Theological Structures in the Mind, the Counsel of Paul in 2 Corinthains 10, And How we See Others As Gifts from G-d

My previous post evokes an unfortunate reality that exists.  For those of you who are familiar with Megan Caldecourt’s work on Structures, this will be a different take on it.
 
WHAT DO I MEAN BY STRUCTURE?
For those of you not familiar with the teaching, let me give you a quick definition and run-down, at least as I understand it.
A Structure, for the purposes of healing, deliverance, and transformation into the person G-d wants us to become, is some sort of object that spiritually occurs and affects our progress toward being made more like the L-rd, who is the model of victorious living as a believer.
There are structures that are positive and structures that are negative.
NARROWING THE FOCUS
For the moment, I am not going to expand on the positive spiritual structures, just the negative ones.
Many of these structures can infiltrate places like the mind and wreak nasty havoc on both our thought patterns and our perceptions of reality.
An overarching problem is that these structures are discerned spiritually, but many believers do not walk in, want to walk in, or understand that we can walk in, discernment of the spiritual environment around us, much less the spiritual environment within us that affect our spirit, soul, and body.  As a result, we often tolerate distortions of reality that they produce.
SOME BIBLICAL BASIS FOR STRUCTURES
Paul writes about a topic that serves as an excellent jumping-off point for a discussion of structures in 2 Corinthians 10.
Verses 3-6 are familiar to many believers.  That said, I would like to expand the frame a bit, because it would appear that some people treated Paul in accordance with perceptions that were not correctly held. 2 Cor 10:1-10 read:

1 I, Paul, myself entreat you, by the meekness and gentleness of Christ—I who am humble when face to face with you, but bold toward you when I am away!—
2 I beg of you that when I am present I may not have to show boldness with such confidence as I count on showing against some who suspect us of walking according to the flesh.
3 For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh.
4 For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds.
5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,
6 being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.
7 Look at what is before your eyes. If anyone is confident that he is Christ’s, let him remind himself that just as he is Christ’s, so also are we.
8 For even if I boast a little too much of our authority, which the Lord gave for building you up and not for destroying you, I will not be ashamed.
9 I do not want to appear to be frightening you with my letters.
10 For they say, “His letters are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech of no account.”

2 Corinthians 10:1–10 ESV

Let’s look at this segment-by-segment
 
PART 1: VERSES 1 AND 2

1 I, Paul, myself entreat you, by the meekness and gentleness of Christ—I who am humble when face to face with you, but bold toward you when I am away!—
2 I beg of you that when I am present I may not have to show boldness with such confidence as I count on showing against some who suspect us of walking according to the flesh.

Paul starts off with imploring the Corinthians by way of an appeal to the meekness and gentleness of Christ.  Translation: if a believer is walking in relationship with Christ and under the leadership of their spirit, then volume of voice does not indicate level of anointing or authority.  The presence of speech, way more than the tone of speech, is what matters, and declaring the word of the L-rd in a gentle tone should be treated with the same accretion of authority as, if not more authority than, the same declaration given in a loud voice.
 
DIGRESSION NUMBER ONE
“…if a believer is walking in relationship with Christ”…grrrr….
It is atrocious that I should even have to qualify the term “believer” with “walking in relationship with Christ”.
“Believer” in its starkest, most accurate, and comprehensive sense, MEANS relationship, yet there are scores of believers who only walk in “decisional regeneration”.
By “decisional regeneration”, I mean the belief that says, “Salvation boils down to a mere decision.  I decide to accept Jesus, repent of my sins, say a prayer, and am suddenly a Christian.  As a result, I can continue living as if I don’t actually have a relationship with Jesus and can continue living as if Jesus does not have any claim on my life, decisions, actions, relationships, or any other part of my reality.”
I may be just spitballing here…but that is a sorry excuse for an attempt at saying you are a believer or follower of Jesus Christ.  Following Jesus really means following Jesus.  It does not mean you qualify the following or determine the parameters of following Him.  When we say salvation is about relationship, then we sure as heaven better follow through and behave as though we are in a relationship.
NEWS FLASH:  If we do not have the compulsion or desire to interact with Christ in the format of some sort of relationship, if we continue living the same crud-filled, hate-filled, debauched life in which we lived before we came to Christ, and if there is not some measure of spiritual growth, then we are in need of a defibrillator.  Someone needs to jump-start our hearts, because in the language of Revelation, we are dead.  If we do not notice some sort of change in how we walk, then we need to ask if the change we sought to appropriate really affected us.
Back to the subject, David.
 
