How to Take Every Thought Captive

Weekly Update – April 10th, 2025 

On Sunday at our mini conference titled, Taking Every Thought Captive, Marshall Adkins gave us a sort of grid to interpret how it is that we can evaluate the popular therapies of our day.  In our culture, it is becoming increasingly common to undergo some sort of therapy.  Many psychologists and psychiatrists will have their own thoughts and methods that they will bring to the table, with the mindset that they can give their patients help and hope from whatever it is that plagues them.  Some of these counselors may even have the label of “Christian” on them, but sadly, they may offer advice that is far from what the Bible says.  Therefore, we must be vigilant to take every thought captive (2 Cor. 10:5), so that we might honor Christ. 

Perhaps you ask, why?  Why should we be on guard against the philosophies that are shown through the various types of therapies of our day?  What does the Word of God have to say to my problems, my trauma, my addictions, my struggles, my past, my sufferings, my anxiety, or my fears?  The Word of God is useful for salvation, but what does it have to do with today and everything that I am going through now?  Here we must consider 2 Timothy 4:16-17, which says, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” If we believe this is true, then we must not say that Scripture does not apply to what I am going through today, but we must instead ask, how does it apply to what I am going through today? 

Here is where 2 Corinthians 2:3-6 comes into play.  The apostle Paul says, “For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh” (v. 3)  In other words, though we physically exist here in our present day, the battle that we are fighting is not only physical.  It is spiritual.  That means that there is a spiritual component to your trauma, your fear, your addiction, etc.  If that is the case, lets continue to verse 4, “for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds.”  What is our weapon of warfare?  The Word of God!  And with the Word of God, we, “destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ” (v 5).

To take every thought captive then means that we consider the influences of the day, the modern philosophies, the current therapies, the suggested secular remedies, and we put them through the lens of the Word of God. For if the Word of God is our weapon of warfare as Christians, then we shouldn’t allow the daggers of this world to hold us hostage to their beliefs. We must address our heart, which forms the seedbed for all of life (Prov. 4:23), with truth as we fight the battles of addiction, trauma, fear, etc. How do we do that?  Let me recap the four theological lens that the Word of God provides us with as we consider the thoughts and counsel of the world around us.

First, A Biblical View of God. How does a certain thought or a certain remedy or a certain counselor view God?  It is completely devoid of God, or just vague on who He is or what He can do?  Any solution to a problem with face must begin with a high view of God as our creator, our sustainer and ultimately, our redeemer in Jesus Christ. 

Second, A Biblical View of Man. How does a certain thought or a certain remedy or a certain counselor view man?  Is man inherently good, or is man sinful?  If man is, by nature, good, then the solution to any problem in life can be found within.  But, if man is sinful, as the Scriptures so clearly say (Eph. 2:1-3 for example!), then a proper view of man and sin is necessary. 

Third, A Biblical View of the Problem.  How does a certain thought or a certain remedy or a certain counselor view the problem at hand? Is what you are going through a disease or an addition that has come upon you, or is it a matter of your heart?  Does suffering define now who you are or how you respond, or can you, even in the suffering, respond to others in a way that honors Christ? 

Fourth, A Biblical View of the Solution. How does a certain thought or a certain remedy or a certain counselor view the solution?  Are you able to solve your own problems?  Or worse, is there no hope for your problem?  Is the means of your “salvation” through worldly methods, or found in Jesus Christ and his Word? 

This interpretive grid is necessary if we would, first, stay true to God and obey Christ finding him as our source of strength and hope.  But second, this grid is necessary, if we would long to see true change within our hearts, reflected through our thoughts and displayed through our actions.  Again, the weapons of our warfare are not fought through the ways of the world, but we fight with the Word of God, taking every thought captive, so that we might obey Christ, but also so that we might live in hope, finding help in our time of need.

Serving Him with You,
Pastor Michael Nelson