2 Corinthians 13

2 Corinthians 13:1

“I’m coming to you again. Hopefully, you’re getting the message. If you’re not, I will have to deal with you severely,” said Paul.

2 Corinthians 13:3

When Jesus was crucified, they thought He was weak, but three days later, He rose again. “So, too,” Paul says, “you look at us as weak, but when we come back, you’ll see His power flowing through us.” Why is Paul being so stern? Because this is what it took to get these people to understand that they were being duped, sucked in by false teachers.

2 Corinthians 13:5

“You’re criticizing us, finding fault with us,” Paul says, “but here’s what you should do: Examine yourself. Are you in the faith?” The implication is sobering. There can be those who come to church week after month after year after decade but who are not saved. How do you know if you’re in the faith? Read on. Is Christ in you? It’s not a matter of religion, but of relationship. It’s not a question of theology, but of intimacy. It’s not knowing about Jesus intellectually, but knowing Him personally.

2 Corinthians 13:6

“Look at us and see how Christ lives in us, how He’s given guidance to us,” says Paul. “And even if you don’t buy our ministry, we still hope you’ll do what’s right.”

2 Corinthians 13:8

“If we’re weak but you’re strong, we are glad. If you’re doing good, even though we’re going through hard times, we rejoice.” The tendency of many of us would be to say, “I hope you get judged.” Not Paul. He says, “I hope things will be perfect for you, that you’ll walk in maturity, that you’ll do excellently.” The only way Paul could have had that kind of heart for this kind of people is if he did what he said he didif he prayed for them continually. When you want to see someone get wiped out because they’ve done you wrong, pray God’s best blessing upon his life. When you pray for the people who irritate you, your heart changes toward them. Oh, they might be changed in the process as wellbut whether or not that happens, you will be changed, for one cannot be angry, hostile, or mad at those for whom he consistently prays. When you pray for people, you find your own heart desiring their perfection. You want their best.

2 Corinthians 13:10

“I’m writing these things to you that you might make corrections now,” said Paul, “so we won’t have to come to you and bewail your condition.”

2 Corinthians 13:11

And so we come to the end of this second Corinthian lettera beautiful and heartwarming ending to what was sometimes a necessarily brutal and heart-rending Epistle. Paul’s closing statement begins with some simple and solid exhortations"be of good comfort; be of one mind; live in peace." And then he shares with them the wonderful ramification that if they do these things, the God of love and peace would be with them. He follows this with an encouragement for warm but godly affection when he tells them to greet one another with a holy kiss, and then gives a message of affirmation to them when he tells them that, rather than being down on them, all the saints salute them. Finally, he gives them a beautiful and blessed benediction by saying, “The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you all.” No doubt, the hearts of the Corinthians would be encouraged and inspired by these warm words of Paul. Mine is. But there is one phrase that troubles me greatly. And I bet it troubled the Corinthians as wellfor in the midst of Paul’s beautiful benediction and heartwarming affirmation are words that cause within me a real consternation: Be perfect. Why couldn’t Paul have said, “Be happy,” or “Be good,” or “Be all that you can be”? Why did he have to say, “Be perfect”? If you have a newer translation, perhaps your Bible renders this phrase, “Be mature.” Other paraphrases read, “Grow up.” And while these are both close to the meaning, linguistically, the word Paul uses encompasses more than maturity or growth. It means, literally, “Be perfect.” We can seek to sidestep it. We can try to get around it, but it means just what it says. The implications are amazing, for if the Scriptures tell you and me that we are to be perfect, to do what’s right, it must mean that in every situation there is right and there is wrong. This should be obvious to us, but there’s a point in the history of Israel when the Lord sent the prophet Isaiah to indict the people concerning this very issue. Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!Isa_5:20 At this juncture in their history, the people of Israel were confused in their understanding of right and wrong. They were entirely mixed up in their morality. So the prophet Isaiah thunders, “Woe to those in your society who say that light is dark and dark light, who are all mixed up in their morals and ethics.” We see the same thing in our own culture. Even as people argue for traditional family values, we still miss the mark. Why? Because values are subjective. For example, I value my Volkswagen van. But you and I could argue indefinitely about what the value is because of the subjective nature of values. No, the issue is not values. The issue is perfection. What is perfect? The law of the Lord is perfect (Psa_19:7). Given to us by God rather than generated within the mind of man, the law of God is nonnegotiable. The law of the Lord is perfect. “Be ye perfect,” Jesus said, “even as your Father in heaven is perfect” (Mat_5:48). But He had already defined His terms when He said, “Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you’ll not enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Mat_5:20). There are two ways to go about trying to be perfect. You can steel yourself morally and ethically by placing rules and regulations around yourself. Then you’ll be like a man in a bathyspherethose big balls made out of cast iron with walls six inches thickexploring the deepest trenches of the Pacific Ocean. Yet as you sit cramped and confined within your bathysphere, what will you see? Little fish with extremely thin skin swimming around totally free. How can these fish survive such depths? The answer is simple: The pressure within them is equal to the pressure outside of them. There are those on the Religious Right who say, “We’re going to construct iron plates of rules and regulations around us.” But there’s a better way. Christ in us is the hope of glory (Col_1:27). It’s not the law outside of us, but the Lawgiver, the Lover of our Soul, Christ Jesus in us who will whisper to us, “Why are you going in there? Why are you watching that? Why are you thinking those thoughts? Let Me show you a better way of thinking, of speaking, of acting, of living.” “I will write My will in your heart,” God declared (Jer_31:33). And He does so through His Spirit who dwells within us. My bathysphere has sprung a leak or two along the way. So has yours. But when Jesus Christ died for our sin, He paid the price for the leaks we’ve sprung, for every mistake we’ve made. Thus, it is through Him and Him alone that we can be perfect by being perfectly forgiven. Amen!