THE REST OF PART 1
Paul is crying out to be able to convey spiritual truth to believers without having to using natural modifications to his tone of voice in order to be heard or gain an audience.  It is not about being bold; rather, it is about being heard.
PART 2: VERSE 3

3 For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh.

Verse 3 is the reasoning for Paul’s appeal; the conduct of our assignment in Christ is not executed better because we modify natural expressions.  Natural tools do not solve spiritual problems.

““Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook or press down his tongue with a cord?”

Job 41:1 ESV

Same thing applies to Leviathan.  G-d’s monologue to Job was not about the inability to deal with Leviathan, but rather the inability to deal with Leviathan by utilizing natural tools as solutions to the spiritual problem.
Natural weapons and natural solutions do not work against a spiritual foe.  That is why the principle of fasting works, even if “prayer and fasting” was not mentioned the original New Testament manuscripts of Mark 9 and Matthew 17.   The concept of what happens when we pray and fast is covered and expounded on in Isaiah 58 so well that the principle would work even if Mark 9:29 and Matthew 17:21 were not part of canon.
Next, Paul contrasts the walk of the flesh with the warfare in which believers are designed to walk.   Our warfare is not a struggle against those people who are flesh-and-blood.
Now, we might have to correct flesh-and-blood humanity, but assuming the root issue is flesh-and-blood, and the root solution can come from our natural thinking or feeling is about the worst position we take, and yet “believers” take that position of attempting to solve spiritual problems with natural solutions that “make sense” with monotonous regularity.  Sadly, we need the oxgoads.  We need to appropriate the solutions that do not make sense to us, but that make sense to Father.  This is why we need to really get the clue as believers, whether believing Jew or Christian, that part of the package of walking in Christ is actually dwelling with Christ and relating to Christ, Father, and Holy Spirit.  If we do not know how to tell when or that He his speaking to us, then we have to ask if we really belong to Him.  Part of becoming a believer means agreeing with the truth that He will speak to us and we not only can hear Him, but we must hear Him, which means we must work at cultivating the relationship that we have with Him.
 
A MAJOR QUALIFICATION FOR THOSE WHO ARE WORKING AT HEARING HIS VOICE BUT CANNOT THROUGH WHATEVER REASON
I do want to qualify the above paragraph AND the paragraph of not hearing His voice with something:  desire and attempting or efforting to work at listening or hearing the L-rd’s voice.  I have people who are friends, even close friends, who cannot hear the L-rd’s voice or have trouble with hearing that voice, but they sincirely trying to hear, desire to hear, are cultivating a desire to hear, and are hungering and thirsting to hear that voice.
For those people, I have all sorts of grace.  What I have a strong issue with specficially is those who either have never cared or could not be bothered with attempting to hear the L-rd’s voice.  There is a level of work at understanding your unique hardwiring and attempting to hear His voice that is involved and is necessary.  I am not talking about those who are trying.  I am talking about those who reject the work, effort, or attempt to hear.
And for those who have blockages, whether those blockages are demonic, unclean spirits, Leviathan, strongholds, covenants, curses, sentences, structures, or other devices, or something else, I have a deep compassion for them, and an unyielding anger against any clown, donkey, lasagna or other critter that would dare to keep one of my peeps from hearing Dad’s, Yeshua’s, or Holy Spirit’s voice.
PART 3: VERSE 4

4 For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh…

Pretty self-explanatory.  We don’t use natural weapons to tackle spiritual problems.  It is a spiritual solution to a spiritual problem.
Now look at that second portion of the verse.

…but have divine power…

We have weapons that are empowered by a spiritual being.  Therefore, we must conclude that these weapons are spiritual in nature.  We interact with G-d in executing against spiritual forces.  We take the principles that are outlined in Scripture and from our spirits, execute those principles.  Prayer is designed not as a body activity, nor as a soul activity, but as a spirit-derived activity.  Galatains was full of those cause and effect relationships that happen when we try to walk out spiritual truth through natural means versus walking out spiritual truth through spiritual means.
And what do we do with these weapons? Check out the third segment of this verse

to destroy strongholds.

Destroying strongholds.  A stronghold is a type of negative structure that was built and had a designer.  We have righteous strongholds/structures that were built by G-d, who laid the earth in its sockets.
We have natural strongholds that were ordained by G-d as a picture of His interaction with us.  One of these was the Tabernacle.  Another was the Temple of Solomon.  Another was the Temple of Zerubbabel.
So, we are designed with the weapons in hand to demolish the strongholds, or more generally, the structures that G-d wants us to destroy.
 
