2Cor. 10:5-6 "Casting down every
imagination and every high thing that exalteth (eth - continually) itself against the
knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of
Christ: And having in a readiness to
revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled."
The first part of
these two scriptures is all set and done and I have heard everyone preach/teach
it and stop right there at the first scripture, but what about the 2nd half
verse 6? The word And is a conjunction
word meaning there is more to stay. After the colon doesn't mean stop and don't
include what's next to go with what's said before it. So I would like to address the And to show you what it has to do with
verse 5 which is very important, and I now know why its not including in
sermons thus far that I have heard, so therefore lets dig in. "having in a
readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled."
Is interpret this way in the Life in the Spirit Study Bible. "And we will
be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once our obedience is
complete." Before I start I would
like to express my disappointment with my study bible due to the fact that it
didn't address verse 6 either, which tells me also that then as the writer was
writing he too was probably dealing with somethings or either didn't get the
substance of why it was written in the first place, but he do have some cool
and awesome notes for verse five, which I will include at the bottom of this
page. Now back to verse 6
explanation. "Being ready to
revenge disobedience when our obedience if fulfilled" (complete) is saying
this. For
an example: When I cast down and bring gossiping under the obedience of
Christ Jesus, THEN
and only THEN
will I be able revenge my sister/brother in the lord gossiping spirit, when my
gossiping spirit is under the obedience of Christ Jesus. You see, its simple. I'll give you another example. When I cast down and bring into captivity my
lustful spirit whether thinking or acting out unto the obedience of Christ
Jesus, THEN and
only THEN will
I be able to revenge (to exact punishment or expiation for a wrong on behalf
of) expiation (the means by which atonement or reparation is made) my
sister/brother lustful thinking. You
see. As we conquer and bring our evil
and wrongful thinking unto the obedience of Christ Jesus, then and only then
will we be able to help others in that area.
To put it in a nut shell, verse 5 and 6 goes together and is dealing
with ourselves. We must sweep around our own front door before we can sweep
around another. "Being READY to revenge all disobedience when our obedience is fulfilled" (complete), one conquer at a
time. Which looks like this will be a
continuing thing until the day of Christ that God may get the glory and not
ourselves.
I would like to add
verse 4 because it too is important and should be addressed with verse
5,6. I find The Life in the Spirit Study
Bible interpretation of verse 4-6 is excellent.
Verse 4-6 "The weapons we fight with are
not the weapons of the world. On the
contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that
sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and
we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. And we
will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once our obedience is complete."
Notes: Verse 4 (Life in the Spirit Study
Bible) Our warfare is against spiritual
forces of evil (Eph. 6:12). Therefore,
worldly weapons such as aggression, violence, political solutions, human
ingenuity, talents, wealth, organizational skills, eloquence, propaganda,
charisma and personality are in themselves inadequate to pull down Satan's
strongholds. The only weapons adequate
to destroy the fortresses of Satan, unrighteousness and false teaching are
those God gives such as the blood of Jesus, the authority of Jesus name, the
power of the Holy Spirit and spiritual gifts.
- These weapons are powerful because they are spiritual and come from God. Elsewhere Paul lists more of these weapons commitment to truth, righteous living, gospel proclamation, faith, love, hope of salvation, the Word of God, and persevering prayer (Eph. 6:11-19; 1Thess. 5:8) By using these weapons against the enemy, the church will emerge victorious. God's presence and kingdom will be powerfully revealed in order to save sinners, drive out demons, sanctify believers, baptize in the Holy Spirit and heal the sick.
- The church today is often tempted to meet the world's challenge through the world's weapons, in other words, through humanistic wisdom, philosophy, psychology, exciting attractions, entertainment-base church performances, etc. These often serve as a substitute for the basic NT practices of intense prayer, uncompromising commitment to God's Word, and proclamation of the gospel in power. Worldly weapons cannot bring about the Kingdom of God, for such weapons cannot possibly destroy sin's strongholds, deliver us from Satan's power or overthrow the evil passions running rampant in the world today. If we use the worlds weapons, we will only secularize the church and separate it from the weapons of faith, righteousness and the power of the Spirit. Tragically, the church itself will then be overshadowed by the power of darkness and its families thrown down and taken captive by the world's forces.
Notes: Verse 5 (Life in the Spirit Study
Bible) Christian warfare involves
bringing all our thoughts into alignment with Christ's will; failure to do so
will lead to immorality and spiritual death.
Use the following four steps to bring your thought life under Christ's
lordship.
- God is omniscient and He knows every thought and that nothing is hidden from him. Ps. 94:11 The lord knows the thoughts of man, that they are vanity, Ps. 139:2 Thou knows my down sitting and mine uprising; thou understands my thought afar off.
- Be aware that the mind is a battleground. Some thoughts originate with us, while others come directly from the enemy. To take captive every thought requires warfare against both our sinful nature and satanic forces (Eph 6:12-13, Matt. 4:3-11). Steadfastly resist and reject evil and unwholesome thoughts in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ (Php. 4:8). Remember that we as believers overcome our adversary by the blood of the Lamb, by the word of our testimony, and by persistently saying "No!" to the devil, temptation and sin (Tit 2:11-12; Jas. 4:7; Rev. 12:11; Mt. 4: 3-11).
- Be resolute in focusing your mind on Christ and heavenly things rather than on earthly things (Php 3:19; Col 3:2), focusing your mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace. Fill your mind with God's Word and with those things that are noble, excellent and praiseworthy (Php 4:8)
- Always be careful what your eyes see and your ears hear. Resolutely refuse to let your eyes be an instrument for lust (Job 31:1) or to set any worthless or evil thing before your eyes, whether in books, magazines, pictures, television programs, cinema, video's, internet or in real life (Ps. 101:3; Isa. 33: 14-15; Rom. 13:14).
Lord
Help Us All,
Sister
Lo
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