Do you think Paul preached and wrote the word of God? He did! What we have when we read this passage is what God, through his Holy Spirit, gave Paul to write. In fact, the entire Bible is the word of God. So remember as we read the passage, that we are reading what God gave us in order that we might know him and have salvation through him.

¹Now I, Paul, make a personal appeal to you by the gentleness and graciousness of Christ—I who am humble among you in person, but bold toward you when absent. ²I beg you that when I am present I will not need to be bold with the confidence by which I plan to challenge certain people who think we are walking in a fleshly way. ³For although we are walking in the flesh, we do not wage war in a fleshly way, ⁴since the weapons of our warfare are not fleshly, but are powerful through God for the demolition of strongholds. We demolish arguments ⁵and every high-minded thing that is raised up against the knowledge of God, taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. ⁶And we are ready to punish any disobedience, once your obedience is complete.

⁷Look at what is obvious. If anyone is confident that he belongs to Christ, he should remind himself of this: just as he belongs to Christ, so do we. ⁸For if I boast some more about our authority, which the Lord gave for building you up and not for tearing you down, I am not ashamed. ⁹I don’t want to seem as though I am trying to terrify you with my letters. ¹⁰For it is said, “His letters are weighty and powerful, but his physical presence is weak, and his public speaking is despicable.” ¹¹Such a person should consider this: what we are in the words of our letters when absent, we will be in actions when present.

¹²For we don’t dare classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. But in measuring themselves by themselves and comparing themselves to themselves, they lack understanding. ¹³We, however, will not boast beyond measure, but according to the measure of the area of ministry that God has assigned to us, which reaches even to you. ¹⁴For we are not overextending ourselves, as if we had not reached you, since we have come to you with the gospel of Christ. ¹⁵We are not bragging beyond measure about other people’s labors. But we have the hope that as your faith increases, our area of ministry will be greatly enlarged, ¹⁶so that we may preach the gospel to the regions beyond you, not boasting about what has already been done in someone else’s area of ministry. ¹⁷So the one who boasts must boast in the Lord. ¹⁸For it is not the one commending himself who is approved, but the one the Lord commends. (2 Cor.~10:1-18)

Now, you know, I said that in this passage Paul is defending his ministry. I didn’t say that he was defending himself. Paul was speaking the word of God. He had been saying what the Holy Spirit was giving him to say. His purpose was to save as many as possible. He didn’t need to defend himself as long as he was doing what God had called him to do. I’m saying this because we tend to defend ourselves when we are criticized. It’s because we are looking at ourselves rather than looking at Jesus. It has to do with pride. Let’s fix our eyes on Jesus.

In verse 1 Paul says, “Now I, Paul, make a personal appeal to you by the gentleness and graciousness of Christ—I who am humble among you in person, but bold toward you when absent.” Do you think Paul was humble? (Kim doesn’t think so.) Paul had had every reason to be proud. That is, he had every reason to be proud before Jesus knocked him to the ground and blinded him. But all the reasons he had had to be proud—after he had met Jesus he considered them to be filth and a total loss compared with the surpassing greatness of knowing Jesus. (Philip. 3:7-11)

Now that I’ve said that, I have to say this—that when Paul says in verse 1, “I who am humble among you in person...,” what he is really talking about is the fact that his critics are saying that he is wimpy and doesn’t amount to much in person. He says so in verse 10. I just wanted to make that clear. He’s not giving his opinion about himself.

