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2Co_10:4. Reason assigned for the assertion just made οὐ κ . σ . στρατευόμεθα , but not a parenthesis (Griesbach, Lachmann), since 2Co_10:5 is manifestly a further explanation of the preceding πρὸς καθαίρ . ὀχυρ ., so that the participles in 2Co_10:5 f. are to be referred to the logical subject of the verse before ( ἡμεῖς ). Comp. 2Co_9:11; 2Co_9:13.
That the στρατεύεσθαι is not κατὰ σάρκα , is shown from the fact that the weapons of warfare are not σαρκικά ; for, if the former were the case, so must the latter also. By the weapons (comp. 2Co_6:7; Rom_6:13; Rom_13:12) are to be understood the means, which the apostolic activity makes use of in the strife with the hostile power.
σαρκικά ] which belong to the life-sphere of the σάρξ , so that the σάρξ , the sinfully inclined human nature, is their principium essendi, and they do not proceed from the Holy Spirit,[300] as e.g. σοφία σαρκική , 2Co_1:12, the νοῦς τῆς σαρκός , Col_2:18, the whole ἔργα τῆς σαρκ ., Gal_5:19. Now, since fleshly weapons as such are weak (Mat_26:41; Rom_6:19), and not in keeping with the aims of the apostolic work, the weapons opposed to them are not designated according to their nature (for it is self-evident that they are ὅπλα πνευματικά ), but at once according to their specific potency (comp. 2Co_2:4), as δυνατὰ τῷ θεῷ . By this the passage only gains in pith, since by virtue of the contrast so expressed in σαρκικά the quality of weakness, and in δυνατὰ τῷ θεῷ the pneumatic nature, are understood ex adjuncto. Hence the inference frequently drawn from δυνατὰ τῷ θεῷ , that σαρκικός here must mean weak, is too hast.
δυνατὰ τῷ θεῷ ] mighty for God, i.e. passing with God as mighty, which denotes the true reality of the being mighty, without, however, being a Hebraistic periphrasis for the superlative (Vorstius, Glass, Emmerling, Vater, Flatt). See on ἀστεῖος τῷ θεῷ , Act_7:20; Bernhardy, p. 83 f. Others, not following this current genuinely Greek usage (for the corresponding Hebrew usage, see Gesenius, Thesaur. I. p. 98), have explained it as: through God (Beza, Grotius, Cornelius a Lapide, Estius, Er. Schmid, Wolf, Bengel, and others; Erasmus has afflatu Dei), or for God, i.e. so that they are to God a means of showing His power (Billroth; comp. Chrysostom and Hofmann). But the former would be superfluous, since it is self-evident in the case of spiritual weapons, and the latter would import something into the words, especially as not God, but Christ (2Co_10:5), is conceived as the general; comp. 2Ti_2:3. For the mighty πανοπλία of the Christian, which, along with the special apostolic gifts, is also that of the apostles, see Eph_6:14 ff.
πρὸς καθαίρεσιν ὄχυρωμάτων ] that, for which the weapons are mighty: to the pulling down of strongholds (Xen. Hell. iii. 2. 3; very frequent in the books of the Maccabees; comp. ὀχυρὸς πύργος , τόπος , ὀχυρὰ πόλις , φρουρά , and the like). The τύφος Ἑλληνικός and the ἰσχὺς τῶν σοφισμάτων καὶ τῶν διαλογισμῶν (Chrysostom) are included in the phrase. It does not, however, mean these alone, nor the “old walls of the Jewish legal system” (Klöpper), but generally everything, which may be included as belonging to the category of humanly strong and mighty means of resistance to the gospel. Examples of this figurative use may be seen in Wetstein and Kypke, and from Philo in Loesner, p. 317. The pulling down depicts the making quite powerless and reducing to nought—the καταργεῖν , 1Co_1:28, and καταισχύνειν , 1Co_1:27.
[300] Chrysostom reckons up such weapons: πλοῦτος , δόξα , δυναστεία , εὐγλωττία , δεινότης , περιδρομαὶ , κολακεῖαι , ὑποκρίσεις , τὰ ἅλλα τὰ τούτοις ἐοικότα .