◄ 2 Corinthians 10:5 ►
We tear down arguments and every presumption set up against the knowledge of God; and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
Study Bible
We demolish arguments

Paul describes spiritual warfare carried out through God’s power, not worldly manipulation or personal aggression. False apostles in Corinth promoted standards shaped by self-exaltation, outward appearance, and human eloquence, seeking to undermine Paul’s apostolic ministry and the gospel he preached. Every claim that contradicts God’s revealed truth must be exposed and overturned by the truth of Scripture, faithfully proclaimed and lived.

Jer 1:10 See, I have appointed you today over nations and kingdoms…
1Co 1:19-20 For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;…
Isa 29:14 Therefore I will again confound these people with wonder…

and every presumption set up against the knowledge of God;

Human pride raises barriers against the knowledge God has made known in creation, Scripture, and supremely in Christ. Corinth’s culture admired philosophical speculation and rhetorical skill, yet human wisdom cannot stand as judge over God’s revelation. Believers are not called to trust autonomous reasoning but to submit every worldview, belief, and moral claim to the truth of God’s Word.

Rom 1:18-21 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven…
Jer 9:23-24 This is what the LORD says: “Let not the wise man…
Col 2:8 See to it that no one takes you captive…

and we take captive every thought

Paul portrays the mind as a battlefield in which ideas, desires, motives, and imaginations must not be allowed to rule unchecked. As victorious armies led captives away in triumph, Christ’s servants bring rebellious thinking under His authority. Such vigilance requires rejecting lies and dwelling on what is true, honorable, pure, and worthy of praise (Philippians 4:8).

Rom 12:2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed…
Col 3:2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.
Php 4:8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable,…

to make it obedient to Christ.

Jesus Christ possesses rightful lordship over the whole person, including the inner life of the mind. Obedience involves more than outward conformity; it comes through the renewing of the mind and the transformation of the heart (Romans 12:2). In a city filled with competing religions and philosophies, the Corinthians needed to recognize that no teaching, teacher, or personal opinion could stand above Christ and His gospel.

1Pe 1:2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father…
Jhn 14:15 If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.
Rom 16:26 but now revealed and made known through the writings…

Persons / Places / Events
1. Paul the Apostle
The author of 2 Corinthians, addressing the church in Corinth. He is defending his ministry and authority against false apostles and teachings.

2. Corinth
A major city in ancient Greece, known for its wealth and immorality. The church in Corinth faced many challenges, including false teachings and internal divisions.

3. False Apostles
Individuals who were challenging Paul's authority and spreading teachings contrary to the gospel.
Teaching Points
The Battle of the Mind
The mind is a battleground where spiritual warfare takes place. Believers must be vigilant in discerning thoughts and ideas that oppose God's truth.

The Power of God's Knowledge
God's knowledge is supreme, and any argument or presumption against it must be dismantled. This requires a deep understanding of Scripture and reliance on the Holy Spirit.

Obedience to Christ
Every thought must be made obedient to Christ. This involves a conscious effort to align our thinking with the teachings and example of Jesus.

Spiritual Discernment
Believers need to develop spiritual discernment to identify and reject false teachings and philosophies that contradict the gospel.

Practical Steps for Capturing Thoughts
Engage in regular Bible study and prayer to renew the mind.

Memorize Scripture to counteract negative or false thoughts.

Seek accountability and fellowship with other believers for encouragement and support.
Bible Study Questions
1. What are some common arguments or presumptions in today's culture that oppose the knowledge of God, and how can we effectively tear them down?

2. How does Romans 12:2's call to renew our minds relate to taking every thought captive in 2 Corinthians 10:5?

3. In what ways can we ensure that our thoughts are obedient to Christ in our daily lives?

4. How can Philippians 4:8 guide us in the process of capturing and transforming our thoughts?

5. What role does spiritual discernment play in identifying false teachings, and how can we cultivate this discernment according to Ephesians 6:12?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Romans 12:2
This verse speaks about the transformation of the mind, which connects to taking thoughts captive and aligning them with Christ.

Philippians 4:8
Encourages believers to think on things that are true, noble, and praiseworthy, which complements the idea of taking every thought captive.

