PASSING THE TEST OF FAITH

2 CORINTHIANS 13:1-14

NASB

1 This is the third time I am coming to you. EVERY [a]FACT [b]IS TO BE CONFIRMED BY THE [c]TESTIMONY OF TWO OR THREE WITNESSES. 2 I have previously said when present the second time, and though now absent I say in advance to those who have sinned in the past and to all the rest as well, that if I come again I will not spare anyone, 3 since you are seeking for proof of the Christ who speaks in me, and who is not weak toward you, but mighty in you. 4 For indeed He was crucified because of weakness, yet He lives because of the power of God. For we also are weak [a]in Him, yet we will live with Him because of the power of God directed toward you.

5 Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you —unless indeed you [a]fail the test? 6 But I trust that you will realize that we ourselves [a]do not fail the test. 7 Now we pray to God that you do no wrong; not that we ourselves may appear approved, but that you may do what is right, even though we may [a]appear unapproved. 8 For we can do nothing against the truth, but only for the truth. 9 For we rejoice when we ourselves are weak but you are strong; this we also pray for, [a]that you be made complete. 10 For this reason I am writing these things while absent, so that when present I need not use severity, in accordance with the authority which the Lord gave me for building up and not for tearing down.

11 Finally, brethren, [a]rejoice, [b]be made complete, be comforted, be like-minded, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you. 12 Greet one another with a holy kiss. 13 All the [a]saints greet you.

14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.

13:1 [a]Lit word [b]Lit shall be [c]Lit mouth 13:4 [a]One early ms reads with Him 13:5 [a]Lit are unapproved 13:6 [a]Lit are not unapproved 13:7 [a]Lit be as 13:9 [a]Lit your completion 13:11 [a]Or farewell [b]Or put yourselves in order 13:13 [a]Or holy ones

NLT

1 This is the third time I am coming to visit you (and as the Scriptures say, “The facts of every case must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses”[*]). 2 I have already warned those who had been sinning when I was there on my second visit. Now I again warn them and all others, just as I did before, that next time I will not spare them.

3 I will give you all the proof you want that Christ speaks through me. Christ is not weak when he deals with you; he is powerful among you. 4 Although he was crucified in weakness, he now lives by the power of God. We, too, are weak, just as Christ was, but when we deal with you we will be alive with him and will have God’s power.

5 Examine yourselves to see if your faith is genuine. Test yourselves. Surely you know that Jesus Christ is among you[*]; if not, you have failed the test of genuine faith. 6 As you test yourselves, I hope you will recognize that we have not failed the test of apostolic authority.

7 We pray to God that you will not do what is wrong by refusing our correction. I hope we won’t need to demonstrate our authority when we arrive. Do the right thing before we come —even if that makes it look like we have failed to demonstrate our authority. 8 For we cannot oppose the truth, but must always stand for the truth. 9 We are glad to seem weak if it helps show that you are actually strong. We pray that you will become mature.

10 I am writing this to you before I come, hoping that I won’t need to deal severely with you when I do come. For I want to use the authority the Lord has given me to strengthen you, not to tear you down.

11 Dear brothers and sisters,[*] I close my letter with these last words: Be joyful. Grow to maturity. Encourage each other. Live in harmony and peace. Then the God of love and peace will be with you.

12 Greet each other with a sacred kiss. 13 All of God’s people here send you their greetings.

14[*]May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

[13:1] Deut 19:15. [13:5] Or in you. [13:11] Greek Brothers. [13:14] Some English translations include verse 13 as part of verse 12, and then verse 14 becomes verse 13.

From pop tests to blood tests, from bar exams to eye exams, testing is a regular part of life. Aside from medical, academic, and professional tests, we also encounter personal tests of faith: sickness, affliction, broken dreams, failures, peer pressures, moral temptations, and even doubts and fears.

Did you know you can prepare for these tests before they come? We can all “study” for these exams by turning to God’s Word for the answers to the most important questions in life: Who is God? What does He expect from us? What should I believe? How should I live in light of that? As we carefully work our way through these questions, we will become increasingly better prepared to handle life’s unannounced personal tests when they arrive.

In the last several chapters of 2 Corinthians, Paul has been building up to a final comprehensive exam for the wayward Corinthian church. Not only would there be objective outside evaluation (13:1-4), but the Corinthians would be called on to analyze themselves (13:5-6). If they would follow through on this and shore up their shortcomings, they would be complete in Christ, built up in their holy faith in the triune God.

