A Stern Warning
13: 1-10
A stern warning DIG: What role should the congregations of God and their leaders play in holding believers accountable for spiritual growth? What is the responsibility of the individual when challenged to grow spiritually? What does it mean to “examine yourselves to see if you are in the faith?” Why do you think this is necessary for believers to do?
REFLECT: How is discipline an act of love? If ADONAI failed to discipline His children, would He be viewed as weak or strong? Explain. How might a person test their faith? Why would it be important for them to do so? How would you go about examining yourself? It is common practice to take a “spiritual inventory?” How often should you do such a thing?
Examine yourselves to see whether you are living the life of faith. Test yourselves.
The church in the grossly wicked city of Corinth faced a crisis. Most of its members had come to Messiah out of paganism and idolatry (see the commentary on First Corinthians, to see link click Ce – The Pagan Background of Counterfeit Spiritual Gifts) and brought some of those immoral practices into the church. In First Corinthians, Paul had confronted a long list of sins they were still engaged in. And as if that weren’t enough, the false apostles (see Af – The Problem of the False Apostles) who had invaded the Corinthian church were leading it astray into further sin. The apostle was deeply concerned, not for the church’s cultural relevance, but for its holiness. He knew that if the Corinthians failed to lead godly lives, the church would dishonor the Lord and be spiritually ineffective. Any church that tolerates sin (see the commentary on Revelation Bc – The Church at Thyatira) will be lifeless; therefore, Paul discussed the method of church discipline and a plea for self-examination.
A warning of impending discipline (13:1-4): For the third time in successive verses (12:20, 12:21 and 13:1a) – each near the beginning of the verse – Paul signals his intention to come to visit them. Despite his determination not to come to them again in grief (2:1), that is, to deal with unrepented sin with severe discipline, it appeared that just such a visit was a reality.291 Thus, Paul laid down a biblical principle that he, as a Jew speaking to a largely Gentile congregation, was very familiar with: Any charge must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses (13:1b). Church discipline is not a witch-hunt, where people’s reputations are destroyed by flimsy, unsupported allegations. Because ADONAI is a God of justice (Isaiah 30:18), He has designed a discipline process that is both thorough and fair. Paul’s chastening of the unrepentant sinners at Corinth would be carried out in strict accordance with God’s Torah (Deuteronomy 19:15). No one was to be put out of the church until a thorough four-step process had been completed (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Gi – If Brother or Sister Sins, Go and Point Out Their Fault).292
Paul now concludes what he began in 12:20, foreshadowing his impending visit to Corinth. Once again – for the fourth time in four consecutive verses – Paul declares his intention to come to Corinth. The impact of this repetition upon the hearers of the letter would leave no doubt as to Paul’s imminent final visit.293 To those who sinned in the past and to the rest I say beforehand while absent the same thing I said when I was with you on my second sorrowful visit (2:1): if I come again, I will not spare you (13:2).
The most important reason for church discipline lies in Ha’Shem’s often repeated charge to His people: Be holy, for I am Holy (Leviticus 11:44-45; Deuteronomy 6:17-18; First Peter 1:15-16 and 2:9-12). Church discipline is sometimes necessary to help believers purify themselves from everything that can defile either body or spirit, and strive to be completely holy, out of reverence for God (7:1). God Himself disciplines His people so they can share His holiness (see the commentary on Hebrews Cz – God Disciplines His Children). As part of that process, God has given the Church the responsibility of disciplining its sinning members. That is such a basic element of the Church’s life that Paul was outraged when the Corinthians failed to discipline one of their members who was living in unrepentant immorality (see the commentary on First Corinthians Ba – Failure to Discipline an Immoral Brother).294
The goal of every faithful Messianic rabbi or pastor is to allow the Messiah to speak through him. That does not happen through an audible voice but through the proclamation of God’s Word. The Corinthians were right in looking for proof that Messiah did, in fact, speak through those who claimed to be apostles (Revelation 2:2). Unfortunately, they were measuring them by the wrong standards. Paul didn’t display the forceful personality traits that marked the proud, arrogant false apostles , which impressed many of the Corinthians; therefore, some demanded convincing proof of his apostleship. So Paul compared himself to Messiah, who in His humanity took on weakness. He is not weak in dealing with you, but he is powerful among you. For although He was executed on the cross in weakness, now he lives by God’s power. Returning to his warning, Paul told the Corinthians that the power of God that raised Messiah would be directed toward his enemies when he visited Corinth again (13:3-4). He would be like the Lord, who warned the church at Pergamum: Therefore, repent! Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against you with the sword of My mouth (Revelation 2:16).295
Dear Heavenly Father, Praise Your love that so mercifully forgives the repentant sinner. Your complete forgiveness of our sins is so awesome! What a joy and comfort that when in holy fear we repent by telling You how very sorry we are for our wrong action , You put our sins where they can never touch. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His mercy for those who fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. (Psalm 103:11-12).
