Paul's Lesson in Spiritual Warfare
Tom Shrader works through 2 Corinthians 10:1-6 alongside Ephesians 6, showing that the Christian life is a constant spiritual battle fought not with fleshly weapons but with divine ones. He examines Paul's response to attacks on his apostolic authority, using it as a window into the nature of spiritual warfare, the schemes of the enemy, and the importance of taking every thought captive. The teaching closes by walking through the armor of God—truth, righteousness, the gospel of peace, faith, salvation, the Word, and prayer—as the only reliable weapons for standing firm in a world of spiritual opposition.
“Sin will always take you further than you want to go and always cost you more than you want to pay.”
— Tom Shrader
Series: 2 Corinthians
Recorded: 2003 at East Valley Bible Church
Duration: 1 hr 19 min
Themes: spiritual warfare, armor of god, taking thoughts captive, prayer, faith, standing firm, the enemy, meekness, under attack, facing slander, struggling with doubt, new believer, pastor, feeling spiritually weak, navigating conflict, young adult
Scripture: 2 Corinthians 10:1-6, 2 Corinthians 10:10, 2 Corinthians 11:13, 1 Corinthians 2:1-5, Matthew 11:29, Colossians 3:12, Matthew 5:3-5, Galatians 2:11, Galatians 5:16-23, Ephesians 6:10-18, Ezekiel 28:14, Luke 11:15, 2 Corinthians 4:4, Ephesians 2:2, Zechariah 3:1, Matthew 4:6, 1 Thessalonians 2:18, 1 Timothy 3:7, 1 John 5:19, 1 Corinthians 10:12, 2 Corinthians 7:1, Romans 5:6-10, Habakkuk 2:4, Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11, Hebrews 10:38
Theological Themes: spiritual warfare, divine weapons, apostolic authority, sanctification, biblical authority, the armor of god, scripture as weapon, principalities and powers
Full Transcript
Introduction: Two Passages, One Theme
Open your Bibles to two different places: 2 Corinthians chapter 10 and Ephesians chapter 6. Mark both of those sections, because we are going to go back and forth between them. Paul introduces some information in 2 Corinthians 10 that is not expanded on in that book, but is addressed in depth in Ephesians 6. That is how we are going to approach this.
If you are reading through 2 Corinthians and you come to chapter 10, you notice a difference. All of a sudden, the tone is much more harsh, much more confrontational. This has caused some scholars to suggest that 2 Corinthians chapters 10 through 13 is, in fact, the severe letter that we said was lost. Others suggest that Paul wrote chapters 1 through 9, then some time passed, and now new issues arise in chapter 10.
My view is this: in chapter 10, Paul begins to address a small group — a subset of the total church — who are attacking him personally, challenging his apostolic authority, slandering him, and making insinuations against him. That may be difficult for us to even imagine. We have a certain view of the Apostle Paul. We know that, aside from Christ, there is probably no individual who has had more impact for the cause of Christ in the world than the Apostle Paul. Yet we need to remember that in his own day, there were those who were attacking him.
One author writes this: "A threat to Paul's apostolic authority may seem strange to modern readers. We view Paul from the perspective of centuries which have vindicated his ministry, but during his lifetime, he paid a price that many men of God have had to pay. Jealous rivals, slanderous reports, shabby treatment, innuendo, isolation — all of these were circumstances to which Paul was no stranger. Yet he never succumbed to the pressure or gave way to total despair, because he understood that his authority came from the fact that he was Christ's Apostle. He was not battling for personal recognition, but for the honor of his Lord, whom he was proud to serve."
Paul is not retaliating or defending himself for personal reasons. He is not concerned about his own reputation. He is concerned about the Lord — about the reputation of Christ and of the church. So he answers these charges and deals with the slander because he is defending his apostolic authority.
