17 Examine Yourself: Paul’s Warning to Corinth (2 Corinthians 12:13-13:14)

Krisan Marotta: Welcome to the Wednesday in the Word podcast. I'm Krisan Marotta, and this is my podcast about what the Bible means and how we know. Today is the 17th and last talk in my series on 2 Corinthians. We will be studying 2 Corinthians 12, verse 13 to the end of the letter. Why does Paul warn the Corinthians to examine themselves to see if they're really believers? And what does that mean for us? We will find out in this episode, and along the way, we'll learn why Christ's power often comes wrapped in weakness, and how Paul's authority is aimed at building people up. Thank you for making Wednesday in the Word a part of your day. I'm really glad you joined me in this series, and I'd love to hear your thoughts. You can email me through my website, wednesdayintheword.com. We are going to finish 2 Corinthians today. We are in the last section, which begins in chapter 10, where Paul confronts his critics directly. Paul's critics have charged that Paul was bold in his letters, but meek and unimpressive when he was there in person. And Paul responded, in part, when I come again, I plan to be very bold toward those who reject me. Make no mistake, God is at work in my ministry, truth is on my side, and I am ready to punish all disobedience. Now remember, Paul is on his way back to Corinth when he writes this letter. He has come as far as Macedonia. He met Titus there, and Titus reported to Paul how the Corinthians responded to his last letter, and now he's writing this new letter to them, sending it ahead of him, and he will follow after it. So they have an opportunity to read the letter and respond and repent before he shows up. And that's particularly important in this last part we're going to look at because he is preparing them for what they may face when he comes. His next visit has the potential to be very difficult. The relationship isn't great at this point, and he's worried that this next visit is going to be a hard one. He tells us in this section that this is his third visit, and that makes sense with the timeline we've talked about at the beginning of the letter. I won't go through all that again. I'll just remind you this is actually the fourth letter that Paul wrote to Corinth, but we only have two of them. Now, in the last podcast, we looked at the beginning of chapter 12. Paul engaged in what he called foolish boasting. His critics challenged him on foolish issues, so he answered them in kind. Instead of defending his ministry with impressive achievements, Paul chose to boast in his weakness. What looked like failure to his critics, he said, is actually proof that God is working through him. If he wanted to, Paul could boast about being taken to heaven and taught by revelation, and that far surpasses any degrees that his critics may boast in. Yet he quickly shifted the focus away from that revelation to his thorn in the flesh. Now we don't know what that thorn was, but whatever it was, it humbled Paul and kept him from getting puffed up about his credentials. Paul recognized that his hardships created the clearest stage for God to display his strength. Now, Paul has just made what was probably a painful rebuke to them. He says, I shouldn't have to be telling you this. I shouldn't need to commend myself to you. You have every reason to trust me as an apostle, but instead you're listening to my critics. And that brings us to 12. We're going to start in verses 13 through 15. For in what were you less favored than the rest of the churches? Except that I myself did not burden you. Forgive me this wrong. Here for the third time I am ready to come to you, and I will not be a burden, for I seek not what is yours, but you. For children are not obligated to save up for their parents, but parents for their children. I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls. If I love you more, am I to be loved less? Now Paul returns to this question of why he didn't take money from them. We've seen this before in the letter. This is one of those issues that shouldn't be a problem. He shouldn't need to explain it, but here he must. The Corinthians had a problem with the fact that Paul didn't take money from them, and we've seen this issue show up a few times in the letter. We talked about this a few podcasts ago, and we looked at the various reasons why they might have difficulty with this. We have another clue here. They seem to take issue with the fact that Paul treats them differently than the way he treats the other churches. He takes money from other churches. For instance, we know he took money from the Philippians, but he won't take money from Corinth. And Paul responds to this suggestion sarcastically, you think you were treated badly because I didn't take your money? Oh, forgive me. I think he's being a little sarcastic. He says, Did I treat you differently than the other churches? Did I teach you less? No. Did I spend less time with you? No. Did I love you less? No. The only difference is I was not a financial burden to you. Oh, forgive me, such a wrong. Now Paul tells us he wouldn't take their money because he didn't want to be accused of peddling the gospel. He's afraid they're going to take it wrong if he accepts their money, but they take it wrong anyway. They think that he's rejecting them because maybe he doesn't want to be beholden to them by taking their money. Paul tells them that he intends to keep on refusing their money. When he arrives for his next visit, he will not burden them even then. He will not take support for them for his financial needs. Paul says they should recognize that he's acting out of love and he communicates this several ways. He says, I'm not seeking what is yours, but you. I don't want your money. I want your hearts. He wants them to