2 Corinthians 10:4

There is the widest possible difference between walking "in" the flesh, that is, in the body (compare Galatians 2:20), and walking "according to" the flesh, which would mean being ruled by it. The apostle gives his reason for the distinction: the weapons of our warfare are not fleshly, but mighty through God to pull down strongholds — the seats of the enemy's power, like Jericho long ago in what it pictured.

With us there are "strongholds" to be overthrown. Who holds these strongholds? The great adversary himself. He is the one who has dug himself into human hearts. So those hearts are full of "imaginations," or "reasonings." They lift themselves up against the knowledge of God, and they are full of lawlessness. All these proud thoughts have to be brought down and made captive to Christ, so that lawlessness gives way to obedience to Him. What weapons are strong enough to produce that result?

Merely human weapons are completely useless. Fleshly weapons can no more subdue the flesh than Satan can drive out Satan. Only spiritual weapons can win, and they must be used in God's way if they are to work.

Set mere human eloquence, or learning, or skill, or intellect against such strongholds. Try to coax people round the corner of their rebellion and self-will by arts and sciences that appeal only to feelings and emotions. That is worse folly than attacking the fortress of Gibraltar with a pea-shooter. Nothing but the power of God will do.

Paul did not fight according to the flesh. In his conflict with the enemy he had no use for fleshly weapons. He found that the meekness and gentleness of Christ were the weapons God used. Five smooth stones and a sling looked feeble against a giant in full armour. Yet one stone in the hands of a young man was mighty through God, and the giant fell.

There are, however, spiritual weapons that all may use. The apostles in Jerusalem gave examples when they said, "we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word" (Acts 6:4). Every believer can pray, and every believer can speak the Word in some way.

In the flesh he is powerless, for by his own confession he is dead with Christ. But in the Spirit he has weapons that are mighty, through God, to overthrow whatever stands against God. At the root of his confession as a servant of God lies this: the power is God's alone. So efforts made in his own strength are fruitless, even when the purpose is godly.

The conflict of Ephesians 6 is mainly defensive: the only attacking weapon named there is the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God. Here the conflict is aggressive, and there are weapons — the word is plural, for there is more than one. Pulling down strongholds of stone or iron is easy next to pulling down strongholds of unbelief and of the powers of darkness, and casting down the empty reasonings of darkened yet proud and self-satisfied minds.