OUR SPIRITUAL WEAPONS -- Tomorrow:
"Now I Paul myself beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, who in presence am base among you, but being absent am bold toward you: But I beseech you, that I may not be bold when I am present with that confidence, wherewith I think to be bold against some, which think of us as if we walked according to the flesh. 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 strong holds;) 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; And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled." (2 Cor 10:1-6)
Devotion 33 of 44
"Casting down imaginations..."
Other versions, "casting down arguments" (NKJV), "We are destroying speculations" (NASB), "We demolish arguments" (NIV), "putting an end to reasons" (BBE), "overthrowing reasonings" (DARBY), "destroying counsels" (DOUAY), "It is ideas that we demolish" (NJB), "break down every proud argument" (LIVING), "We break down false logic" (IE), "For we overthrow arrogant 'reckonings'" (WEYMOUTH), [Inasmuch as we] refute arguments and theories and reasonings" (AMPLIFIED), and "bring down every deceptive fantasy" (PHILLIPS).
Remember, Paul is writing to the church, not the government – to the body of Christ, not the philosophers of Athens. The "imaginations" that are to be cast down are not his own, but belong to those who had aligned themselves against him – and they were in the church!
The word "imaginations" is defined as "a reckoning, computation, a reasoning, a judgment, decision" (THAYER 0, "the activity of one's reasoning powers, thoughts, calculations, reflections, misleading arguments" (FRIBERG), "false argument or reasoning" (UBS), "to think about something in a detailed and logical manner . . . to reason about" (LOUW-NIDA), "an argument or conclusion" (LIDDELL-SCOTT).
In this text, "imaginations" are erroneous WAYS of thinking or reasoning, whereas a "stronghold" is a primary pillar of thought. In order for the devil to bring anyone within the sphere of his working, he must draw them into thinking wrongly. The way they reason must be faulty, as when Eve looked upon the tree bearing forbidden fruit and reasoned that, "the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise" (Gen 3:6). Paul now affirms that the weapons he will employ, owing to their empowerment by God, will "cast down," "demolish" (NIV), and "destroy" every erroneous argument and false speculation.
That such erroneous ways of thinking can be found within the church is tragic – yet it is a very real condition. Take, for example, the form of reasoning that assumes we are justified by works – the works of the Law – a thought that is strictly forbidden by the Holy Spirit (Gal 2:16; 3:10). That manner of reasoning leads one to diminish Christ's work. It leads to a sure lack of assurance, and encourages a state of glaring hypocrisy.
Some, with whom I have walked, reasoned that nothing could be offered to God that He did not command. Thus, they taught that anything that was not specifically required by God, or did not have an apostolic precedent, constituted an error. This was a manner of reasoning that permeated nearly all of their religion. Some people, in the praise of God, excluded the use of musical instruments. They reasoned they were not commanded, and there was, in Scripture no specific instance of their employment in a gathering of saints. Therefore, they had to be wrong.
In our text, some reasoned that because Paul was not "pushy," demanding in his presence, that he was therefore timid, backward, and could easily be opposed and disproved. Paul tells them they are not correct in such foolish reasonings, and pleads with them to change that manner of thought.
There is a certain irony about finding fundamentally wrong thinking within the church. This is the body of people who have been liberated by the truth (John 8:32). They have access to "the mind of Christ" (1 Cor 2:16), the tutelage of Christ (Eph 4:20-21; 1 John 5:20), and "all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Col 2:3). If they lack wisdom, they are simply admonished to "ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him" (James 1:5). If there is anyone in all of the world who should NOT reason incorrectly, it is the church of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And yet, notwithstanding these circumstances, the body of Christ has been inundated with all manner of wrong reasoning. The World Christian Database lists 9,000 denominations within the professed Christian community. The World Christian Encyclopedia lists a staggering "33,830 Christian denominations" (World Christian Encyclopedia, 2001 Edition, 1,700 pages, Oxford University Press). Even though the church is the initial outworking of God's purpose, which is to "GATHER TOGETHER IN ONE all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in Him" (Eph 1:10), it is now seen to be in a fractured and splintered condition. Even though every single person who had ever been saved has been added to "one body," under "one Lord," possessed of "one faith," indwelt by "one Spirit," animated by "one hope," participating in "one baptism," and inhabited by "one God" (Eph 4:4-6), yet there are unimaginable "divisions" within the professing church – a condition that is expressly forbidden (1 Cor 1:10).
These divisions reflect different ways of thinking – differing forms of reasoning. If it were not for inharmonious ways of thinking, divisions could not exist within the church. Precisely what does their presence tell us? Among other things, this means the weaponry to which our text refers has NOT been used by the professing church – at least not to any measurable degree. It is only because "imaginations" were NOT "cast down," that they were allowed to become so prominent within the modern church. Thoughtful people ponder how many other Divine resources have been grossly neglected, even though people chose to continue a professed identity with Christ.
PRAYER POINT: Father, in the name of Jesus, raise up men that will be able to employ the weapons You have supplied to throw down false and damaging patterns of thought.