Second Corinthians 10:1

The Bible says in Second Corinthians 10:1, “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.” Notice that the great Apostle Paul did not command the believers in the church at Corinth. He was not a dictator, and he was not in a contest over who was in control. He said, “I beseech you.” That means to implore, to request, to encourage, and it respects the free will of the ones that are being spoken to. Paul said that he was beseeching them “by the meekness and gentleness of Christ.” In other words Paul was reminding the Corinthians, reminding himself, and reminding us how the Lord Jesus Christ did things. What motivated Christ? What are some of the important characteristics of Christ that we need to remember? It is the Lord Jesus Christ that we are following and trying to be like.

We need to remember the meekness and gentleness of Christ when we ask others to do something or when they ask us to do something. Meekness does not mean that you have a milk-toast personality whereby you allow others to walk over you. Meekness refers to the fact that your will is surrendered to God’s will. Meekness means that you have an attitude of a servant to the Lord and to others. Jesus Himself prayed, “Not my will, but thine be done.” One of the problems of believers in our day is the fact that vast numbers of them are motivated by self-will. The strong self-will keeps them from being led by the Spirit and causes them to be problem makers instead of problem solvers. Unless you have the meekness of Christ, you will not be able to give to others or do anything else for His glory. Your own will is what will get in the way. “He that seeks his life shall lose it, but he that loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s the same shall save it.”

We also must remember the gentleness of Christ. The gentleness of Christ refers to His attitude toward others: how He treated them. Jesus was kind, considerate, and compassionate towards others. He said, “Forbid not the little children to come unto me.” He said, “Come unto me, all ye that are weary and heavy laden.” If we have the gentleness of Christ, then we will not lash out at them. We will be kind. When we see other believers with needs, we will be glad to help them. That is why Paul asked the believers in Corinth to remember the meekness and gentleness of Christ. Anyone who surrenders their own self-will and who genuinely cares about others will help where they can.

Paul wrote in Second Corinthians 10:2-3, “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.” In these verses Paul refers to the fact that he was opposed by some in the church of Corinth. We know why he was opposed. Paul was opposed because there are false teachers and false believers who come in to the congregation of believers. There are also selfish Christians who are not surrendered to the will of God. These kinds of people will find fault with anyone, even the Apostle Paul. They accused Paul of the very thing that they were guilty of. They accused him of walking according to the flesh, when they were the ones who were actually doing that. Notice that the “flesh” does not refer to gross sins. It simply refers to human selfishness and human self-will. The flesh refers to the unsaved way of doing things. The flesh refers to manipulation, power seeking, and deception.

Instead of walking according to human selfishness Paul made it clear the spiritual principle by which he lived and that other believers should be living also. The Bible says in Second Corinthians 10:4-5, “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 exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.” The first thing that we are reminded of is that we are involved in a warfare. Paul spoke of the “weapons of our warfare.” When you are called to follow Christ, you are called to be a soldier in a battle.

In this great battle God has not left us defenseless. He has given us weapons for the battle. Paul tells us several things about the weapons that we have. He tells us what the weapons are not, he tells us what the weapons are capable of accomplishing, and he tells us what the weapons are. First, we are told that the weapons are not carnal. That is the mistake that some Christians make: they recognize that they are involved in a war, but they use the wrong weapons. You will not win the spiritual war if you use threats or intimidation or manipulation or deceit or any of the other weapons of the flesh that the people of the world use. This is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith.

When we use the spiritual weapons instead of the carnal weapons, then we will see the Lord accomplish things. The Bible says that the weapons of the spiritual warfare are “mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds.” God is able. His hand is not weak that it cannot save. “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” If you rely upon yourself, then you might win a lot of things, but you will not win the spiritual battles. The evil forces are too strong for you. That is why they are called “strong holds.” Of course, they are not too strong for the Lord. Remember that the demons ran away from Christ because of their fear of Him. They are afraid of His name and of His blood.

The way that you tap into the power of God is what we already mentioned: faith. Listen again to how Paul described this. He said, “Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.” There are three key words in this verse: “imaginations,” “knowledge,” and “thought.” It is very clear that Paul is emphasizing the things that you think about. What does faith have to do with what you think about? It has everything to do with it. What does fighting the spiritual battles have to do with what you think about? It has everything to do with what you think about. Living by faith, fighting the spiritual battles, is ninety-nine percent what you think about.