Repentance is like a sparkling jewel that is given to show deep regret and love. Though repenting takes a humble heart, it is well worth it for then the wrong is cleaned, forgiven and the relationship is restored. It is so important to stay clean in our relationship with You. Sin hampers any relationship and we want to always be walking in a way that pleases You. You are such a wonderful father and we so delight in pleasing You! In Your holy Son’s name, Yeshua, and the power of His resurrection. Amen
A plea for self-examination (13:5-10): Rather than demanding proof that Messiah was speaking through Paul, the Corinthians ought to be examining themselves to find out if they were continuing true to the faith. Examine yourselves to see whether you are living the life of faith. Test yourselves. Don’t you realize that Yeshua the Messiah is in you (13:5)? Like Paul, the writer to the Hebrews well understood the danger of self-deception. Some of the people he addressed in his letter were intellectually convinced of the truth of the Gospel but uncommitted to Messiah. He called them to examine the extreme danger they were in if they didn’t step over the line from knowledge to faith (see the commentary on Hebrews Al – How Shall We Escape If We Ignore So Great a Salvation). However, Paul knew that the majority of the Corinthians were genuine believers and would therefore pass the test (13:6).
Therefore, as believers, we need to give ourselves a regular spiritual check-up. God places a high value on the habit of self-evaluation. At least five times in Scripture we are told to test and examine our own spiritual health. To maintain your physical health, you need regular check-ups with a doctor who can assess your vital signs – blood pressure, temperature, weight, and so on. For your spiritual health you need to regularly check the five vital signs of worship, fellowship, growth in character, ministry and mission. Jeremiah advised: Take a good look at the way you are living and reorder our lives under God (Lamentations 3:40 The Message).296
As he closed his letter, Paul summarized the elements necessary for spiritual growth. If they were going to be conformed into the image of Messiah (Romans 8:29), they needed to deal with their sin. In this passage, Paul concludes the main body of his letter by addressing two more essential elements of the sanctification process: obedience and integrity.
Obedience (13:7-9a): And we pray to God that you will do nothing wrong. His prayer was that the Corinthians’ obedience would make it unnecessary for him to come to wield his authority and discipline them, or if he came, they would have repented so that there would be nothing to confront. Overshadowing this passage as they have the entire letter, were the false apostles who were influencing the Corinthians. Many in the congregation had become enamored with them, and as a result, they were partially successful in undermining the church’s loyalty to Paul. As Paul wrote this letter to affirm his authenticity in the face of those vicious attacks, he was not jealously guarding his own reputation. But he was very aware that if the church turned away from him, it would also be turning away from Messiah. We are not concerned with our appearing successful, but with doing what is right, even if we appear to be failures. Paul would gladly appear as a failure if the Corinthians’ obedience removed the need for him to display his apostolic power. Their purity and obedience were far more important than how others viewed him. Let the false apostles and their deceived followers go on considering him disqualified as an apostle; as long as the majority were living in obedience to the truth, Paul was content. For we cannot act against the truth, only for it. Loving the truth means honoring it, and Paul would not hesitate to confront those who strayed from it. Paul’s willingness to be perceived as weak as long as his spiritual children were strong (First Corinthians 4:9-13) prompted him to write: So, we rejoice whenever we are weak and you are strong (13:7-9a). His concern was that the Corinthians be obedient and strong (First Corinthians 16:13; Ephesians 6:10).
