you now so that when I come, I won't have to be bold with those who think we act from human motives. We are human, but we don't wage war as humans do. So Paul's like, yeah, you know, we are, in fact humans, but we aren't living for worldly things. That is not what we are doing here. We are human. We have to live and do things that humans do. We have to support ourselves.
We have to protect ourselves. We do things that humans do, but we aren't waging war the same way that humans are. And so Paul goes on to explain, this is out of the web again. He says, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before God to the throwing down of strongholds, throwing down imaginations, and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God. So these weapons that Paul is using Are not physical weapons the same way that
people use against each other. Instead, these are spiritual weapons that Paul is using. And these weapons throw down strongholds, is what he says. And what are these strongholds? Well, strongholds is anything that, that is putting a barrier between
you and God. Whether it's questions you might have, or criticisms that you might have against the Bible, or lies that you once believed, or any false religion you might be following that causes you to not see the truth of God clearly, or any sin or pride or maybe even a past church hurt or trauma that is causing you to not follow God. These are the types of strongholds Paul is
talking about. And so Paul is mastering the art of throwing down these strongholds by preaching the truth of the gospel message. Because the truth truly does set you free. The truth is what gets rid of those strongholds. But these weapons don't just get rid of strongholds. They also throw down imaginations and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God.
So anything that is standing in the way of your relationship with God, Paul is using the truth of scripture, the ultimate weapon, to throw down all of these things that are causing us to not have a relationship with Christ. And that is why scripture is actually called the two edged sword, actually sharper than the two edged sword. Because when it comes to spiritual matters,
the Bible is the truth. And when people study it and begin to understand it, these strongholds and these imaginations and every high thing, every prideful thing that keeps us away from God suddenly gets thrown down when we start believing in the truth of the gospel message. So Paul is not waging war the same way that humans are doing by backbiting, by slandering, gossiping, being jealous, or by plotting something. Instead, he is waging a totally different kind of
war. Because Paul understands probably better than most people that everything he is fighting against, all of these people that are trying to kill him, all of these people who are jealous of him, it's all spiritual. Paul understands that. And so he's fighting a spiritual battle, not a
physical battle against people. And this brings me to a very famous verse, Ephesians 6, verse 12, that says, for our, uh, wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world's rulers of the darkness of this age, and against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. So Paul really understood who he was battling. He wasn't really battling
against humanity. He was battling against these evil forces that would influence people to do evil things. Paul says our war is not against flesh and blood, it's against spiritual darkness. So that is what Paul is talking about in 2 Corinthians 10 when he says he's waging a war against not flesh, but against the imaginations and the strongholds and the high things that are exalting humanity against the knowledge of God. But verse five
continues. It says, and not only this, we are bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ and being in readiness to avenge all disobedience when your obedience is made full. So that's where we get that. Take every thought captive. You might have heard that before. In other words, our sins aren't just external, they're also internal. And we are supposed to be really self analyzing ourselves to make sure that what is going on inside of our hearts is not
sin. So when a bad thought pops into your head, you take it, you analyze it and you say, nah, uh, I'm not going to think about that. When a fearful thought pops into your head, you reject it. When a lustful thought pops into your head about somebody that isn't your
spouse, you reject that. And when any other type of sinful thought pops into your head, instead of dwelling on it and thinking about it and letting it fester and causing you to potentially sin, you take it captive and you either confess it or you reject it completely. And that is a very difficult thing to do because you are constantly self
analyzing at that point. You have to constantly be reading yourself and analyzing what you are doing, because if you stop for a second, that is when these thoughts are going to come in and cause you to fall astray from the correct path from God. So taking every thought captive is something we have to practice on a day to day basis because it is a very, very difficult thing to do. And then verse 6 says, we are made ready to avenge all disobedience when your obedience is
made full. And that's talking more about Paul's authority that he had. Not just Paul, but the other apostles had this authority as well to avenge disobedience, or rather to punish disobedience. When the Corinthians went off the wrong path, Paul had the obligation and the authority to make sure that the Corinthians knew when they were doing something wrong. As their elder and their apostle and their church founder, Paul had the right and the authority to do that.
