2 Corinthians 10:1-7 - Frederick Brotherton Meyer's Commentary

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Mighty with Spiritual Weapons

2 Corinthians 10:1-7

Paul here makes his defense. Some who resisted his authority spoke disparagingly of his weak body and uneloquent speech. Why should they yield so absolute a submission to his words? Others suggested that he was little better than a schemer for his own ends, and that he walked after worldly maxims, 2 Corinthians 10:2. There is considerable comfort to others who are placed in the driving storm of adverse criticism, to know that this great saint passed by the same road. Be of good cheer, comrade, if you are misunderstood and maligned! It is best to leave these reproaches with your Lord. He will shield and vindicate you. “No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn,” Isaiah 54:17.

In reply Paul quotes the spiritual results that have accrued from his ministry, and argues that they attest the purity and spirituality of his methods. He could not have attained to such great usefulness, if his motives had been those which his enemies imputed. What a lesson 2 Corinthians 10:4 contains! In the gospel there are weapons which no human reasonings or workings can withstand; but we too often trust carnal methods, and do not avail ourselves of this invincible panoply.

Related Commentaries of 2 Corinthians 10:1

2 Corinthians 10:1-7

1 Now I Paul myself beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, who in presencea am base among you, but being absent am bold toward you:

2 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 thinkb of us as if we walked according to the flesh.

3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:

4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)

5 Casting down imaginations,c and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

6 And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.

7 Do ye 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.