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Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realise that Christ Jesus is in you – unless, of course, you fail the test? ⁶ And I trust that you will discover that we have not failed the test. NIVUK

Examine yourselves to see if your faith is genuine. Test yourselves. Surely you know that Jesus Christ is among you; if not, you have failed the test of genuine faith. ⁶ As you test yourselves, I hope you will recognize that we have not failed the test of apostolic authority. NLT

Recently, I read a short biography of William Cowper, written by John Piper. Cowper was an outstanding poet and hymn-writer, but he was tortured by bouts of swamping depression. Whilst being sensitive to Cowper’s nature and condition, and not in any way wanting to judge him, one observation Piper makes is that it may be possible to be too introspective. This point certainly resonated with me.

That said, there is a legitimate place, in our life of discipleship, for self-examination. Here is a question which just about continually lies in the background of my thoughts, ‘Am I for real?’ This is not about obsessive naval-gazing, but I want to ensure that I’m not playing games. I can understand Paul exhorting the Corinthians to examine themselves, when they appeared to be quite tolerant of sin. But I believe this is a challenge for us all. It needn’t crush us. I’m certain that is not what God intends. There will always be some among us who are continually hard on themselves, so to know ourselves is also an important part of this quest. But there is a place for examining our hearts.

‘The Corinthians had been asking Paul for proof that the Messiah really was living and speaking in and through him (13.3). Paul has assured them that plenty of proof will be forthcoming if they are so bold as to challenge him in person. But now he turns the tables on them and suggests that they, too, should submit to a self-test. Before he arrives, they would be well advised to run through a checklist of the signs that indicate whether the Messiah’s life, his crucified and risen life, is present.’ Tom Wright

‘In our Christian lives one of the most important things we must do is to regularly examine ourselves (see 1 Corinthians 11:28) Are we in the faith? Are the fruits of our faith visible in our lives? Do we experience Christ living within us? Or do we fail the test? We must ask ourselves these questions.

But instead of examining ourselves, we spend more time examining our brother! Instead of looking for our own sin and confessing it, we prefer to look for our brother’s sin. We consider ourselves ”straight,” and our brother ”crooked.” When we do these things, how great is our sin!’ Tom Hale

This is the third time I am coming to you. Every charge must be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. ² I warned those who sinned before and all the others, and I warn them now while absent, as I did when present on my second visit, that if I come again I will not spare them— ³ since you seek proof that Christ is speaking in me. He is not weak in dealing with you, but is powerful among you. ⁴ For he was crucified in weakness, but lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but in dealing with you we will live with him by the power of God.

‘God will bear with an unrepentant sinner for a long time, but not forever!’ Tom Hale

This is Paul’s final warning to the church at Corinth. If we take everything into account that he writes in these later chapters, it is evident that he doesn’t want to come to them ”with a rod of discipline” (1 Cor.4:21). See also verse 10 in this chapter. He wants their repentance. But let them be in doubt that he will come with the power and authority of Christ to discipline, if necessary. The Corinthians had been demanding proof that Paul was a true apostle of Christ. He says to them, in effect, ‘Okay, if you don’t sort yourselves out, you’ll soon see that I have the full power and authority of Christ.’

You will no doubt remember that there was this accusation in the air, that Paul was weak when with them in person, but strong in his letters when at a safe distance. But the apostle reminds them of the Easter pattern. When Jesus was crucified He appeared weak, just like other crucifixion victims. But He was raised by God’s power and lives by that power. Paul also appears weak at times, but he lives by the power of God. Although he first came to Corinth in ”weakness” (1 Cor.2:3), and has dealt with them in ”meekness and gentleness” (2 Cor.10:1), he will now come, if he has to, in the power of Christ.

Easter provides the pattern for the whole of the Christian life, and it certainly supplies the template for church discipline. For what genuine leader does not tremble at the prospect of having to ‘grasp the nettle’?

This is the third time I am coming to you. Every charge must be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. ESVUK

For Paul, in the matter of church discipline, there had to be procedural correctness. This verse takes us back to Deuteronomy 19:15 (see also Matthew 18:16). Paul would not entertain an accusation brought by only one person. Also, as Tom Wright points out, a ‘witness’ is not someone who merely repeats someone else’s accusation. This person must have seen something with their own eyes, or heard it with their own ears. Otherwise it falls into the categories of slander and gossip. Furthermore, the witnesses must be in agreement. We must ensure that everything be done ”with decency and in order”. It is possible that false witnesses can arise within a local church, and injustice will dishonour our just and holy God.

 For I fear that perhaps when I come I may find you not as I wish, and that you may find me not as you wish—that perhaps there may be quarrelling, jealousy, anger, hostility, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder. ²¹ I fear that when I come again my God may humble me before you, and I may have to mourn over many of those who sinned earlier and have not repented of the impurity, sexual immorality, and sensuality that they have practised. ESVUK

There is an implied warning here of Paul maybe having to take disciplinary action on his next visit (see 1 Cor.4:21), if he finds blatant unrepentance in the church.

The sins he mentions (see also Mk.7:21-23; Gal.5:19-21), start in the individual heart, but can spread, like decay, through an entire congregation. Let us do a spiritual stock-take. Let’s examine our own hearts today, and seek to repent of any sin we find within. May God grant us the grace to nip bad things in the bud, before they grow to the point where they choke our spiritual life, and possibly ruin the church.

