By the humility and gentleness of Christ, I appeal to you—I, Paul, who am “timid” when face to face with you, but “bold” toward you when away! I 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. For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We 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. And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete.
I suppose we shouldn’t forget that Paul was an apostle with a unique calling so that all that is said here might not apply to what we might call secondary apostles and servant-leaders in the church today. But it surely does apply in some sense, and in a secondary sense to all Christians.
I can hardly get my mind around all Paul is saying here. But one strong, obvious point is his insistence that he and those with him fought differently than the world. Surely in every way, the physical weapons of the world included, and of course not included with Paul and the apostolic band. Paul’s battle was spiritual. And this was a church matter. Paul even said he didn’t judge those in the world, but only in the church, since those in the church had committed themselves to the gospel.
It seems that his weapon was the preaching of the gospel, setting forth the truth plainly and therefore commending the truth to every person’s conscience, including the art of persuasion. You don’t see a hint of resorting to tactics common in the world. Appealing to his Roman citizenship did save him some pain and trouble, but what he was all about was one thing: the gospel, and the power of God for salvation that gospel brings.
Something for us to ponder and pray about as Christians during such a tumultuous time in our nation and the world.
Jesus community 