July 11, 2004

SECURE? EXAMINE YOURSELVES!

2 Corinthians 13:5

   "Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?" (2 Corinthians 13:5).

   Standing alone, this verse seems to call for a thorough self- examination, that one should look within and see if he is really saved? This is not a little unsettling since we realize, as did Paul, that "in me (that is, in my flesh) dwells no good thing...that sin dwells in me" (Rom. 7:18 & 20). Confirmation by looking within can sometimes be scary! This verse has been used in this way very many times with disastrous results! But is this the proper sense of the verse? Is this what Paul intended to conclude his letter to the Corinthian church? Not at all!

   Paul had been challenged by some in the church in Corinth such that they doubted the genuineness of his apostleship! They had been visited by men (false apostles 11:13) who promoted human wisdom and accomplishment and claimed to be apostles, greater than Paul. Since some in the church had given heed to them, Paul wrote, "Since ye seek a proof of Christ speaking in me, Which toward you is not weak, but mighty in you. For though [Christ] was crucified out of weakness, yet He lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in Him, but we shall live with Him by the power of God toward you," that is, toward these Corinthian believers! And to these saints he wrote, "Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves..." They themselves were the proof of Paul's apostleship! They were the fruit of his labor in the gospel of Christ in this idolatrous city. They had been brought out of the darkness of idolatry into the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ through him. Could there be a better proof of Paul's apostleship than their own conversions, the fruit of his preaching? They were genuine believers (even though presently confused and influenced in a wrong direction) and their own genuineness was such that Paul could continue, "But I trust that ye shall know that we are not reprobates." (2 Cor. 13:7). For, "the Spirit witnesses with our spirit, that we are the children of God" Rom. 8:16).

Ivan L. Burgener