While the world is going from bad to worse, just as God
wrote in his Book, those who come into his kingdom through the gospel of Jesus Christ
have this great encouragement:
3 For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to
the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have
divine power to destroy strongholds. (II Corinthians 10)
Because “the weapons
of our warfare are not of the flesh”, they are not powerless like our flesh
is powerless. Because “the weapons of our
warfare… have divine power to destroy strongholds”, they will accomplish
all that God has sent them to do.
To help understand both the “not of the flesh” and the “have
divine power” side of our spiritual weaponry, I decided to consider these
things in a journey through Romans 7 and 8[1].
It is exceptionally encouraging to see how God has guaranteed the victory of
the children of his kingdom.
- The weapons of
our warfare have none of the sark’s “sinful
passions” (Rom 7:5)
- They are not “aroused by the law” as the sinful
passions of the flesh (Rom 7:5)
- They have none
of the sinful passions of the flesh working in them “to bear fruit for death” (our death, that is. They do have
power to work for the death of the enemy!) (Rom 7:5)
- The weapons of
the kingdom are given to those who “are
released from the law”, those who have “died to that which held us captive” (Rom 7:6), which means we
are no longer POW’s living in hopeless prison camps of sin
- They are given
to those who “serve in the new way
of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code” (Rom 7:6)
- They are not
given to those who are “of the
flesh, sold under sin” (Rom 7:14), hence they themselves are “not of the flesh”, and not in any
kind of slavery to sin
- Our weapons are
not characterized by handlers who “do
not understand my own actions” (Rom 7:15)
- They cannot fail
to do what they want, or do the very things they hate (Rom 7:15)
- These weapons have
no sin dwelling within them making them do the sin they hate (Rom 7:17)
- They have no
residue of the “nothing good dwells
in me, that is in my flesh” (Rom 7:18)
- They do not have
a powerless “desire to do what is
right, but not the ability to carry it out” (Rom 7:18)
- They never fail
to do the good they want to do, and never do the evil they do not want to
do (Rom 7:19)
- There is no sin
dwelling in these weapons causing them to “do what I do not want” (Rom 7:20)
- Neither do they
have a “law waging war against the
law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin” (Rom 7:23)
- These weapons have
no need to be delivered “from this
body of death,” since they are not of the flesh (Rom 7:24)
- The kingdom-weapons
are in the hands of the uncondemned, “those
who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom 8:1)
- We are no longer
POW’s, “for the law of the Spirit of
life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death” (Rom
8:2)
- We are Victors because
“God has done what the law, weakened
by the flesh, could not do” (Rom 8:3)
- Our victory is
eternal because, “by sending his own
Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the
flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be
fulfilled in us” (Rom 8:3-4)
- Our victory is
applied to daily life because we “walk
not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (Rom 8:4)
- Because we are
not those “who live according to the
flesh”, we are not those “who
set their minds on the things of the flesh” (Rom 8:5), hence “the weapons of our warfare are not of
the flesh” (II Cor 10:4)
- Because we are “those who live according to the Spirit”,
who “set their minds on the things
of the Spirit” (Rom 8:5), “the
weapons of our warfare… have divine power to destroy strongholds” (II
Cor 10:4)
- The soldiers of
the kingdom of God “live according
to the Spirit”, and so they “set
their minds on the things of the Spirit” (Rom 8:5)
- Because we do
not “set the mind on the flesh”,
we have no fear of death (Rom 8:6)
- Because we do “set the mind on the Spirit,” we
are assured of “life and peace”
in the kingdom of God (Rom 8:6)
- The soldiers of
the kingdom of God do not set their minds on the flesh, therefore there is
never any hostility towards our Commander in Chief (Rom 8:7-8)
- The children of
the kingdom of God “are not in the
flesh but in the Spirit,” as evidence by the fact that “the Spirit of God dwells in you”
(Rom 8:9)
- Because “Christ is in” the soldiers of the
kingdom of God, “although the body
is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness”
(Rom 8:10)
- Because “the Spirit of him who raised Jesus
from the dead dwells in” the sons of the kingdom, “he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to
your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you” (Rom 8:11)
- The brothers of
the kingdom “are debtors,” but “not to the flesh, to live according to
the flesh” (Rom 8:12)