Paul's Meekness and Gentleness
With that background, look at verse 1 of chapter 10: *"Now I, Paul, myself, urge you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, I who am meek when face to face with you, but bold toward you when absent."* Paul is actually responding to an allegation recorded a little further on in the same chapter. Verse 10 tells us what his opponents were saying: *"His letters are weighty and strong, but his personal presence is unimpressive. His speech is contemptible."*
That charge seems to align with something Paul himself acknowledged. In 1 Corinthians chapter 2, he writes: *"When I came to you, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. And my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God."*
Paul is saying that when he came, there was trepidation — a reverential awe and fear. He understood the task before him, and he did not try to overwhelm anyone with human eloquence or engage in a battle of the minds. He wanted to preach Christ, and Christ crucified.
So when he returns to verse 1 and speaks of meekness and gentleness, these two similar words carry the idea of a humble spirit — someone who is patient and enduring, who will not retaliate, and who, if in a position of leadership, does not lord it over others. And Paul makes clear that this meekness and gentleness is of Christ. It is not natural to him. Reading through Acts chapters 7 and 8, Paul does not come across as a humble, meek individual. He was confrontational, aggressive, and combative by nature. But now there is a meekness and a gentleness — and it comes from Christ.
Jesus Himself says in Matthew 11:29, *"Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart."* Colossians 3:12 instructs us: *"So as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience."* That is how we are called to live.
Spiritual Bankruptcy and the Sermon on the Mount
When Jesus speaks in Matthew chapter 5 — the passage we know as the Sermon on the Mount — He begins by saying, *"Blessed are those who are poor in spirit."* You will not become a Christian, you will not come to Christ, you will never see your need, until you understand that you are spiritually bankrupt. And unfortunately, we live in a time when the idea of spiritual bankruptcy is something the culture actively disdains.
We talk about spirituality, and people say, "I'm a spiritual person." There is not a week that goes by without someone saying that to me. But what does that mean? If you believe in some power outside of yourself, how do you know that power? Who is that power? We live in a time when truth is a scarce commodity, and people do not see themselves as spiritually bankrupt. *"Blessed are those who are poor in spirit"* —
Walking in the Flesh Versus Walking by the Spirit
"Blessed are those who mourn. Blessed are those who are gentle." Meekness and gentleness are fundamental characteristics of the Christian life. Paul writes from that attitude of meekness and gentleness. In verse 2, he says, "I ask then when I'm present that I may not be bold with the confidence with which I propose to be courageous against some." Paul is addressing false teachers. In chapter 11, verse 13, he says there are false apostles, deceitful workers who disguise themselves as apostles of Christ, and they are present in that church. Paul looks at the church of Corinth and understands there is a subset — a minority group of men and women — teaching a gospel contrary to Scripture.
That same problem is present in the church today. In Priority Living through the week, people come regularly saying they are involved in a church whose gospel is contrary to the one we teach. When confronted, they say these are just different views. But they are not different views. Either both are wrong, one is wrong, or one is right — we cannot both be right. Paul says there are false teachers in Corinth, and he is going to have to confront them. Paul is not afraid to do that.
In Galatians 2:11, Paul says, "When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned." Paul and Peter went nose-to-nose, face-to-face. One might wonder how that squares with meekness and gentleness. The answer is that we are to be meek and gentle, and at the same time there are hills upon which we must die and never compromise. If someone believes there is a way to heaven other than through Christ, we will die on that hill. The doctrinal truths in that statement in the pews — those are things we will not compromise.
Paul says these opponents accuse him of walking according to the flesh. He draws a sharp distinction, though, between walking *in* the flesh and walking *according to* the flesh. We walk in the flesh — we are human beings living in these earth suits. We do not, however, walk *according to* the flesh. In Galatians 5, Paul explains the difference: "For I say to you, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. They are in opposition."
Two Kinds of People: Led by the Spirit or Led by the Flesh
The question of whether someone is being led by the Spirit is not mysterious — you simply look at your life. There are only two kinds of people: those being led by the Spirit, and those being led by the flesh. Paul makes this plain. If you are being led by the flesh, the deeds of the flesh are evident: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, fighting, faction, dissension, and envy. That is what it looks like to live in the flesh, to do what man does naturally.
