Epistles of Paul 65

Last couple of weeks we've been covering 2 Corinthians and we've covered chapters 10, 11, and 12. Today we're going to complete by covering chapter 13. It's a small chapter. But as a point of review, we did mention that in the last 4 chapters, 10 through 13, inclusive, Paul addresses those that were still being influenced by false teachers. And that affects the church in every year era, in every time there's always some false teachers affecting the church. He starts that section in chapter 10 of 2 Corinthians, reminding us that our warfare is a spiritual warfare. It's not a carnal warfare. And in fact, it is something that we and I have to we all have to remind ourselves all the time. Because quite often we're thinking that we're fighting against other human beings. And yes, we are in a way. But the source of a lot of these battles is from Satan and also from our own entrenched ideas and things that are affecting our mind, which it's referring to as strongholds. Pulling down strongholds could be arguments of people, could be different things, as it says there in verse 5. Anything that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. And so what we have to do is always bring ourselves to the obedience of Christ. We've got to have Christ living in us. Paul, at the end of this chapter 13 that we're going to cover today, emphasizes that again, that we've got to have Christ living in us. Paul addresses this section because there were people attacking him. And then he engages himself, as we can see in chapter 11, in what he calls a little folly, the folly of boasting. He says that in verse 1 of chapter 11, a little folly. And then we can see that he very specifically finds those false teachers as people that are preaching another Jesus. In other words, a different gospel, a different spirit. That's what he says in verse 4. Second Corinthians 11 verse 4. And his concern is that people put up with it, accept it then, and live with it. And then further down in verses 23 to verse 27, he lists a number of sufferings that he went through. And this is basically his quote unquote boasting with a little folly. But his main concern is emphasizing verse 28 of Second Corinthians 11, which is the well-being of all the churches. Because he says, yeah, my deep concern for all the churches. That's what he's concerned, the well-being of the churches, of the congregations. Then in chapter 12, he mentions another possible source of additional accusations. And that he was, from what it appears, he was being ridiculed as a person with an unsound mind. That's why he does refer you to visions and revelations of the Lord. And as I made reference out of expositors' Bible commentary, it was easy for people to call them mere illusions, signs of a distorted brain that is quoted from expositors' Bible commentary. And expositors continues. It was not too much formalist to hint that his call to apostleship rested on nothing better than one of these ecstatic hallucinations. So we can see he was battling against various fronts, various attacks. And but he says that he was backed up by signs, wonders, and mighty deeds from God. We can see that in verse 12. Truly, the signs of an apostle were accomplished among you with all perseverance in signs and wonders and mighty deeds. So it clearly, God backed him up and proved that he was an apostle. He then, in verse 15, says that that he gives of himself, and the more he gives of himself, the less he's loved. And in a sense, that's a shame on them. Let me read verse 15 for, Algorately, I will very gladly spend and be spent for your lives, for your souls, though the more abundantly I love you, the less I'm loved. So it is that he has a concern for these people, and the more concern he has for them, the less they return to him.

Then in verse 19, he again emphasizes, says again, do you think that we excuse ourselves to you? We speak before God in Christ, but we do all things, beloved, for your edification. So Paul is sacrificing his life. He's doing everything to build, to edify the church, and in this case, referring it to Corinth. But his concern is highlighted in verse 20 and 21. And then he says, But I fear, lest when I come, I shall not find you such as I wish, and that I shall be found by you, such as you do not wish, lest there be contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, backbiting, whisperings, conceits, and two moths. You know, it's kind of difficult to comprehend that people in the church would have outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, backbiting, and things of this kind. But it does happen, regrettably, it does happen. And again, he says in verse 21, lest when I come again, my God will humble me among you, and I shall mourn for many who have sinned before and have not repented. In other words, I am going to be very sad, very humbled, very mournful, that some of you have not repented of the uncleanliness, fornication, and lewdness, which they have practiced. So it wasn't just that one man that had a sin, but there were others. And Paul was concerned that there would not be much change. The fornicator, as I said, was not the only problem in Corinth, the only one was that problem. And from this, it appears that many others had these sort of problems. So he's basically saying, I'm afraid I'll have to come and deal with these. And I hope that you change before I come, so that I don't have to deal with this. And then in chapter 13, 2 Corinthians chapter 13, in verse 1 and 2, he says, This will be the third time I'm coming to you. By the mouth of two or three witnesses, every word shall be established. I have told you before, and foretell as if I were present the second time, and now being absent, I write to these who have sinned before, and to all the rest, that if I come again, I will not spare. If I come again, and if you haven't repented, I will not spare. So he's basically saying, look, I hope that's not the situation, but I will not spare. Verse 3 and 4, Since you seek a proof of Christ speaking in me, who is not weak toward you, but mighty in you? For thou he was crucified in weakness, yet he lives by the power of God. For we are also weak in him, but we shall live with him by the power of God toward you. So just like Christ, as a human being, he was weak, but he was resurrected by the power of God, and now he's on the right hand of God, with all the power that is being delegated to him. So likewise, he's saying we shall live with him by the power of God toward you. And yet we get him getting down to the real cracks of the problem. The problem is they were examining Paul. They were criticizing Paul. They were, in a sense, judging Paul, instead of examining themselves. We need to do self-examination constantly and ask, are we in the faith? Let's read verse 5. Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. You see, there's a human tendency to judge others. There's a human tendency to look at what others do or say or act instead of looking at ourselves. So let's analyze a little more carefully some of these words in this verse 5. The first word I want to analyze a bit more is the word examine. This word is a Greek word 3985, pirazio or pirazio, which means to try whether a thing can be done. It is to attempt to endeavor.

