2 Corinthians 13:1-4
1 This will be the third time I am coming to you. “By the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall be established.” 2 I have told you before, and foretell as if I were present the second time, and now being absent I write to those who have sinned before, and to all the rest, that if I come again I will not spare— 3 since you seek a proof of Christ speaking in me, who is not weak toward you, but mighty in you. 4 For though He was crucified in 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.
1 This will be the third time I am coming to you. “By the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall be established.” 2 I have told you before, and foretell as if I were present the second time, and now being absent I write to those who have sinned before, and to all the rest, that if I come again I will not spare— 3 since you seek a proof of Christ speaking in me, who is not weak toward you, but mighty in you. 4 For though He was crucified in 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.
As Paul said in 2 Cor.12:14, he says again that he is coming for a third time to minister to those in Corinth. He alludes to the test of a true witness being two or three and applies it to his testimony to them in three visits to validate what God is telling them through Paul. This time, however, he warns them that he will speak directly and with God’s authority to those continuing in sin. He will not spare the rod and spoil the spiritual child, in a sense. Our weakness allows God’s power through the crucified Christ to live through the ministry to be strong in word to others. This is the proof of Christ working through Paul and us; Christ crucified and risen, living in and through us.
No comments:
Post a Comment