Not the weapons, but we: we war, casting down, etc.
High thing (ὕψωμα)
Only here and Rom 8:39. Falling in with the metaphor of strongholds. High military works thrown up, or lofty natural fastnesses with their battlements of rock. The word is also used in the Septuagint and Apocrypha of mental elevation, as Job 24:24, where the Septuagint reads “his haughtiness hath harmed many.”
Exalteth itself (ἐπαιρόμενον)
Rev., is exalted. Aeschylus uses a similar metaphor in Atossa's dream of the two women whom Xerxes yoked to his chariot: “And the one towered (ἐπουργοῦτο) loftily in these trappings” (“Persae,” 190).
Bringing into captivity (αἰχμαλωτίζοντες)
Or leading away captive. The military metaphor is continued; the leading away of the captives after the storming of the stronghold. See on captives, Luk 4:18. The campaign against the Cilician pirates resulted in the reduction of a hundred and twenty strongholds and the capture of more than ten thousand prisoners.
Thought (νόημα)
See on 2Co 3:14.
To the obedience of Christ
In pursuance of the metaphor. The obedience is the new stronghold into which the captives are led. This is indicated by the preposition εἰς into or unto.