2 Corinthians 10:5,6 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Casting down imaginations Λογισμους καθαιρουντες, literally, demolishing reasonings, namely, such as were fallacious and sophistical, by which vain men endeavoured to controvert, disprove, or even expose to contempt and ridicule, the doctrine of the gospel, and the whole Christian system. For the reasonings which the apostle speaks of, and says they threw down, were not the candid reasonings of those who attentively considered the evidences of the gospel, but the sophisms of the Greek philosophers, and the false reasonings of the statesmen, and all others who, from bad dispositions, opposed the gospel by argument and sophistry. And these the apostles overturned; not by forbidding men to use their reason, but by opposing to them the most convincing arguments, drawn from the evident accomplishment of the Old Testament prophecies, the miraculous powers and gifts with which the apostles and first preachers of the gospel were endowed, the manifest excellence and salutary tendency and influence of the gospel, the blessed effect produced by it on the hearts and lives of multitudes, Jews and heathen, who had before been vicious and profane, but were now evidently reformed in principle and practice, and from the exemplary, useful, and holy lives of all those who in truth embraced the gospel. And every high thing that exalteth itself In any way whatever; against the knowledge of God That divine and spiritual acquaintance with him, and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent, wherein consisteth eternal life. The apostle, Macknight thinks, alludes to the turrets raised on the top of the walls of a besieged city or fortress, from which the besieged annoyed their enemies. To these high structures the apostle compared the proud imaginations of the enemies of revelation, concerning the sufficiency of men's natural powers in all matters of religion and morality. And, we may add, all other vain conceits which men are wont to entertain of themselves, with regard to their natural or moral excellences, in consequence of which they disbelieve and disobey, or neglect the gospel, and live without God in the world. These, and such like imaginations, the apostles cast down by the force of the spiritual weapons which they made use of: and similar imaginations have, in all ages, been cast down by the faithful preaching of the true and genuine gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, accompanied by the influence of his Divine Spirit: and bringing into captivity every thought Every proud and haughty notion of the mind of man; to the obedience of Christ The true King of his people, and the Captain of our salvation. For, the evil reasonings above mentioned being destroyed, the mind itself is overcome and taken captive, lays down all authority of its own, and entirely gives itself up to perform, for the time to come, to Christ its conqueror, the obedience which he requires: and the various thoughts which arise in it, from that time forth, are made subservient to the will of Christ, as slaves are to the will of their lords. “In this noble passage, the apostle, with great energy, describes the method in which wicked men fortify themselves against the gospel, raising, as it were, one barrier behind another to obstruct its entrance into their minds. But when these are all thrown down, the gospel is received, and Christ is obeyed implicitly; every thought and reasoning taking its direction from him.” And having in readiness to revenge Say, rather, avenge, or punish; all disobedience Not only by spiritual censure, but by miraculous chastisements; when your obedience is fulfilled When the sound part of you have given proof of your obedience, and thereby have distinguished yourselves from the others, that the innocent may not be punished with the guilty. “His love to the Corinthians, whom he desired to spare, and the infirm state of their church at present, made him choose to defer the punishment of these offenders till he had drawn off the affections of the Corinthians from their false apostles, and made them more unanimous in their regards to him. And this is the best excuse that can be made for the neglect of discipline in any church; namely, ‘that there is no place for severe remedies, when a disease hath infected the whole church.” Whitby. It is to be remembered, it was before this time that the apostle had smitten Elymas with blindness; and it is highly probable, from this text, and others of a like nature, that some other miracles of this awful kind had been wrought by him, though they are not recorded in Scripture.