Ephesians 6:12
Discusses the spiritual battle against forces that oppose God's knowledge, similar to the tearing down of arguments in 2 Corinthians 10:5.
Sermons
A Militant MessageAlexander Maclaren2 Corinthians 10:5
Captivity of Thoughts for ChristR. Tuck 2 Corinthians 10:5
Christ Must be Our Absolute MonarchE. Hopkins, M. A.2 Corinthians 10:5
Christian Subjection of ThoughtJ. Brierley, B. A.2 Corinthians 10:5
Forts Demolished and Prisoners TakenC. H. Spurgeon.2 Corinthians 10:5
Government of the ThoughtsJ. Walker, D. D.2 Corinthians 10:5
StrongholdsThe Church2 Corinthians 10:5
The Captivity of the ThoughtsJ.R. Thomson 2 Corinthians 10:5
The Captivity of ThoughtW. Pulsford, D. D.2 Corinthians 10:5
The Conflict of Faith with Undue Exaltation of IntellectCanon Liddon.2 Corinthians 10:5
The Government of the Thoughts Necessary to HolinessT. Nunns, M. A.2 Corinthians 10:5
The Moral Discipline of the IntellectE. S. Keeble.2 Corinthians 10:5
The Present Struggle of ErrorCongregational Pulpit2 Corinthians 10:5
The Subjection of the Heart to ChristC. A. Vince, M. A.2 Corinthians 10:5
The Victory of Christ Over ThoughtCaleb Morris.2 Corinthians 10:5
Unreserved Surrender to ChristG. S. Barrett, B. A.2 Corinthians 10:5
Change in the Epistle; Spirit of His DefenseC. Lipscomb 2 Corinthians 10:1-7
Christianity a WarfareC. Bradley, M. A.2 Corinthians 10:3-6
Our WarfareW. Horton.2 Corinthians 10:3-6
The Distinctions Between the Good and the BadJ. W. Cunningham, A. M.2 Corinthians 10:3-6
The Spiritual Conflict, Weapons, and VictoryJ. Parsons.2 Corinthians 10:3-6
People
Corinthians, Paul
Places
Achaia, Corinth
Topics
Arguments, Arrogant, Authority, Bringing, Captive, Captivity, Carry, Casting, Causing, Christ, Defiance, Destroy, Destroying, Exalted, Exalteth, Imaginations, Itself, Leading, Lifted, Lifts, Lofty, Obedience, Obedient, Obey, Obstacle, Overthrow, Overthrowing, Pretension, Proud, Putting, Raised, Reasonings, Reckonings, Sets, Slavery, Speculations, Stronghold, Subjection, Taking, Throwing, Towers
Dictionary of Bible Themes
2 Corinthians 10:5

     5191   thought
     5246   captivity
     5267   control
     5302   education
     5920   pretence
     6186   evil scheming
     8136   knowing God, effects
     8265   godliness
     8476   self-discipline

2 Corinthians 10:2-5

     4030   world, behaviour in

2 Corinthians 10:4-5

     8351   teachableness

Library
A Militant Message
'Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God, and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ; and being in readiness to avenge all disobedience, when your obedience shall be fulfilled.'--2 COR. x. 5 and 6 (R.V.). None of Paul's letters are so full of personal feeling as this one is. It is written, for the most part, at a white heat; he had heard from his trusted Titus tidings which on one hand filled him with a thankfulness of …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

And, the Case Being Thus, Enough and More than Enough Answer Has Been Made...
33. And, the case being thus, enough and more than enough answer has been made to the heretics, whether they be Manichees, or whosoever other that bring false charges against the Fathers of the Old Testament, on the subject of their having several wives, thinking this a proof whereby to convict them of incontinence: provided, that is, that they perceive, that that is no sin, which is committed neither against nature, in that they used those women not for wantonness, but for the begetting of children: …
St. Augustine—On the Good of Marriage

Excursus on the Use of the Word "Canon. "
(Bright: Notes on the Canons, pp. 2 and 3.) Kanon, as an ecclesiastical term, has a very interesting history. See Westcott's account of it, On the New Testament Canon, p. 498 ff. The original sense, "a straight rod" or "line," determines all its religious applications, which begin with St. Paul's use of it for a prescribed sphere of apostolic work (2 Cor. x. 13, 15), or a regulative principle of Christian life (Gal. vi. 16). It represents the element of definiteness in Christianity and in the …
Philip Schaff—The Seven Ecumenical Councils

