Tag: Devotion

2 Corinthians 13:11-12 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. Greet one another with an holy kiss.

A kindly affection out borne of God’s love filled the heart of the Apostle Paul has he sends a final greeting, concluding his letter to the Corinthian church. He sends them an holy kiss, an sanctified expression of his love for them that God has first imparted to him. It genders peace, God’s peace. A state of harmony and unity, strength and rest amongst the people of God undergirded by the desire to glory God’s Name according to His Word. This is his prayer for the brethren.

2 Corinthians 13:11 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.

We need to be assured time and again that the Lord is with us to aid us along in life. Have you sent anyone off in the airport before? If you have, you will know that we are quite helpless to provide for the needs of the person who may leave for long periods of time either for work, studies or migrating to a foreign land. Where does our help come? Psalm 121 is a truly blessed traveler’s psalm, to remind us that in our temporal sojourn in this earth, it is God that sustains and keeps us by His power. He says to them, keep trusting the Lord, He will be with you to help you.

2 Corinthians 13:11 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.

The Apostle Paul sought for the Corinthian church to have the mind of Christ, living in spiritual unity and peace.

Romans 8:5-8 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.

2 Corinthians 13:11 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.

Parting words. Last words. It can be emotionally charged when the bond of relationship is precious and therefore parting hard. The relationship between the Apostle Paul and the Corinthian church was very close. The church were begotten because the good Lord constrained His servant to initate the relationship by the preaching of the gospel that resulted in the new births. It is a precious emotional relationship of love between the mother and her child. How the mother through much tribulation brought forth the child. And the nurturing of the initial years painstaking. This was the spiritual bond that God has brought forth that is eternal and beautiful.

2 Corinthians 13:10 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.

The Apostle Paul’s desire was that the Corinthian church will be strenghtened in the faith. To be spiritually thriving and maturing in their Christian faith. This was his prayer which he expressed in the writing of this letter.

He would rather write while absent from them that these results might be secured, than that being present he should have to use sharpness, as authorized by the Lord. But even if he were present and dealt severely with them, it would still be for their edification and not for their destruction. [MacDonald]

2 Corinthians 13:9 For we are glad, when we are weak, and ye are strong: and this also we wish, even your perfection.

The Apostle Paul’s desire was for the Corinthian church to move toward spiritual maturity, to be spiritually equipped and strong. He sought that the sinning ones in their midst will come back to God, repent of their sins and be restored in fellowship with God’s people. Hodge said well, “Paul prayed that they might be perfectly restored from the state of confusion, contention and evil into which they had fallen.”

As to why they were glad when they were weak? Gill observed well, “Appear to be so, look like persons disarmed of all power and authority; the apostles rejoiced when they had no occasion of exerting themselves, and of exercising that high office, and extraordinary commission they had received of Christ Jesus.”

2 Corinthians 13:8 For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth.

Matthew Poole said well, “Truth in this place notes integrity of life and conversation; truth in action, opposed to hypocrisy, or scandalous living. He had before prayed, that they might do no evil; which if they did not, they need not fear his coming with a rod; for though he had a power from Christ to punish, yet he had no power to punish such as did well; his power was to be used for them, not against them. As the law was not made for the righteous, and the civil magistrate is not ordained of God for the terror of those that do well, but only of those that do evil; so neither did Christ ever ordain ecclesiastical censures for the punishment of good and holy men. And indeed here is the just boundary of all civil and ecclesiastical power; no magistrate or minister, acting as Christ’s servants, can (lawfully, or as by any commission from him) do any thing against the truth, or those that own, defend, and practise it; the power with which they are trusted is for edification, not destruction.”

MacDonald observed similarly, “Paul is saying that all they do must be done with a view to the furtherance of the truth of God, and not with any selfish motives in view. Even in the matter of discipline, no thought of personal vindictiveness must enter. All must be carried out with a view to the glory of God and the good of one’s fellow Christians.”

MacDonald observed well, “Paul now continues the subject of the discipline of sinning members of the church at Corinth. He states he is praying to God that the Corinthians would do no evil by countenancing sin in their midst, but that they would work ceaselessly toward the discipline and restoration of the sinning members.”

Futhermore MacDonald explained well, “He does not pray this in order that he himself might appear approved, or might be seen in a better light. He does not want them to do it simply because he could then point to their obedience as an evidence of his authority. That is not the thought at all. He wants them to do it because it is right and honest. And he would rather have them do that, even though it meant that he might seem disqualified.”

The logic of the Apostle Paul’s thought is well captured by the words of Clement of Alexandra, Polemicists of the East in the third century, who gave the theology of discipline when he said ” The physician is not evil to the sick person because he tells him of his fever. For the physician is not the cause of the fever; he only points out the fever. Likewise, he who reproved is not ill-deposed towards him who is diseased in soul. For he is not the cause of the transgression on him. He only reveals the sins that are there.” Clement of Alexandria (c. 195, E),2.231.

2 Corinthians 13:5-6 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? 6 But I trust that ye shall know that we are not reprobates.

The word “reprobate” literally means “failing to meet the test”, that is, “of false profession of faith, proven false”. [Friberg] He posed this to the Corinthian Christians, under the influence of the enemies of the gospel, who sought to undermine his apostleship. He asked them to examine if their profession was false.

MacDonald observed well, “Paul is not telling the Corinthians to engage in self-examination as a proof of their salvation. Rather he is asking them to find in their salvation a proof of his apostleship.”

If they found that their faith in Jesus Christ in genuine, that Christ is living in them, then, the Apostle Paul’s ministry and that of his gospel team is therefore genuine and they should not be deemed disqualified as they have alleged.

2 Corinthians 13:5 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?

They themselves were the proof of his apostleship. It was through him that they were led to the Savior. If they wanted to see his credentials, they should look at themselves… But Paul is not telling the Corinthians to engage in self-examination as a proof of their salvation. Rather he is asking them to find in their salvation a proof of his apostleship. [MacDonald]

As for his faith in Christ, the Apostle Paul boldly declared in 2 Timothy 1:12 For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.