“For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh.  For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds.  We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete (2Co 10:3-6).”

The idea of taking every thought captive has been easy for me to relate to.  When I was working as a police officer often, I was tasked with taking someone captive.  What I can tell you is that it is work; and dangerous work at that.  Such that we, as police officers, always took our preparation and training for that moment seriously.  We become practiced at taking captives.  In the Army too I have lived examples of this truth.  And not just that taking captives is hard work but that there are techniques to it.

As we were preparing for my first deployment, we had to stand up a makeshift detention center.  I was a young lieutenant at the time and our evaluators had selected my boss, a big guy and a martial arts guru, to play the part of the detainee.  They had selected him because they were confident he would present a challenge and they wanted to reinforce that we should take the task seriously.  What they didn’t know was that I was a police officer and was practiced.  The first thing I did was place the detainee in a chair and ask him to sit all the way back.  According to the training script he was supposed to get agitated and angry and challenge our efforts to keep him detained.  What I knew was that he had a weight advantage, and I could mitigate that weight advantage by keeping him back in that chair.  Every time he tried to stand in agitation, I could place a hand on his shoulder and keep him down in that chair.  Not only was I in control but from the outside it looked as if I was gently consoling him.

In the context of this passage Paul is defending his own ministry.  There were those in the Corinthian church who were alleging that Paul in person was meek and soft but in his letters he was bold.  The implication was that he was not confident in what he was preaching and that the congregation should listen to Paul’s accusers instead.  Paul answers by telling the Corinthians that he is not at war against his accusers, a personal conflict as conflicts of the world are fought, but rather he is waging a war against their arguments and that he is taking captive every thought towards those arguments.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart (Mat 5:27-28).”

Lustful thoughts, as an example, are a challenge for much of the population, male or female.  There is a good chance that although you may not be in complete bondage to these thoughts that you struggle with them from time to time.  Jesus tells us that lustful thinking is the equivalent to adultery.  We know that when we have a lustful thought, we are going to have to take that thought into captivity.  How often does that thought want to go willingly into captivity?  Almost never.  But how prepared are we for that fight?  Have we anticipated it?  Are we equipped for it?  Are we going to need backup because that thought might have a weight advantage in the fight?  If we are going to take captive every thought, we need to be prepared.  This is one of my favorite passaged because as a police officer I could tell you that I was prepared and I know that as a Christian I should also be prepared.

Recently though I had to write and exegetical paper on the Psalm 46.  The central theme of Psalm 46 is that God is our fortress, our strength, and our refuge.  In my research concerning the biblical meaning of fortress in the Hebrew I discovered that Isaiah identifies the refuge of scoffers as lies (Isa 28:15).  The strongholds referenced by Paul in Second Corinthians takes on a whole new meaning.  They are not just arguments and ideas they are the lies believed by all those who do not believe the truth.

Again, I am professionally familiar with fortresses and strongholds.  My job in the army was to know and understand the enemy inside and out.  My counterpart’s job was to know the tactics, techniques, and procedures to deal with anything the enemy might throw at us or attempt to keep us from accomplishing our goals.  I can’t tell you how much time I have spent learning how the enemy fights nor how much time my counterparts have practicing the tactics, techniques, and procedures necessary for victory on the modern battlefield.

And yet Jesus tells us that not only is He the truth (Joh 14:6) but He is that for which the Pharisees were searching for eternal life (Joh 5:39).  What would it look like to be prepared to take captive any thought raised against that knowledge?  What would it look like to be equipped to take those thoughts captive?  What’s more, what are the strongholds, i.e. the lies that have been raised against the truth, that give strength to the enemies arguments?  One of those lies, or strongholds, is that you can not trust God’s written word.  It comes in many forms but are you armed with the truth that destroys those arguments?  Can you articulate, for yourself or others, why God’s word can be trusted?  Sadly, I suspect that most Christians in America are not only not preparing but are unaware of how unprepared they are.  To try to take a stronghold much less a prisoner captive with no training or preparation is foolish and suicidal both physically and spiritually.

Thank you for reading.  Don’t forget to sign up for my e-mail so you won’t miss that content.  I’ve recently been told by Facebook that my content will be made less available so the e-mail list is the surest way to make sure you always get my thoughts on God’s word. There is so much detail in every word I hope that these words are encouraging you to dig more into God’s Word.

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