Carnal Weapons
W. Carl Ketcherside
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Our battle is to bring down every deceptive fantasy and every imposing defence that men erect against the true knowledge of God. We even fight to capture every thought until it acknowledges the authority of Christ.
The above is the rendering by J. B. Phillips of 2 Corinthians 10:5. It occurs in a setting which has often been misunderstood, for the apostle says in the preceding verse, "The weapons of our warfare are not carnal," as the King James Version has it. This is taken as a condemnation of even defensive warfare upon the part of Christians. Without entering into the controversy of the right to bear arms under any circumstance, we simply state that this passage is not remotely connected with the problem. The point the apostle is making is not that war is sinful but that the nature of the warfare should determine the type of weapons to be used.
The false teachers who infiltrated the congregation which Paul planted at Corinth concocted every type of charge which they could level against him. They said he was very meek and humble when he was present with them but grew bold and brave at a distance and when absent. They implied that he had a vitriolic pen and wrote daringly from afar, but that "his bark was worse than his bite," for he became docile when he arrived among them.
This amounted to charging him with a policy of double-dealing. The New English Version says they "charge us with moral weakness." J. B. Phillips puts it as "reckoning that our activities are purely on the human level." In reply the apostle asserts that although he is a weak man and leads a normal human life, he recognizes that the battle he fights is on a spiritual level.
His real conflict is not with men but with their deceptive fantasies, or sophistries. His was a war for men's minds, a conflict of ideologies and thought processes. The weapons must be adapted to the kind of battle being waged. Carnal weapons will destroy men's physical bodies but you cannot shoot down a fantasy any more than you can a phantom. An idea cannot be blasted with a shotgun loaded with nitro and buckshot. Yet Paul is here talking about a different kind of carnal weapon.
The opposite to deceptive fantasy is true knowledge of God and this last must be our weapon to storm the ramparts, batter down the bastions, and capture the fortress of human minds. The apostle was writing to a divided congregation of saints. His motives were under attack. His character was being assailed. His very integrity was being challenged. He was accused of refusing to take their money personally and sending Titus later on to collect all he could get. He was said to be a weighty and powerful writer but in appearance was weak and as a speaker was beneath contempt.
In all of this Paul refused to retaliate in kind. He did not engage in mud-slinging, personalities or recrimination. These were the carnal weapons he refused to use for he did not fight after the manner of men. We are still engaged in a struggle to capture every thought and bring it under the authority of
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Partisan debate, factional rivalry and sectarian disorder are all carnal weapons. They do not fit the right hand of the Christian. The apostle wrote: "I fear that when I come...I may find quarrelling and jealousy, angry tempers and personal rivalries, backbiting and gossip, arrogance and general disorder" (2 Corinthians 12:20). These are carnal weapons. Those who use them fight after the manner of men. It is as dangerous for a Christian to carry a grudge as it is to carry a gun. It may be as sinful to shoot off your mouth as to shoot off a pistol.