If, on the other hand, you are being led by the Spirit, there will be love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. Paul's point is that we live in the flesh as human beings, but we walk according to the Spirit. And so our lives are marked by love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. There are only two kinds of people.
If you are not a Christian, what you want deep down is exactly those things — love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. But you will never find them apart from Christ. You cannot love in that true sense unless you are a Christian, because love is a fruit of the Spirit. If the Spirit is in you, you are a Christian. If the Spirit is not in you, you are not a Christian. And so you will go from place to place, from thing to thing, from person to person, from activity to activity, always believing the next thing will bring happiness. Haven't you had that experience — if I just get that one thing, I will be happy?
The Flesh and Its Weapons
Whatever it is — the car, the house, the kid — after about a week you're going, "Oh brother, what else?" I know as parents, when I talk to them, that's what they talk about at Christmas. They talk about the frustration of spending all this money on toys and the two-year-old playing with the box. Probably because you didn't get it because you loved the kid. You got it because you wanted to make yourself feel better, but that's a different issue.
Paul says we don't war according to the flesh. Here's an idea that Paul is now introducing to us: we are in warfare, we are in spiritual warfare, we are battling here. We don't walk according to the flesh, we don't war according to the flesh, we are in a spiritual battle, and we don't use fleshly weapons. Ray Stedman suggests here are some of those fleshly weapons: coercion, manipulation, pressure groups, compromise, demonstration, boycott, pickets, strikes, conflicts, arguments, peer pressure.
Standing Firm in the Armor of God
Turn to Ephesians 6. Paul writes, "Finally, be strong in the Lord." He says he wants you to be strong — not on your own, not in the flesh, not in your own human manipulation. Some of you are very smart, but don't trust that wisdom. Some of you are very clever, very quick with the tongue, very sharp — don't trust that. Be strong in the Lord.
"Put on the full armor of God, that you may be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil." That phrase "put on," in the Greek, means to put on once and for all and leave on. Think this through: when do you put on armor? You don't put on armor to go to the grocery store. You put on armor when you are going into battle, into combat. When we were sending troops into Iraq, they didn't have their weapons and their helmets — they weren't ready for battle until the battle was there and confronting them.
So Paul says this: put on and leave on the full armor of God, once and for all. Why? This is a staggering thought — you are in battle 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The world, Satan, his demons, and your flesh are attacking you at all times and in all places. There is a constant battle. You put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand, defending this piece of territory against the schemes, the cunningness, the deception, the lies — the lies of the devil himself, and the lies of the world that say, "Get this, and you'll be happy."
Who the Enemy Is
Here is how Scripture defines the devil. He is the anointed cherub, Ezekiel 28:14. The ruler of demons, Luke 11:15. The God of this world, 2 Corinthians 4:4. The prince of the power of the air, Ephesians 2:2.
What is the devil all about? He opposes God's Word, Zechariah 3:1. He perverts God's Word, Matthew 4:6. He hinders God's people, 1 Thessalonians 2:18. He hinders the gospel, 2 Corinthians 4:4. He tries to entrap God's people, 1 Timothy 3:7. He holds the world in his power, 1 John 5:19. That is the war you are in.
Verse 12 tells us, "Our struggle" — some translations say "wrestle," meaning hand-to-hand combat — "is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the forces of this darkness, against spiritual forces of wickedness in heavenly places." That is the battle. Serious, serious stuff.
Two Errors to Avoid
I see two errors, and they are diametrically opposed. One is to see Satan in everything. Satan did this, Satan did this, Satan intervened here. I was at a place one night, and the introduction was, "Brother Tom's got a powerful word for us." I got up, and the microphone didn't work, and the man said, "Brother Tom must have a word from the Lord tonight, because the devil's intervening." Well, you bought lousy equipment — that's what happened. That has nothing to do with the devil. We can start to see the devil behind everything, and that is one error.
The other side of the coin, and probably more damaging, is to say the devil doesn't even exist — that he is like Sparky, just a little guy with a pitchfork, a harmless little creature. There is an enemy, and he wants to destroy. If you are here today and you are not a Christian, he wants to do everything in his power to keep you from Christ. If you are here today and you are a Christian, he wants to do everything to make certain that your life makes no difference.
