Week 45 2 Corinthians 13
Near the very end of the letter Paul recommended a self-administered examination: test yourself to see if you are in the faith. Examine yourself.
If I’m testing to see whether I’m in-the-faith then I figure I need to know what I’m testing myself against. So I started looking in the last nine verses of the letter for specific suggestions.
In those final verses Paul does specify a couple of general things (I’m a bit disappointed since I want specifics…not generalities). But anyway what I get is a) one long suggestion and then b) a couple of shorts ones mashed together in one verse.
The first is: do nothing wrong…do what is right. So that’s a pretty good tip-off about what I’m testing for (Paul talks a bit more about this two-sides-of-the-same-coin idea – do right & don’t do wrong – in the next three verses).
Then there’s a group of short suggestions: finally…rejoice. Become mature, be encouraged, be of the same mind, be at peace. I reformat it:
Rejoice
Become mature
Be encouraged
Be of the same mind
Be at peace.
So those are some of the categories I’m aiming for. Big principles. Comprehensive ideas. Things I have to mine for specifics. But they at least point me in the right direction when I test myself and ask: am I in the faith?
Note: quotes from 2 Corinthians 13:5 (I changed the plural yourselves to singular) & 13:7 11 (CSB).