![]() Ask the Holy Spirit to WorkĪnd here is the second thing that it means. We submit everything we think - all our ideas, all our worldview, all our viewpoints - to God, and we say, “Let your word dismantle me if necessary.” 2. So, I think that is the first thing we do. There have been seasons in my life where I have wept over the dismantling of what felt like really important structures in my brain. If you put your mind and thoughts really at the disposal of the apostolic teaching and say, “Anything in my thinking that needs to be destroyed, destroy it,” that can utterly undo you. And if anything is out of sync with Paul’s teaching, we should let it be destroyed. We should listen to Paul and submit all our thoughts and ideas and feelings about God and about life to Paul’s teaching (as God’s apostle) for scrutiny. Destroy in my mind any false or proud thoughts that I have about God.” This really means two things, I think, that Sarah and I - and anybody else, any Christian - should do. So when John Piper reads that (or when Sarah reads it), I should say (or she should say), “Okay, Paul. “Mere intellect will not dismantle the deeply rooted errors of my mind.” We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive. We just have to get ourselves in the right place, and the place we belong in is the group whose opinions and thoughts Paul is trying to demolish. ![]() There is a way to apply this to ourselves. Second Corinthians 10:5 is not a command to do this work ourselves, but Sarah’s question is still a very good question. He is demolishing their worldview and then taking their defeated thoughts captive for Christ so that they become right thinkers - obedient in the way they think about Christ. It is a statement about what Paul is doing to his opponents. I am going to come around and say that she is on the right track, but she might be misreading the verse when she asks, “How can I take this command and apply it to my incorrect sinful thoughts?” It is not a command. I think Sarah might be misreading just slightly. And when Paul defeats those minds and arguments in the power of the Holy Spirit, their thoughts and their minds are taken captive, and they become people with the mind of Christ or obedient to Christ. So, Paul is the warrior, and the enemies are those people whose minds and arguments are proud and lifted up against God. And then I am going to take their thoughts captive so that they now obey Christ.” I am going to show them power, and they are going to collapse in their thinking. In other words, it’s as is if Paul is saying, “I am visiting these rascals in Corinth who are so boastful in their philosophical prowess that I am going to demolish them - not by counter philosophy, but by divine power. He is not talking about taking his own thoughts captive. When Paul says first that he is destroying arguments and arrogant opinions against God and second that he is taking thoughts or minds captive, we need to realize that it is the minds and thoughts of others. The first thing I think that needs to be said is, when we apply this to ourselves, we have to make sure we are in the right place in the text. So, Sarah asks how she can approach 2 Corinthians 10:5, about taking every thought captive, and apply it to herself in order to be more obedient to Christ in her thought life. We “take every thought captive to obey Christ.” Second Corinthians 10:5: “ we destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive.” It’s like when you move in a battle: you destroy the fortress, and then you take captives. “Paul is demolishing their worldview and then taking their defeated thoughts captive for Christ.” but have divine power to destroy strongholds.” Then he defines this powerful stronghold-destroying activity in two steps. ![]() This is not a mere battle between one philosopher with some human wisdom against another philosopher with some human wisdom. Second Corinthians 10:4 says, “For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh. Let’s read it, and then we will see if we can figure this out. Sarah writes in to ask: “Pastor John, what does it mean to ‘take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ’ (2 Corinthians 10:5)? How can I take this command and apply it to my incorrect or sinful thoughts, that I may obey Christ and have joy in him?” Spiritual Weapons ![]()
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