Satan's Strategy Against the Church
One of the things that happened at the baptism last weekend — 15 high school students. I could be wrong, but I think this is close: of those 15, I'll bet 12 of them said, "I was raised in a Christian home." They came out of there with the little Bible stories, the Battle of Jericho, all the things that go with it. But then they got a little older, into fifth grade, sixth grade, junior high, high school, and they started to say, "I don't think I want that. I want this." They started to dream about when they'd be 16 with that car, old enough to do this and that — and that is what they wanted to think about.
One of the great places to hide from God is church. One of the great places Satan would have you be is in that pew. It is comfortable — this is a nice place, easy enough to listen to. You come in a little late, get out real quick, and never think about it again until next week. Satan would love to have you do exactly that, those of you who say you are Christians. That is the struggle.
Weapons That Are Not of the Flesh
Our weapons in this warfare are not of the flesh. It is not human —
Taking Thoughts Captive
Our weapons are not of manipulation or eloquence or psychological battle, but are divinely powerful for the destruction of a fortress. The imagery here is of a building built on a hill with walls around it, so that as an enemy would come and attack, the city could be defended for days, weeks, months, a year before it could ever be successfully taken. You are in a battle. There are strongholds you are fighting against. In Ephesians 6, Paul said to put on the full armor of God and resist that evil day, and then he gives a list of weapons: truth, righteousness, the gospel of peace, faith, salvation, the Word of God — and bathe all of that in prayer.
Going back to verse 5, Paul says we are destroying speculation and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God. We are attacking human thought, human ideas, human speculation, human reasoning, human philosophies — and they permeate the culture we live in. We take captive every thought. When we talk about sin, we tend to focus on the end product, which is the action. But all sin begins in the mind.
Most men struggle in the area of at least being distracted by, if not fully tempted by, sexual sin. Way before there is ever an action, there is the thought. What do you do when that thought enters your mind? You take it captive. You drown it in Scripture. You drown it in truth. You do not entertain it, think about it, dream about it, or fantasize about it, because if you start that process, at some point, under the right conditions, you are going to act on it. You will make a mistake and point at that action while failing to understand that it started way back at the thought.
Maybe your problem is materialism, which really flows from pride — you want everyone to think you are something special, not by having to tell them, but by how you dress, what you drive, where you live, who you are. All the action you take starts with an attitude of pride and arrogance. You take that thought captive. You wrestle it to the ground at the very beginning. You take control of those idle, daydreaming thoughts and focus your mind on what is true and what is right.
In verse 6, Paul says that if the minority group of false teachers does not respond, he will come and deal with them. That is 2 Corinthians chapter 10, verses 1 through 6. As Homer Kent writes of this group: "Paul was under no illusion about whether some individuals needed an apostolic rebuke. The whole church may have mellowed in their attitude toward Paul, but there were still some detractors" — and Paul is going to deal with them.
Putting On the Full Armor of God
With that context established, we return to Ephesians 6. "Therefore, take up the full armor of God." We understand this battle. We understand that ultimately God is victorious. We understand that heaven is our destination. But there is a certain arrogance visible in some of what is taught today — binding this and binding that — and we never see that in Scripture. We never see the New Testament believer instructed to go about binding up demons, whether a demon of cholesterol or whatever else is named. There is an arrogance there that we ought not to buy into.
There was a man the other day saying that if you have unsaved loved ones, you should call in that night, they would pray for them, and you should send a gift. That is as despicable as it gets. On the same side of the coin, however, we must be careful. First Corinthians 10:12 says, "Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall." You are in the midst of this battle, and you need your weapons.
The Weapon of Truth
Here is the first weapon: truth. We live in a world that struggles to define truth. There is as good an illustration of this as you can find in what happened right after September 11th. That attack was on a Tuesday, and the following Sunday there was a spiritual service at Yankee Stadium. They had every faith represented — Native Americans, Hindus, Buddhists, Catholics, Baptists, and more. They did everything that night but sacrifice a goat. It was presided over by Oprah, and we have to understand something about that.