embrace the gospel and take it to heart. He compares himself to a loving parent. In life, parents sacrifice themselves financially for the sake of their children. It's not the other way around. And Paul sees himself as a kind of father to the Corinthians. So he says in an analogous sort of way, it's appropriate that he sacrifice himself financially for them rather than the other way around. He says he would most gladly spend and be spent for their souls. That is, he's glad to sacrifice himself. He's glad not to take their money if it helps them in the faith. And then he asks the rather sad question: if I love you, the more am I to be loved less. Paul is sacrificing himself out of love for them, and yet they insist on doubting him. The more Paul sacrifices himself out of love for them, the less they seem to love him back. And that brings us to the second set of clues about their problem with Paul refusing their money. Let's look at 16 through 18, and here we see that the Corinthians suspect that Paul is somehow cheating them, maybe being a little devious behind their backs. But granting that I myself did not burden you, I was crafty, you say, and got the better of you by deceit. Did I take advantage of you through any of those whom I sent to you? I urged Titus to go and sent the brother with him. Did Titus take advantage of you? Did we not act in the same spirit? Did we not take the same steps? Here we see that Paul is being charged with being deceitful. His critics are saying, Well, you know, it looks like Paul's not taking any money from us, but he's a crafty fellow. He's fooled us into thinking that he isn't taking any money, but he is. His fellow travelers are taking money and they're giving it to Paul. So Paul insists, none of the people I sent you took any money from you either. They all acted in the same spirit as I did and treated you with integrity. Paul is challenging them. What grounds do you have for suspecting me? Did anyone else that I sent you take advantage of you? No. All of us acted with integrity and honestry. So what reason do you have for thinking that I'm taking advantage of you? Again, this shouldn't be a problem. This shouldn't be coming between us. I'm not taking money from you out of concern for you, and that's all. At this point, Paul says something that doesn't sound quite true at first. Let's look at 1219. Have you been thinking all along that we have been defending ourselves to you? It is in the sight of God that we have been speaking in Christ and all for your upbuilding, beloved. Now it sounds strange at first reading because you may think, wait, Paul's been defending himself since chapter one. And he has. Paul has been defending himself since chapter one. So what does he mean? You may have been thinking that I'm defending myself. But if we think about it another way, I think we can see what Paul means. When someone accuses us of something, when they lie about us or say something untrue and hurtful, our natural impulse is self-protection. When people lie about us, we want to defend ourselves. We set out to prove that our detractors are wrong and we want to make them admit it. And in that case, our motivation is largely to protect ourselves. We're not thinking about the good of the other person. We're thinking about how this problem is affecting us. And we want to defend ourselves because we want to stop the hurt. I think Paul's saying, that's not my motive here. That's not what I'm doing. I'm not defending myself because I want to make my life easier. He's perfectly willing to let his reputation be trashed if that's necessary. Instead, his motivation is to build up the Corinthians. Spiritually, it is dangerous for them to listen to Paul's critics. If they reject Paul, they could reject the gospel too, and that would be spiritually fatal. And they are in danger of embracing the foolish values of the world and rejecting the wisdom of the gospel. So Paul's motive here, what he's been doing, he's not trying to polish his tarnished reputation. He's trying to get them to see the truth, and he's concerned for their souls. And he makes this clear, let's look at 20 and 21. For I fear that perhaps when I come I may find you not as I wish, and that you may find me not as you wish, that perhaps there may be quarreling, jealousy, anger, hostility, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder. I fear that when I come again, my God may humble me before you, and I may have to mourn over many of those who sinned earlier and have not repented of the impurity, sexual immorality, and sensuality that they have practiced. So Paul is talking here about what sort of reception he's going to get when he visits next. And remember, he's sending this letter in advance of his visit. He's concerned that all the problems in their relationship will continue. They may still be listening to his critics, and Paul will find a really bad situation. And I think he's talking about his relationship with the Corinthians. He's afraid that when he gets there, instead of being received well, he's going to find strife, jealousy, anger, slander, gossip, and disorder. He's also afraid that God will humiliate him before the Corinthians. And I think he means there, he would be humiliated if after all the time and effort he spent on them, they reject the gospel. And he fears that might happen. What's part of the evidence that they have rejected the gospel? In particular, he's afraid he's going to find people who have refused to repent and refuse to listen to him, particularly concerning the issue of sexual immorality. Now we haven't seen a lot of talk about sexuality in 2 Corinthians, but we did see a lot about it in 1 Corinthians, which I will remind you was not written all that long before 2 Corinthians. There's not a great deal of time between these letters. In 