— 13:1-4 —

Every examination must have a grader, somebody who can judge whether a person has passed or failed, and to what degree. In the case of the Corinthian church, Paul reveals the standard by which they would be critiqued and the seriousness of the evaluation’s outcome. Rather than sending assistants, messengers, or observers, Paul would visit the church personally. In fact, it would be the apostle’s third visit (13:1).[163]

Paul attaches significance to his third visit. The Old Testament Law required that final judgment in a matter could be rendered on the basis of “two or three witnesses” (Deut. 19:15). The background of this text points to a subtle threat: Judgment was imminent. If the Corinthians did not heed his first and second warnings, he would “not spare anyone” (2 Cor. 13:2). Paul is strenuously exhorting them to clean up their lives to avoid a basement-to-attic housecleaning upon his arrival. In other words, a test was coming. Paul would slip on white gloves, open the doors to the dark corners of their lives, and run his fingers over every shelf.

The Corinthians had criticized Paul for seeming strong in his letters but being weak in person (10:10). In previous visits, he had not appeared particularly authoritative, commanding, or strong. His gentle demeanor had raised doubts about his apostolic authority —that Christ was actually speaking in and through him (13:3). Paul explains that his impending severity would erase all misguided judgments about his authority. When he came, they would have no further questions regarding whether Christ spoke through him. Paul’s apparent waffling between “weakness” and “power” reflected Christ’s own ministry —“He was crucified because of weakness, yet He lives because of the power of God” (13:4). Likewise, the apostles sometimes appeared “weak” for the sake of preaching the gospel, but when the situation called for it, they could direct the authority of God toward those who needed it.

PAUL’S MYSTERIOUS SECOND VISIT

2 CORINTHIANS 13:1

A major question of chronology has left many commentators of 2 Corinthians perplexed: How many times prior to writing 2 Corinthians did Paul visit Corinth? Everybody agrees that Paul founded the church in Corinth during his first visit between AD 50 and 52. About a year after that, he wrote a very brief letter to the Corinthian church now lost to us (1 Cor. 5:9). Then around AD 54 Paul wrote 1 Corinthians from Ephesus to address a series of major problems in the church reported to him by messengers and travelers from Corinth (Acts 19:1; 1 Cor. 1:11; 16:17). Though he intended to travel to Corinth by land after making his way north through Macedonia (1 Cor. 16:5), he received troubling news from Corinth.

At this point the question of an “interim visit” surfaces. In 2 Corinthians 2:1, Paul mentions that he didn’t desire to come to them “in sorrow again.” Then in 2 Corinthians 12:14; 13:1 he mentions that his next visit to them would be his “third.” Therefore, many scholars propose an unrecorded brief second visit from Ephesus to Corinth and back again.[164] Following this visit, Paul wrote 2 Corinthians from Macedonia, having heard the latest update about the Corinthians from Titus (7:5-6).

Some commentators, however, see the idea of a second visit between 1 and 2 Corinthians as unlikely: “Paul had carefully avoided visiting Corinth for some time. The whole tenor of the Epistles, moreover, implies that he had not been to Corinth since his long stay there, since it would have been hardly possible, had such a visit been paid, that some more distinct notice of it should not appear in letters so overflowing with personal details as these.”[165] To solve this problem, some have proposed an unmentioned second visit shortly after his very first departure from Corinth but before writing the original lost letter (prior to 1 Corinthians).[166]

Another solution suggests that Paul’s “painful visit” was not made personally, but through a proxy bearing a letter from him —a reference either to 1 Corinthians or to the “sorrowful letter” mentioned in 2 Corinthians 7:8, “For though I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it; though I did regret it —for I see that that letter caused you sorrow, though only for a while.” Paul used the same Greek term for “sorrow” in reference to both his interim letter and the theorized visit in 2 Corinthians 2:1-4.

