2 Corinthians 13:1-14
1 This will be the third time I am coming to you. “BY THE MOUTH OF TWO OR THREE WITNESSES EVERY WORD SHALL BE ESTABLISHED.”
2 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—
3 since you seek a proof of Christ speaking in me, who is not weak toward you, but mighty in you.
4 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.
5 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.
6 But I trust that you will know that we are not disqualified.
7 Now I pray to God that you do no evil, not that we should appear approved, but that you should do what is honorable, though we may seem disqualified.
8 For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth.
9 For we are glad when we are weak and you are strong. And this also we pray, that you may be made complete.
10 Therefore I write these things being absent, lest being present I should use sharpness, according to the authority which the Lord has given me for edification and not for destruction.
11 Finally, brethren, farewell. Become complete. Be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.
12 Greet one another with a holy kiss.
13 All the saints greet you.
14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.
Verse 5 in The Passion Translation says, “Now your souls will be strengthened and healed if you hold steadfast to your faith. Haven’t you already experienced Jesus Christ himself living in you? If not, you are deficient.”
Holding steadfast in our faith comes from a relationship experience with Jesus. We know that He is faithful to be trusted because we KNOW Him! If we don’t know truly Him, we are deficient in our faith.
A great necessity and responsibility is ours in the body of protecting, cleansing, and removing anything from it that would hinder it from fulfilling its purpose. This is not a popular or applauded function, and yet it is most necessary if there is to be survival of what is true and right. It cannot be carried out on a whim or a solo mission, but must be confirmed by more than one or two. The reason for this is that to truly be in Christ, there will be definite signs of transformation into holiness and purity. Apart from this fruit of a new creation, there is really no qualification as one. Just claiming to be because of a scripture, without any corresponding fruit, is not a very sound foundation for building a life that must be in Christ. It will not be everyone who cries, “Lord, lord” that enters into the kingdom, but only those who are known by their fruit. This is why Paul, with reluctance and continual deference to his love for them, doesn’t back away from the discipline of doing much more than just taking care of his own acceptance by them. He insists on there being an ongoing checking of their own representation of being in Christ, as if there should be desperation to always be found there, something that requires uninterrupted vigilance.