Recently we had the Bible discussion about the last chapter of the second letter to Corinth. This concluded a whole period in which we went through the two letters one after the other. We have been amazed at how current and precise the Word of God is, especially for our time. A time when – just like in Corinth – pagan influences from society enter the church and cause great spiritual confusion and division.
The Two Letters to the Corinthians
In the first chapters of the first letter, Paul makes it clear that there are two basic causes for the problems, namely
- the carnal mind, the human wisdom of the natural man who is unable to accept the wisdom of God. Human wisdom was esteemed higher than God's wisdom.
- the fact that Christ the Crucified was no longer central to their hearts and lives. That's how Paul had taught them, but they had lost it.
As you read through the letters, a few things stand out.
- Opponents of Paul are active in the church who try to get the believers behind them and therefore discredit Paul with all kinds of improper arguments. Paul calls them “false apostles, deceitful workers” (2 Corinthians 11:13).
- The church in Corinth consists of both true believers, but also people of whom you can wonder whether they are actually born again. Both groups are addressed in the letters, whereby you sometimes have the impression that a certain section is specifically intended for one or the other group.
We are not going to discuss the content of the letters here, we will discuss that elsewhere[1] I have already said something (but not everything of course). We examine how Paul ends the second letter.
Self-examination
“Examine yourself whether you are in the faith, try yourself. Or do you not know of yourself that Jesus Christ is in you? Or it must be that you are reprehensible in any way.”
(2 Corinthians 13:5)
After chapters of Paul responding to the Corinthian contradictions and trying to explain why they should stick to what he once taught them, Paul instructs all Corinthians to test themselves. In fact, he asks each of them: check with yourself whether you really have the real saving faith.
Now self-examination is perhaps the most difficult thing for a human being to do. Sometimes you want to take a word of criticism from another person seriously, but often we resist it and refuse to take it into account. Let alone that we then easily examine ourselves honestly to see whether the criticism was justified. That was difficult in Corinth, but the same is true for us. It is of all times.
For example, in Zephaniah 2:1 you will find a call that is quite similar to the one in 2 Corinthians 13, which says:
“Examine yourselves carefully, yea, examine yourselves, people without desire (for God)”
(Zephaniah 2:1)
The context here is that the judgment of God is coming upon the people (Judah), “the day of the Lord” (see, for example, 1:14, 15). And before that judgment is executed there is that call to self-examination, where there are two possible outcomes. Either you endure “the fierce wrath of the Lord” (2:2) or you belong to “the meek of the land” who are “hidden in the day of the wrath of the Lord” (v 3). That is rather black and white: the judgment of the Lord is either upon you or not.
The same black and white we see in 2 Corinthians 13:5. You are in the faith or not and in the latter case you are reprobate, then you are apparently not really saved and you are not really a child of God.
Examine, test and know about yourself
The word 'yourself' appears three times in this text and it may well mean that you must first and above all be honest about yourself. But what is the standard you should measure yourself against, what is the standard for the test? In Corinth there were those 'compared oneself to oneself' (2 Corinthians 10:12). That gave a nice positive result and that is why these people were happy to recommend themselves. But Paul says that such people'not wise' and 'not well-tested' are (10:12,18).
When we test ourselves, we must – Paul tells us here – test on two things. The first is or 'you are in the faith' and the second is 'or'Jesus Christ is in us'. When we came to faith, we accepted the Lord Jesus as our Savior and Lord and we believed and accepted the Word of God. About these two things that it when you should test yourself.
Ask one is whether we still in the faith to be. That is, do we still believe the Word of God the way we did when we believed? Timothy was encouraged by Paul to continue to cling to the sacred Scriptures.
“But abide by what you have learned and of which you are assured, because you know from whom you have learned it, and from childhood you know the holy scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. . All Scripture is divinely inspired and is profitable for teaching, refuting, correcting, and training in righteousness, that the man who belongs to God may be perfect, fully equipped for every good work..” (2 Timothy 3:14-17).
The Corinthians should check this for themselves, and if they were honest some of them should admit that they had deviated through human wisdom and human reasoning.
The second question is of ‘Jesus Christ is still in you." You could also say: check with yourself whether the Lord Jesus is still 'in your heart'. Do you still have the same love for Him as when you came to faith or are there other things that are more important to you now. Is Christ the Crucified the sole object of your heart? Be honest with yourself.
It is remarkable that these are the two subjects of the test. After all, Paul also begins the first letter with these two subjects; God's Word, God's wisdom versus human wisdom and wanting to know nothing but Christ the Crucified. But the Corinthians had unfortunately lost both, with dire consequences. Yet this is the litmus test that every Christian should submit to determine whether he or she is a true disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Perfect joy
In the same way, the Lord Jesus speaks to His disciples before He is taken captive.
“If you love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15)
“Whoever has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me” (John 14:21)
“If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word” (John 14:23)
“Stay in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love.” (John 15:9, 10)
The Lord Jesus spoke all these things to them, that, in His own words,
“(…) My joy will abide in you, and your joy will be complete”
(John 15:11)
That is what we may also wish each other: the complete joy of the Lord Jesus continuously in our hearts!
[1] For example here: https://goddienen.nu/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Lessen-uit-1-Korinthe.pdf; and https://goddienen.nu/2019/10/08/wie-zijn-de-leiders-in-een-tijd-van-chaos/;
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