1 Corinthians, opposition to Paul seemed to go hand in hand with leading an immoral lifestyle. If people can dismiss Paul, then they don't have to listen to what he says about morality and they don't have to give up their pagan ways. And Paul warned them about that. He's afraid that when he gets there, he's going to find they have abandoned his teaching and they are unrepentant and living the same immoral lifestyle that they were before. I think he's afraid that all this criticism about his unimpressive speaking style is really just a smokescreen for ignoring him and pursuing sexual impurity. And if that happens, it's going to be a very difficult visit. Which is what he talks about next. Let's look at 13, 1 through 4. This is the third time I am coming to you. Every charge must be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. I warned those who sinned before and all the others, and I warn them now while absent, as I did when present on my second visit, that if I come again I will not spare them, since you seek proof that Christ is speaking in me. He is not weak in dealing with you, but is powerful among you, for he was crucified in weakness, but lives by the power of God, for we also are weak in him, but in dealing with you we will live with him by the power of God. Paul quotes from Deuteronomy here the idea that every fact has to be confirmed by the testimony of two or three witnesses. And that sounds a little strange. Why is he quoting Deuteronomy? But if you stop and think about it, you can see what he's doing. It takes two or three witnesses to establish an accusation against someone. If one person charged another person with a crime, that wasn't enough evidence for the charge to hold in Jewish court. You had to have two or three witnesses who all agreed to make a charge stick. Well, I think Paul is taking off from that principle and treating each of his visits as if it was a witness. So first he came and lived with them for a year and he can bear witness to the problems he saw there. Then he came a second time for the painful visit, and he can bear witness a second time the problem was still there. And now he's coming for the third time, and if that problem still exists, this is like that third witness that the problem is real. So I think he's just taking off from this principle in Deuteronomy that it takes two or three witnesses to establish a fact, and he's saying, Well, I have two or three visits now to establish this fact. Part of the charge that he is meek in person seems to be fueled by the fact that he didn't deal with this problem during the painful visit. He left and he wrote them a letter instead. But now he tells us that during that painful visit, he warned them if he had to come back and deal with this again, he would be strict. And now in this letter, he's repeating that warning. He's writing this letter to prepare them for the fact that he is coming again. And when he comes again, this will be the third time he's warned them, he's seen this problem, and if he sees it again, he's going to deal with it. And I think he's somewhat sarcastically saying, you know, well, this is what you wanted, right? You you wanted proof that Christ is the one who speaks in me. My critics have charged me, Paul, with being meek and unimpressive and contemptible in speech. And you say you want me to act powerfully, well, get ready, because that's what's going to happen. That's how I'm going to respond if I find the same problem again. Now, as Paul has done in other places, he has this discussion of about weakness and power, and I would, it's kind of confusing, but this is how I would paraphrase that section. He says, in my paraphrase, you're seeking proof of the Christ who speaks in me. I know that you think of me as weak, but Christ who speaks in me is not weak, but has been working mightily among you through the gospel that I taught you. You would call dying on the cross weak, and yet the power of God raised him to life again. Well, that's like what's happening with me, power working through weakness. True, I am a weak man, but the power of God is directed toward you through my ministry. And ultimately, just as Christ lives, so I will live because of that same power. You've seen my understanding of the gospel. You've seen the impact of the gospel on sinners like yourselves. So if you want to talk about power, well, you've seen it. It's the power of the gospel that I taught you. But the other kind of power is wisdom and strength and integrity to stand for what is right in the face of opposition, and that kind of power I, Paul, will show you when I visit you next. Now Paul is turning the tables on them in five and six. He says, Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves, or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you, unless indeed you fail to meet the test? I hope you will find out that we have not failed the test. The Corinthians want Paul to prove that he speaks for Christ and Christ is working through him. They want Paul to prove essentially that he's really an apostle. Instead, Paul turns the tables and he says the real issue is whether Christ is working in you Corinthians. Now, I would like to pause and highlight what I think Paul is not saying here. Paul is not saying to the average believer, make sure that you're not kidding yourself about being a believer. If we don't pay attention to the rest of the letter, it is easy to read this as general advice to the average Christian. We might be tempted to think that Paul is telling us to live a life of constant self-examination. You believe the gospel, you try to live it out as best you can, but you have to keep putting yourself under a microscope and asking, do I really believe? That's not what he's saying. When you look at where this comes in the letter, I think it's pretty