13:1 Concluding Words

SUMMARY OF II CORINTHIANS 13:

Severity Threatened to All Who Do Not Repent. He Will Display the Apostolic Power. Exhorted to Self-Examination; and to Reformation Before He Comes. Closing Admonitions. Benediction.

This is the third time I am coming to you. See PNT 2Co 12:14.

In the mouth of two or three witnesses. Every case of disorderly conduct will be taken cognizance of, but the trials will be strictly legal.

Shall every word be established. Two or three witnesses will establish a charge.

13:2 I told you before, etc. The Revised Version makes the meaning plain: I have said beforehand, and I do say beforehand, as when I was present the second time, so now being absent, to them that have sinned heretofore, and to all the rest, that, if I come again, I will not spare. As he told them, when there the second time, so now he writes that when he comes again he will not spare offenders.

13:3 Since ye seek a proof, etc. Since some denied his apostleship, he would give a proof of the might of Christ through him.

13:4 For though he was crucified through weakness. Christ submitted himself unto death, voluntarily choosing the weakness of mortality. He emptied himself (Php 2:7,8).

Yet he liveth by the power of God. But by the power of God he was raised from death to life.

We shall live with him by the power of God toward you. So it shall be with us. His life is reproduced in us. Those who suffer and die with him shall live with him through the Divine power.

13:5 Examine yourselves. Let there be self-examination. See whether you are in Christ.

Know ye not, etc. Christ must dwell in them unless they are reprobate. If Christ is in them it will be seen in the power of a Christian life.

13:6 I trust that ye shall know that we are not repobates. Christ is in those who are not reprobates, but the power of Christ, that he will display when he comes, will show that he is not reprobate. See 2Co 13:3.

13:7 Now I pray to God that ye do no evil, etc. If they should do evil, Paul's display of power would show that he was not a reprobate (2Co 13:6), but he prays that their freedom from evil may leave him without that proof. 2Co 13:8,9 show that he desires only to promote the truth.

13:10 Therefore I write these things, etc. He writes in order that he may not have to use sharpness when he comes, or the power which God has given for upbuilding, not for destruction.

13:11 Finally, brethren, farewell. This verse contains a parting admonition.

13:12 Greet one another with an holy kiss. See PNT Ro 16:16.

13:14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, etc. This verse contains the apostolic benediction. Observe the three blessings pronounced--grace, love, communion; and the three sources invoked--the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.