Monday 26th June
Read 2 Corinthians 13:5-6
“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)
Perhaps it is Paul’s use of legal language from Deuteronomy (v1) that prompts this final appeal. The Corinthians church has been in the judgement seat, deciding between these false apostles and Paul as to who has the ‘best’ gospel for them. Paul’s gospel seems pretty weak, involves lots of suffering, and doesn’t seem to take advantage of all the possibilities promised by God to those who believe. From the outside it doesn’t look much like a victory at all. So Paul has been forced to defend himself, and foolishly boast that he is not inferior in the slightest to these ‘super-apostles’.
In one sense we should be immensely grateful that this obscenely ungrateful church pushed him into it, for we now have insight into what the Christian life should look like and who Paul is in private. But in another sense, the denouement to his argument sounds a warning for us. For whilst they spend their time calmly weighing up the apostolic options and deciding which bits to believe, Paul argues that they really should be testing themselves. Placing themselves in the dock.
Some people believe that this call to self-examination undermines the security and assurance the gospel promises. After all, we are saved by grace and faith alone. This is too simplistic a view of salvation. As Carson helpfully explains, if one’s doubts arise because one is not sure that what Jesus did on the cross is enough to save then pointing people back to the fulness and completeness of his work is essential. We are indeed saved by faith and grace. But if one’s doubts arise because of moral failure and sin (cf 2 Corinthians 12:20) then the solution to that is repentance – and that is the only solution.
How recently have you conducted a ‘spiritual audit’? And what would that look like today for a church without descending into unhelpful legalism? The apostle John himself provides three tests of salvation and all of them need to be passed (1 John 2:1-9). Time for a ‘health check’?