clear that's not his purpose. Paul is not suggesting that the normal Christian should spend every moment of their life or a good chunk of it questioning whether they're a believer or not. Remember the context, the situation. Paul is talking to people who either have rejected him or are in danger of rejecting him. They don't want to listen to him because he's not an impressive speaker. They don't want to listen to him because they don't want to repent of their sexually immoral lifestyle. They see themselves as superior to Paul because they look better by worldly standards. And Paul looks at that evidence and says, Are you believers at all? They have challenged Paul as to whether he's really an apostle from Jesus Christ, and he's turning it back on them and saying, What about you? Do you really believe in Christ? You reject his apostle. What does that say about you? That's the kind of self-examination he has in mind. They need to ask themselves, do I actually believe the gospel Paul taught me? And am I willing to live my life as if that's true? The gospel gives a very clear way of looking at the world, but if they reject it and they won't repent, then in what sense can they call themselves believers? And that's what Paul's asking them to think about. Why are you rejecting me? The fact that they so easily and contentedly embrace the world's values and reject an apostle chosen by God indicates there may be something seriously wrong about their claim to faith. So Paul is not saying to the average Christian, you better examine yourself. He's talking to people who are willfully in danger of rejecting the gospel and saying, you better examine yourself. Then he adds, Whatever may be true about you, I can confidently say that I am preaching the gospel God gave me, and I believe that gospel. You should have confidence that I, Paul, am an apostle, and I taught you the real gospel. The question is, do you believe it? Now, as we get to the very end of the letter, Paul repeats this idea that he is not concerned for his own reputation. Let's look at seven through ten. But we pray to God that you may not do wrong, not that we may appear to have met the test, but that you may do what is right, though we may seem to have failed. For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth. For we are glad when we are weak and you are strong. Your restoration is what we pray for. For this reason I write these things while I am away from you, that when I come, I may not have to be severe in my use of the authority that the Lord has given me for building up and not for tearing down. Now again, let me remind you one last time that Paul frequently speaks of himself in the first person plural, and that's what we're seeing here. You'll notice he switches between we and I, and he has not changed the subject. He is talking about himself in the first person plural. Now, what do we can't what does he add here? If Paul was concerned solely for his reputation, this would be a great time for him to come into Corinth and start throwing his weight around. But Paul hopes that the Corinthians will respond to this letter. He's sending this letter before his arrival, hoping they will listen and repent, so when he gets there, he won't need to be severe. He's prepared to be severe if he has to, but he wants them to do what is right more than he cares about how he looks. He wants them to embrace the truth. He says, If I look weak, but you Corinthians end up being strong in the faith, I would rejoice at that. That is the very thing I'm praying for you. God gave Paul authority, that's true, but it's not an authority to build himself up and make himself look significant and gain all the power in the room. It's an authority to build up the people of God, and that's what Paul wants to do. He's hoping he won't have to be severe, but if he has to, he will. He would rather they respond to this letter and repent, even if he loses the opportunity to be the big, powerful, authoritative apostle when he comes. Now our letter ends Finally, brothers, rejoice, aim for restoration, comfort one another, agree with one another, live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you. Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the saints greet you. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Now that's a striking way to end this letter because it's a very typical ending for Paul's letters, but it's tacked on to the end of this really contentious and somewhat fierce letter. He has great fears about what he's going to find when he finally arrives in Corinth. And his final admonition is basically believe the gospel and live it out. And that's what this string of verbs is. He says, rejoice. Well, the reason you rejoice is because of the hope of the gospel. And you can see that when you go through Paul's letters. When he talks about rejoicing, he's getting at the gospel. Let the gospel mean something to you. Let the hope promised in the gospel be so strong for you that you rejoice no matter what comes your way in life. He says, aim for restoration. That is, be made complete. Grow into a mature understanding of the gospel in your life. Let its implications reach into all areas of your life and teach you the truth and change you. Comfort one another, or better yet, encourage one another, which he's talked about in this letter. I think there the idea is let the truth of the gospel help you stand strong and firm in the midst of whatever difficulties you face. Be encouraged, be strengthened by your beliefs and your hope and understanding of the power of the gospel. He says, be like-minded. That is, may you all come to embrace the same gospel and live life from that same perspective. That's what he's getting at. He's not just saying agree on anything, it doesn't matter what, just agree on something. No, he