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Paul's Apostolic Authority.
Paul does not care to use his authority with severity:
v. 1. Now I, Paul, myself beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, who in presence am base among you, but, being absent, am bold toward you;
v. 2. but I beseech you that I may not be bold when I am present with that confidence wherewith I think to be bold against some, which think of us as if we walked according to the flesh.
v. 3. For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh,
v. 4. (for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds,)
v. 5. casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ,
v. 6. and having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.
While Titus had brought encouraging news from Corinth with regard to the case of church discipline and the continued willingness of the Corinthian Christians to take part in the collection for the poor at Jerusalem, his report was less favorable in so far as it represented the Judaizing teachers, the opponents of Paul, still dangerously active. We find, therefore, that the tone of the apostle's discourse is decidedly altered in this last section of his letter. While his devotion to the Corinthian congregation is still apparent, he finds himself compelled to resort to stern commands, not unmixed with irony and sarcasm. While he still shows the tendency to deal tenderly with the members of the congregation, he is determined to use all severity against those that attacked his authority.
It is an urgent appeal which Paul addresses to the Corinthians: I myself, Paul, entreat you, by the humility and gentleness of Christ. He places his person in the foreground, and deliberately so; he makes the authority which he has received the issue for which he is contending. Therefore he drops the plural number, in which he commonly included also his fellow-workers, and places himself, singly, in opposition to these false teachers. He still entreats or beseeches, though he might well have commanded. And he does so by the meekness, or humility, and by the gentleness, or lenity, of Christ. The spirit of Christ, which was always benign and gentle, slow to anger and eager to forgive, lived in the apostle and actuated him in this trying situation. With some tinge of sarcasm he includes the saying which the opponents had spread concerning him: Who, indeed, before your face am humble among you, but, being absent, am daring toward you. That was the sneering speech to which the Corinthians had given ear, since his personal enemies had construed the weakness with which he came to Corinth as cowardice, as a lack of confidence and courage, v. 10.
So Paul repeats his appeal: But I beg you, lest I, being present, show daring courage with the confidence with which I am minded to be bold against some that think of us as though we walked according to the flesh. By using the word "beg" or "pray" the apostle here indicates his growing earnestness; he pleads with them to consider well their course of thinking and acting. For if they continue to listen to the detractors of his good name, nothing will be left for him to do but to show courage and severity in dealing with the situation, on the basis of that confidence which seems required under the circumstances. He will find himself compelled to be resolute, to step forth boldly against certain men in their midst. These men he characterizes as calumniators, since they intimated, in giving their opinion of Paul and the other true teachers, that Paul's behavior and course of conduct was not governed solely by spiritual considerations, but that weakness, fear of men, the desire to remain in the good graces of all men, and other carnal motives were the ruling factors.
Paul's answer to these insinuations is brief, but emphatic: For though walking in the flesh, yet we do not wage war according to the flesh. Paul was indeed living here on earth, in the body of this weak flesh, with all the sinful infirmities with which this instrument is obliged to battle always. But his conduct as apostle is not according to the dictates of a weak and sinful nature. And, what is more, although he does indeed engage in a warfare, his whole ministry in its numerous conflicts with the various hostile powers being a battle against evil, yet he is not governed by fleshly considerations, as his enemies intimate, being themselves animated by them. The situation rather is this: For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but powerful through God for the destroying of fortifications. This is added by way of parenthesis, to explain the fact of waging war. In the spiritual warfare which must be carried on by the Church of Christ and by every believer, not only actual physical, political power is excluded, but incidentally every weapon which trusts in mere human ability, intellect, and power, and is actuated by any carnal motive, the love of honor, of riches, of influence, and others. Such weapons the Church of Christ and the individual preacher will never make use of; they do not belong to the armor of the soldiers of Christ. Our instruments of warfare are rather such as receive their extraordinary power from God, through His almighty strength, Eph_6:11-18. With these weapons, among which the Word of God stands first, as our armor, all the fortifications and strongholds of the adversaries, especially those that are intended to obstruct the progress of God's cause and the work of salvation, are overthrown and utterly destroyed, such as heathen idolatry, Pharisaic self-righteousness and hypocrisy, Greek pride of wisdom, Rome's many heresies, and the host of modern enemies of Bible-truth.
The apostle now continues the thought of v. 3: Casting down reasonings and every lofty wall erected against the knowledge of God, and leading captive every thought into the obedience of Christ. The reasonings of human wisdom are the very centers of the enemy's force, because they are unalterably opposed to the revealed Word of God. The Gospel is not a summary of doctrines which can be reasoned out: although not an irrational system, it is above and beyond the capacity of human reason. Therefore all reasonable philosophies must be discarded if the Word of the Gospel is to find entrance into the heart. Thus, also, every high place, every human speculation, that is erected against the knowledge of God, as revealed in Scriptures, must be broken down and removed. Of the enemy's wall one stone after the other must be pulled down, no matter how hard he strives to maintain his ground. The military figure of destroying prominent fortresses or strongholds, of razing the walls of hostile cities, is continued also in the words: And leading captive, subjecting, every thought into the obedience of Christ. Instead of permitting reason to usurp authority and to master the Word of God, the intellect, the reason of man must, in all things, be guided by the revealed truth of the Lord. It is only when human reason, through the power of the Spirit in the Word, is made subject to the obedience of Christ and defers in everything to revealed truth, that it in reality can apply its powers, chiefly in the service of Christ, direct or indirect. Reason, enlightened by the knowledge of God, does not attempt to penetrate into the secrets of God's essence, finding its delight rather in unfolding the beauties and powers of the Gospel and of the revelation of God in all its particulars.
This demand, that all should be subject to the apostolic preaching, the apostle followed to that point that he held himself in readiness to avenge all disobedience when the obedience of the Corinthians would have been fulfilled. Not all the members of the Corinthian congregation were obedient to the Gospel as Paul wanted them to be; for the power of the Gospel is not that of an irresistible compulsion. But if there were such as persisted in their disobedience, Paul here declared himself ready to use the extreme measure of avenging the disobedience by excommunication. He expects the whole congregation to complete their obedience to Christ, to be firmly and finally established in their loyalty to the Lord. Should any be found still resisting when he came, their punishment would certainly follow in the way which the Church has ever employed in dealing with such as refused obedience to the Gospel by faith.