What Paul does (10:4–6): He uses God’s mighty weapons to knock down Satan’s strongholds.

THE WEAPONS OF TRUE SOLDIERSHIP. The apostle states two things concerning these weapons. 1. They are not carnal. The word “carnal” here may be regarded as standing in contradiction to three things. (1) To miraculous agency. Miracles, though employed at first, are not the regular weapons by which Christianity fights her battles. (2) To all coercive instrumentality. The civil magistrate now for fifteen centuries has sought by exactions and penalties to force Christianity upon the consciences of men. Such weapons disgrace and misrepresent it. (3) To all crafty inventions. In nothing, perhaps, has the craftiness of men appeared more than in connection with the profession of extending Christianity. What are the tricks of rhetoric, the assumptions of priests, and the clap-trap of sects but craft? 2. Though not carnal, they are mighty. “Mighty through God.” (1) They are mighty through God because they are his productions. Gospel truths, the weapons of which the apostle speaks, are God’s ideas, and those ideas are mighty—mighty with truth and love. (2) They are mighty through God because they are his instruments. God goes with his ideas and works by them.

10:3–5. The weapons of the world are learning, personal influence, impressive credentials (1 Cor. 1:26), rhetorical polish (1 Cor. 2:1), and the like. These things Paul had discounted and discarded (Phil. 3:4–8). He did not wage war as the world does or use their weapons.

The weapons Paul used were the proclaimed Word of God and prayer (Eph. 6:17–18), weapons with divine power. In dependence on God (1 Cor. 2:4–5) these weapons, frail by worldly standards, are able to demolish the arguments and every pretension of the gospel’s foes. Neither the god of this Age (2 Cor. 4:4) nor his henchmen (11:15) could oppose the knowledge (or power) of God on which Paul relied. No thought (noēma; cf. 2:11), including those of his opponents, is beyond the reach of the One who “catches the wise in their craftiness” and “knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile” (1 Cor. 3:19–20; cf. Job 5:13; Ps. 94:11).

The object of Paul’s warfare was to make people obedient. Paul was not interested in making them subject to himself or any other man after the manner of the world (cf. 2 Cor. 1:24; 11:20; Luke 22:25).

10:6. His approach to this particular confrontation in Corinth was twofold. First, it was necessary that the Corinthian church express their subjection to Christ by demonstrating loyalty to His representative Paul (5:20; cf. 7:15). In this way their obedience would be complete. Second, when Paul was sure they had repudiated his opponents (cf. 6:14–18), he could then deal directly with the false apostles, knowing that the church supported him. He was ready to punish their acts of disobedience to Christ. The word “punish” (ekdikēsai) could more forcefully be translated “avenge” (cf. 1 Cor. 3:17). In other contexts it describes the wrath of God directed against the enemies of His people (Num. 31:2; Deut. 32:43; Rev. 19:2).

Paul talks to the Corinthians very personally—not as ‘we’ but as ‘I’. They say he is timid when he is with them and only forceful in his letters when he is away. But they misunderstand his gentleness. He will be bold enough when he next sees them, if he has to be!

The ‘super-apostles’ look good because they are only comparing themselves with one another. They are taking pride in a church which has already been established—by Paul. Paul has no desire to boast in another person’s work. For him the only boast is what God has done for him through Jesus Christ—which he calls ‘boasting in the Lord’.

Paul refuses to compete with the ‘super-apostles’ for the credit of planting the church at Corinth. His vision is already reaching ahead to new regions—to visit Rome and then take the gospel to Spain. If the work at Corinth expands, it will be because the Christians are supporting Paul’s mission to other places.

Ver. 4.—Weapons (see ch. 6:7; Rom. 6:13). Not carnal. He did not rely on the mere “arm of flesh,” or on earthly sword or panoply. Mighty through God; literally, powerful for God; i.e. either (1) powerful for the cause of God, or (2) powerful in his estimate. To the pulling down of strongholds. The word for “pulling down,” which implies the entire clearance of an obstacle, is only found in the New Testament in this Epistle (vers. 4, 8; ch. 13:10). The word for “strongholds” is found here alone. These “fortresses” were the opposition aroused by factious and hostile partisans, and he hoped to subdue them by the strong exercise of apostolic authority (1 Cor. 4:21; 5:1–5). Dean Stanley suggests a reminiscence of the hundred and twenty Cilician fortresses pulled down by Pompey; but I think that these general allusions are often pressed too far.

10:4–5 According to Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, God’s mighty weapons are faith, truth, righteousness, the gospel message, and the word of God. The Holy Spirit equips Christians for the struggle, providing the weapons they need (see 6:6; Ephesians 6:10–20). Worldly weapons—wealth, fame, and political might—may wield some power on this earth, but they are useless in spiritual battles. The Devil’s strongholds included every proud argument that keeps people from knowing God and rebellious ideas. The world of ideas is the real battleground for God and the Devil. Many complex theories and philosophies try to block people from knowing the truth about God and worshiping him. These false philosophies that divert glory from God and hide the truth are the Devil’s strongholds. In Corinth, where advances in Greek philosophy were held in high esteem, the believers were tempted to evaluate the gospel with the various tools of Greek philosophy. In an earlier letter, Paul had already told the Corinthians that the gospel would appear as foolishness to those who saw the world through the lenses of secular Greek philosophy (see 1 Corinthians 1:22). Just as an army would attack a fortress, so Christians must take apart and defeat these false and evil arguments.

It is clear by v. 3 that he is angry and is ready to go to war, but his weapons for the campaign are not “fleshly.” Rather they have divine power and are able to demolish high and lofty arguments and sophistries (v. 4). It may be, as Martin suggests, that Paul is saying that the opponents have been building up a wall between himself and his converts and that he must now demolish it. This fits with the idea that this letter’s function is to remove obstacles to reconciliation between Paul and his people, and so between the Corinthians and the truth of God. Paul says bluntly that the rhetoric his opponents have been using against him sets itself up against knowledge of God (v. 5), and so Paul must reclaim his converts. He must recapture all their “minds” (or “thoughts”?) for Christ.

Paul has deliberately portrayed himself here as the sage described in Eccl. 9:14–16. He is the poor sage who must deliver his besieged converts from the lofty walls the opponents have built against them, and yet his wisdom is being despised. This OT passage prepares us for the tribulation catalogs in ch. 11, where Paul will portray himself as a suffering sage with a res gestae that even Caesar could not match.

Notes For Verse 4

a [but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds] Four great conquests of spiritual weapons:

1. Destruction of strong holds -- We destroy reasonings of pagan philosophers and Jewish rabbis and their dogmas that nullify the Word of God and the facts of the Gospel. These fortifications we pull down and demolish. We put to flight the demon powers and alien armies, raising the banner of the cross high on the field of battle (2Cor. 10:4).