2 Corinthians 10:4
Read 2 Corinthians 10:4 Using Other Translations
What does 2 Corinthians 10:4 mean?
For the weapons of our warfare
By "warfare" is here meant, not that which is common to all
believers, who are enlisted as volunteers under the captain of
their salvation, and fight his battles, and are more than
conquerors through him; but what is peculiar to the ministers of
the Gospel; and designs the ministerial function, or office, and
the discharge of it. So the Levitical function, or the
ministerial service of the Levites, is called (hdbeh) (abu) , "the warfare of the service", ( Numbers 8:25
) . The ministry of the word is so styled, because that as war is
waged in defence of men's rights, properties, and liberties, and
for the weakening of an enemy's power and possessions, and for
the enlargement of kingdoms and dominions; so this is in defence
of the truths and liberty of the Gospel, that they may continue
and abide; for the weakening of Satan's kingdom, by delivering
the lawful captives, taking the prey from the mighty, turning
souls from the power of Satan to God, and translating them from
the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of Christ Jesus; and so
for the enlargement of his kingdom, by spreading the Gospel far
and near. The "weapons" with which this warfare is managed are
the Scriptures of truth, the sword of the Spirit, the word of
God; and which indeed are an armoury, out of which may be taken
weapons of all sorts, both offensive and defensive; such as serve
both to establish and secure the doctrines of the Gospel, and to
refute the errors of the wicked: to which may be added all those
gifts which Christ has received for, and gives to men, qualifying
them for the work of the ministry, and for the understanding of
the sacred writings; together with all those means made use of by
them for their improvement in spiritual knowledge; such as
diligent reading the word of God, and the labours of his faithful
servants, frequent meditation thereon, and earnest prayer to God
for more light and experience. Also the various graces of the
Spirit, with which they are endued, may be taken into the
account; such as the breast plate of faith in Christ, and love to
himself, his people, word, ordinances, cause, and interest; the
helmet of salvation, hope, the girdle of truth and faithfulness,
and the excellent grace of patience to endure all hardships,
reproaches, insults, afflictions, and persecutions, cheerfully;
and finally, all the acts of their ministration, such as
preaching, prayer, the administration of ordinances, and laying
on of censures, with the consent of the church. Now these weapons
are not carnal;
such as the men of the world fight with, not the temporal sword;
for Christ sent forth his apostles without that, naked and
unarmed amidst their enemies, his kingdom not being of this
world, and so not to be defended and propagated in such a way; or
as the weapons the false apostles used, such as natural
eloquence, fleshly wisdom, carnal reason, cunning craftiness, the
hidden things of dishonesty, and great swelling words of vanity;
or they were not weak and impotent, which is sometimes the
signification of "flesh"; see ( Genesis 6:3 ) (
Isaiah 31:3 )
but mighty through God:
powerful and effectual through the blessing of God, and the
influences of his grace and Spirit for the conversion of sinners,
the edification of saints, the defence of truth, the confutation
of error, the destruction of Satan's kingdom, and the enlargement
of Christ's: for these weapons are not powerful of themselves;
they are passive instruments, which are only efficacious when
used by a superior hand; when the Gospel ministration is attended
with "the demonstration of the Spirit, and of power"; and then
they are serviceable
to the pulling down of strong holds.
The allusion seems to be to the falling of the walls of Jericho,
at the sound of ram's horns, which must be ascribed not to those
instruments, which were in themselves weak and despicable, but to
the power of God that went along with the sound of them. By
strong holds are meant, the strong holds of sin and Satan; such
as unbelief, pride, hardness of heart with which the heart of man
is walled (so (bl twryq) ,
"the walls of the heart", ( Jeremiah
4:19 ) ) against God and Christ, and the Gospel of the grace
of God, and by which Satan fortifies himself, and keeps the
palace and goods in peace, until the everlasting doors are thrown
open, which were bolted and barred; and these walls of defence
are pulled down by the King of glory, who enters in, which is
usually done by the power of God, in the ministry of the Gospel:
so sins are called strong holds, fortresses, and bulwarks, by the
Talmudists {k}, who give this as the sense of ( Ecclesiastes
9:14 )
``a little city, this is the body; "and few men in it", these are the members; "and there came a great king against it, and besieged it", this is the evil imagination, lust, or concupiscence; and built against it (Mydwum) , "great bulwarks", or fortresses, (twnwe hla) , "these are iniquities".''And so Philo the Jew F12 speaks of (ta bebaiathv kakiav ereismata) , "the firm munitions of vice" being broken down. Or else by them may be meant the fortresses of a man's own righteousness, holiness, good works, and moral duties, in which he entrenches, and thinks himself safe: which the Spirit of God, in the ministry of the word, blows a blast upon, and which are cast down by it, that revealing a better righteousness, even the righteousness of Christ; or else the fleshly wisdom, rhetorical eloquence, and sophisms of false teachers, with which they endeavoured to fortify themselves against the doctrines of the Gospel, but in vain.
F11 T. Bab. Nedarim, fol. 32. 2.
F12 De Confusione Linguarum, p. 335.
