“Warfare”


BIBLE READING:2 Corinthians 10

Because we are mortal just like other people, we have mortal bodies, and necessarily must devote some care to our temporal needs; we are conscious of the imperfections and frailties everyone has. Paul did not claim exemption from the common needs and frailties of nature. The best of people are subject to these needs, and the best among us are liable to break God's laws.
The warfare in which Paul was engaged was with sin, idolatry, and all forms of evil. He was not moved by worldly views or policy, or by such ambitious that controlled the people of the world. Paul was engaged in warfare as an apostle. He went forth as a soldier under the great Captain of his salvation to fight his battles and for Him. A similar allusion occurs in 2 Timothy 2:3-4. It is true, however, that not only ministers, but all Christians are engaged in a warfare.  It is equally true that they do not maintain their conflict “after the flesh,” or on the principles that govern the people of this world. The warfare of Christians is:
(1) a warfare with the corrupt desires and sensual inclinations of the heart, with eternal corruption and depravity, with the remaining urges of a fallen nature.
(2) with the powers of darkness, the spirits of evil that seek to destroy us.  (Eph 6:11-17)
(3) with sin in all forms, idolatry, sensuality, corruption, intemperance, profaneness, wherever they may exist. The Christian is opposed to all these, and it is the aim and purpose of his life, as far as we may be able to resist and subdue them. The Christian is a soldier enlisted under the banner of the Redeemer to oppose and resist all forms of evil, but our warfare is not conducted on worldly principles. Muhammad propagated his religion with the sword, and the people of this world seek for victory by arms and violence. The Christian looks for his conquests by the force and power of truth and by the agency of the Spirit of God.

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