But I determined this for my own sake, that I would not come to you in sorrow again. For if I cause you sorrow, who then makes me glad but the one whom I made sorrowful? This is the very thing I wrote you, so that when I came, I would not have sorrow from those who ought to make me rejoice; having confidence in you all that my joy would be the joy of you all. For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you with many tears; not so that you would be made sorrowful, but that you might know the love which I have especially for you. (2:1-4)

Therefore, it is possible that Paul counted the letters he had written (1 Corinthians or the “sorrowful letter” or even both) as a “second visit” to the Corinthian Christians. That Paul regarded the letters read by his authoritative delegates like Timothy or Titus as somehow mediating his presence is confirmed when he wrote, “For I, on my part, though absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged him who has so committed this, as though I were present” (1 Cor. 5:3, emphasis mine). Calvin wrote, “He came the first time in sadness by an Epistle, that they might not have occasion to feel this severity when he was present with them.”[167]

I find it unlikely that Paul made a quick trip to Corinth between 1 and 2 Corinthians for two main reasons: 1) During this time, he wrote the “sorrowful letter” in order to avoid a painful visit (2 Cor. 2:1-4); and 2) In 2 Corinthians he had to defend his delay in coming to them against the charge of failing to follow through on his intention as expressed in 1 Corinthians (2 Cor. 1:15-17). Had he made an interim personal visit, this explanation for why he did not visit them wouldn’t make sense. Therefore, I prefer either a) an unmentioned second visit after his original departure but before writing 1 Corinthians; or b) a “visit by proxy” or presence “in spirit” in order to deliver Paul’s judgment on a particular issue and to make sure his strong instructions in 1 Corinthians were being followed.

— 13:5-10 —

Paul was coming to test the Corinthians soon, and therefore he vigorously urged the Corinthians to prepare themselves for the exam: “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves!” (13:5). As law school graduates hoping to pass the bar exam will drill themselves with practice tests in anticipation of exam day, so also the Corinthians should drill themselves to be ready for Paul’s return.

Underscore the word “yourselves” (13:5): It occurs three times in this verse. Not only is the term emphasized by repetition, but it is emphasized in Greek by being placed out of the normal order of the sentence structure. A more literal rendering might be: “You yourselves test . . . you yourselves prove . . . that Jesus Christ is in you.” The emphasis is on each one of us examining ourselves to see whether Jesus is, in reality, in us. Admittedly, this relates to our initial conversion and salvation, but it can also refer to Christ working in and through us in our daily walk with Him. This test doesn’t ask how faithful we are to church attendance, how well we say mealtime prayers, or how many Bible verses we have memorized. The essential exam determines whether we genuinely stand within the circle of faith with Jesus Christ.

The self-examination has three parts: a test, a proof, and a perception.

EXAM PART	GREEK WORD	QUESTIONS TO ASK
Test	peirazō [3985], “test”	Do you have a personal relationship with Christ? Have you experienced any significant changes in your life through knowing Him? Do you experience His leading, His presence, His peace, His joy?
Proof	dokimazō [1381], “examine”	Can you show any evidence that you have really experienced the new birth? How different are your thoughts, habits, goals, relationships, and feelings from the world around you or from the way you used to be?
Perception	epiginōskō [1921], “recognize”	Do you recognize the work of the Spirit in your life? Do others recognize this? Are you growing in knowledge, confidence, and peace? Are you producing the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23)?

Please note that Paul isn’t urging the Corinthians to doubt their salvation, although this passage is often taken that way. Yes, Paul believed that false teachers among the Corinthians lacked true faith in Christ, so for them such a test would demonstrate their lack of salvation. But for the most part, he regarded the Corinthians as brothers and sisters in Christ. The whole context of 2 Corinthians 13 pertains to their willingness to respond positively to Paul’s correction —that is, spiritual growth or “sanctification.” They would demonstrate the authenticity of their relationship with Christ when they responded positively to Christ’s commands through Paul. When Paul encouraged the Corinthians to examine whether they were “in the faith,” it was his way of saying, “Show me that you are a believer. Live like it! Obey the words of Christ! Do those things that demonstrate without a doubt the sincerity of your faith!”

Paul hoped that after all his evidence and arguments authenticating the genuineness of his ministry, the Corinthians would realize that he and his fellow apostles “do not fail the test” (13:6). Because they clearly exhibited the attitudes and actions of devoted servants of Christ, they had the right to turn the spotlight on the Corinthians and ask them to demonstrate their own authenticity.

Like parents praying for their children prior to a big test, Paul prays that the Corinthians will pass the test, that they will “do no wrong,” regardless of their attitudes toward the apostles (13:7). He is concerned that his students learn, not that he gains a reputation as a good teacher. It is for their sake, not his, that he hopes they pass the test. Like all good teachers, Paul is committed to the pursuit of truth (13:8). This is why he could never lower the standards, overlook accountability, or let the Corinthians get away with their slapdash attitudes and actions.

