Lesson 15, May 19

Review:

 

 

 

Importance of thinking Divine Viewpoint - Examples

Passage Number One:   2 Corinthians 10:2-5 

 

 

Paul and his partners in the work of Christ had been accused of walking according to the flesh, i.e., that the standard for their conduct was the flesh, the sinful nature including not only its desires or lust patterns, but also its speculations and solutions to life.

 

 

 

 

We must always remember that the World's standard's are not God's.

In verses 3-5 we see the answer or defense. Paul denied their accusations (vs. 3) and quick­ly rejected any such idea.

 

 

 

Need to note the piling up of military terms in verses 4-5, which strong­ly emphasizes that believers are soldiers of Christ in a life and death struggle, in spiritual combat and in a spiritual war.

 

 

 

For a soldier to be able to fight, he must have weapons — a reference to the things that we as believers are to use in carry­ing out our ministries and daily lives.

10:4 “for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh”

 

- not the methods, the means, and strategies that men naturally lean on according to the dictates of the old nature and ideas of the world.

 

 

“But divinely powerful” 

 

- Christian warfare must be carried on by faith in the Lord and in the powerful weapons given to us in Christ.

 

 

“For (proj) the destruction of fortresses” or “to demol­ish strongholds”

 

 

 

 

 

“Fortresses” is  “to fortify, make firm or strong.”

 

- When used figuratively in the NT, as it is here it refers to a strong system of philosophy and reasoned arguments opposed to the true  knowledge of God, therefore a false argument

 

 

Verse 5 continues Paul’s explanation and further defines what he means by “the destruction of fortresses.”

There are two things to be done:

First, “destroying speculations and . . .”

“Speculations” is logismoj which means “calculation, reasoning, argument, reflection, thought process.” 

 

It refers to anything that comes from the mind, that is, the faulty, human, and speculative reasoning of men by which they seek to live life apart from or without the absolutes of God and therefore apart from His revelation to us in the Word and in Jesus Christ      

 

Man’s ideas and strategies are not only contradictory to the Word and divine viewpoint, but they are enemies and hindrances to the knowledge of God and what knowing God and developing a relationship with Christ is all about.

 

The big question is how can we tear down these fortresses of human reasoning, that human viewpoint?

“Taking every thought captive . . .” shows us how Paul tore down such exalted human reasoning that opposes the truth about God.

 

“Thought” is nohma and means “thought, idea, purpose, de­sign.” It looks at anything that is the product of our thinking processes.

 

“To the obedience of Christ” points us to the goal, the aim in view.

 

It is an obedi­ence that stems from living in the Word and listening to the Lord.

 

The foundation for obedient living and godly change is our thought life and our beliefs upon which we base our thinking and by which we derive our attitudes and plans of action or strategies.

 

Passage Number Two:    Philippians 4:8-9     What is to characterize our thinking!

We must understand that our thoughts are real and very powerful even though they cannot be seen, weighed, or measured.

 

Now Paul spells out a summary of attitudes, viewpoints, we should have as advancing, maturing believers.

 

The key to the whole list is the first item on the list, whatever is true.

- avlhqh,j  >> truth >> and it's placed first because truth is the foundation upon which all the rest are based.

 

“Let your mind dwell” is literally “these things be think­ing.”

 

It means “to reckon, calculate, consider, take into account.” It was an accounting term. We are not just to think about these things, but we are to think these things.

 

Instead of bitterness, revenge, frustration, fear, and all that accompanies such a downward focus, a focus away from Him,  we are to have our minds filled with all that should flow from an ongoing focus on the Lord and the truth of His Word.

 

  4:9  Since Paul himself early in their Christian life had been their teacher and example, what they had learned from him they were to keep on practicing. He was their role model.

 

 

Please note the context—rejoicing in the Lord, count­ing on God’s nearness, putting a stop to worry or anxiety by taking things to God in prayer, and learning to live contentedly through drawing on the strength which the Lord gives.  4:6-7