Perfect in Parts, Imperfect in Degrees.
And the very God of peace sanctify, you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. -- 1 Thess. v. 23. The Scriptural doctrine that sanctification is a gradual process perfected only in death must be maintained clearly and soberly: first, in opposition to the Perfectionist, who says that saints may be "wholly sanctified" in this life; secondly, to those who deny the implanting of inherent holy dispositions in God's children. …
Abraham Kuyper—The Work of the Holy Spirit

Conflicts with Giant Mistake
CONFLICTS WITH GIANT MISTAKE I make so many mistakes, it seems I am just a bundle of contradictions. I try to do good; but at times my efforts are so crude that I seem to do more harm than good. What shall I do? And though all the time I try hard not to make mistakes, yet I still make them. It seems to me that surely I am not sanctified, or else I should be more perfect. Do not the Scriptures command us to be perfect even as our Father in heaven is perfect? I am not perfect; far from it. Really I …
Robert Lee Berry—Adventures in the Land of Canaan

But, Again, Lest by Occasion of this Sentence...
50. But, again, lest by occasion of this sentence, any one should sin with deadly security, and should allow himself to be carried away, as though his sins were soon by easy confession to be blotted out, he straightway added, "My little children, these things have I written unto you, that ye sin not; and, if one shall have sinned, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and Himself is a propitiation of our sins." [2207] Let no one therefore depart from sin as though about …
St. Augustine—Of Holy Virginity.

Introductory.
As introductory to the following dissertation, I shall explain and define certain terms that frequently occur in it, especially canon, apocryphal, ecclesiastical, and the like. A right apprehension of these will make the observations advanced respecting the canon and its formation plainer. The words have not been taken in the same sense by all, a fact that obscures their sense. They have been employed more or less vaguely by different writers. Varying ideas have been attached to them. The Greek …
Samuel Davidson—The Canon of the Bible

"If we Say that we have not Sinned, we Make Him a Liar, and his Word is not in Us. "
1 John i. 10.--"If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us." There is nothing in which religion more consists than in the true and unfeigned knowledge of ourselves. The heathens supposed that sentence, {GREEK SMALL LETTER GAMMA}{GREEK SMALL LETTER NU}{GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA}{GREEK SMALL LETTER THETA}{GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA} {GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA}{GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON}{GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA}{GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU}{GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON}{GREEK …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

"Because the Carnal Mind is Enmity against God, for it is not Subject to the Law of God, Neither Indeed Can Be. "
Rom. viii. 7.--"Because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." Unbelief is that which condemns the world. It involves in more condemnation than many other sins, not only because more universal, but especially because it shuts up men in their misery, and secludes them from the remedy that is brought to light in the gospel. By unbelief I mean, not only that careless neglect of Jesus Christ offered for salvation, but that which is the …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Of the Joy of a Good Conscience
The testimony of a good conscience is the glory of a good man. Have a good conscience and thou shalt ever have joy. A good conscience is able to bear exceeding much, and is exceeding joyful in the midst of adversities; an evil conscience is ever fearful and unquiet. Thou shalt rest sweetly if thy heart condemn thee not. Never rejoice unless when thou hast done well. The wicked have never true joy, nor feel internal peace, for there is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.(1) And if they say …
Thomas A Kempis—Imitation of Christ

The Third Wall.
The third wall falls of itself, as soon as the first two have fallen; for if the Pope acts contrary to the Scriptures, we are bound to stand by the Scriptures, to punish and to constrain him, according to Christ's commandment; "Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every …
Martin Luther—First Principles of the Reformation

"But Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God," &C.
Matt. vi. 33.--"But seek ye first the kingdom of God," &c. O "seekest thou great things for thyself," says God to Baruch, (Jer. xlv. 5) "seek them not." How then doth he command us in the text to seek a kingdom? Is not this a great thing? Certainly it is greater than those great things he would not have Baruch to seek after, and yet he charges us to seek after it. In every kind of creatures there is some difference, some greater, some lesser, some higher, some lower; so there are some men far above …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

The Pharisee and the Publican
Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a Publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself; God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this Publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. And the Publican, standing afar off would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.-- Luke, xviii. 10-13. In the beginning …
John Bunyan—The Pharisee And Publican

