2 Corinthians 13
McGeeCHAPTER 13THEME: The execution and conclusion of Paul’s apostleship
2 Corinthians 13:1
EXECUTION OF PAUL’S APOSTLESHIPPaul is repeating what he has said earlier. He is going to Corinth for the third time to exercise his office as an apostle. Everything is to be authenticated when he gets there. Everything is going to be brought right out in the open. Paul is going to exercise his office as an apostle, and he is going to show proof of his apostleship by the power of Christ working through Paul’s weakness.
2 Corinthians 13:2
Paul had come to them in weakness, but the Word of God was mighty and had transformed them in that sin-sick city.
2 Corinthians 13:4
Paul says, “For though he was crucified through weakness.” It sounds strange to hear about the weakness of God. What is this weakness? When He went to the Cross, my friend, that was the weakness of God. “Yet he liveth by the power of God.” Now Paul goes on to something that is very important. There is an inventory which every Christian should make regularly.
2 Corinthians 13:5
This has nothing to do with free will or election or the security of the believer. Paul says we should examine ourselves to see whether we are in the faith or not. We should be willing to face up to this issue. I think two or three times a year we should do this. When my daughter was just a little thing, she made a confession of her faith to her mother when they were back visiting her grandmother in Texas. She came in one day and said out of a clear sky that she wanted to accept Jesus as her Savior. My wife took her into the bedroom, she got down on her knees and accepted Christ. Regularly after that I would ask her about her relation to Christ. When she got into her teens, she asked, “Daddy, why do you keep asking me whether I am a Christian or not or whether I really trust in Jesus?” I told her, “I just want to make sure. After all, you are my offspring and I want to be sure.” Now not only did I do that for her, I did it for myself also. I think every believer ought to do that.
2 Corinthians 13:6
Paul has made an inventory of himself, and he wants them to know that he is in the faith.
2 Corinthians 13:7
Paul is saying that he just wants them to be the type of believers they should be.
2 Corinthians 13:8
Here is another great truth we should mark well. My friend, you can’t do anything against the truth. That is why I don’t worry about folk who are disagreeing about the Word of God. They cannot do anything against the truth. We should declare the Word of God and not spend our time defending it. God doesn’t ask us to defend it. He asks us to declare it, to give it out.
2 Corinthians 13:9
“Even your perfection” does not mean perfect as we usually think of perfection, but it means maturity. He wishes them to be mature Christians. He wants them to grow in grace and in the knowledge of Christ Jesus. We still hear that expression today"Why don’t you grow up?" That is what Paul is saying to them. Grow up in Christ!
2 Corinthians 13:10
Paul is glad he can write to them at this time. He is writing for the purpose of building them up and not tearing them down.
2 Corinthians 13:11
CONCLUSION OF PAUL’S APOSTLESHIPAgain he says, “Be perfect"grow up. Stop being baby Christians. That is something which could be said to many believers today. “Be of good comfort.” He goes back to the word he used when he began this letterthe comfort of God. Remember that it means help. It means God is the One who is called to our side to help us, to strengthen us, to encourage us. God wants to do that for you today, my friend. No matter who you are, where you are, or how you are, God wants to help you. He can help you through His Word by means of the ministering of the Holy Spirit. What great verses these are. God is with us to comfort us. We are to grow and mature. We can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth. Certainly we ought to go forward for God with such encouragement. “Be of one mind” means to have the mind of Christ. “Live in peace.” We cannot make peace, but we can live in peace. “And the God of love and peace shall be with you.” This is the peace of God which passeth all understanding. It is the peace that God made through the blood of the Cross. We are to live in that peace today. We are to rejoice in our salvation. The God of love and peace shall be “with you.” Don’t miss that. You are not aloneGod is with you today. How wonderful that is.
2 Corinthians 13:12
I hope you won’t mind my telling you a story about the late Dr. Walter Wilson. A friend came to see him and his lovely wife. The friend greeted Dr. Wilson with a kiss because he was such a wonderful saint of God. Then he kissed his wife. He said to Dr. Wilson, “Now when I greet you, it is a holy kiss, but when I kiss your wifewow!” May I say to you, my friend, if you are going to kiss, make sure it is a holy kiss. I would suggest that we confine our kissing to those of the same sex if we intend for it to be a holy kiss!
2 Corinthians 13:13
I have jokingly said that the apostle Paul was a Southerner because he used the expression “you all.” You know that I am from the South and so you will forgive me if I, too, say, “you all.” When he says that the blessing of the Trinity should be with “you all,” he includes us with the folk in the church in Corinth. We ought to revel in all that we have in Christ Jesus: the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost. How we ought to bear witness not only to the world but also to our own churches.