CHRISTINE GORDON | CONTRIBUTOR

Unless you or someone close to you has a military background, warfare strategy isn’t something you probably think about much. But as believers, we are in a thousands-year-long conflict with the world, the flesh, and the devil. In 2 Corinthians 10, we read a snippet about that war.

A Plan for Battle

Some of Paul’s friends had been taken captive in the city of Corinth, and his strategy for freeing them included the ancient practice of siege warfare. His battle plan included three distinct steps: First, demolish the fortified military stronghold. Second, take all enemies captive. Finally, punish any remaining resistance. Any citizen in first century Corinth would have been aware of such battle tactics, and all would have understood that the resisters in the city would eventually lose against the invading commander.

Don’t remember this part of 2 Corinthians? Perhaps a clue will help: Paul’s battle was not conducted with maps and guns but with the power of God. He and his fellow soldiers were waging war in the spiritual world with a different kind of munition.

2 Corinthians 10:1-6: I, Paul, myself entreat you, by the meekness and gentleness of Christ—I who am humble when face to face with you, but bold toward you when I am away!— 2 I beg of you that when I am present I may not have to show boldness with such confidence as I count on showing against some who suspect us of walking according to the flesh. 3 For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. 5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, 6 being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.

Paul’s continued pastoral care for the Corinthians led him to write at length to his beloved brothers and sisters in the first 9 chapters of this letter about comfort, freedom in Christ, suffering, joy, and generosity. But as we begin chapter 10, Paul’s focus shifts from expressing thanks to God for His surpassing grace to begging those in the church at Corinth to be obedient to God. What was he so urgently asking them to do?

A Problem in the Church

Apparently, some “superapostles” had infiltrated the church at Corinth. Paul refers to them specifically in 2 Corinthians 11:5, using the title “superapostles” ironically. These were false teachers who claimed to have a higher spiritual understanding or authority than Paul. They undermined his ministry and questioned his legitimacy because of his simple speaking style. These were arrogant, self-exalting people who relied on flashy oratory and their own captivating personalities to gain a following. Their goal was never to serve as humble examples of sacrificial love in hopes of pointing to Christ. Rather, their goal was status, popularity, and influence. Paul doesn’t just speak negatively of them or suggest to the church that they shouldn’t give these people positions of leadership. Instead, he explains to the Corinthian Christians that their obedience to Christ includes zeroing out the influence of the “superapostles” altogether. The church, some of whom had been convinced by the false teachers that Paul was actually the one who shouldn’t be trusted, needed to completely reject these “superapostles.” Paul wanted the saints to do the work of disciplining the false teachers before he got to Corinth so that he wouldn’t have to “show boldness” to his brothers and sisters and be forced to discipline them.

What was the big deal? Why was Paul so worked up about a small group of people in the church who preferred a little extra flair?

Because as believers, our tactics are just as important as our content.

Paul’s Gospel Strategy

While the superapostles relied on their own human resources like eloquence, social status, and hype, Paul did not. His plan to win back the hearts and trust of the Corinthians did not include upping his rhetoric abilities. Instead, he presented the gospel in his own weak, small way and expected God to work through his frailty. He relied on the power of Christ to make disciples and grow them in the kingdom. He became strong through his weakness, relying on God’s grace. Paul adopted the image of a city under siege to represent his dear brothers and sisters that had been taken captive by the false teachers’ arguments. He explained the true strategy of the kingdom of God so that the Corinthian saints might see the ways of the false teachers for what they really were: human attempts to build their own kingdoms.

First, Paul told the Corinthians to “destroy arguments and every lofty opinion”—lofty opinions of themselves and their abilities. This was the first step in his kind of warfare, to demolish the fortified stronghold of arrogance and self-reliance which the superapostles were promoting.

Next, Paul explained that once the stronghold of arrogant self-sufficiency had been broken, they must “take every thought captive” by humbly bowing to the Lordship of Christ. Any rogue or enemy visions of self-importance or victory by personal power were to be bound and confined. This would free the saints to look to Christ’s power as the freely flowing, unending resource that it is.

Finally, Paul’s strategy included a readiness to “punish every disobedience.” Any remaining resistance to the self-effacing, Christ-powered way of ministry had to be punished. In this case, that meant the Corinthian saints had to discipline the false teachers in their own church.

Relying on God’s Power

Instead of letting these “superapostles” change the culture and tactics of the Corinthian church body as a whole, the healthy part of the body needed to push back in truth on the false teachers in their midst. They could do this by taking down the stronghold of their arrogant attitudes, binding their self-important thoughts, and punishing those who refused to walk in humility by relying on God’s power.

Tactics matter in the kingdom of God. Arrogant, outwardly showy ministry is not gospel ministry. Prayerless, loveless, self-promotion that trades in gospel content is powerless. Those of us who labor in the church must be careful not only to carry the message of the gospel but also to do so by gospel means, Christ’s power.

We will forget this, of course, and do so many times. We’ll be tempted in gospel ministry to rely on our own talent, wisdom, charisma, efficiency, gut instincts, control of others, family name, bank accounts, and a thousand other things. We’ll try to produce good fruit without connecting to the vine. Christ, who was also tempted by such things while living on earth but never gave in those temptations, will forgive us when we return to Him and ask. In His meekness and gentleness, He will invite us back to a place of weakness and dependence, that we might wage spiritual war not with our small arsenal of frail human means, but with His matchless power.

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez 🇨🇦 on Unsplash