PART 4: VERSE 5 AND 6-THE PUNCHLINE:  THE STRUCTURES FORMED BY THEOLOGICAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL STRONGHOLDS

5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,
6 being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.

Paul talks not only about structures that need to be dealt with in others, given the context was dealing with other people, but also with arguments.
Here is the kicker, gang: philosophical and theological mindsets, convicitons, beliefs, and viewpoints, if held so tightly that we do not yield to them, came become structures the enemy can use over time, especially if we hold onto them so tightly that they keep us from seeing the way G-d wants us to see, hearing the way G-d wants us to hear, and interacting with G-d in the way G-d wants to interact with us, in tenderness and intimacy.
Calvinism, Arminianism, Hebrew Roots, Spirit Baptism, Rapture Theories, REVIVAL AT THE EXPENSE OF WALKING IN PRINCIPLES, THE FIVEFOLD MINISTRY, COVERING, the sovereignty of G-d, the free will of man, eschatology and ecclesiaology theories.  If anything becomes a sacred cow, G-d is liable to use someone to shoot the cow and make hamburger and steak out of your cow, gang.
And revival is one of the biggest sacred cows in the church today, specifically when we beg and grumble at G-d to send it when we simultaneously refuse to walk in principles.  This is part of the reason I despise the preaching of revival.  It whips people up into a frenzy so much that they cannot see the underrated principles that form the 90% of what G-d is trying to pour into us as believers.
Theological systems and viewpoints can become negative structures if we hold onto them more tightly than either the vast library of what is possible that we call Scriptures, or our relationship with G-d.
Recently, I had the honor of working with a really precious friend who is a Mercy to help work through some questions that I was dealing with about my human spirit, and how he gives and receives.  This friend who was working through these issues with me offered to bless my spirit, for which I was grateful, and as she began the process of working with my spirit, one of the things she prayed was for structures to be removed, dissolved, destroyed, etc.
As a result of those prayers and interactions, I saw and heard several things. First, I saw a black steel muzzle melt off of my mouth.  I heard the L-rd say “I think steel boils at that temperature”.  I saw an oxyoke made of the same material break from off of my shoulders.  I then heard a voice say, “no more Hannibal Lecter.”
I realized at that point that many leaders and other believers in the Church had viewed me as dangerous, and unstable, and not safe to be around.  And for the majority of my life, I have been seen as weird or unusual in church contexts.  And I have always had to hold back because there were people I just did not trust.
When this thing broke, I felt a straitjacket and a mask like Hanibal wore being removed.
I then realized that the negative view had been broken, but I was also very exhausted, and had felt a lot of things shift internally. My wife noticed a change in me as well.
 
DEALING WITH A THEOLOGICAL STRUCTURE FOLLOWING THE DELIVERANCE AS EVIDENCE OF MEASUREABLE CHANGE
The following morning, while I was at work, a coworker attempted to draw me into a theological argument about baptism, and I immediately felt something come up in me that told them that the point of contention was their issue, not mine.  I usually don’t think of that sort of response, because I am frequently concerned with constructing the right arugment with the right references and the right logic.  This time, though, I was able to completely shut down their argument with a non-answer.  That almost never happened in my dealings with other believers.
And as I go back to look at what happened, I would say that the Mercy portion of my spirit had engaged in order to remove the problem.
Theology is not a bad thing.  Discussing the Bible is not a bad thing.  The issue is when your motive is off and other believers can discern that your motive for discussing things of a Biblical and theological nature is off.
I have begun to grow into a place where arguing just is not as important.
Now, do I expect people to discuss matters?  Absolutely.
Do I like it when people cite the sources for their information?  Quite.
Do I detest it when people misquote John Wesley? Yes.
But I have had to re-learn what I have always known and never expressed.  Feelings and emotions without context in a given situation can be really accurate barometers for what is going on in a particular environment.
And I have begun to recognize that many of the emotions I have felt and experienced in dealing with the things of G-d are right and as correct as the thoughts I think, or the citations and Scripture addresses I can crank out by the boatload.
But while theology can be a good thing, theology that derives from lofty/haughty opinions and positions that cause us to look down on others made in the image of G-d can be damaging.
So, two thoughts that may seem juxtaposed but are really converses of one another.

1. People who make theological statements need to do so not from a position of being higher-up than, but from a position of on a level playing field with, the recipients of those statements.
2. People who are receiving theological statements need to sometimes understand that they are not being talked down to just because someone is more-studied in a topic. Assuming people are talking down to you just because they are speaking with you can be quite toxic.

