TEACHING
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2022
10:30 AM (communion + potluck)
ADVENT 2
Wage Peace with Shel Boese
2 Corinthians 10:1-11
NT Wright notes, "There is no insight, no vision of truth, so noble and lofty that it cannot be perverted and made an instrument of human pride. Likewise, there is no small glimmer of light, no faint echo of reality, so small or corrupt that it cannot be taken into the service of the world's creator and rightful Lord...All truth is God's truth."
The Peace Jesus brings is not passive—it calls us into action and satisfies our hearts' longings. But we do wage a battle with various ideologies wanting to claim us vs. the way of Jesus. How do we fight these battles? Paul gives us some insights we will learn this Sunday.​
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Online Notes:
Pre Flight Story
  • NT Wright game of capture....

OUTLINE:Guthrie
IV. Paul Confronts the Malignant Ministry of His Opponents 10:1-13:13
  A. Present of Absent, Paul's Authority is the Same 10:1-11
     1. Meekness not weakness 10:1-2
     2.  Spiritual warfare according to God's standards 10:3-7a
     3.  The apostle's claim to authority 10:7b-11
  B. Proper and Improper Boasting 10:12-18

THE FLIGHT THROUGH THE PASSAGE
1. Meekness not weakness 10:1-2 
  • 2 Corinthians 10:1
            The first words in chapter 10 shift of tone and strategy.

Garland, “He is defending his authority, explaining theological significance of his weakness, and warning of his power and willingness to discipline the disobedient vigorously when he comes” (Guthrie, 466).
  • 2 Corinthians 10:2

2.  Spiritual warfare according to God’s standards 10:3-7a 
  • 2 Corinthians 10:3 Roman soldiers, the power-over of on-the-ground the Roman empire were everywhere. Philosophers and professional speakers used military word pictures, Keener writes, to describe battling against rival ideologies or false opinions.
  • 2 Corinthians 10:4a-b He describes the weapons, and then 4c-5 the effectiveness of the weapons
    • 12:10 “for when I am weak, then I am powerful/strong!”
  • 2 Corinthians 10:4c-5 “tearing down the enemies walls, capturing enemy soldiers, and prosecuting those soldiers.”
                  1) thoughts, calculations, reasonings, reflections AKA arguments.

                  2) every rampart raised against knowledge of God
                         Paul sees our mind as a battleground. The teachings and life of Jesus give us a grid for self-reflection.

  • 2 Corinthians 10:6-7a
                  3) Captured soldiers must be prosecuted

3.  The apostle’s claim to authority 10:7b-11 

          Three primary thoughts in the last verses 2 Corinthians 10:7b-11 today...

  • 2 Corinthians 10:7b-117b-8


  • 2 Corinthians 10:9-11

LANDING AND ARRIVAL  

For Discussion and Reflection

  1. What ideas, arguments, philosophies, movements and religious teachings have wide influence today? What makes them appealing? (Go beyond debates around sexuality, think more broadly)
  2. Read the 10:1-11 text. What kind of strategy do you see in the battle for the mind in 1-6?
  3. V. 5 is key in Paul’s strategy. What does it look like in daily life to “take every thought prisoner”?
  4. Do you have a routine of self-reflection? Do you analyze why you might be thinking what you are thinking at any given moment? Why might this be helpful?
  5. How can we work through our questions constructively? 
  6. The battle for the mind has to be fought not only outside the church but inside as well. Paul is beginning once more to do this in 1-11. He knows they are now mostly leaning towards him, but some are still inclined to reject his teaching about Jesus. How does 7-11 fit with 1-6 in showing Paul’s response? 
  7. “Many people today find Paul’s boldness worrying. They don’t like thinking of a Christian teacher being so confrontational, but we can’t have it both ways. Paul has been accused of being weak and insignificant. He boldly shows that they are mistaken. How can boldness and humility be combined appropriately in our relationships and ministry?”  
  8. Paul is calling them to the life and ways of Jesus, of wholeness, of peace, yet he uses military imagery - what dangers does that cause for us?  

Location

6075 Inverness Street
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
​V5W-3P8
Phone: 604-301-1006
[email protected]
Gathered Worship at 10:30am Sunday
Pilgrim Church is located at the corner of East 45th and Inverness Street in south Vancouver, two blocks southwest of East 41st and Knight Street.
Our building is fully accessible from the parking lot. We have an elevator entrance from the parking/ground level that services the Upper and Lower floors and a fully accessible washroom on the upper/main level.
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In the spirit of reconciliation, Pilgrim Church acknowledges that we live, work and play in the unceded and traditional territories of the Coast Salish Peoples, including the territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.
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