5 We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ… Paul is speaking of his duty as an apostle for he says in the next verse “…and we [apostles] are ready to punish all disobedience, whenever your [church] obedience is complete.”

In verse 8 he says, “For even if I should boast somewhat further about our [apostles] authority, which the Lord gave for building you [church] up and not for destroying you, I shall not be put to shame, for I do not wish to seem as if I would terrify you by my letters.

This is a mystery because the position of apostles in the body of Christ is so much different than all others. Evangelists, pastors, teachers, and prophets speak OF Christ; apostles speak FOR Christ, being His ambassadors.

Because of their authority, they receive by giving. They bear in their body the sufferings of Jesus to fill up that which is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of His body, that is, the church. They are the least of all.

Apostles destroy everything raised up against the knowledge of God in order to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. These things include false doctrines, high self-esteem, and everything else that is contrary to the knowledge of God. The result will be a mature man (the body of Christ, the church), who stands in the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ, no longer carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, and fulfilling the law of Christ.

Apostles are ambassadors of Christ chosen explicitly by Him, and they are a different breed than all other ministries.

Jon David Banks, God’s most unworthy servant

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.lockman.org