2 Corinthians 10:5

"And bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ." And yet the name, "captivity," hath an ill sound with it; for it is the destruction of liberty. Wherefore then has he used it? With a meaning of its own, in regard to another point. For the word "captivity" conveys two ideas, the loss of liberty, and the being so violently overpowered as not to rise up again. It is therefore in respect to this second meaning that he took it. As when he shall say "I robbed other churches," he does not intend the taking stealthily, but the stripping and taking their all, so also here in saying, "bringing into captivity." For the fight was not equally maintained, but he conquered with great ease. Wherefore he did not say, 'we conquer and have the better,' only; but 'we even bring "into captivity;"' just as above, he did not say, 'we advance engines against the "strongholds:"' but, 'we cast them down, for great is the superiority of our weapons." For we war not with words,' he saith, but with deeds against words, not with fleshly wisdom, but with the spirit of meekness and of power. How was it likely then I should hunt after honor, and boast in words, and threaten by letters;' (as they accused him, saying, "his letters are weighty,") 'when our might lay not in these things?' But having said, "bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ," because the name of "captivity" was unpleasant, he presently afterwards put an end to the metaphor, saying, "unto the obedience of Christ:" from slavery unto liberty, from death unto life, from destruction to salvation. For we came not merely to strike down, but to bring over to the truth those who are opposed to us.

For "to bring themselves into captivity," and to slay themselves, putting to death "the old man, who is through lusts corrupt," and raising the new man from death, "from the old conversation," by abandoning the passions, and becoming free of sin, both the Gospel and the apostle enjoin.

With these weapons, he says, we cast down the reasonings of the Greeks and their pride, or: we draw out their minds and souls from the error with which they are infected, and subject them to the truth. Thus the mind and haughtiness of the …

Since truth is to be believed, and a greater truth is to be believed more, and consequently the supreme truth is to be believed supremely; and the truth of the first principle is infinitely greater than every created truth and more luminous than every light …

"Bringing into captivity the understanding unto the obedience of Christ." He who wishes to search sacred Scripture according to the light of his own intelligence thinks the most false errors. In this life we are little ones, and "the learner must believe." For it is …

For the Father loves the Son, and every height that exalts itself against the knowledge of the Word, he always has at hand to cast down and to destroy, whether by sending zeal or by directing it: of which the former is of mercy, the …

Men fortify themselves against God in two ways: some with astute plans, such as tyrants, who plot with their evil designs to destroy the things of God, that they may exercise their tyranny; as to this he says, we destroy arguments [counsels], namely, of tyrants: …

He then proceeds to reason the case with the Corinthians, asserting his relation to Christ, and his authority as an apostle of Christ (

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens

Against the knowledge of God, and bringing every thought - Or, rather, faculty of the mind. Into captivity to the obedience of Christ - Those evil reasonings are destroyed. The mind itself, being overcome and taken captive, lays down all authority of its own, and entirely gives itself up to perform, for the time to come, to Christ its conqueror the obedience of faith.

Casting down imaginations,....

This indeed is through God, or owing to him, because they are his institutions, and accompanied with his blessing, which makes all opposition to fall before his victorious gospel. We may here observe, [1.] What opposition is made against the gospel by the powers of sin and Satan in the hearts of men.

Arrange the words following thus: "Bringing every thought (that is, intent of the mind or will) into captivity to the obedience of Christ," that is, to obey Christ. The three steps of the apostle's spiritual warfare are: (1) It demolishes what is opposed to Christ; (3) It brings into obedience to Christ (Ro 1:5;

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens

THIS chapter presents the remarkable spectacle of a minister of the Gospel of Peace going forth to war! At first sight we wonder how the meek and gentle Paul should speak about warring and talk of pulling down strongholds and "having a readiness to revenge all disobedience." The surprise is all the greater because he is going to war in the Church—a shepherd entering the fold with a sword!

THIS chapter presents the remarkable spectacle of a minister of the Gospel of Peace going forth to war! At first sight we wonder how the meek and gentle Paul should speak about warring and talk of pulling down strongholds and "having a readiness to revenge all disobedience." The surprise is all the greater because he is going to war in the Church—a shepherd entering the fold with a sword! One would not so much marvel that he carried his weapons against the outside world, but on this occasion it is within the Church at Corinth that he is about to commence a campaign! Yet observe how earnestly he deprecates the conflict; how he beseeches them by the meekness and gentleness of Christ to spare him a task which was so unpleasant to his feelings as to deal sternly with those whom he would far rather have commended. But the wonder ceases when we find that the shepherd fights only with grievous wolves and even in that conflict declares, "though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh." Note, moreover, that his weapons are of a peculiar kind, "The weapons of our warfare are not carnal." He is not about to assault his antagonists in the Church with bitter words of railing such as they used against him—he is not about to meet the philosophers with such philosophies and sophisms as those with which they assailed the Gospel! And neither is he coming forth with any kind of temporal weapon to inflict anything of injury upon the leaders in error—his weapons are of a very different sort. They are not carnal, but spiritual. Trials under a Public Worship Act he knew nothing of. An appeal to Caesar upon Church matters never crossed his mind.

Casting down imaginations - Λογισμους· Reasonings or opinions. The Greek philosophers valued themselves especially on their ethic systems, in which their reasonings appeared to be very profound and conclusive; but they were obliged to assume principles which were either such as did not exist, or were false in themselves, as the whole of their mythologic system most evidently was: truly, from what remains of them we see that their metaphysics were generally bombast; and as to their philosophy, it was in general good for nothing. When the apostles came against their gods many and their lords many with the One Supreme and Eternal Being, they were confounded, scattered, annihilated; when they came against their various modes of purifying the mind - their sacrificial and mediatorial system, with the Lord Jesus Christ, his agony and bloody sweat, his cross and passion, his death and burial, and his glorious resurrection and ascension, they sunk before them, and appeared to be what they really were, as dust upon the balance, and lighter than vanity. Every high thing - Even the pretendedly sublime doctrines, for instance, of Plato, Aristotle, and the Stoics in general, fell before the simple preaching of Christ crucified. The knowledge of God - The doctrine of the unity and eternity of the Divine nature, which was opposed by the plurality of their idols, and the generation of their gods, and their men-made deities. It is amazing how feeble a resistance heathenism made, by argument or reasoning, against the doctrine of the Gospel! It instantly shrunk from the Divine light, and called on the secular power to contend for it! Popery sunk before Protestantism in the same way, and defended itself by the same means. […]

Even satan's thoughts come to us as spontaneous thoughts, which is why we are commanded to "take every thought captive" (2 Cor. 10:5).

In 2 Corinthians 10:5, we are instructed to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.