<p>10:5 <i>Casting down imaginations and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God, and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ- </i>The &quot;imaginations&quot; are the &quot;strongholds&quot; of :4. The &quot;high thing&quot; continues the metaphor of bringing down fortifications, the reference being to high towers of defence. The picture is of the strongholds being stormed, and the captives taken into another citadel- where they are obedient to Christ. The whole metaphor is descriptive of internal thought processes and reflects how Paul realized that the state of mind is what Christianity is all about. It is thoughts and prideful attitudes which have to be overcome before obedience to Christ can be achieved in the mind. Paul has just written of being obedient to the Gospel in obeying its implications- in giving to the poor (2 Cor. 9:13). It is pride and the strongholds of human strength which hinder that obedience. Paul parallels &quot;the knowledge of God&quot; and having our thoughts in &quot;captivity to the obedience of Christ&quot;. This is what it means to know God; the correct theological conclusions about God are not therefore in view when Paul writes of &quot;the knowledge of God&quot;; he uses 'knowledge' in the sense of relationship. He has earlier lamented that some in Corinth &quot;have not the knowledge of God&quot;. To know God is to live in mental obedience to His Son. It is a matter of the Spirit in the mind, of having the spirit or mind of Christ within us.</p><p>Isaiah is full of references to the proud being &lsquo;made low&rsquo; by judgment- the same Hebrew word is common: Is. 10:33; 13:11; 25:11; 26:5. Perhaps Paul had this in mind when he said that our preaching is a bringing down of every high thing that is exalted against God (2 Cor. 10:5). Our message is basically that we must be humbled one way or the other- either by our repentance and acceptance of the Gospel today, or through the experience of condemnation at the day of judgment. We&rsquo;re calling people to humility. And we must ask whether the content and style of our preaching really does that.</p><p>Like John, Paul makes a seamless connection between defending true doctrine, and spiritually minded living in practice. Through destroying arguments and &ldquo;every pretension that exalts itself against the knowledge of God&rdquo;, we can &ldquo;bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ&rdquo; (2 Cor. 10:3-5 RV). This is because, as Neville Smart put it, &ldquo;of the radical part played in the salvation of the individual by the ideas and beliefs he holds in his mind. They are in fact the roots from which his fixed attitudes and his daily actions spring, and from which they take their particular tone and colouring&rdquo;.</p><p>&ldquo;Though we walk in the flesh (cp. Paul's recognition of his fleshly side in Rom. 7)... the weapons of our (mental) warfare are not carnal (of our fleshly man), but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds&quot;. These strong holds which are pulled down are defined in v.5 as &quot;imaginations... every thought&quot; which have to be 'cast (cp. 'pulled') down'. Those strong holds exist in the recesses of our natural minds. Rom. 6:13 encourages us not to yield our minds as weapons of sin, but as weapons of God (Rom. 6:13 AVmg.). Our thinking is a weapon, which both sides in this conflict can use. The sinful man within us is &quot;warring against the law of my (spiritual) mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin&quot; (Rom. 7:23). Yet 2 Cor. 10:5 describes our spiritual man as overthrowing our carnal man, and bringing those thoughts into captivity to the Christ man. The impression is created of constant attrition, with victories for both sides. In Rom. 7 the impression is given that the carnal man is winning; whilst 2 Cor. 10:2-5 paints the picture of the Christ man triumphant. To get this picture over, perhaps the Spirit used a spiritually depressed Paul in Rom. 7, and a triumphant Paul at the time of writing 2 Cor. 10?</p>