So it's can this be done or not to attempt to endeavor, examine, but it's also to try or make a trial of or test for the purpose of sustaining its quality. Like maybe you would try or test certain metals to see the quality of those metals. But likewise, it's to try or test what one person thinks or how he will behave himself. So examine yourself in a positive or light or in a good sense is to attempt to endeavor, to try to prove the quality, to prove what one thinks in a negative sense, in a bad sense. To test or examine could be to test one maliciously, craftly, to put the proof, craftly, to put to the proof his feelings or judgments. In other words, to try or test one's five virtue character by enticing that person to sin. In other words, tempt. So the word can be translated and is translated sometimes as try and at a time as tempt. That's the word examine, pyraco. So it has a good connotation or a bad connotation and we have to read the context to determine quite often what it is. Is it to try, to attempt, to ascertain one's quality, or is it in a bad way to test one maliciously, to test one's character virtue or whatever it is, by enticing that person to sin, to tempt. Now, God puts us to the test. God never tempts us, but Satan tempts us to sin. So let's look at a few examples of the usage of this word. And the first example I want to show you is in Matthew 4. And we know in Matthew 4 is when Satan tempted Christ. Matthew 4. Look, for instance, in verse 1. Matthew 4, verse 1. Jesus was led by the Spirit into the worldness to be tempted by the devil. That's the same word as it's stated in Corinthians, 2 Corinthians 13, verse 5, or is translated as examine. It's the same word, pyrazzo. So Satan examined or tempted Christ. Look in verse 3 as well. When the tempter, it was the one that was tempting, was examining, came to him. So Yah is two examples of the use of this same word, but in this context, the word means tempt. In Galatians chapter 6 verse 1, Galatians chapter 6 verse 1, Galatians chapter 6 verse 1 is one that we need to remember to use when people are referring to Matthew 18. You know, go and speak to your brother. You always need to temper that with Galatians 6 verse 1 because it says, brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, so if you go and talk to your brother, you are spiritual. You that think or that consider yourself, you in the right side because the other person's offended you, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness. You know what we're going to go to that person in meekness? Considering yourself, lest you also be tempted. The same Greek word, pyrazo, which is translated in Corinthians as examine yourselves. So in other words, try yourselves and test yourselves, examine yourselves.

Look at another example, which is in Hebrews chapter 2. Hebrews chapter 2 verse 18. In Hebrews chapter 2 verse 18, how we see that Christ, let's just read through verse 18, we see, for in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted. He is able to aid those who are tempted. Christ was tested, but tested in a malicious way, by inspired by Satan through those leaders.

And He is able to help us when we are tempted, whether by other people or by our own weak conno mind and thoughts. And the one that is important for us to understand, because it uses the same word, pyrazo, it's in James chapter 1.

James chapter 1 verse 13 and 14, because Yai says, let no one say when He's tempted, pyrazo, that I'm tempted by God. For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. This, in this case, the use of this word is that malicious use. God is never malicious to tempt anyone. And a good understanding or good verse to read and understand is verse 14, because He says, each one, each person is tempted when is drawn away by his own desires and is enticed. And so our own desires, our own lusts, our own conno mind is maybe being pushed or influenced by vibes of the society and attitudes from others, or what other people may say, or just influenced from Satan.

