2 Corinthians 13:5-10

2 Corinthians 13:5-10

Put yourselves to the test if you all are in faithfulness.  Examine yourselves.  Or do you all yourselves not logically realize that Jesus Christ is in you all?  Unless you all are proven to have no worth.  But I hope that you all will logically realize that we are not proven to have no worth.  And we pray to God that you all do not commit evil in any way – not in order that we should be seen as genuine but in order that you all should do good – but we are as if we should be proven to have no worth.  For we are not powerful in anything against the truth but rather for the sake of truth.  For we rejoice whenever we should be weak and you all should be powerful.  And this we pray: your brokenness restored to healthiness.  Because of this I write these things while being absent: in order that while being present I should not deal severely according to the authority that the Lord gave to me into building up and not into tearing down.

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

Paul gives us great advice.  Examine yourselves.  Here’s the thing.  Jesus tells us that there is no one good except God alone.  See Mark 10:18 as an example.  So by definition we are not good on our own.  So there are always things that we can work on and improve.  We should be looking at ourselves to see where we can draw closer to God and find ways to be better imitations of Christ.  We should not be afraid to find our weak points as Christians knowing that God will help us become more like Him.

Do you examine yourself?  If so, what does that process look like?

Second Thought:

In the middle of this section, Paul talks much about being “proven to have worth” and “proven to have no worth.”  In many ways, Paul is speaking here along the same lines as when Jesus speaks about worrying about the speck in your brother’s eye but not the log in your own eye.  See Matthew 7:1-5.  What Paul is saying in these verses is that the Corinthian people have been so busy listening to the false apostles and judging Paul that they have forgotten to pay attention to their own spiritual walk.  In other words, Paul is reminding the Corinthians of a truth about humanity.  Often, the biggest critics of other people are those who have glaring deficiencies themselves.  This is because when we worry about our own issues we are humbled.  When we are humbled, we tend to be forgiving and merciful to others in their deficiency.  But when we don’t consider our own deficiency we have little reason to be humble and thus we think ourselves to be in a position of being able to judge others and be critical of others.

Are you critical of others?  When are you most critical?  When are you most forgiving and understanding?

Third Thought:

Paul confesses to the Corinthians what his ultimate prayer is for them.  He says that they would be fully sufficient.  The Greek word here is katartisis (κατάρτισις).  This is a word that means: “to make fully adequate, to be fully qualified, to be completely equipped.”  In the Greek medical world, this word was used when describing the process of setting a broken bone.  In other words, what Paul is talking about here is that the Corinthians should be restored in Christ.  We are all broken human beings in need of being “set” and restored to health.  We all need to be equipped more than our natural humanity brings.  We all need to be made sufficient in God.  That is a genuine prayer for all of us!

Do you pray for the spiritual sufficiency for the people around you?  Do you pray for this for even the ones who attack you as Paul is doing here?  Is this a challenging thought?

Passage for Tomorrow: 2 Corinthians 13:11-14