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April 14th, 2022
Scripture
Devotion
In the church at Corinth there were some who were challenging the authority of the Apostle Paul and the message he had preached to them. Our verses for today form part of his response to the challenge. In verse 3, he acknowledges that he is human, but he will not wage war against the challenge with mere human, worldly weapons. That is, he will not use anything that is sinful, devious, and underhanded in the war. He has something more righteous and more potent at hand.
He will wage war with God’s mighty weapons. What are God’s weapons? He does not say specifically. Given the nature of the opposition, however, one weapon is clearly intended—the Word of God. Paul regarded the Word of God as the “sword of the Spirit” (Ephesians 6:17). Paul will wage war with the truth of the Word of God.
The fact that the Word of God is the primary weapon Paul has in mind here is clear from the fact that the opposition consists of “strongholds of human reasoning” and “false arguments.” The challengers, in other words, were trying to undermine Paul and his message with mere human reasons and arguments rather than with the Word of God. Understandably enough, the best weapon to use in such circumstances is the Word of God itself.
Since the weapons of the challengers were not biblically based, they were keeping people, including themselves, from the true knowledge of God. Since they were not biblically based, they were “proud obstacles” to the true knowledge of God. They were formed on the basis of human willfulness and pride, rather than on the basis of a humble submission to God’s Word.
The kind of thing that happened in Paul’s day happens now. People challenge the teachings of those committed to the Word of God with mere human reasoning and false arguments.
Like Paul, we must be ready to take up our primary weapon against such incursions. We must be ready to wield the sword of the Spirit.
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