NOTES for Co2 10:1-11
Speaking about his strength, Paul characterizes it not as human strength, but as God's strength, given to him for the destruction of "mental fortresses" and for resisting everything that exalts itself before God. The apostle states this while commenting on the idea about him that, judging by his words, had spread: that he is strong in letters but weak when meeting opponents face to face. Judging by the mention of "mental fortresses" and exaltation, the matter apparently concerns certain arguments and debates, perhaps public ones, that took place in the Corinthian church. And Paul's reference to exaltation in such a context was hardly accidental. One may think that the participants in these arguments and debates had already, for quite some time and by quite a distance, gone beyond the boundaries within which it was still possible to speak of the search for truth and authentic spiritual life. At the time when the apostle was writing his letter to the Corinthian Christians, their arguments and debates were probably aimed first of all at self-assertion and the defense of their own rightness, whether the issue concerned individual people or certain groups within the church.
Paul undoubtedly wanted to stop these meaningless and spiritually harmful disputes. But, of course, this was not a matter of stopping them by using power or authority: Paul did not have such power, and not everyone was ready to recognize his authority. He could act only as a Christian, by God's strength and by the breath of the Kingdom by which he lived. Very often it is precisely God's strength and the breath of the Kingdom that turn out to be the decisive argument in disputes among Christians.
If all Christians lived the full life of the Kingdom opened to them, the breath of the Kingdom would always and in every case be their only argument. But since full Christian life is not found all that often even among Christians, disputes and debates among Christians often unfold according to the laws of this world, and here the main goal becomes precisely self-assertion: if not of one's person, then of one's school, one's ideas and views, one's position.
But if those arguing are still not completely closed to the action of God's breath, then the appearance of a person living a full Christian life can change the situation, forcing them to look differently both at themselves and at their disputes. And then it may well turn out that there is nothing to argue about, because the argument was about things that are not so important from the point of view of spiritual life.
The main thing is renunciation of self-assertion, which is the spring behind many arguments and debates, including among Christians. Often it is enough to remove this spring for the disputes to grow quiet, and for the strength and energy spent on them to be directed toward spiritual life as such, toward recognizing and building relationships with God and with people. This is the kind of change in their church life that Paul would like to bring to the Corinthian Christians.