Epistle Lii. To Natalis, Bishop .
To Natalis, Bishop [1463] . Gregory to Natalis, Bishop of Salona. As though forgetting the tenour of former letters, I had determined to say nothing to your Blessedness but what should savour of sweetness: but, now that in your epistle you have recurred in the way of argumentation to preceding letters, I am once more compelled to say perhaps some things that I had rather not have said. For in defence of feasts your Fraternity mentions the feast of Abraham, in which by the testimony of Holy Scripture …
Saint Gregory the Great—the Epistles of Saint Gregory the Great

A Discourse Upon the Pharisee and the Publican
WHEREIN SEVERAL GREAT AND WEIGHTY THINGS ARE HANDLED: AS, THE NATURE OF PRAYER, AND OF OBEDIENCE TO THE LAW, WITH HOW FAR IT OBLIGES CHRISTIANS, AND WHEREIN IT CONSISTS. WHEREIN IS ALSO SHEWED, THE EQUALLY DEPLORABLE CONDITION OF THE PHARISEE, OR HYPOCRITICAL AND SELF-RIGHTEOUS MAN; AND OF THE PUBLICAN, OR SINNER THAT LIVES IN SIN, AND IN OPEN VIOLATION OF THE DIVINE LAWS. TOGETHER WITH THE WAY AND METHOD OF GOD'S FREE GRACE IN PARDONING PENITENT SINNERS; PROVING THAT HE JUSTIFIES THEM BY IMPUTING …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

The Sick Person Ought Now to Send for Some Godly and Religious Pastor.
In any wise remember, if conveniently it may be, to send for some godly and religious pastor, not only to pray for thee at thy death--for God in such a case hath promised to hear the prayers of the righteous prophets, and elders of the church (Gen. xx. 7; Jer. xviii. 20; xv. 1; 1 Sam. xii. 19, 23; James v. 14, 15, 16)--but also upon thy unfeigned repentance to declare to thee the absolution of thy sins. For as Christ hath given him a calling to baptize thee unto repentance for the remission of thy …
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety

First Sunday after Epiphany
Text: Romans 12, 1-6. 1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service. 2 And be not fashioned according to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. 3 For I say, through the grace that was given me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but …
Martin Luther—Epistle Sermons, Vol. II

I May Briefly Reduce the Chief Persuading Motive to this So Needful and So Much...
I may briefly reduce the chief persuading motive to this so needful and so much desiderated grace into some three or four heads. All things within and without persuade to it, but especially the right consideration of the love of God in Christ, the wise and the impartial reflection on ourselves, the consideration of our brethren whom we are commanded to love, and the thorough inspection into the nature and use of the grace itself. In consideration of the First, a soul might argue itself into a complacency …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

The Holy War,
MADE BY SHADDAI UPON DIABOLUS, FOR THE REGAINING OF THE METROPOLIS OF THE WORLD; OR, THE LOSING AND TAKING AGAIN OF THE TOWN OF MANSOUL. THE AUTHOR OF 'THE PILGRIM'S PROGRESS.' 'I have used similitudes.'--Hosea 12:10. London: Printed for Dorman Newman, at the King's Arms in the Poultry; and Benjamin Alsop, at the Angel and Bible in the Poultry, 1682. ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR. Bunyan's account of the Holy War is indeed an extraordinary book, manifesting a degree of genius, research, and spiritual …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

Third Sunday after Trinity Humility, Trust, Watchfulness, Suffering
Text: 1 Peter 5, 5-11. 5 Likewise, ye younger, be subject unto the elder. Yea, all of you gird yourselves with humility, to serve one another: for God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble. 6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time; 7 casting all your anxiety upon him, because he careth for you. 8 Be sober, be watchful: your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: 9 whom withstand stedfast …
Martin Luther—Epistle Sermons, Vol. III

Sanctification
'For this is the will of God, even your sanctification.' I Thess 4:4. The word sanctification signifies to consecrate and set apart to a holy use: thus they are sanctified persons who are separated from the world, and set apart for God's service. Sanctification has a privative and a positive part. I. A privative part, which lies in the purging out of sin. Sin is compared to leaven, which sours; and to leprosy, which defiles. Sanctification purges out the old leaven.' I Cor 5:5. Though it takes not …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

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