Paul is like those excellent teachers who beam with delight at their students when they “get it,” when they become “complete” or “mature” in their learning (13:9). Like any caring instructor, Paul wants his disciples in Corinth to step up. He does not want to show up with a rod of correction. He wants to build them up, not tear them down (13:10). The manner of his coming, however, would completely depend on how well the Corinthians prepared themselves for the examination of their lives and their church.

— 13:11-14 —

As Paul nears the end of this strong, firm, and convicting letter to the Corinthians, he first provides six rapid-fire practical commands for how all believers are to conduct their lives (13:11-12). As you read through these, consider that Paul associates these six brief exhortations with a powerful promise that “the God of love and peace will be with you” (13:11):

Rejoice. This joyous response to life’s often trying circumstances could come only if the Corinthians heeded Paul’s warnings and admonitions. If they heeded him, they would find freedom from the legalism of the Judaizers, liberty from the consequences of unrepentant sin, and laughter from the deep-down joy of the Holy Spirit.

Be made complete. The Greek word katartizō [2675] refers to being ready or prepared, supplying what is missing to bring about full usefulness. The Corinthians were to be ready for anything —especially ready to change false beliefs and repent of wrong practices.

Be comforted. On the use of the Greek word parakaleō [3870] here, Philip Hughes writes, “It seems preferable to translate it here in its other sense, namely, ‘be admonished’ . . . that is, respond to the plea which this epistle conveys.”[168] In other words, comfort would come when they heeded Paul’s exhortation.

Be like-minded. Literally, the Corinthians were to “think the same thing.” This excludes outright rebellion and conflict, and it also eradicates schisms, factions, parties, and harsh controversies. When we are like-minded toward Christ, we will be like-minded toward others —unselfish, transparent, and supportive.

Live in peace. This was Paul’s goal for all the churches —that they bear with one another without conflict. Sadly, neither the church in Corinth nor most churches throughout history, even into our own day, have completely modeled this. Yet we must all strive for peace in our relationships with fellow members of the body of Christ.

Greet one another with a holy kiss. Paul desires that the Corinthians concretely express their affection for each other, not merely feel or say it. In today’s culture, a “holy kiss” might take the form of a comforting embrace, an arm around another’s shoulders, a reassuring pat on the back, or a tangible gift of our affection and appreciation.[169]

After extending a greeting from the fellow saints with him (13:13), Paul ends this grand epistle with a beautiful triune blessing. What a fitting way to conclude our journey through this second letter to the Corinthians, recalling the grace, love, and fellowship we enjoy through an eternal relationship with the one true God, through His Son, Jesus Christ, by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit (13:14):

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,

and the love of God,

and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit,

be with you all.

APPLICATION: 2 CORINTHIANS 13:1-14

Two Reminders to Retain the Message

Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians ends with wonderful words that remind us that the entire Godhead —Father, Son, and Holy Spirit —is involved in our salvation and Christian lives. In fact, the whole book has given us timely reminders of timeless truths regarding the precious calling we have in ministry to one another. We’ve learned so much from 2 Corinthians that it’s hard to put our arms around it all. Let me share two reminders to help us retain the message of this book.

First, release the love of God, wherever you may be. Paul did that with the Corinthians. When they were going astray, he lassoed their wayward hearts and corralled them back into the fold. Yet he did it in love. Yes, there were some sharp words of confrontation, but even these were inspired by his deep love for, and devotion to, them. When you release the love of God, it will serve as a magnet, drawing even the most hardened, cynical, or rebellious sinner back to the heart of God.

Second, remember the love of God, whatever may happen to you. Many reading this have gone through some extremely tough times. Your life has imploded, and you’ve had to face trying circumstances you’re not sure you can endure. Paul, too, passed through these stages of life and ministry. And God was with him every step of the way. Never forget this vital fact: God is there in the midst of your struggles. He knows your pain. He loves you with such depth that He gave His Son to redeem you from sin, death, and despair. And He sent His Spirit to draw you closer into fellowship with Him and to unite you to His body, the church. If you can remember the light of His love when darkness closes in, the message of 2 Corinthians will have done its work in your life.