God Speaks
I plead with you—yes, I, Paul—and I plead gently, as Christ himself would do. Yet some of you are saying, “Paul’s letters are bold enough when he is far away, but when he gets here he will be afraid to raise his voice!”
2 I hope I won’t need to show you when I come how harsh and rough I can be. I don’t want to carry out my present plans against some of you who seem to think my deeds and words are merely those of an ordinary man. 3 It is true that I am an ordinary, weak human being, but I don’t use human plans and methods to win my battles. 4 I use God’s mighty weapons, not those made by men, to knock down the devil’s strongholds. 5 These weapons can break down every proud argument against God and every wall that can be built to keep men from finding him. With these weapons I can capture rebels and bring them back to God and change them into men whose hearts’ desire is obedience to Christ. 6 I will use these weapons against every rebel who remains after I have first used them on you yourselves and you surrender to Christ.
7 The trouble with you is that you look at me and I seem weak and powerless, but you don’t look beneath the surface. Yet if anyone can claim the power and authority of Christ, I certainly can. 8 I may seem to be boasting more than I should about my authority over you—authority to help you, not to hurt you—but I shall make good every claim. 9 I say this so that you will not think I am just blustering when I scold you in my letters.
10 “Don’t bother about his letters,” some say. “He sounds big, but it’s all noise. When he gets here you will see that there is nothing great about him, and you have never heard a worse preacher!” 11 This time my personal presence is going to be just as rough on you as my letters are!
12 Oh, don’t worry, I wouldn’t dare say that I am as wonderful as these other men who tell you how good they are! Their trouble is that they are only comparing themselves with each other and measuring themselves against their own little ideas. What stupidity!
13 But we will not boast of authority we do not have. Our goal is to measure up to God’s plan for us, and this plan includes our working there with you. 14 We are not going too far when we claim authority over you, for we were the first to come to you with the Good News concerning Christ. 15 It is not as though we were trying to claim credit for the work someone else has done among you. Instead, we hope that your faith will grow and that, still within the limits set for us, our work among you will be greatly enlarged.
16 After that, we will be able to preach the Good News to other cities that are far beyond you, where no one else is working; then there will be no question about being in someone else’s field. 17 As the Scriptures say, “If anyone is going to boast, let him boast about what the Lord has done and not about himself.” 18 When someone boasts about himself and how well he has done, it doesn’t count for much. But when the Lord commends him, that’s different!
Source: The Living Bible: BibleGateway.com
We Respond
Reflection: In chapter ten, Paul defends His authority and approach in dealing with the Corinthians. Whether by letter or in person, he was relying on God’s mighty weapons–applying the truth, appropriating the righteousness of Christ, standing in the peace with God won for him by the crucifixion, holding onto faith in God’s power over Satan, protecting and renewing his mind, skillfully wielding the word of God, and being in constant two-way conversation with God (prayer) in union with the Holy Spirit (see Ephesians 6:14-18). With these spiritual weapons, Paul was able to stand against and demolish the devil’s strongholds. These weapons enabled Paul to “break down every proud argument against God and every wall that can be built to keep men from finding Him. With these weapons [Paul could] capture rebels [rebellious ideologies] and bring them back to [being focused on] God and change them into men [attitudes and worldviews] whose hearts’ desire is obedience to Christ.” (2 Corinthians 10:5 TLB) The problem was that they were only seeing Paul’s weak human body and speaking style instead of the mighty spiritual power and authority God had bestowed on him (See 2 Corinthians 5:16 for another reference Paul made to this concept of taking a spiritual versus a fleshly viewpoint.) Paul didn’t brag about himself or compare himself with other human preachers. His goal was to measure up to God’s plan for him and his fellow-workers; he didn’t want to take credit for work someone else had done. Once their faith was established and functioning as it should, Paul’s plan was to leave Corinth and spread the good news of Jesus where people had never heard it. The only credit Paul wanted was credit from God.
Prayer: Dear Sovereign God, thank You for providing Your people with great authority and strong spiritual weapons. Please help me to correctly apply the truth, to appropriate the righteousness of Christ, to stand strong in the peace with You Jesus won for me by His crucifixion, to hold onto faith in Christ’s power over Satan, to protect and renew my mind, to skillfully wield the word of God, and to be in constant two-way conversation with You because of my union with the Holy Spirit. I want to view people not according to the flesh but according to the spirit. Keep me from bragging about myself or comparing myself with others. I want to live by and measure myself by Your plan for me. Don’t let me take credit for what someone else has done. Please help me to faithfully complete the assignment You have given me. May I not strive for approval from people, but only from You, so that I can give any award I receive to Jesus so that He can give it back to You, Father. AMEN
Action: (Ask the Holy Spirit, which one of these He wants you to work on or something else more personal that He points out.)
- I will use biblical reference materials and make a list of all the spiritual weapons God has given us, including the ones mentioned above and others.
- I will make a list of fleshly ways I use to “evaluate” people (including myself) and ask God to help me to stop doing so.
- I will make a list of God’s ways of viewing people (including me) and ask God to help me to develop the same viewpoint.
- I will thank God for the gifts, awards, and blessings He has given me in this life and both work for and look forward to receiving more in Heaven so that I can give them all back to Him.
Share: I plan to share what I’ve learned with __________.