PRAYER: ”Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” Psalm 139:23,24

Thought: ”No matter how intentional you are to please God, you cannot live beyond what’s in your heart.’ Wale Olasoji

Have you been thinking all along that we have been defending ourselves to you? It is in the sight of God that we have been speaking in Christ, and all for your upbuilding, beloved. ESVUK

Ultimately, Paul was living ‘for an Audience of one.’ He spoke ”in the sight of God”. He wasn’t trying to justify himself to them. It certainly seems like Paul has been defending himself in this letter. It feels as if he had to. But in the most important sense he did not need to defend himself to them. They were not his judge and jury. Paul understood God to be his only Judge, and he was countering the attacks against him ”in the sight of God”.

Also, in the spirit of true parenthood, his speaking was in order to be helpful to them.

‘The reason he has worked hard to counter lies about him, Paul writes, is for their sake, in order to build them up. He calls them his beloved. He has been waging this war of words in order to persuade them that what he taught them about Christ is trustworthy and true. He doesn’t want them to be led away from Christ and into sin by these false teachers. If he needs to stand up for himself in order to save them, he will do it.’ BibleRef

Here for the third time I am ready to come to you. And I will not be a burden, for I seek not what is yours but you. For children are not bound to save up for their parents, but parents for their children. ¹⁵ I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls. If I love you more, am I to be loved less? ¹⁶ But granting that I myself did not burden you, I was crafty, you say, and got the better of you by deceit. ¹⁷ Did I take advantage of you through any of those whom I sent to you? ¹⁸ I urged Titus to go, and sent the brother with him. Did Titus take advantage of you? Did we not act in the same spirit? Did we not take the same steps? ESVUK

Everything is in readiness now for this, my third visit to you. But don’t worry about it; you won’t have to put yourselves out. I’ll be no more of a bother to you this time than on the other visits. I have no interest in what you have—only in you. Children shouldn’t have to look out for their parents; parents look out for the children. I’d be most happy to empty my pockets, even mortgage my life, for your good. So how does it happen that the more I love you, the less I’m loved?

And why is it that I keep coming across these whiffs of gossip about how my self-support was a front behind which I worked an elaborate scam? Where’s the evidence? Did I cheat or trick you through anyone I sent? I asked Titus to visit, and sent some brothers along. Did they swindle you out of anything? And haven’t we always been just as aboveboard, just as honest? The Message

At the heart of Christian ministry there lies parental-type love. It must have been heart-rending for Paul, who loved them so much, to not have that love fully returned. But parental love seeks to give and not to get. Parental love suffers many wounds – and hurts and weeps – but goes on loving.

‘Any human father desires to be loved by his children. He hopes that just as he has loved his children, his children will return his love. But even if the children do not show any love to their father, he will nevertheless, with tears, keep on loving them all the more. Paul’s love for the Corinthians was like that.’ Tom Hale

When the apostle asks, ”Did I take advantage of you…Did Titus take advantage of you?” these are rhetorical questions. He knows the answer is a resounding ‘No!’

Paul did not take any money from the Corinthians for his own support, but it was being said that his collection for the poor Christians in Jerusalem was ‘trickery’; that he was being ”crafty”. It was really for him after all. This must have cut him deeply. Like his Master, Paul knew the anguish of false witness.

It wasn’t true. It wasn’t fair. But it happens to good Christian leaders even now.

I have been a fool! You forced me to it, for I ought to have been commended by you. For I was not at all inferior to these super-apostles, even though I am nothing. ¹² The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with utmost patience, with signs and wonders and mighty works. ¹³ For in what were you less favoured than the rest of the churches, except that I myself did not burden you? Forgive me this wrong! ESVUK

If Paul was ‘credentialled’ by his sufferings, he was also marked out as a genuine apostle by all the miracles God did through him. But it is worth noting that signs and wonders are not a quick-fire route to ‘success’ (whatever that may look like in a given situation). All ministry requires ”utmost patience”. Growth takes time; and as we are about to see, it is a form of parenthood (14).

 Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. ⁹ But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. ¹⁰ For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. ESVUK

These verses bring us to the essence, the heartbeat of Paul’s theme in 2 Corinthians, and they also show the essential difference between Paul and those ”super-apostles” (11:5) who thought so highly of themselves and who were undermining him. Paul walked the way of the Cross. He did have a powerful ministry, in spite of any aspersions they cast upon him. But he experienced Easter Sunday power via Good Friday weakness.

Sometimes we pray earnestly for the removal of some difficulty, but God does not remove it because He knows better than us what is good for us (and also what will be good for others through us).

‘God gives us an answer to all our prayers, but He may not give us the answer we hoped for. His answer will be better for us than what we had hoped for. God answers our prayers not in the way we ask, but in a way that will lead to our greatest good. And He knows far better than we do how to achieve our greatest good. God always gives His children good gifts (Matthew 7:9-11). For Paul, that thorn was a ”good gift.” Tom Hale

Though if I should wish to boast, I would not be a fool, for I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain from it, so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me. ⁷ So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. ESVUK

It is a fact that God wants humble people in His service. It is also an irony that when he blesses someone with a profound spiritual experience, they are in danger of becoming ”conceited”, and there is also the possibility of others placing them on a pedestal – thinking of them more highly than they ought.

Jesus taught: ”For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted” (Matt,23:12; Lk.14:11). There’s a lot at stake here.

No one knows exactly what Paul’s ”thorn…in the flesh” was. Some believe it may have been the same malady to which he refers in Gal.4:13,14. But the truth is, we don’t know, and God must have a purpose in our not knowing. ‘Thorns’ come in different shapes and sizes. Anything the Lord uses to make us feel our weakness and be dependent on Him is for our good.

Although Paul also refers to his thorn as ”a messenger of Satan”, it is important to remember, as Martin Luther said, that the devil is always ‘God’s devil.’ He is on a chain, and although it may appear to be a long chain, He is under God’s control. He cannot touch us without God’s permission, and what God permits He uses for our good and His glory.