A Leap of Faith

for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.  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, and we are ready to punish all disobedience, whenever your obedience is complete. 2 Corinthians 10:4-6 NASB

Speculations – Read this same passage in the New Living Bible translation:

We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments.  We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ.  And after you have become fully obedient, we will punish everyone who remains disobedient.

Do you notice a significant change in the statement? Instead of “speculations,” the NLT provides “human reasoning.” The Greek is logismous (from logizomai). That might make us think the word is about logic. Thus, the NLT suggests “human reasoning.” But Paul’s Greek is Jewish Greek, derived from the use of the Greek terms in the LXX, and in the LXX this word translates the Hebrew hashav. When hashav is used with human subjects, the word means “to devise, think, plan, consider, invent.” Heidland notes that the use in the LXX adds the nuance that this act of thought “takes on a subjective, emotional and even volitional character. . . in 56 cases it has a sense alien to logizomai, namely, that of emotional devising, mechanical invention, or volitional planning, . . .[1] Further investigation suggests that Paul’s use is not about human reasoning but rather about human devising, often in connection with devising evil. Notice that the NASB correctly places this verb in the context of something that opposes the knowledge of God, but the NLT would have us believe that human reasoning keeps us from knowing God. In other words, the NLT capitulates to the “leap of faith” existentialism latent in fideism. According to the NLT, we believe because we believe—and reason has nothing to do with it. In fact, reason is the enemy of God.

You should also notice that the NLT shifts the subject from “we are taking every thought captive” to “We capture their rebellious thoughts.” Now the text isn’t about us. It is about others, the ones who have committed the sin of reasoning. Who are these poor lost souls, floundering in their logic and false arguments? Why, the ones who don’t agree with us, of course! We have God’s word on the matter. They have defective reason.

Is it any wonder to you that one of the strongholds of orthodoxy is mystery? Mystery is that catchall category for what I believe that is not reasonable.

Topical Index: reason, logizomai, hashav, 2 Corinthians 10:4-6

[1] Heidland, logizomai, TDNT, Vol. 4, p. 284.