In verse 1 Paul says, “Now I, Paul, make a personal appeal to you by the gentleness and graciousness of Christ...” Why is Paul’s appeal by the “gentleness and graciousness of Christ”? In 1 Corinthians chapter 10 Paul talked about all the plagues and judgment God brought against the Israelites because of their disobedience as they were going through the desert from Egypt to the Promised Land. They committed sexual immorality and 23,000 of them died in one day. They complained that there was no bread and said the food God provided was miserable and that they detested it. The Lord sent poisonous snake among them that bit them and many died. When Korah, Dathan and Abiram rebelled against Moses and the earth opened up and swallowed them and their families and possessions down into Sheol (Hades) and their 250 followers were burned up, the people grumbled and complained about it. The Lord sent a plague. 14,700 people died. (Lord have mercy on me because I complain—and all of us, too.) Why did Paul warn the Corinthians about God’s wrath and judgment in 1 Corinthians and appeal to them by the gentleness and graciousness of Christ in 2 Corinthians? It’s because they had accepted Paul’s rebukes and corrections that he gave them in 1 Corinthians. Fear of hell is a good reason to repent and ask for God’s mercy. But the gentleness and graciousness of Christ is the best reason for obedience after you have received God’s mercy and salvation.

Look at verse 2: “I beg you that when I am present I will not need to be bold with the confidence by which I plan to challenge certain people who think we are walking in a fleshly way.” Paul really wanted to show the people who were criticizing him that they were wrong (for their own good, not because he was proud). But he didn’t want to have to be harsh about it. And, by the way, when the people who complained about the deaths of Korah, Dathan and Abiram and the 250, they were complaining against Moses and Aaron: “You (Moses and Aaron) killed the Lord’s people.” That’s what they said. But they were really complaining against the Lord—and he put 14,700 of them to death. So let’s watch out about complaining. (Isn’t it wonderful that we are still alive?) Anyway, Paul was actually begging the Corinthians to accept what he had to say.

Those who were criticizing Paul were claiming that he was walking (conducting his life) in a fleshly way. What does it mean to conduct your life in a fleshly way? (Literally, it says “according to the flesh”.) What is the flesh? Well, literally, it’s meat. In the Bible it’s used sometimes to refer to our physical bodies (and their weaknesses) and sometimes to refer to our tendency to want to satisfy our own sinful desires. That’s the way Paul uses the term most of the time. Our “flesh” wants to serve itself, to satisfy itself. It wants to exalt itself and wants others to praise it and bow down to it. Our flesh is anything but humble. (It has “high self-esteem”.)

I believe that the people who were criticizing Paul were claiming that he was doing what he was doing for selfish motives. And that’s not a minor thing. Remember what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, “Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord!’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of My Father in heaven. On that day many will say to Me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn't we prophesy in Your name, drive out demons in Your name, and do many miracles in Your name?’ Then I will announce to them, ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you lawbreakers!’” (Matt.~7:21-23) You can say that you’re serving Jesus and even do miraculous things and still have Jesus say that he never knew you. I’m not positive that that is what Paul’s critics were accusing him of, but I do think they were accusing him of at least having selfish motives. It doesn’t really say, but that’s what I think.

³For although we are walking in the flesh, we do not wage war in a fleshly way, ⁴since the weapons of our warfare are not fleshly, but are powerful through God for the demolition of strongholds. We demolish arguments ⁵and every high-minded thing that is raised up against the knowledge of God, taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. ⁶And we are ready to punish any disobedience, once your obedience is complete. (2 Corinthians 10:3-6)

Paul says that they (he and the other apostles) are walking in the flesh. In this case I believe he’s talking about living his life in his physical body and the frailties that come with it. But, he says, they are not waging war in a fleshly way. The NIV (which generally give a less literal translation) says, “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does.” The world wages war in a fleshly way. I think what the NIV says gives the sense of what Paul is talking about. (You know what the world is. The “world” is what belongs to the devil—what Satan offered Jesus if he would just fall down and worship him. Believers don’t belong to the world. We are foreigners here. Do you feel like a foreigner? Our citizenship is in heaven.)

How does the world wage war? Well, there is war with guns and bombs and various physical weapons. But Paul speaks of weapons and says that their weapons (the weapons of Paul and the apostles) are not fleshly. The world may fight with physical weapons, but not all of the world’s weapons are physical, either. In fact, most of them aren’t. Paul says, “We demolish arguments and every high-minded thing that is raised up against the knowledge of God, taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.” The world uses “arguments and high-minded things” as weapons. The world fights against God.

