Sermon Notes

March 10th 2024

Thoughts on the Sunday School Lesson March 10th

Sustaining our Faith / 2 Corinthians 13:5-11 (MSG)

13 5-9 Test yourselves to make sure you are solid in the faith. Don’t drift along taking everything for granted. Give yourselves regular checkups. You need firsthand evidence, not mere hearsay, that Jesus Christ is in you. Test it out. If you fail the test, do something about it. I hope the test won’t show that we have failed. But if it comes to that, we’d rather the test showed our failure than yours. We’re rooting for the truth to win out in you. We couldn’t possibly do otherwise. We don’t just put up with our limitations; we celebrate them, and then go on to celebrate every strength, every triumph of the truth in you. We pray hard that it will all come together in your lives.10 I’m writing this to you now so that when I come I won’t have to say another word on the subject. The authority the Master gave me is for putting people together, not taking them apart. I want to get on with it, and not have to spend time on reprimands. 11 And that’s about it, friends. Be cheerful. Keep things in good repair. Keep your spirits up. Think in harmony. Be agreeable. Do all that, and the God of love and peace will be with you for sure. (The Message)

INTRODUCTION TO THE LESSON

This week’s lesson explores how Paul instructs the Christians in Corinth to examine the substance of their faith to ensure that they are “solid.” For Paul, being solid in the faith includes the ability to discern false teachers, distinguish incorrect theology/doctrine, practice forgiveness and reconciliation, and embrace God’s grace as experienced within suffering. Ultimately, these are the practices will help the Corinthian Church to “test their faith” in order to “sustain their faith.” Likewise, contemporary Christians must be willing to examine and test our faith to ensure that it is mature and genuine. If we are unwilling to routinely examine ourselves, we in danger of falling prey to false teaching. Further, we can potentially harm other Christians because we fail to consistently check motives, behaviors, and errant theology that might endanger the spiritual health of the body of Christ. An examined faith is a sustained and sustaining faith.

BACKGROUND/CONTEXT OF THE LESSON

2 Corinthians is not Paul’s second letter to the church in Corinth. In fact, it is a compilation of several communiques—written and verbal reports—that Paul has shared with the church that he founded in Corinth within the Acacian province of the Roman Empire. Unlike other Pauline epistles, the Corinthian Correspondence—what scholars call 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, and fragments of other letters that are found within these writings—includes more than one authentic letter which allows us to reconstruct Paul’s relationship with the church in Corinth over an extended period of time.
When read together, the Corinthian Correspondence reveals that Paul’s relationship with the church was severely damaged on an unplanned trip that he made to Corinth in response to the Corinthians’ refusal to change their behavior after receiving 1 Corinthians from Timothy. On this second visit, a member of the church treated Paul terribly and the other members did not initially rebuke his actions (2 Cor. 2:1-11). Wounded, Paul leaves Corinth for Ephesus, and writes a “letter of tears” (2 Cor. 2:4) chastising the Corinthians for their indifference to this person’s behavior. Paul says he is forced to “foolishly boast” to defend his authority as an apostle. (Based on literary evidence and the rhetorical structure of Paul’s language, many scholars believe 2 Cor. 10:1–13:10 could be that “letter of tears”.) Further complicating the situation, Paul also mentions “super apostles” that have infiltrated the Corinthian Church and deceived the members by preaching “another Jesus” and “another gospel” that significantly differs from Paul’s teaching. After the Corinthians receive the “letter of tears,” they repent and severely discipline the one who disrespectfully offended Paul or, “did the wrong” (2 Cor. 7:12).
In the chapter immediately preceding the lesson text—Corinthians 12—Paul summarizes his “foolish boasting” by confirming that he (and his fellow apostles) are concerned solely with God’s approval, not the approval of people. They conduct their ministry “before God, revealed in Christ (2 Cor. 12:19)”. His goal is not to build himself up or increase his financial wealth, but to build up the Corinthians. Paul speaks only on his own behalf as an apostle, because rejecting or distancing himself from his apostleship would be devastating to the investment he has made in the Corinthians’ spiritual lives. Paul affirms that it’s the Corinthians who must prove themselves by accepting his rebuke and making a genuine shift in their attitudes and behavior.
Because Paul has previously described the earlier Corinthian Christians as spiritually gifted with every gift of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 1:7-9), yet spiritually immature and fragmented (1 Cor. 1:10-31), the closing verses of 2 Corinthians 12 remind us that gifts are insufficient if they are not used properly. This has been the cause of the suffering of the Corinthian Christians; the reason why they could be so easily manipulated by false teachers, and the reason why they have been a source of grief to Paul—professionally and personally. In 2 Corinthians 13:1-4, Paul reminds the Corinthians of his upcoming third visit, warning of a firm rebuke if their behavior has not improved. This is where the lesson text picks up.