So Paul says, do you look at these things only as they appear in front of your face? So he's like, why don't you guys think a little bit deeper about these things? You are so focused on
outward appearances. Because remember one of the complaints the Corinthians had against Paul was that he was very meek and lowly when he was in front of them and they didn't like the way he looked, actually, which is something he alludes to in verse 10, which probably hurt Paul's feelings a little bit, I would imagine, because, I mean, who wouldn't, whose feelings wouldn't be hurt that people didn't like you based upon the way you looked? Because that's what he says here
in verse 10. He says, you guys say his letters are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak and his speech is despised. Now, we don't really know what Paul looked like. Obviously we have no pictures of him. But there are some early Christian texts that suggest that Paul was very short, bald, bow legged, had a unibrow and a hooked nose. According to early Christian tradition, Paul was an unattractive man. And that very well might be because the Corinthians here are making fun
of the way Paul looks right here in verse 10. And Paul's like, okay, I might not look handsome, I might not look appealing or commanding in any way, but I still have the authority because God gave it to me. So he's like, are you looking at me from an outward perspective instead of looking at my heart, that I also belong to Christ the same way that you guys do. Stop looking at the outward appearance.
For even if I boast somewhat abundantly concerning our authority which the LORD gave for building you up and not for casting you down, I will not be ashamed. Paul says, I am not ashamed of my authority because God didn't give me this authority to cast you down or to discourage you in any way. In fact, this authority that I have been given is for your edification, to build you up and to encourage you and to cause you to get back on the path that
leads to God. Let each person consider that what we are in word by letters when we are absent, we are also indeed when we are present. So Paul's like, let me give it to you straight. I might be bold in my letters, but I promise you that when I come to you in person, I will be just as bold in my speech when I am in front of you as when I am far away writing you a letter. So don't make it come to
that. For we are not bold to number or compare ourselves with some of those who commend themselves, but they themselves, measuring themselves by themselves and comparing themselves with themselves are without understanding. So in this verse, Paul Is asking the Corinthians a logical question. He says, do you really see us as these other people who are commending ourselves, boasting about ourselves, and claiming ourselves to be as wonderful as all these
other people who tell you how important they are? But you listen to those people, those people that come around saying, oh, yeah, we're wonderful. We are prophets from God. We are this, we are that. You listen to them. But those people are only comparing themselves to other people. He says they are comparing themselves with each other, using themselves as a standard of measurement according to the nlt. But the web version says they are measuring themselves by themselves and comparing
themselves with themselves. They are without understanding. And honestly, in the eyes of God, there is no person holier than another person. There is no person better than another person. And yet when we're comparing ourselves to other people, it's futile because God created each person in His eyes equal. M God sees us all as equals. He doesn't play favorites. So it's a silly thing for us to compare ourselves with somebody else, because in the eyes of God, He loves us all. In the
eyes of God, we are all sinners. In the eyes of God, we are all equal. So it's silly to compare ourselves with another person. And if you jump down to verse 18, Paul kind of concludes with that. He says, for it isn't he who commends himself who is approved, but whom the LORD commends. And that's a really beautiful verse. We can commend ourselves and praise ourselves all we want, but none of that matters. The only thing that's going to matter in the end is when God commends us or praises us.
That's the only thing that's going to matter when we stand before God and He says to us, well done, good and faithful servant. That is the only commendation we will ever need. Because that commendation from God is going to fulfill our souls. It's what we're craving. When God sees us and notices us and tells us that what we did here on earth was a good thing, that we brought other people to Christ, those words from God are going to fulfill our soul, unlike any fleeting praise we could ever get
from humans. And Paul says, you know, these people who are commending themselves, they don't get it. They're looking for praise in all the wrong places. They're just comparing themselves to another person, and it's all worthless in the end. But to conclude here, Paul mentions in verses 13 through 17 that he is not going to take credit for another man's work. He says, we will not boast beyond proper limits, but within the boundaries with which God appointed to us, which reach even to
you. So Paul's like, you know, we are not like other people who are going around and trying to take credit for the work that somebody else does. Instead, we are going to stay within our boundaries that God gave us, which include you Corinthians, because God helped us found the church in Corinth, we are going to stay within our boundaries and not go beyond our boundaries that God gave
us. Verse 15. Not boasting beyond the proper limits in another man's labors, but having hope that as your faith grows, we will be abundantly enlarged by you in our sphere of influence so as to preach the good news even to the parts beyond you, not to boast in what someone else has already done. So Paul's like, other people have gone out, other apostles and other disciples and have done great things in other cities. And I don't want to go to those cities and take away from what those men
have done in those cities. So I'm going to stay within my sphere of influence. Paul says, I have authority over the church in Corinth, and I'm going to maintain that authority. And hopefully, as you Corinthians continue to grow in Christ, you will also start preaching the gospel to other people in other parts of the world. And then through your evangelism, our sphere of influence will continue to grow.