The world opposes Christ. Here’s one example. Think about the question of evolution. The world says everything we see and we, ourselves, are products of random chance. The world says that the theory of evolution is a scientific theory. It’s not. It’s pure speculation. It’s based on the assumption that there is no God. How can I say that? It’s because real scientists say that the probability of life coming about by chance is essentially zero—and they use scientific methods to come to that conclusion. Evolutionists say, “Life exists and we’re here, and since there is no Creator, we have to find a way of explaining it.” They say that chemicals must have come together by random chance to produce living cells. It had to have happened that way because there is no other explanation. They say that the universe is billions of years old, so the existence of life would have been inevitable. But the real scientists say that it wouldn’t matter if the universe were trillions of billions of years older, it still would be impossible for life to have happened by random chance.

I am a scientist. But I’m not an expert in these things. However, I can say this: I have yet to see any evolutionists put forth an argument that attempted prove those that I’ve referred to as the “real scientists”, the one who say evolution is impossible, are wrong. But I’ve seen plenty of times when the evolutionists have ridiculed the “real scientists” and called them “idiots” and other insulting names. That’s their “high-minded” approach. They raise the battle cry and say that we have to stamp out these unscientific theories. Evolution is the unscientific theory.

We also have the news media—our supposedly free press. They report the news in a way that supports their own agenda whatever it may be. It’s not that they out-and-out lie (although they sometimes do), it’s just that they fail to report both sides of the issue. They only report what supports their own agenda.

And, by they way, we all do it, too. When you are making a case to try to get something to happen that you want to happen, can you honestly say that you never leave out arguments that would go against what you want the decision to be? Deception is the devil’s tool. He is the father of lies. Don’t use it.

The “weapons” I’ve been talking about, the weapons that the world uses, are fleshly weapons. The apostle Paul says that their weapons (the weapons of the apostles) are not fleshly, but powerful through God to demolish strongholds. The strongholds that they are demolishing are the strongholds of Satan’s deception. They are the things that Satan tries to convince us that we just have to have and that they are so important that means by which we obtain them doesn’t matter. The end justifies the means. And it makes no difference whether I’m talking about individuals who need to gratify the flesh (greed, drugs, sexual immorality) or political movements that want to take over the world, the idea is the same.

Remember that our enemy is not flesh and blood (from Ephesians, chapter 6), but the spiritual powers of evil in the heavens. The weapons Paul is talking about are spiritual weapons. They are powerful through God to demolish strongholds. What are they? Here’s what Paul says in Ephesians chapter 6:

¹⁰Finally, be strengthened by the Lord and by His vast strength. ¹¹Put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the tactics of the Devil. ¹²For our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world powers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens. ¹³This is why you must take up the full armor of God, so that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having prepared everything, to take your stand. ¹⁴Stand, therefore, with truth like a belt around your waist, righteousness like armor on your chest, ¹⁵and your feet sandaled with readiness for the gospel of peace. ¹⁶In every situation take the shield of faith, and with it you will be able to extinguish the flaming arrows of the evil one. ¹⁷Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is God's word. ¹⁸With every prayer and request, pray at all times in the Spirit, and stay alert in this, with all perseverance and intercession for all the saints. ¹⁹Pray also for me, that the message may be given to me when I open my mouth to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel. (Ephesians~6:10-19)

The offensive weapons by which we demolish strongholds are the word of God and prayer. The word of God is the sword of the Spirit and we pray at all times in the Spirit. It’s actually the Spirit of God who demolishes the strongholds. And notice that Paul says to pray for him that whenever he opens his mouth the message may be given him to boldly make the mystery (mystery means secret, by the way) of the gospel known. So, pray for everyone whom God has called to spread the gospel to proclaim it boldly (and that means most of us some of the time and some of us all of the time).