Our conno minds then have certain desires, desire of revenge, or desire, or whatever, of saying something, or doing something. And it says, and therefore, that temptation, desire, is enticed. If we allow our minds to dwell on it, then it's enticed. And then verse 15, when the desire is conceived, it gives birth to sin. You see, temptation is not sin, but allowing ourselves to be under that temptation and allowing it to entice us sooner or later is going to conceive, is going to be a fruit and is going to lead to sin. And sin, when it's fully grown, at the end of it, of sin, if we don't repent, ultimately it will lead us to the second death, to eternal death.

So this word in 2 Corinthians chapter 13 verse 5, examine yourselves, is one of testing yourself as as a or in other words, or trying yourselves, whether you are of the right quality. Just allow yourself to be tried, to be tested for the purpose of ascertaining our quality of what is in our minds and how we behave. So we have to examine ourselves. So yeah, the word in English, examine yourselves, is a very good word, but we need to understand that word is quite often translated as try or temptation as well.

And it says, yeah, examine yourselves whether you are in the faith. In other words, are you really converted? Are we really converted? You know, it's when when sometimes we are with other people, it's so easy for something to slip out of our mouths that we shouldn't say. And that is quite a question that we need to ask ourselves.

Are we of the right correct quality that we are behaving ourselves correctly by what we say? Are we careful with that? And then it says, next one, test yourselves. As the King James Version says, prove yourselves. Yeah, is the word documazu, which is test or discern or prove, scrutinize, to see whether something is genuine or not. To recognize as genuine after examination, to approve, to deem worthy. Test yourself, documazu. So it's a different word because the earlier one was pyrazo. Very different word. Let's see some examples where this word documazu is used. The first one is in that I want to look at is Romans 12 verse 2.

Romans 12 verse 2, where it's talking about, present your body a living sacrifice, and do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. That you may prove, prove is documazu, is test, prove, prove what is good that you are scrutinizing and recognizing as genuine as through this deeming process of deeming if it's worthy, if it really matches that quality.

The next one that I want to make reference to is in 1 Corinthians chapter 3 verse 13. 1 Corinthians chapter 3 verse 13. Each one's work will become clear, for the day will be cleared because it will be revealed by fire. And fire, the fire will test each one's work of what sort it is. The fire will test each one's work.

The fire will documazu, will test, will scrutinize, will prove as genuine. So there is another example of using that word. Another example is in 1 Corinthians chapter 11 verse 28. Now this is one that we use quite often during the time of the Passover and the liver bread. And it says, for you eats and drinks in an unworthy manner, eats and drinks judgment to yourself, not discerning. Oops, sorry, I'm reading verse 29. I should have read verse 28. I apologize. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. Examine himself. So yeah, he's again scrutinize, recognize in yourself whether you are genuine to make sure that it is worthy, that the actions are worthy. In other words, in a worthy manner. That's in that context. So we ought to scrutinize, to recognize that the manner is genuine. The next one I have is 1 Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 4. 1 Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 4. But as we have been approved by God, we have been approved, we have been allowed by God, we've been approved by God, to be entrusted with the gospel. In other words, there is a certain godly trust, a sacred trust, that God has given us to be entrusted with the gospel. Even so, we speak not as pleasing man, but God who tests our hearts. So yeah, the point of we have been approved, this is the word documazzo. We've been approved. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 21. 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 21. Test all things, or prove all things. That again is documazzo. 2 And another one we have is Hebrews 3 verse 9. Hebrews chapter 3 verse 9.

Where your father tested me, tried me, and so my works, forty years, your father's tested me, or tempted me, parazzo, and proved me.

My father's tested me, and they tried me, and they proved me. That is documazzo. So we have, yeah, parazzo, and then documazzo. They tempted me, they tested me, and they tried me, they they proved me. And another example is in 1 John 4 verse 4. 1 John 4 verse 4.

Well, I'll be upon it. 1 John 4 verse 1. 1 John 4 verse 1. Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits. It was try the spirits. Prove to yourself. Recognize that they are genuine or not, because, it says, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. And so these false prophets, these spirits, these mindsets, these attitudes, these spiritual attitudes that are around us, they come from many false prophets. So prove them, recognize them, analyze them, whether they are genuine or not. And so the question is, are we, are you, are we, are you a genuine? Prove yourself. So in 2 Corinthians 13 verse 5, we are to examine ourselves as to whether in the faith and we to test ourselves. Are we the genuine article? Are we the real McCoy, the quality? And then it says, do you not know yourselves?

Don't you know yourselves? And that is straightforward English word, know yourselves.

And then know what? That Jesus Christ is in you.

