The Daily Office: 2nd Corinthians 10-12

2nd Corinthians 10:1-18

“Although we live in the world, we don’t fight our battles with human methods. Our weapons that we fight with aren’t human, but instead they are powered by God for the destruction of fortresses. They destroy arguments, and every defense that is raised up to oppose the knowledge of God. They capture every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” (2nd Cor. 10, 3-5, Common English Bible)

“Although we live in the world, we don’t fight our battles with human methods. Our weapons that we fight with aren’t human, but instead they are powered by God for the destruction of fortresses. They destroy arguments, and every defense that is raised up to oppose the knowledge of God. They capture every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”

In the Daily Office this week, we pick up Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians at chapter 10. In chapters 10, 11 and 12, we see Saint Paul at his most “prickly.” Some Christians who don’t approve of Paul’s ministry have come behind Paul into the church that he founded, and undermined his authority. At least that’s how Paul sees it. These three chapters are Paul’s half of an argument that clearly got heated.

In the midst of this argument, Paul reminds us that God is with us, even in the messy arguments that go with life together in Christian community. When we bring our life experiences and the wisdom we’ve gained to the table, we are powered by God to make the best decisions for the building up of God’s kingdom.

Of course, there are two sides to an argument. We can only infer the Corinthians’ side from Paul’s response. But isn’t it interesting that the Corinthians preserved their correspondence with Paul, even the disagreeable parts. This shows that eventually, Paul and the Corinthians were reconciled. It also shows that the Corinthians saw the Word of God in these letters, and that these letters should be preserved for all time.

If we look for God’s presence with us, even in disagreement, then that conversation will be blessed, and so will the reconciliation which comes afterward.