2 Corinthians 10
v.3
For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does.
v.4
The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.
Paul’s metaphorical reference in 10:4 to demolishing “strongholds” (ochyroma) likely looks back to Proverbs 21:22, where the wise man is said to destroy the strongholds (ochyroma) in which the ungodly trust. Like the wise man of the Proverbs, Paul’s purpose is to destroy the defenses of self-confidence and self-exaltation that have been erected by the self-commendations of those who oppose the progress of the gospel (cf. 10:12, 17-18; 11:4).
v.5
We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
The issue in view is not Paul’s private struggle with his own “thought life,” as important as it is to make sure that we are thinking in ways that honor Christ… To take captive every thought to Christ is to evaluate every teaching concerning who Jesus is and what it means to follow him in order to ensure that whatever is said and thought conforms to the character and purposes of Christ himself.
v.12
We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise.
Paul is not participating in the cultural competition to be the most popular or most followed public personality. In fact, he describes his opponents as being without understanding—they are unwise—as proven by their continual need to measure themselves against each other. That’s a game Paul refuses to play. He doesn’t need to win a cultural competition to prove he truly represents Christ to the Corinthians.
v.13
We, however, will not boast beyond proper limits, but will confine our boasting to the field God has assigned to us, a field that reaches even to you.
It was the activity of the false apostles from Palestine at Corinth that encroached on Paul’s legitimate “field” because it violated the concordat of Gal 2:1-10, which predated their arrival at Corinth (see comments in the introduction, sec. 5). Even if these opponents had no relationship with the Jerusalem church, they must have been aware of the agreement of Gal 2, particularly that Paul had been entrusted with special responsibility for propagating the Gospel among the Gentiles or uncircumcised (Gal 2:7-9). True, their presence at Corinth was not technically an infringement on any precisely defined apostolic “treaty,” but it amounted at least to a repudiation of the spirit of this agreement concerning apostolic “division of labor,” for they were not in Corinth to aid Paul (as Apollos had been, 1Co 3:5-6) but to supplant him.
v.18
For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.