You see, it has a big, the real question, the real question, is Christ living in you? Oh yeah, you may be baptized, but is Christ really living in you? Or you, am I, yielding to God, to Christ? Are we allowing Christ to work in us through God's Holy Spirit? Is Christ really living in us? Unless, if he's not, indeed you are disqualified. The New King James Version has got the word disqualified, and all the King James Version has got the word reprobates. It comes from the word adokimos, Greek word 96, unapproved, rejected, not standing in the name of Jesus. The test, unfit, worthless, cast away. And so, if Christ is not living in us, even though we may be baptized, if we are not yielding to Christ, if we are not allowing him to work in us through his Holy Spirit, we, we need to know that. And do you not know yourselves? In other words, are we deceiving ourselves? Or what? We need to say, yes, I am trying. I am trying to yield to God, to Christ. Otherwise, we failed the test. We failed, let's call it that, as a test.

But I trust that you will know that we are not disqualified. I trust that you know that we, that's Titus, Timothy, Paul, we have not failed the test. So, they are saying, we've done it God's way. We do it in God's way. And so, the question to us is, are we doing it in God's way? You see, the problem is that we're examining Paul, and Paul said, you need to examine yourselves.

And the key question is, is Jesus Christ in us? Is Jesus Christ living in us? Verse 7. Now, I pray to God that you do know evil. Not that we should appear approved, but that you should do what is honorable, though we may seem disqualified. In the minds of those people that were opposing Paul, in their minds, Paul may have seemed, may have seemed to have disqualified himself. But he says, he said, in verse 6, I trust that you will know that we are not disqualified.

And continue then reading in verse 8, for we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth. We are standing up for the truth. That's what it is. Verse 9, for we are glad, when we are weak, you are strong. And this also we pray that you may be made complete. In other words, yeah, we are weak. But, you know, through, as Christ said, in weakness, you will be strong. And in our weakness, we learn to be strong in the faith. We really learn to be strong in the faith. When we go through difficult trials and difficulties, that makes us deeper in the faith.

And therefore, he says, also we pray that you may be made complete, that you may be made whole, that you may be made mature, that you overcome, and you see the truth. Because he sees we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth. And so we pray that you may be able to see that. Therefore, verse 10, I write these things being absent, lest being present, I should use sharpness. Right here at the end of this letter, of this epistle, Paul says, I'm writing these things so that when I come, I don't have to be sharp.

I don't have to be hard and cutting. But he says, I should use sharpness. He says, according to the authority, according to the authority, he had the authority from Christ. He had a power, the authority. He had, he as an apostle, he had the authority to correct them.

But look how gentle, yes straight, but how gentle he has been with these people. He wrote 1 Corinthians. He's now writing 2 Corinthians. And here's the first few chapters. Up to chapter 9, he was very encouraging to those people that had repented. But from chapter 10 on the words, he's very strong, but he's not sharp. He's not rude. He's strong and tells them, I have the authority, and if you don't come when I come, then I will have to use sharpness. In other words, according to the authority which the Lord has given me, according to the authority that Christ has given me, for what?

For edification of the church, to build, to edify the church. Our job as ministers is to edify the church and not for destruction, not for destruction. So, Paul Yair was hoping that these people would correct themselves. You know, it's better for people to work on themselves than to have to have someone come and tell that person, says, you better do this. It's a lot better if people come to realize of their own free will that they need to change. In the end, only that person can change with the help of God's only spirit and the instruction of God's Word.

Those are the two convicting agents, God's spirit and God's Word. Verse 11. Finally, brethren, farewell. Become complete. In other words, become mature. Be of good comfort. Be of one mind. Live in peace. Brethren, that's our goal that we're going to have. We're going to be mature. We're going to live in peace and that the love of God and peace will be with you.

Greet one another with a holy kiss at that time and in some cultures, even in Portuguese today, when I go to Portugal, people kiss on one cheek and on the other cheek. In this country, in our culture, it's more like you give a good solid hug. It's a little bit more than just a handshake. So it's just that extra hug, that extra kindness that is important. And then it says, verse 13, all the saints greet you, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit.

So yeah, we can see God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit are mentioned at the same time. But it doesn't say communion with the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit is not a person. You see the communion of the Spirit, the community in God's mind, in God's spirit, the community of the Spirit be with you all. Amen. So, brethren, these two letters, 1 and 2 Corinthians, are very corrective, probably the most corrective epistles in the Bible. And hopefully, they repented. In the next study, we will then start with an introduction to the book of Romans.