wants them to all agree on the gospel. He wants them to come together around this shared vision of life. And then live in peace. Treat each other as brothers and sisters united in a common belief and seeking a common destiny. Paul never argues for getting along merely for the sake of getting along. It's always rooted in getting along because you see the world the same way, because all of you believe the gospel is true and you're striving to live like it. So what happened when Paul visited for the third time? Well, we know from Acts 20 that when Paul visited Corinth this third time, he stayed three months. That's all Acts tells us. But three months indicates that he was probably able to deal with the situation enough that he was welcomed and he stayed and they worked something out. So I think they found a happy ending. Well, let me sum up how Paul ends his letter here. He reminds the Corinthians that he's coming to visit them soon. Once again, he won't rely on their financial support for his living expenses, but the fact that he doesn't take their money does not mean that he cares about him less, and he is not taking money from them by other devious means. They have no reason to believe that. He won't take their money because he cares about them. Paul's worried about what he will find when he gets to Corinth. He's afraid that he will be received with fighting and gossip and arrogance and slander. He's afraid that he'll find people who refuse to repent. And if that's what he finds, then he will deal with that severely. He's been accused of being weak and ineffective, but he has argued the power of God has been at work in his ministry, and they can see that by the changes in their own lives. He's not concerned about his own personal reputation. He's not going there to make them acknowledge how great he is. He just hopes they repent and he doesn't care whether he looks bad or good in the process. But one way or another, it is time for the Corinthians to face reality. They need to test themselves and see what they really believe. In the end, it doesn't matter what they think about Paul, it matters what they think about the gospel he taught them. So, in many ways, this letter is about weakness and power. Paul's opponents don't see him as a powerful man. He doesn't attract people through the power and style of his rhetoric or his personality. He is meek, unimpressive in person, even when dealing with people who oppose him, and so they say, well, he can't be someone to take seriously. But Paul has a different idea about power and authority. He freely admits that he is just an ordinary man with many weaknesses. But the power of God is at work through his ministry, and that gives him a real authority. By the power of God, Paul has been given a profound understanding of the gospel. He knows what God is doing, he knows the way to eternal life, and he knows how we should live in light of the truth of the gospel. That is a real power which gives Paul real authority. Not just the appearance of authority, but the real thing. Because Paul has the unshakable authority that goes with knowing the truth. We should listen to him because he's right. He knows what God is doing because God taught him that. Now Paul understands that his authority is for. For building up others in the faith so he doesn't throw his weight around. He's not concerned over how he looks. He can deal with error because he knows the truth. Now I think this issue of appearance versus reality is something we ought to really think about. Paul doesn't have the appearance of authority, but he has real authority because God gave him an understanding of the truth. The Corinthians had to sort out this issue of appearance versus reality. The false teachers who came among them looked more impressive than Paul. But they had to ask, impressive by what standard? What are they really interested in? What in the end do they want from their teachers? And they were impressed by the wrong standards. And they had to face this issue of appearance versus reality when they looked at themselves. They claimed to be believers, but they didn't live like it. And Paul calls them to examine themselves and say, What do you really believe? Who are you really listening to? And ask whether this claim to faith that you made is real. This issue of appearance versus reality is one we all have to face. By the world's standards, the gospel doesn't look good. Paul didn't look good. The world and its heroes can seem to offer things that are more appealing, more compelling, more entertaining, easier, that kind of thing. And we have to face the same decision the Corinthians faced. What are we going to do with this gospel preached by Paul, the weak apostle to the Gentiles? Well, Paul claimed that the power of God was behind him and his gospel. He was a weak man serving a powerful God, and we would do well to listen to him. Thank you for listening to Wednesday in the Word, the podcast that explains not only what a passage means, but also shows you how to figure it out. The blog version of this podcast is on wednesdayintheword.com slash 2 Corinthians 1.7. You can hear all the episodes in this series on my website, wednesdayintheword.com. There is no charge, no spam, and no end. Just free resources to help you grow in your understanding of scripture and learn how to study it for yourself. If you've been blessed by this podcast, please follow it and review it on your favorite podcast platform. But most importantly, tell a friend what you learned and encourage them with it. And if you can, tell them where you learned it. Our theme music is graciously provided by my friend and favorite musician Reggie Coates. You can find Reggie's music on heartfeltmusic.org. Thank you for joining me today. I'm Krisan Marotta, and I'll see you again at Wednesday in the Word.