Ultimately, in this passage in 2 Corinthians, Paul seeks to move believers away from operating in the flesh to operating in accordance with the spirit. He desires to bnring people away from disobedience and everything that flows out from that (walking in the flesh) and into a place of obedience (walking in the spirit).  Our responsibility is to conduct ourselves in accordance with the spiritual realm.  And obedience is a point on the way from bondage (bondage to the flesh, and bondage to attempting to use natural tools to solves spiritual problems) to sonship (using spiritual tools to solve spiritual problems that affect spirit, soul, and body).
The idea is that obedience be made complete.  It will only be complete when we obey the implications of what being a son looks like.  Not just doing what G-d says when he tells us to do something, but enjoying and responsibly stewarding the FREEDOM of choice when Father gives it.  And the freedom to build and to fight.
 
PART 5: VERSES 7-10

7 Look at what is before your eyes. If anyone is confident that he is Christ’s, let him remind himself that just as he is Christ’s, so also are we.
8 For even if I boast a little too much of our authority, which the Lord gave for building you up and not for destroying you, I will not be ashamed.
9 I do not want to appear to be frightening you with my letters.
10 For they say, “His letters are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech of no account.”

 
Paul then moves to the concept in which the Corinthians should already be well-versed: using the eyes to see what is before them and appropriating to other believers the same benefit of the doubt that they apply to themselves.  Paul’s job was not to frighten them but to teach them.  It’s not about the outward appearance, but rather it is about the whole package, including the fact that spiritual authority and spiritual strength may be garbed in an apparent package of weakness or undesirable attributes.
When a believer is focused so hard on the outward appearances or other pizazz, and not inspecting the root and heart of the matter involved (1 Samuel 16:6), then we become as stupid and dull of discernment as Samuel THE SEER was behaving with SEVEN of Jesse’s sons.  It was the little shepherd boy doing the unimportant things that G-d was chasing that had G-d’s heart that G-d wanted to anoint.
And G-d will always hunt for the Shamgars (Judges 3:31) and the Samsons to disempower the Philistines that seek to choke the life out of others.
Paul did not want the Corinthians to view him with merely the natural, carnal, soulish, or mesermized eyes.  He wanted them to see and percieve what appeared before them in the spirit, and the truth that he carried.  His concern for presentation was overridden by a healthy desire for 1 Corinthians 2:9.

“But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”—”

1 Corinthians 2:9 ESV

G-d has not only prepared a place for us to percieve in more ways than just in the ways of the natural eyes, but also people that he wants us to view with the eyes of the spirit.  It is not just that things and places and times and seasons that are gifts, but also people.
 
WORKING WITH PEOPLE IN A BETTER WAY
So, when you look at people, walk after the eyes of the spirit and look at the fact that you eyes have not seen, your ears have not heard, and your heart has not imagined what these people look like.
And when you discern, do not freeze-frame people in accordance with how you have always known them, but ask the L-rd if something new has happened.
And seek to walk in alignment with the new reality of who they are as a person, and as a gift of the L-rd.
Further, as you are working with people and bringing them into a place of wholeness in Christ, work with those theological and philosophical presuppositions, and ask the Father to liberate them of whatever of those ideas that have become negative structures in the minds and spirits of those you are working with.
As you deal with people, know that your own theological and philosophical views can risk affecting your effectiveness in working with other people, and they can affect your perception of others, IF they are not rooted in a sincere hunger for truth and walking in love and humility and lack of guile–basically walking in the fruit of the spirit–but instead are rooted in agendas of pride, arrogance, control, manipulation, hatred, vengeance, wrath, or love of perversion (anything other than a love of the real version)–basically the works of the flesh.
They also can twist your capacity to see others rightly.  Samuel, because Saul came in one package, assumed the next king would come in a similar package that he could recognize.
The L-rd, however, wanted to provide a package–in the person of David–that Samuel had to discern rightly to see.
The same principle applies to us, the weapons of our warfare, working with other people, demolishing these structures flowing from an unholy motive, and therefore providing a nesting place for the enemy to lob grenades and do all kinds of damage.
So, tribe, be blessed, as you walk out your capacity and desire to see rightly.  See the gift.  See the treasures. See with the right eyes.  See with the spirit, not the soul.  See as the L-rd sees.
Don’t just see people through the lens of a presentation, or the exterior.  Hunt…hunt for the interior.  Hunt for the heart.  It credits your reputation when you do so.  It credits your character when you are relentless for hunting for who a person really is, not merely what you see at first glance.
 
And as you hunt for the treasure in these people, cultivate a fierce intentionality to reject the temptation to judge based on first perceptions, based on a theological view point or philosophical point that is rooted in a bad motive.