INTO THE LESSON

5-9 Test yourselves to make sure you are solid in the faith. Don’t drift along taking everything for granted. Give yourselves regular checkups. You need firsthand evidence, not mere hearsay, that Jesus Christ is in you. Test it out. If you fail the test, do something about it. I hope the test won’t show that we have failed. But if it comes to that, we’d rather the test showed our failure than yours. We’re rooting for the truth to win out in you. We couldn’t possibly do otherwise. We don’t just put up with our limitations; we celebrate them, and then go on to celebrate every strength, every triumph of the truth in you. We pray hard that it will all come together in your lives.
In the first verses of the lesson, Paul centers the closing remarks of this epistle with highlighting several challenges. The first is that his readers test themselves to see whether they are in the faith (verse 5). Some would discourage anyone questioning the reality of their faith, as though this might raise unhealthy doubts. However, Paul does not hesitate to challenge the Corinthians to examine themselves to see if they are in the faith. The two Greek words that are translated as “examine” and “testing” are peirazó (πειράζω) and dokimazo (δοκιμάζω), which mean to put to the test, prove, examine, or scrutinize, in order to ensure that one is fit or approved. Paul says the Corinthians should test whether or not they are actually living in the faith and that the author of their faith—Jesus Christ—is living in them.
Paul’s challenge that the Corinthians test themselves to see whether they are “in the faith” implies it is possible for someone to know if they are saved. Further, Paul does not specify what the “test” is to know whether one is saved. There is good reason for this. One who is willing to accept Paul’s challenge and “take the test” is reminded of what constitutes being “in the faith” or “out of the faith.” Paul says those who are “in the faith” are those of whom he can say, “Christ is in you.” This is a direct reference to the nature of the Gospel that he preached in Corinth which is in tension with the Gospel that the super apostles are preaching.
It appears that one of the problems in the Corinthian Church is that some find the Gospel that Paul preaches (“Christ crucified”—1 Cor. 1:23) too simplistic and not appealing. When the super apostles came preaching a new gospel some of the Corinthians did not even recognize the switch that had occurred (2 Cor. 11:3-4). But when the “gospel” becomes “Christ or …” or “Christ and ….,” it is not the Gospel Paul preaches, but a “gospel” which keeps us from ever knowing for certain that we are “in the faith.”
Apart from the ministry of Jesus Christ, Paul argues that all people are sinners, deserving of God’s eternal wrath. Because of Jesus, Christians are now freed from the penalty of sin and have become alive to righteousness. Thus, when we test ourselves, we must ask ourselves, “Does the salvation provision of our belief system depend on us, our status, our performance, our works, or upon Christ?”
If we recognize that apart from Christ, we are “dead in our trespasses and sins,” and that we are saved by faith—not by our good works—and that we are “in Christ” (Ephesians 2:1-10), then we can know that we are saved. Nothing can change this, for our salvation depends only on Christ and what He has already accomplished on the cross of Calvary and in His resurrection from the dead.
If the Corinthians “examine [themselves] to see if [they] are in the faith,” and find assurance of their own salvation, they can hardly question the salvation of Paul who first brought the Gospel to them, and through whose ministry they were initially saved. This is the reason Paul says in verse 6 that he trusts they will realize that he and his colleagues in ministry have not failed the test either.
In verse 9, Paul concludes with another prayer. In the MSG version it reads: We pray hard that it will all come together in your lives. However, in Greek the last portion, “coming together in your lives,” is one word: katartisis (κατάρτισις), which means, one that is “completed, strengthened, or instructed.” Paul essentially prays that the Corinthians would return to the faith that they originally embraced.
10 I’m writing this to you now so that when I come I won’t have to say another word on the subject. The authority the Master gave me is for putting people together, not taking them apart. I want to get on with it, and not have to spend time on reprimands. 11 And that’s about it, friends. Be cheerful. Keep things in good repair. Keep your spirits up. Think in harmony. Be agreeable. Do all that, and the God of love and peace will be with you for sure.
In the closing verses of this epistle, Paul again tells the Corinthians that he is praying for them so they will do what is right. Having once more assured the Corinthians of his benevolence and genuine love, Paul returns to his final exhortations. Notice several things about these instructions:
• Paul offers commands, not mere suggestions. All the verbs that Paul employs in verse 11 are grammatically verbal imperatives. He makes it clear that the Corinthians must do what he requests.
• These commands are offered within the context of suffering and adversity. Every one of Paul’s commands has a direct relationship to the life of self-sacrifice and suffering that Jesus embraced. For Christians, living in Jesus Christ means we are willing to also embrace self-sacrifice and suffering. (Consider Paul’s discussion of his own “thorn in the flesh” in 2 Cor. 12: 6-10).
• Paul prays that God’s presence empowers the Corinthians. Paul knows that apart from the enabling of the Holy Spirit, these imperatives are impossibilities, and thus he prays that God will enable that which God requires.
• We are required to cooperate with God so God’s work will be completed in us. Although we depend upon God, God expects us to obey and cooperate to accomplish the work God is doing in and through us. Are we troubled and afflicted? We must believe that God will comforts us. It is God who will complete what has already begun in us (Philippians 1:6). We are yet able to “be made complete.”
• These commands are linked to a promise for those who obey them. The presence of God is promised to those who trust and obey God amid their trials and tribulations. “Do all that, and the God of love and peace will be with you for sure.”
As Christians, encouraging each other to self-examination and self-testing is a crucial component of spiritual growth. We should love one another enough to hold each other accountable. There is always room for improvement—none of us are perfect or complete. However, we should be careful that calls for accountability do not devolve into judgement. To employ the story that Jesus tells to discourage judgement, before we call out the “speck in a brother or sister’s eye,” we must recognize, “the plank in our own eye” (Matthew 7:3.) Personal examination/testing is not only the antidote for judgement, but also the means for sustaining our faith.

FOOTNOTE

i. See David E. Fredrickson’s article, “2 Corinthians,” in Gale A. Yee’s, Fortress Commentary on the Bible: Two Volume Set (p. 3025). Fortress Press. Kindle Edition.

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