In his second letter to the church of Corinth, Paul tells us that we do not wage war according to the flesh even though we walk in the flesh (2 Corinthians 10:3). What exactly did Paul mean by that and what war does he refer to? Are Christians in a war? The Bible tells us that Christians are indeed in a war, a spiritual battle with our enemy the devil, the one who accuses us before the Father. It also tells us that we are at war with our flesh, our sinful nature. You see, those of us who have surrendered our lives to the LORD Jesus are at enmity with our flesh, that is, what pleases us and the ways of the world because we now have the Spirit of God living in us and have been made new (2 Corinthians 5:17). So we carry in us two natures that are at war with each other (Romans 7:23). This battle is what Paul refers to in many of his letters, telling us to subdue the flesh because we no longer belong to it and its pleasures. This week, I have been meditating on the verses from 2 Corinthians 10:3-6, and I thought I would share two of the truths I gathered from them in order to help us grow in our understanding of the LORD. First, Christians ought to see people according to the Spirit and second, Christians ought to wage war according to the Spirit.
The first truth gathered from Paul’s second letter to the church of Corinth is that we ought to see people according to the Spirit. The spiritual battle the Bible often mentions pertains to our way of thinking, acting and doing and whether or not it aligns with the Word of God. Before being in Christ, there was no spiritual battle that we faced because we were dead in our trespasses (Ephesians 2:1). One who is dead cannot be fighting. However, God made us alive with Christ when He rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves, the one in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins (Colossians 1:14). When we come to Christ, our eyes are opened, and we realise that we are living in a world where everything is in contradiction with our saviour because of sin and the rebellion of Satan. This new reality helps us see that our allegiance is now to Jesus and only Jesus and because of that, we no longer take our counsel from the flesh; we no longer view people and assess people according to the flesh. This point is crucial because it helps frame our new worldview and how we approach our day-to-day. To view someone according to the flesh is to base all judgements purely on what you see, think or hear. However, when we walk by the Spirit and let him guide our lives, we let him do the judgement. Jesus was very good at not seeing people from the flesh. In fact, John tells us that although many saw the miracles that Jesus performed and believed in his name, Jesus would not entrust himself to them because he knew what was in a man (John 2:24-25). Flattery or lips service was not something that would work with Jesus, he could see right through our motives, not just our actions. Moreover, the word of God is our compass to measure and assess the people around us. When we are engaging with other comrades or brethren, we have to evaluate them based on the word of God which tells us that “we will know them by their fruits” (Matthew 7:20). What do their fruits look like? Are the fruits aligned with the nature and character of God as revealed in the scriptures? Are the fruits nourishing or are they killing? Do the fruits honour God? Can they be given as an offering to the LORD? Are the fruits the kind that you can share with others and propagate? If the answer to any of these questions is negative, then this is a good indication that you are seeing people according to the flesh and are probably engaging with people you ought not to be engaging with. When we regard someone according to the flesh, we are either elevating the person above God or are elevating ourselves above God and that is not acceptable for a child that was redeemed at such a great price as is the blood of the Lamb.
The second truth gathered from Paul’s second letter to the church of Corinth is to wage war according to the Spirit as opposed to waging it according to the flesh. Waging war according to the flesh is the natural way of the world, which used to be ours when we belonged to it. Now that we are in Christ, we ought to war differently. The reason is because we are not in a physical war but in a spiritual one and for that reason, even our weapons are different. I am reminded of David, when he went to fight against Goliath, the giant, he was given a soldier’s armour by King Saul but as soon as David put the armour on, he realised that he could not use it for it was too heavy for him. Instead of using something that was inappropriate and inadequate for him, David resorted to his sling and stones and went on his way to fight (1 Samuel 17:38-40). In the same way, because we are not fighting physically, we cannot expect to use the same type of weapons we would use in a physical battle. As the word says “For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ…” (2 Corinthians 10:4-5). Our weapon is the word of God, Christ is our weapon. Paul tells us that arguments and opinions can become strongholds in a person’s life. As a matter of fact, it is not hard to see as many of us live our lives based on some of the principles we were raised by as influenced by culture, tradition and others. Some of these principles, unfortunately are not aligned with the word of God and when we come to Christ, those principles which belong to what Paul calls “the old man” have to be destroyed because they lead only to death. We destroy these principles by submitting them to full obedience to Christ. Praise be to the Father that for every old and false principle we believed, in Christ there is a new and better one. Our war is the war of the mind because what grows in our mind manifests in our lives whether we realise it or not. Our thoughts and beliefs are very powerful and lead us to do good or bad so when they are not submitted to Christ, they become fatal.
As I close this post, let me encourage you to deepen your knowledge of God by reading about Him, saturating your mind with His words whether by way of meditation, scripture memory or listening to His words. Since we no longer have to walk as those who did not know any better, now that we know better, let us spur each other on to love and good deeds (Hebrews 10:24); let us fix our eyes on the author and perfector of our faith who is faithful to hold us until the end. Let us seek to serve Him and Him alone, glorifying Him in all we do, seeking that many may come to this liberating knowledge of Him; let us love Him more each day as we see the Day of Christ approaching and let us keep ourselves ready and alert for that day. May we be followers of Christ who leave a sweet aroma of Him to the world so that the world may know Him, the one true God whom their souls long for. Amen!
A Word Aptly Spoken 