Postscript:
2 Corinthians 13:5In the first edition of this book there was no discussion of 2 Corinthians 13:5. This proved to be a significant oversight. Critics of the book sometimes spoke as though the oversight was due to a reluctance on the author's part to confront this text.23
This was not the case. But we did misjudge the role this verse would play in the debate that followed publication of the first edition. The inclusion of 2 Corinthians 13:5 in this second edition is therefore absolutely necessary.
In 2 Corinthians 13, the Apostle Paul is announcing his intention to visit the Corinthian church once more. He writes:
I have told you before, and foretell as if I were present the second time, and now being absent I write to those who have sinned before, and to all the rest, that if I come again I will not spare - since you seek a proof of Christ speaking in me, who is not weak toward you, but mighty in you. For though He was crucified in weakness, yet He lives 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. Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? - unless indeed you are disqualified. But I trust that you will know that we are not disqualified (2 Cor. 13:2-6; emphasis added).
Just as with most of the verses already discussed in this chapter, 2 Corinthians 13:5 is often ripped out of its context. Failure to consider the context is almost always a formula for misunderstanding and doctrinal confusion.
(1) The Situation
at CorinthThe situation at Corinth was somewhat different from that which existed when 1 Corinthians was written. Although the church as a whole still had warm regard for Paul (2 Cor. 7:6-16), Paul now had critics and enemies in Corinth. The believers there had listened to these people more than they should have (10:7-12; 11:12-15).
Apparently some of Paul's own converts wondered whether Paul could furnish "proof of Christ speaking" in him (13:3). Paul is now insisting that he will indeed revisit Corinth (see 13:1), though a previously planned trip had been canceled (see 2 Cor. 1:15-2:2). Furthermore, he insists that when he comes his conduct toward them will be marked by the "power of God" (verse 4).
The tone of 2 Corinthians 13:2-4 is both humble and confident. Paul promises not to "spare" those Christians among them who had sinned and had remained unrepentant (see verse 4 and 12:20,21). This implies that Paul will either lead the church to discipline these people or that he himself, through prayer, will deliver them to Satan who will be an instrument for their chastisement. As we saw in the previous chapter, this is what Paul did at a later time with Hymenaeus and Alexander (1 Tim. 1:20).
Paul knows, of course, his own weakness (13:4), yet he has total confidence that his actions at Corinth will be effective because God's power will work through him. The sinning believers will be dealt with in such a way that the Corinthians will get "a proof of Christ speaking in me" (verse 2). In short, Paul says, "we will live with Him [Christ] by the power of God toward you" (verse 4, emphasis added).
(2) Paul's Challenge
to the CorinthiansYet Paul is not so arrogant as to suggest that such confidence was a special privilege belonging to him alone. True, he knew perfectly well that Christ lived dynamically in him and used him. But could not the Corinthians have the same confidence about themselves?
Of course they could. Provided of course, that their lives did not stand under God's disapproving censure.
So he writes:
Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? - unless indeed you are disqualified (2 Cor. 13:5; emphasis added).
Unfortunately these forceful words are often read as though they challenged the Corinthians to find out whether or not they were saved.
This is unthinkable and absurd. After twelve chapters in which the Apostle takes his readers' Christianity for granted, can he only now be telling them to make sure they are born again? The question answers itself.
It is impossible to read the first twelve chapters of 2 Corinthians carefully without seeing how frequently the Apostle expresses confidence that his readership is truly Christian. Let us notice a few places where this is true:
Paul . . . to the church of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints who are in all Achaia (1:1,2).
Now I trust you will understand to the end . . . that we are your boast as you also are ours in the day of Jesus Christ (1:13, 14; emphasis added).
Now He who establishes us with you in Christ . . . (1:21; emphasis added).
You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men; clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart (3:2, 3; emphasis added).
Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers [the Corinthians are believers!]. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? . . . Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God (6:14-16; emphasis added).
But as you abound in everything - in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all diligence, and in your love for us - see that you abound in this grace also (8:7; emphasis added).
It is needless to extend this list further. How can anyone read 2 Corinthians and conclude that Paul thought his readership needed to find out whether they were really saved or not?24 To draw this conclusion from 2 Corinthians 13:5 is to impose on that verse an alien theology, about which Paul knew nothing at all.
