Sunday School Lesson 2: Testing Our Faith, 2 Corinthians 13:5-11, March 10, 2024.
Key Text: Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves (2 Cor. 13:5).
The apostle Paul addressed his letter to the majority of the faithful brethren in the Corinthian Assembly who questioned his integrity. They would see the proof of his apostleship through the power of Christ working in Paul’s weakness who confirmed his joy “when we are weak, ye are strong…and this also we wish, even your perfection” v 9. Just as Paul’s critics prepared to examine him, to see if he was rightly related to Christ, Paul charged his brethren to “examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith” v 5 with the following areas of life: Those who are fit for communion with God may be known by conformity to His Law (Psalm 15); “To do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God” (Micah 6:8); the Beatitudes of Matthew 5:3-15, Suffereth long, Is kind, Vaunteth not itself, Not puffed up, Not easily provoked, Thinketh no evil, Rejoiceth not in iniquity, Rejoiceth in the truth, Beareth all thing, Believeth all things, Hopeth all things, and Endureth all things (1 Cor. 13:4-7); Meekness and temperance (Galations 5:22-23); True, Honest, Just, Pure, Lovely, Of good report, Of physical excellence, Worthy of praise, and Holy thinking (Philippians 4:8); True patience toward all men, Avoid paying back evil with evil, and Abstain from evil (1 Thessalonians 5:14-22); The promise to “they that hear and keep (obey) those things which are written” (Revelation 1:3). Paul subjected the brethren to the same scrutiny to “know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you…except ye be reprobates” v 5 to ascertain if they are genuine believers or fakes. Regardless of how the Corinthians would come out in the test, they are assured that the Apostle Paul was genuine. It was important that the Corinthian believers do that which was right in the eyes of God than an opportunity to see the “evidence” of Paul’s apostolic authority in terms of discipline.
Paul’s purpose for his letter was intentful under the Lord to “edification, and not destruction” v10. To those who really loved and appreciated Paul, he exhorted them to “be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace and God love and peace shall be with you” v 11. This provided an answer to the mature Corinthian who demonstrates contentment, unity and harmony; in contrast to the immature Corinthian who demonstrates unrest and quarreling. Paul’s benediction provided the fullness of God’s provision the doctrine of the Trinity, The deity of the Son, of the Father, and of the Holy Spirit affirmed by virtue of the relation of believers to one another, a threefold operation of Grace, Love, and Communion: “the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God , and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen” v 14. AMEN!
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