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.
Commentary
Vs. 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.”
The Apostle Paul now begins to take a firmer tone as he wants the Corinthians to know that just as he is coming to them for a third time, so he will deal with the unrepentant amongst them if they don't. And so Paul quotes Deuteronomy 19:15 in which God lays forth a principal for dealing with such circumstances. Now that principal is also reflected in Jesus' commandment that we are to follow when dealing with an unrepentant brother or sister in the Lord (see Matt 18:15-20). For though the church is a place where grace is to be found, it is not a place where sin is to be harbored or ignored. "For the wicked prowl on every side when vileness is exalted among the sons of men" Psalm 12:8
Vs. 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—"
The Apostle Paul had previously warned those who were sinning; as well as those who were being complacent about it; that he would deal sternly with them if they did not repent; and now the Apostle Paul says when he comes again, if he still finds them unmoved he will not spare. Likely meaning that such individuals would be put out of Christian fellowship. And so there is always a process of first addressing the offender and the offense directly in the hopes of their repetance and reconcilation, and then if they will not listen to bring two or three witnesses into the matter to see if they will listen to reason and repent. But if not, only then after they have refused to receive correction are they to be permenatly put out of Christian fellowship. And so that three stage process the Apostle Paul is following, and is warning about entering into the third stage in his exhortation here, if he does find the offenders repentant when he comes to them.
Vs. 3 "since you seek a proof of Christ speaking in me, who is not weak toward you, but mighty in you."
The Apostle Paul now begins to take a firmer tone as he wants the Corinthians to know that just as he is coming to them for a third time, so he will deal with the unrepentant amongst them if they don't. And so Paul quotes Deuteronomy 19:15 in which God lays forth a principal for dealing with such circumstances. Now that principal is also reflected in Jesus' commandment that we are to follow when dealing with an unrepentant brother or sister in the Lord (see Matt 18:15-20). For though the church is a place where grace is to be found, it is not a place where sin is to be harbored or ignored. "For the wicked prowl on every side when vileness is exalted among the sons of men" Psalm 12:8
Vs. 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—"
The Apostle Paul had previously warned those who were sinning; as well as those who were being complacent about it; that he would deal sternly with them if they did not repent; and now the Apostle Paul says when he comes again, if he still finds them unmoved he will not spare. Likely meaning that such individuals would be put out of Christian fellowship. And so there is always a process of first addressing the offender and the offense directly in the hopes of their repetance and reconcilation, and then if they will not listen to bring two or three witnesses into the matter to see if they will listen to reason and repent. But if not, only then after they have refused to receive correction are they to be permenatly put out of Christian fellowship. And so that three stage process the Apostle Paul is following, and is warning about entering into the third stage in his exhortation here, if he does find the offenders repentant when he comes to them.
Vs. 3 "since you seek a proof of Christ speaking in me, who is not weak toward you, but mighty in you."
Apparently some of the Corinthians own carnality had caused them to dismiss (or delay acting on) the Apostle Paul's previous exhortations. And so instead of obeying what was commanded of them, they wanted proof of Paul's Apostleship from Christ, of Christ speaking through him. And since neither Paul's bodily presence, nor his tone of speech was all that commanding or powerful when he was amongst them, some felt they could now challange Paul and his authority as an Apostle of Christ. Therefore in light of that Paul reminds them (that though his own bodily presence appeared weak to them) Christ had not been weak toward them when Paul was ministering the Gospel too them. Indeed Christ had acted not only mightily towards them through Paul, when Paul was there, but Christ was also now working mightily in them, as He had not brought about the regeneration of their persons and live by His Holy Spirit, but He was continuing to work mightily in them, and through them.
Vs. 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."
The Apostle Paul now recalls to the Corinthians that though Christ was crucified in weakness, yet He lives by the power of God. The Savior then did not demonstrate the full Power of His Person through the flesh. Indeed the extent of Christ's Power and Authority was not made known until His Resurrection of dead (see Matt 27:39-44, then Matt. 27:51-54 where the soldiers who initially mocked Jesus at His Crucifixion are there seized with overwhelming fear at His Resurrection). And so though Christ was crucified in weakness yet He lives by power of God. Similarly we too in these mortal bodies are also weak in Him; that is though we are in Him, we still have many fleshly weaknesses, limitations, and frailties, so that nothing that is truly accomplished by God through us can ever be attributed to us. For God demonstrates His Power through our mortal fleshes weaknesses, just as it was when Jesus rose from the dead to the glory of God. Therefore the Apostle Paul though saying we are weak in the flesh with Him, also says that, "we shall live with Him by the power of God toward you." And so it is that we who believe will also live by the Power of God, not only in this life, but also for all eternity we will live forever with Christ and one another, by the power of God.
Vs. 5-6 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.
The Apostle Paul's exhortation here is so that the Corinthians not only examine themsleves to see whether they are in the faith, but it is to awaken them to their position with God. For everyone who believes in Jesus Christ (and thus are born-again by faith in Him) now have Christ living in them by the Holy Spirit, and thus they don't need to listen to all the spiritual sounding rhetoric of the false apostles, prophets, and teachers, all they need to listen to is our Lord and Saviors voice through His Word given to us all. Therefore only those who don't believe are disqualified, something which the Apostle Paul was not, and not because he was an Apostle, but because his faith and trust was only in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thus Christ's Person, Presence, and Power was not only enabling him as His chosen Apostle, but was also being made known through him as well.
Therefore too examine oneself first, (and not someone else), is to see if one's faith is just a profession or a living reality. And thus if ones person and life is united with God by having ones faith exclusively in the Lord Jesus Christ. For salvation is not just a one time event, it is an ongoing and everlasting reality that brings us into a reconciled relationship with God through Christ (John 3:16), and thus changes our persons and lives (Titus 3:3-7). All which begins with seeing ones own need for Christ, and then coming to Him and receiving Him into ones heart and life and thus having everlasting life by faith in His Person (John 1:12; 3:16; Rev. 3:20). And thus not ideologies, religious works, denominations, Bible translations, prayers, Christian service, or whatever else people hold up as trying to make themselves, or anyone else accepted in the sight of Lord. Rather it all begins with simply coming to the Lord Jesus Christ and trusting His atoning sacrifice done on the cross for us all. And then just let all that you then do be an outworking of Christ's life within you. For the moment anyone believes in Jesus crucified and risen from the dead, they will receive the gift of God's salvation for us all, by His Holy Spirit, who brings new and everlasting life into us the moment we believe (Eph. 1:13-14). For there are many things that people do and hold up and believe that they think makes them a Christian, and forget that it all begins and ends with the Lord Jesus Christ crucified out of God's love and desire to save us all who believe in Him from the wrath to come. Everything else then that we do adds nothing to what Christ has already done for us all. Therefore all that now needs to be done by us is to believe Him and receive Him, everything else then that is good and kind, and eternal, and thus is revealing of the Kingdom of heaven on earth, will be an outworking of His love and life in ours. If you believe and would like to receive the Lord Jesus Christ then simply ask Him into your heart and life, as Jesus says: "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me." Rev. 3:20
Scripture Quotations
The New King James Version. (1982). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
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