CHAPTER 13

(A.D. 60)

THE PROPOSED VISIT

¹This is the third time I am coming to you (a proposed visit). In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established (Deut. 19:15).

²I told you before, and foretell you, as if I were present, the second time (I told you these things on my second visit to you); and being absent now I write to them which heretofore have sinned (he is telling them to repent), and to all other, that, if I come again, I will not spare (if his counsel is ignored, which in reality is the Counsel of God, Judgment will come):

³Since you seek a proof of Christ speaking in me (his Apostleship was being questioned), which to you-ward is not weak, but is mighty in you. (The Gospel Paul preached had changed their lives. That was proof enough!)

⁴For though He was Crucified through weakness (Christ purposely did not use His Power), yet He lived by the Power of God (was Resurrected; we have this power at our disposal as well [Rom. 8:11]). For we also are weak in Him (regarding our personal strength and ability), but we shall live with Him by the Power of God toward you. (This refers to our everyday life and living, which we do by constant Faith in the Cross. This gives the Holy Spirit latitude to work mightily in our lives.)

WARNING OF SIN

⁵Examine yourselves, whether you be in the Faith (the words, the Faith, refer to Christ and Him Crucified, with the Cross ever being the Object of our Faith); prove your own selves. (Make certain your Faith is actually in the Cross, and not other things.) Know you not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you (which He can only be by our Faith expressed in His Sacrifice), except you be reprobates? (Rejected.)

⁶But I trust that you shall know that we are not reprobates. (If he was a reprobate, as his skeptics claimed, then they were as well, which of course is preposterous.)

⁷Now I pray to God that you do no evil (Paul is speaking specifically about the Corinthians siding with the opponents who claimed him to be a reprobate); not that we should appear approved (the Apostle is saying he is not interested in whether people approve of him or not, but that he be approved of Christ), but that you should do that which is honest (the Corinthians must follow correct Doctrine), though we be as reprobates (irrespective that some may think we are reprobates).

⁸For we can do nothing against the Truth (will not shade the Truth of the Cross in order to appease some), but for the Truth. (We must stand firm for the Truth.)

⁹For we are glad, when we are weak, and you are strong (his recognized weakness caused him to depend on the Lord, meaning he trusted in the Cross and was able to impart this knowledge of the Cross to the Corinthians, which made them strong): and this also we wish, even your perfection (maturity).

¹⁰Therefore I write these things being absent, lest being present I should use sharpness (when he comes to Corinth, he doesnt want to have to use sharpness, believing the problems will have been solved), according to the power which the Lord has given me to edification, and not to destruction. (If they accept that which the Lord gave him, they would be edified. If not, destruction would be the result.)

BENEDICTION

¹¹Finally, Brethren, farewell. Be perfect (mature), be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of Love and Peace shall be with you. (All of this can be done by constant Faith evidenced in the Cross of Christ.)

¹²Greet one another with an holy kiss (the custom at that time).

¹³All the Saints (probably those in Philippi) salute (greet) you.

¹⁴The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ (made possible by the Cross), and the Love of God (shown by the fact of the Cross), and the Communion of the Holy Spirit (which we can constantly have by continually exhibiting Faith in the Cross), be with you all. Amen.