If you think what you ought to think when a particular situation arises, then you will win the spiritual battle and you will fight a successful fight of faith. You ought to think about some promise of God, and you ought to think about the Lord Jesus Christ and His power and love. If you do not, you will doubt, and you will react the way that humans react who have no faith. Romans 12:1 says, “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Philippians 4:8 says, “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” More than anything else the Christian life is a battle of the mind. If you think what you ought to think when you ought to think it, you will trust God and you will live a victorious life of faith in Christ. It is not what happens to you: it is how you interpret what happens to you. Remember to bring “into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.”

In the next several verses Paul returns to the subject of those who are opposing him. Paul wrote in Second Corinthians 10:6-7, “And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled. Do you look on things after the outward appearance? If any man trust to himself that he is Christ’s, let him of himself think this again, that, as he is Christ’s, even so are we Christ’s.” Paul was the object of criticism. Those who wanted power for selfish reasons opposed him. One thing that Paul was making clear was that they were going to have to answer to him. He let them know in no uncertain terms that he had “a readiness to revenge all disobedience.” He was the Apostle Paul. He had wisdom and understanding and a gift that no one else had; but he was not much to look at evidently. He was short, could not see well, and did not have a great speaking voice, and so if you looked at the Apostle Paul and looked at the outward appearance, you would find it easy to criticize if you were of a critical spirit. Of course, his opponents were not spiritual and so there were by nature critical. Someone who is critical will even criticize the Christ. The Pharisees did.

When Paul said, “If any man trust to himself that he is Christ’s,” Paul was referring to a method that has been used by unspiritual people over the years to attack other Christians when they should not. You can become overly proud and self-righteous just about the fact that you believe in Christ. There are other people who believe in Christ also, and you should not think yourself to be better than them, and you should not oppose them. If they are true believers in Christ, then they are your brothers or sisters in Christ. Remember what Jesus said in John 10:16, “And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold and one shepherd.” In First Corinthians 1:12 Paul referred to carnal Christians who use the name of Christ in such a way to actually create divisions between Christians in the same way that some people do who are followers of men. Paul wrote, “Now this I say, that every one of you says, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas, and I of Christ. Is Christ divided?”

Paul wrote in Second Corinthians 10:8, “For though I should boast somewhat more of our authority, which the Lord has given us for edification, and not for your destruction, I should not be ashamed.” To edify means to build up. Christians should be builders, not destroyers. If God has given you a ministry, it is so that you can create and build up. You do not need to worry about tearing down those who have done wrong. Anyone can tear down. Only those who do things God’s way can build up. Jesus said, “A bruise reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench.” Has God given you authority? Use your authority to build up, not to destroy.

Paul wrote in Second Corinthians 10:9-11, “That I would not seem as if I would terrify you by letters. For his letters, say they, are weighty and powerful: but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible. Let such an one think this, that, such as we are in word by letters when we are absent, such we will be also in deed when we are present.” Even the enemies of Paul knew that his writings were powerful. Of course, that did not stop them from being negative in any area that they could. They criticized Paul for his physical appearance and for the sound of his voice. But Paul was not like some people whose words are empty. All Christians should be the way Paul was. When he said something, he backed it up with action.

The Bible says in Second Corinthians 10:12, “For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.” In the Bible all human beings are equal: equal in value and equal in status. All are equally sinners. All need salvation. Jesus died for all. Everyone gets saved the same way: by turning from sin and turning to Christ for forgiveness. The person that we should be comparing ourselves to is Jesus, and then we would see that we come up short. That is one of the great problems with the world: too much comparing of humans with other humans. What really matters is not how much you measure up to others, but how much you measure up to your potential and to what the Lord wants you to become in Christ. If you compare yourself to other humans or measure yourself by other humans, then that means that you have your eyes on man when your eyes should be on the Lord.

Paul wrote in Second Corinthians 10:13-14, “But we will not boast of things without our measure, but according to the measure of the rule which God has distributed to us, a measure to reach even unto you. For we stretch not ourselves beyond our measure, as though we reached not unto you: for we are come as far as to you also in preaching the gospel of Christ.” Paul had a pretty good idea of what his measure was, but he did not boast about it. In a polite way he reminded the Corinthians that if they wanted to measure the level to which Paul had reached, then they should remember that Paul was the one who had brought the gospel to them. What greater thing could anyone accomplish than to bring the gospel to lost souls?

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