2 Corinthians 13
14 verses
The final chapter opens with stern apostolic authority: 'Every charge must be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses,' a juridical principle from Deuteronomy 19:15 applied to the correction of sin and testing of the community's fidelity. Paul commands the community to 'examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves'—the reversal places judgment authority upon the community itself, a call to honest self-examination (dokimazō) that anticipates Paul's arrival. The self-directed examination ('Do you not realize that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless, indeed, you fail the test!') frames the community's Christ-indwelling as the standard against which all conduct and belief must be measured. Paul's disclaimer—'I hope you will find out that we have not failed the test'—modulates authority with humility, insisting that Paul himself remains subject to the same scrutiny. The assertion 'we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth' establishes the limits of apostolic power: not to oppose truth but to serve it, a principle that subordinates authority to the transcendent standard of divine truth. The final exhortation—'Aim for restoration, comfort one another, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you'—echoes the letter's opening (comfort/paraklesis) and restores the pastoral tone, making reconciliation and peace the goal of apostolic discipline. The greeting—'Greet one another with a holy kiss'—signals the restoration of communal fellowship. The concluding Trinitarian benediction—'The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all'—weaves together the three persons in a prayer that encompasses Christ's grace, God's love, and the Spirit's communion, bringing the letter full circle from the God of comfort to the God of love and peace, affirming that apostolic authority serves ultimately the reconciliation and sanctification of the beloved community.
VERSES IN THIS CHAPTER
Reading the Psalms alongside this gives a fuller picture of what the author was experiencing — both the anguish and the ...
1
This is the third time I am coming to you. In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established.
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2
I told you before, and foretell you, as if I were present, the second time; and being absent now I write to them which heretofore have sinned, and to all other, that, if I come again, I will not spare:
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3
Since ye seek a proof of Christ speaking in me, which to you-ward is not weak, but is mighty in you.
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4
For though he was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but we shall live with him by the power of God toward you.
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5
Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?
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6
But I trust that ye shall know that we are not reprobates.
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7
Now I pray to God that ye do no evil; not that we should appear approved, but that ye should do that which is honest, though we be as reprobates.
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8
For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth.
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9
For we are glad, when we are weak, and ye are strong: and this also we wish, even your perfection.
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10
Therefore I write these things being absent, lest being present I should use sharpness, according to the power which the Lord hath given me to edification, and not to destruction.
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11
Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you.
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12
Greet one another with an holy kiss.
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13
All the saints salute you.
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14
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen. The second epistle to the Corinthians was written from Philippi, a city of Macedonia, by Titus and Lucas.
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COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS
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