And quite honestly, between this principle that Paul's talking about and the principle of not comparing ourselves to other people, you could definitely take this and apply it to social media today. Because the entire point of social media, for the most part, other than, I guess, being kind of connected with people, which, uh, isn't really the
point of social media anymore. The entire point of social media, honestly, is to try to air your opinions, possibly make it big, or let other people in your life know how good your life is, or brag about what you did, or show people just the good aspects of your life. That's the point of social media, quite honestly. And don't get me wrong, I use social media as much as the next
person. I use it all the time. And yes, I do scroll on social media and I do compare myself to other people and I do post pictures of myself on social media. I'm not gonna lie to you guys and say that I don't. But this is a good, I think, message to us that comparing ourselves to other people in the end is nothing but emptiness and trying to expand our sphere of Influence beyond what God has given us is also empty. God entrusts us with certain things and we should be thankful with
those things that God has given us. And man, that's hard for me sometimes because God has given me a platform. And sometimes I'm like, oh, uh, you know, I just wish it was bigger. I wish I had more people following the podcast. I wish I had more on my YouTube channel. I wish this, I wish that. And when I get into that mindset, I struggle with thankfulness for the wonderful community that God gave me here on this
podcast. And I can tell you that when I get into that mindset, even when I see my numbers start to grow or something like that on the podcast, it's never enough. I'm always like, yeah, you know, I want more. Good. I want more of this. More, more, more. It turns out to be empty in the end. Instead, we should be thankful for what God has given us. It says in scripture that if we are faithful in the little things that God gives us, we will be faithful in
the big things that God gives us. So if we're not thankful or faithful for the little things, why would God entrust us more? Why would God give us more? We have to learn to be content and thankful for all the things God gives us instead of always asking and wanting for more. And then of course, social media also causes us to compare ourselves to other people all the time when we are seeing what they're doing and all the cool things they've got
going on in their lives. Or for me, it's when I see my friends post pictures of their babies, I'm just like, oh, you know, I don't have a baby, that's so unfair. Blah, blah, ah, blah. And I compare myself to my friends in that way, but that's wrong because God blessed my friends with those things and did not bless me with those things. And that's not something I should be getting angry at my friends for because God
gave them a blessing that I want. So the four things we can take away from this short chapter is firstly, we need to take every thought captive and work on that from a day to day, minute to minute basis. Secondly, we need to stop looking at people from an outward perspective. Thirdly, we need to stop comparing ourselves to other people because it leads to nothing but emptiness and unthankfulness, um,
and sadness and depression. And fourthly, we need to stop trying to expand our sphere of influence beyond what God has entrusted to us because once again, that's going to end in nothing but emptiness. Instead we should be working diligently with what God has placed in our care so that at the end God will commend us and say well done, good and faithful servant. Well faithful listeners, thank you for listening to today's episode. I hope you enjoyed 2 Corinthians
10. There is a lot in this chapter, a lot more than I expected when I initially first read it. And sometimes I really like it when things don't go the way I expect in the episode because sometimes, you know, I plot out what I'm going to talk about and I totally just veer away from those topics. And that kind of happened today and I think that it ended up being a really interesting episode and definitely I got some insight from it and I hope you guys did
as well. Faithful listeners, have a fantastic and wonderful rest of your Tuesday. I will see you guys bright and early tomorrow, 6am or whenever you choose to wake up and listen. Until then, happy listening and God bless.