What are the “strongholds,” the “high things,” Paul speaks of in these verses?

The answer to this question is given by the context, for in 2 Corinthians 10-13, Paul is fighting against the evil influence of the Judaizers among the believers in Corinth; these were the false apostles who were teaching the saints that, in order to follow Christ, they needed to keep the Jewish law.

So, the “stronghold” in this portion of the word is the concept the saints in Corinth had that they needed to keep the Jewish law in order to follow Christ.

But Paul speaks here of “strongholds” in the plural, and so the false teaching of Judaism is not the only “high thing” that must be “pulled down” among the saints. Nor was this a problem unique to the saints in Corinth; rather, we all have such “strongholds,” such “high things,” within us that must be destroyed if we are to follow Christ as we should.

In brief, as Paul makes clear here, the basic characteristic of any stronghold is that it “exalts itself against the knowledge of God,” and thus frustrates us from coming to Christ Himself.

Very often, even if it is not Judaism itself, these strongholds are some other kind of religious idea about duties we need to perform or rituals we need to observe in order to follow Christ. Or they may be some kind of philosophical or political concepts, or the thought that we must follow some particular Bible teacher, or attain to some goal in our life.

Of course, false Bible teachings are a basic problem in this regard, but even if our teaching is truly Biblical, it can become a “stronghold” if we focus on it rather that on Christ Himself.

In brief, anything we “know,” so to speak, as our focus, apart from Christ, is a stronghold that will keep us from the genuine knowledge of Christ.

And when it came to the saints in Corinth, the apostle, who was surely a genuine servant of the Lord, could not tolerate such a situation; thus he wrote to them later on in the same letter:

I am jealous over you with a jealousy of God; for I espoused you to one husband, to present a pure virgin to Christ; but I fear lest somehow, as the serpent so thoroughly deceived Eve by his subtlety, so your thoughts would be corrupted from the simplicity and purity that is in Christ. For indeed, if he who comes preaches another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if you receive another spirit, which you have not received, or another gospel, which you have not accepted, you bear it well!
— 2 Corinthians 11:2-4

Any time we turn away from Christ to some other thing, even good and Biblical things, our thoughts have been “corrupted from the simplicity and purity that is in Christ”; we are being held captive in a stronghold of the enemy’s devising.

So, may we, like the apostle himself, indeed not tolerate such things today, but rather live as a “pure virgin” uniquely unto Christ; then the Lord will have a way to tear down any stronghold in our being that would keep us from our dear Lord Jesus.

Lord, have Your way among us!

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—  24 January 2026 —