Oprah has had some remarkable television, genuinely good content. But when it comes to spiritual things, she is as wrong as she can be, and what makes it alarming is that 22 million people watch her every day. She even calls her work a ministry. When it comes to Christ, here is what Oprah says: to think Jesus is the only way is silly — there are many ways to God.
The question that must be asked is: what do you base that on? The same question applies at a funeral when someone stands up and says of a man who never knew Christ and never cared about spiritual things, "Bill is in a better place — Bill is up there looking down on us even now." On what basis? When someone comes to you and says, "Here is what I think — I think there is a hell —"
Truth as the Foundation of Peace
Nobody goes to hell because God's love wouldn't allow it — or so the thinking goes. But what do you base that on? What is your authority? When we push a little bit and ask, "How can you say that? What is the final authority in your life?" the answer often falls apart. I know this because for thirty years, that is what I did. For thirty years I said, "I don't know, maybe there's a God. If there's a God, He's probably a good God. If there's a heaven, I'm going to guess everybody goes there." All it took was one person to say, "Where did you come up with that?" And my answer? I don't know. I wanted it to be true.
How do you know which hills to die on? How do you stay majoring in the majors? The answer is: what does God say the majors are? Everything else is preferential, and to the best of our ability, we should not let it get in the way. Here is what Paul says, and it is powerful. We are no longer like children tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men. We live in a world that is constantly trying to deceive us, and the biggest deception is that all people are basically good and that everyone goes to heaven.
We have lost discernment. Paul would be sickened if he walked into many of the churches we hold up as basically good churches today and looked around to find that truth has become an afterthought — where a speaker comes in, decides what he wants to say, grabs a verse to dress it up, and away we go.
The Weapons of Truth and Righteousness
Your first weapons are truth and righteousness — right living. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 7:1, "Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit." Walk in a manner worthy of your calling. And then there is the gospel of peace.
I love this thought from Romans 5:6: "While we were helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly." Are you here today, ungodly? Do you need a Savior? Christ is the only one. We talk about love all the time. We say, "I love you," and hand someone a flower — and that is fine, that is good, I am for that. But Christ demonstrated His love in a different way entirely: while we were yet sinners, He died for us. While we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son.
We live in a world where, if you do not have truth, you are never going to find peace. This is absolutely critical.
What the World's Success Cannot Provide
Consider Madonna's song "American Life." She sings: "I tried to be a boy, I tried to be a girl, I tried to be a mess, I tried to be the best. I guess I did it wrong, that's why I wrote this song. This type of modern life, is it for me? This type of modern life, is it free? So I went into a bar looking for sympathy, a little company. I tried to find a friend, it's more easily said, it's always been the same. This type of modern life, it's not for me. This type of modern life, it's not free. I tried to stay ahead, I tried to stay on top, I tried to play the part, but somehow I forgot just what I did it for and why I wanted more. This type of modern life, is it for me? This type of modern life, is it free?"
She goes on: "I got a lawyer and a manager, an agent and a chef, three nannies, an assistant, a driver and a jet, a trainer and a butler, and a bodyguard or five, a gardener and a stylist. Do you think I'm satisfied? I'd like to express my extreme point of view. I'm not a Christian, I'm not a Jew, I'm just living out the American dream, and I just realized that nothing is what it seemed."
You go to the most successful people in business, you go to the most successful people in sports, and you ultimately find that there is something inside that will not let them rest — something that keeps moving them on. It is not even victories, not even championship rings. Look at the entertainers and you find the same thing. You cannot say it any better than what Madonna is saying here. She did everything the world has to offer, and what makes it especially striking is that it is not coming from a loser — it is coming from someone the world says is a winner. She is saying, "I have the lawyer, the manager, the jet, all the things everybody says will make me happy. Do you think I'm satisfied?" She is dead right — that is the American dream.