No indeed! Paul is not saying, "Examine yourselves to see whether you are born again, or justified." But he is saying, "Examine yourselves to see if you are in the faith." And this is a different matter.
(3) The Meaning of
"in the Faith"It is tragic how often a text like this can be read with preconceived notions about the meanings of certain words or phrases. Why should anyone assume that the expression "in the faith" equals "to be a Christian"? On what grounds is such an assumption based?
What about the same phrase in 1 Corinthians 16:13? There we read:
Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong.
Or equally, what about this phrase in Titus 1 :13?
Therefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound [healthy] in the faith [see also Titus 2:2].
There are other passages where an equivalent expression appears. These, too, are helpful:
. . . strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith (Acts 14:22).
Receive one who is weak in the faith (Rom. 14:1).
As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him, and established in the faith (Col. 2:6,7).
Be sober, be vigilant; for your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith (1 Pet. 5:8, 9).
In all of the passages we have mentioned, the phrase "in the faith" relates in some way to our Christian walk or warfare. The meaning "to be a Christian" is not relevant in any New Testament passage at all!
We must conclude that the expression "in the faith" refers instead to the proper sphere of our spiritual activity. It is the sphere in which we are to "remain," "stand fast," "stand," "resist the devil," and "be spiritually healthy." It is this type of meaning alone that fits the context of 2 Corinthians 13:5.
Paul is quite sure that he himself is "in the faith" in the sense that he is dynamically related to Christ. Christ speaks in him, God's power works through him. He is confident this will be evident when he returns to Corinth.
But the Corinthians can see this in themselves, too, if they will but examine their experience. They can see Jesus Christ living dynamically in themselves as well.
Thus the statement, "Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?" has no more to do with the question of salvation than do the words "in the faith." What Paul has described of his own experience shows that he is thinking of Jesus Christ being in himself, or in the Corinthians, in a dynamic, active and vital sense.
In the language of the Apostle John this could be expressed in terms of the abiding life, where the disciple is in Christ, and Christ is in the disciple, in a dynamic, fruit-bearing relationship (see John 15:1-8; 14:19-24).25
So Paul is saying, "Take a look at yourselves; test yourselves. Can you not see Jesus Christ actively living in you, just as I can see Him in me? Of course you can - unless, however, you are `disqualified.'"
(4) The Meaning of
"Disqualified"The word "disqualified" is a significant one for Paul. He used it in his first letter to the Corinthian church when he wrote:
But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection lest when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified (1 Cor. 9:27; emphasis added).
In this passage, the Apostle has been talking about the Christian life as a race. He is careful to pursue God's approval in that race so that he will not be "disqualified" from winning the proper reward.
But the Greek word translated "disqualified" basically means "disapproved." In 2 Corinthians 13:5 Paul is telling his Christian readers that as long as they have God's approval on their lives (that is, as long as they are obedient to Him) they will be able to see in their own experience the dynamic reality of Christ living in them.
This could be observable in terms of answered prayer, spiritual blessing, and fruitfulness in the lives of others. Obedient Christians experience such things. Disobedient Christians do not. Obedient believers are living their lives "in the faith." Disobedient believers are cut off from this kind of vital fellowship with Christ. They may be described as living "according to the flesh" (Rom. 8:13) or as "walking in darkness" (1 John 1:7).
(5) Paul's Concluding
CommentPaul knows he is in fellowship with Christ. "I intend to prove that when I come to Corinth," he says. "But such confidence is not mine alone. It's for you Corinthians too! You can see its reality in yourselves, if you take the trouble to look - unless, after all, God disapproves of your way of life."
Then he adds:
But I trust that you will know that we [the Greek pronoun is emphatic] are not disqualified (13:6).
"When I come to Corinth," says Paul, "I hope to convince you that God's approval rests on me. You can know this about yourselves, and I expect you to know it about me as well!"
Such then was the confident spirit with which the Apostle prepared to go back to Corinth. No doubt he would be horrified to hear his words to his brethren twisted into a call to test their justification by examining their own good works.26
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