And I can add this too. When we walk by the Spirit and have the fruit of the Spirit—Love that is patient and kind, that doesn’t envy or boast, that isn’t proud or rude or selfish, that doesn’t keep records of wrongs, that doesn’t rejoice at evil, but rejoices with the truth, that always protects, always trusts, always perseveres, that never fails and joy and peace and patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and self-control... When we walk by the Spirit and have the fruit of the Spirit, we are using the weapons that Paul is talking about to tear down strongholds.

You know that in 1 Corinthians Paul said that he did not come with brilliant speech or wisdom. He came in weakness with fear and with much trembling—not with persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power. Paul had absolutely no confidence in himself. All his confidence was in God’s power. He was afraid. He was trembling. Do you think you can be persuasive if you are shaking in front of your audience? But he spoke the word of God anyway and it was God’s power that convicted the hearers.

Do you remember Jonathan Edwards’ Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God? Do you remember it? (I stood up here and read it on June 4, 2006.) Basically, the theme is that we have a limited time to repent. God is effectively holding us up over the fires of hell and he could drop us at any time. We must not delay. We must come to him for mercy right away.

Jonathan Edwards preached this message on July 8, 1741. Actually, according to the story, Jonathan Edward had written the message in advance and read it in more-or-less of a monotone. He didn’t want his manner of presentation to persuade the people, only the words. When he entered the room there was an atmosphere of frivolity. People were gossiping about mundane things. After he finished speaking, they were down on the floor begging for God’s mercy! It was not Jonathan Edwards’ words, but a demonstration of God’s power. It was the beginning of a great revival. Let’s pray for a revival, also. It’s God who brings about revivals.

Let’s look at verse 12: “For we don’t dare classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. But in measuring themselves by themselves and comparing themselves to themselves, they lack understanding.” How do we compare ourselves with ourselves? Let me read from John’s gospel. This is from John 5:40-44. Jesus is speaking to the Jewish leaders who were rejecting him:

⁴⁰And you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life. ⁴¹I do not accept glory from men, ⁴²but I know you—that you have no love for God within you. ⁴³I have come in My Father's name, yet you don't accept Me. If someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him. ⁴⁴How can you believe? While accepting glory from one another, you don't seek the glory that comes from the only God. (John~5:40-44)

They were seeking glory from each other rather than glory from God. In that way they were comparing themselves to themselves—to each other. They wanted to receive glory from other people rather than from God. We must never be seeking to have people say how great we are and that we are much better than this person or that person. When a group does this, they are certainly not following Jesus. Our standard must not be other people but Jesus.

¹³We, however, will not boast beyond measure, but according to the measure of the area of ministry that God has assigned to us, which reaches even to you. ¹⁴For we are not overextending ourselves, as if we had not reached you, since we have come to you with the gospel of Christ. ¹⁵We are not bragging beyond measure about other people’s labors. But we have the hope that as your faith increases, our area of ministry will be greatly enlarged, ¹⁶so that we may preach the gospel to the regions beyond you, not boasting about what has already been done in someone else’s area of ministry. ¹⁷So the one who boasts must boast in the Lord. ¹⁸For it is not the one commending himself who is approved, but the one the Lord commends. (2 Corinthians~10:13-18)

Paul is an apostle. An apostle is a missionary. A missionary plants churches in places where there are none. I think what Paul is talking about here is that he has been called to take the gospel to places where it has never been preached. His ministry is not based on what others have started. He says that when the faith of the Corinthians increases, he will be able to go to regions beyond their region. His ministry is not to keep coming back to pastor them. When a missionary starts a church, as soon as it is firmly established, he goes to start another one. That’s what God has called him to do. (That’s not the case for all apostles or missionaries, but was for Paul.)

so now, if you remember one thing from all of this, remember that we are fighting a spiritual battle and that we don’t fight it with fleshly weapons but with spiritual weapons. We don’t use manipulation and deceit. Those are the devil’s weapons. We don’t even trust in great oration or charismatic speaking. We trust only in God’s power. (I should say, “We should trust only in God’s power. We haven’t reached perfection yet.) We fight with the word of God and with prayer. Praise God who is able to give us the victory through Jesus Christ our Lord! Amen!