Taking Captive Every Thought to Make it Obedient to Christ

“…and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5b).

Long before a sin is committed, that sin has been entertained, dreamed about, fantasized, planned, imagined in our thoughts.

When you see a beautiful woman, a handsome man, a beautiful car or motorcycle you can’t help but notice the beauty. Thoughts happen. There’s nothing wrong with that.

It’s what we do after the original thought that is the problem. When we allow inappropriate thoughts to dwell, that’s on us.

Thankfully, most of us don’t go around committing the sins we think about. What we struggle with is our thoughts.

I find Paul’s admonition and challenge encouraging and helpful. Paul tells the Corinthian church, “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” (2 Corinthians 10:5).

• Demolish
  • The Greek word for “demolish” means to “take down,” “pull down,” “overthrow”
  • Demolish what? Demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God
  • Something other than the truth of God has set itself up as the authority and the standard of truth in our lives. We are called to demolish, take down, pull down, and overthrow anything that goes against the knowledge of God
• Take captive
  • The Greek word for “take captive” means to subdue, subject
  • What are we to take captive?
• Every thought
  • We are to take captive every thought. The good, the bad, the ugly. All…all..every thought
• For what reason?
  • To make it obedient to Christ!

I love this!

• We have the word of God to tell us what God’s will is
• We have been given the authority, the responsibility to take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ

Imagine taking every thought captive in order to make it obedient to Christ! Wow!