The Emptiness Behind Every Achievement
There are students getting ready to graduate, and I am telling you, their minds are fixed on one thought: if I get this, I will be happy. Every once in a while, something happens in a community that makes people stop and ask why. A prominent citizen — all the wealth, all the success, family, children, everything — takes his own life, and everyone is left asking, "Why?" I can tell you why: he did not know Christ. One more deal was not going to make it. Winning the state championship will not do it. Closing the deal will not make it.
So many people have been through that cycle — "If she'll just go out with me. If she'll go steady with me. If she'll say yes. If we could just get married." And then it becomes, "If she'd just leave, I'd be happy." People go from relationship to relationship, whether man or woman, thinking they are going to be fulfilled, thinking they are going to find happiness. Let me save you the search. There is only one person who can be truly happy in this world, and that is someone who knows Christ — who is born again, who understands that relationship.
The Shield of Faith
It is not just the gospel of peace — it is faith. Without faith, it is impossible to please God. This is not the faith that leads to salvation; it is the faith that tells us that what God says is true. We live by it. "The righteous shall live by faith" (Habakkuk 2:4). Paul quotes this verse in Romans 1:17 and Galatians 3:11, and the author of Hebrews quotes it again in Hebrews 10:38. If you do not have faith, you will never please God, and the righteous will believe the promises of God.
The Pattern of Temptation
So, in the midst of temptation, here is what is going to happen — I can guarantee it. You are sitting here today, and in your mind is a sin you are entertaining. You decide not to take it captive. You are going to play with it for a while. You tell yourself you are not really going to do it, you are not even sure about it. Then, all of a sudden, under the right circumstances, off you go — you do it. Your hands are shaking, you are nervous and scared, but when it is all over, you decide to do it again, and you are not quite as nervous the next time.
Someone has said, and it is exactly right: sin will always take you further than you want to go, and always cost you more than you want to pay. Let us be honest — sin is fun. If sin is not fun for you, you are not doing it right. But we need to finish that sentence: sin is fun for a season. Then there is a price to pay.
Faith says, "No — I believe God for what He says." And salvation means resting in the assurance that I am saved. It goes deeper than saving faith. It means fighting doubt and discouragement, because they are coming. They come to every person's life.
The Sword of the Spirit and Prayer
Paul dealt with discouragement, difficulty, doubt, and accusation, and so will you. How do you survive there? You know who God is. You have the Word — the only offensive weapon He gives us: the sword. It was not a sword as we typically picture it. It was a dagger used in hand-to-hand combat, six to eighteen inches long. It was used both defensively and offensively. And in the midst of all of this, you bathe everything in prayer.
The Reality of Spiritual Warfare
Here is the bottom line: you are in the midst of spiritual warfare. How do we know? Because it is twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. If you are not a Christian, here is where the enemy is going to attack. He is going to keep you so busy, so focused on trying to feel comfortable, so constantly active, that he will question everything that comes into your mind to keep you from ever coming to a point of salvation.
If you are a Christian, here is what the attack looks like. The goal of the demonic is to render your spiritual life impotent. The best way to do that is to introduce sin into your life so that you become a hypocrite — because everybody hates a hypocrite. That is the battle you are in, and that is the real deal.
Standing Firm in Absolute Truth
You need truth. In a world that has no idea what direction it is headed, the only place to find true north is in this book. In a world where up is down, down is up, and what is right today is wrong tomorrow — a world that shifts with every whim, feeling, and impulse — we have absolute truth, and we find it in God's Word and God's Word alone.
You are in a spiritual battle, and you have been given the weapons to fight it. And greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world. What a great truth. We will pick up right there next week.
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*Father, thank You for this truth. Thank You that You did not leave us alone to try to figure this out on our own. Thank You that in the midst of a world that is absolutely confused, we have absolute truth, and we find it in Your Word and Your Word alone. God, help us remember that Jesus is the only way — there is no other way — and that no earthly thing will bring us eternal happiness. God, we love You. We pray for those here today who are not Christians, that You would touch their lives. Father, thank You for this truth. We pray it in Christ's name. Amen.*