Integrity (13:9b): Indeed, we pray that you become complete (Greek: Katartisis, meaning prepared, equipped, or fully qualified). The related verb katartizo (13:11) has the basic idea of putting things in order, in their proper place, or restoring or fixing something that is broken. This quality of integrity or completeness sums up the elements previously mentioned: repentance (12:20-21), confronting sin through church discipline (13:1-2); submission to authority (13:3-4), authenticity (13:5-6), and obedience (13:7-9a). Perhaps the English word integrity best expresses the meaning of katartisis in this passage. A person with integrity is one whose thoughts, beliefs, words, and actions are all in perfect harmony. For the believer, integrity involves having every area of life in submission to the truth of God’s Word; not being perfect mind you, but with nothing consistently out of sync. Since the perfect picture of integrity is the Lord, who knew no sin (5:21), the goal of integrity is to be like Him. As David wrote: ADONAI, who can rest in your tent? Who can live on your holy mountain? Those who live a blameless life, who behave uprightly, who speak truth from their hearts and keep their tongues from slander; who never do harm to others or seek to discredit neighbors; who look with scorn on the vile, but honor those who fear ADONAI; who hold to an oath, no matter the cost; who refuse usury when they lend money and refuse a bribe to damage the innocent. Those who do these things never will be moved (Psalm 15:1-5).297
Finally, in 13:10 Paul concludes the main body of his letter with what is, in effect, a summary in one-sentence: I write these things while away from you, so that when I am with you I will not have to use my authority to deal sharply with you, for the Lord gave it to me for building up and not for tearing down (Greek: kathairesis, meaning destruction or demolition). This was his final stern warning. If some of the Corinthians persisted in their sin and defiance of the Word and will of the Lord – he would not hesitate to act. He fervently hoped they would heed the warnings in this letter so his third visit would be different than his second one, which was so sad and painful for him (2:1).
Did Paul succeed? Did the Corinthians heed his warnings, repent, and turn away from the false apostles? Did they welcome Paul on his third visit? The apostle did, as he promised, visit Corinth again. Acts 20:2-3 records that he spent three months in Greece. Since 20:2 says he came to Greece from Macedonia (the northern part of Greece), and when he left, he finally arrived in Greece (or Achaia, meaning the southern part of Greece). Since Corinth was located in Achaia, Paul undoubtedly spent most or all of that three-month period in that city. Though the B’rit Chadashah offers no specific details of that visit, four lines of evidence suggest that the Corinthians responded positively to his letter and his visit to them was the joyful one Paul had hoped for.
First, Paul wrote Romans during that three-month stay in Corinth. The references to Phoebe, Gaius and Erastus were made in Romans 16 because they were friends of Paul in Corinth. But more importantly, nowhere in Romans did Paul express any concerns about the situation in Corinth. That implied that things were calm and peaceful while he was there.
Second, Paul wrote to the Romans about his plan to visit Spain via Rome (Romans 15:24). If things were still chaotic in Corinth, it is unlikely that he would have had imminent plans to leave there.
Third, Romans 15:26-27 indicates that the Achaians (as noted above, Corinth was in Achaia) had responded to Paul’s appeal regarding the collection for the Messianic community in Jerusalem (see Bm – The Call to Complete the Collection). The Corinthians would not likely have made that contribution (especially handing it over to Paul) if they still harbored doubts about whether he was a true apostle.
Finally, the inclusion of Second Corinthians in the B’rit Chadashah canon argues that the Corinthians responded favorably to the letter. If it failed to achieve its purpose, it would not likely have been accepted by the Church as Scripture.
This letter, in which Paul poured out his heart to the Corinthians, achieved its goal of reconciling them to him. Like the rest of Scripture, it will infallibly achieve what ADONAI designed it to achieve. As YHVH declared through His prophet Isaiah, “For just as rain and snow fall from the sky and do not return there, but water the earth, causing it to bud and produce, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater; so is my Word that goes out from my mouth – it will not return to me unfulfilled; but it will accomplish what I intend, and cause to succeed what I sent it to do” (Isaiah 55:10-11).298
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