- The weapons of
the kingdom are not bound by the law that, “if you live according to the flesh you will die,” (Rom 8:13)
since they “are not of the flesh” (II
Cor 10:4)
- Rather, because
the soldiers of the cross, “by the
Spirit… put to death the deeds of the body, you will live” (Romans
8:13)
- The soldiers of
the kingdom of God “are led by the
Spirit of God” as the “sons of
God” (Rom 8:14)
- The handlers of
the kingdom weapons “did not receive
the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear” (Rom 8:15)
- Instead, we “have received the Spirit of adoption
as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’” (Rom 8:15)
- As the soldiers
of the kingdom take up the spiritual weapons of our warfare, we have the
constant encouragement of the Holy Spirit who “himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God”
(Rom 8:16)
- No matter what
the battle looks like by sight, the children of God are “heirs of God and fellow heirs with
Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified
with him” (Rom 8:17)
- No matter how
much suffering the soldiers of the cross endure in the warfare of this
lifetime, we “consider that the
sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory
that is to be revealed to us” (Rom 8:18)
- The soldiers of
the cross are encouraged along by “the
creation” that “waits with eager
longing for the revealing of the sons of God” (Rom 8:19)
- The sons of God
put their hope in the fact that “the
creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain
the freedom of the glory of the children of God” (Rom 8:20-21)
- At the same
time, “we ourselves, who have the
firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption
as sons, the redemption of our bodies” (Rom 8:23)
- The soldiers of the kingdom know that our hope in the coming grand finale of our adoption does not come from what we see, and so we do not grow impatient with circumstances. Instead, because “we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience” (Rom 8:24-25)
- Because “the weapons of our warfare… have divine power to destroy strongholds” (II Cor 10:4), the sons of the kingdom do not become despondent over our own weaknesses while walking “in the flesh” (II Cor 10:3), because “the Spirit helps us in our weakness” (Rom 8:26)
- Although, in the midst of battle, we may “not know what to pray for as we ought”, we have the constant presence of the Holy Spirit who “himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words” (Rom 8:26)
- While the soldiers of the kingdom may feel that there are glaring gaps in communication between ourselves and our Commander in Chief, “he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God” (Rom 8:27)
- No matter what things look like in the battle, “we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Rom 8:28)
- Our confidence is not in our own ability to fight the battles of life, but that “those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers” (Rom 8:29)
- The ultimate victory of the children of God’s kingdom is that “those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son… And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified” (Rom 8:29-30)
- Along with the divinely powered weapons of our warfare, the children of God’s kingdom know that, “if God is for us, who can be against us” (Rom 8:31)
- Our confidence is that, “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” (Rom 8:32)
- As we face constant attack from the world, the flesh, and the devil, we know that no one can “bring any charge against God’s elect”, for “it is God who justifies” (Rom 8:33)
- Not even “the accuser of our brothers” (Rev 12:10) can “condemn”, since “Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us” (Rom 8:34)
- Even in the fiercest of battles, the sons of the kingdom know that no one “shall separate us from the love of Christ”, even though they attack us with “tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword” (Rom 8:35)
- Even when God’s children seem to be “killed all the day long”, and “are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered” (Rom 8:36), they still cannot be separated from the love of Christ
- No matter what the soldiers of the kingdom face, “in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us” (Rom 8:37)
- The victory cry of the army of God is this: “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 8:38-39).
And in conclusion: “For
the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to
destroy strongholds.”[2]
Let us use them accordingly!
© 2016 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517,
Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise noted,
Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English
Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good
News Publishers.)
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