A THIRD TRY: Paul had been patient with the sinful Corinthians.
- 2 Corinthians 13:1-2a.
- Paul tells the Corinthians that he is planning to make a third visit to them. This has been necessitated by the ongoing questionable behavior of the church there.
- Paul then quotes Deuteronomy about two or three witnesses. There are multiple explanations for the point he is making. Some argue that the point he is making here is similar to Matthew 18 and the need to establish the wrongdoing in the presence of witnesses when pursuing church discipline. Others argue that the point he is making is that Paul himself is the two or three witnesses because he has been there two or three times and seen the questionable behavior each time. It seems to me this is the more likely explanation, even though it takes some liberties with Deuteronomy.
- Paul had been patient with the sinful Corinthians.
- To note the most renowned example from 1 Corinthians, in 1 Corinthians 5:1-2, 6-7, 9-13 Paul chastises them for excusing sinful behavior that even the world would question. There is no doubt the church there was in need of substantial correction.
- Still, Paul continued to work with them. The third visit mentioned in 2 Corinthians 13:1 is proof of that, especially coming at the end of this whole second book to the Corinthians trying to point them in a better direction.
- This is a good and necessary thing.
- God does not give up on us when we fail. He doesn’t even give up on us when we plow forward down a wrong road. He chastises, rebukes, disciplines toward getting us going the right way.
- So too we as Christians are not supposed to give up on our brothers and sisters in Christ when they make terrible decisions.
- Imagine a church where the first time you make a substantial sinful choice the church cuts you off from membership. That wouldn’t be a very big church, would it?
- Imagine a church where the people adopt a “three strikes and you’re out” policy. That also wouldn’t be a very big church, would it?
- Even when we pursue church discipline we do so not with the goal of ostracizing and destroying, but rather repentance and restoration.
- But sometimes our patience in continuing to work with people in sin gets taken the wrong way by those in sin.
LOWER THE HAMMER: Paul was now going to bring church discipline because they mistook his patience for weakness.
- 2 Corinthians 13:2b-3a.
- As I just stated, we want to be patient with those believers who are off-track. That patience in working with them reaches a point where the approach shifts from encouraging words and gentle rebuke over to church discipline. It’s important to note that church discipline is still a part of patiently working with them toward the goal of a holy life, but it is a different facet of it.
- In v. 2b Paul warns them that the discipline he had threatened earlier was about to become a reality. When he says that he will “not spare” them, he means that he intends to bring discipline for their sins.
- In v. 3a we see that the Corinthians had mistaken Paul’s patience for weakness. They are “demanding proof that Christ is speaking through me.” They didn’t believe that Paul was a good representative of Christ. Why? Because they had fallen under the spell of the “super-apostles” (2 Corinthians 12:11). They were false teachers who emphasized lofted oratory and demands of power. Paul, in his humility and patient chiding of the Corinthians, looked weak to them compared with the super-apostles that they loved.
- The word “since” at the beginning of v. 3 is telling. One of the reasons that Paul has decided that now is the time to shift to discipline is the Corinthians arrogant demand that Paul prove God is speaking through him. They should have repented by now. They should have admitted their sin. Instead, they have deepened their commitment to their sin and their dismissal of Paul’s authority and credibility. And so Paul says he is going to bring discipline (v. 2b) “since” they are flouting his authority rather than repenting (v. 3a).
- An analogy that is familiar to us today is the opioid-addicted child.
- A child gets hooked on opioids as part of a recovery from an injury. The child is a treasured member of the family who has never created problems before. The family jumps in trying to help the child. They are patient and loving with failures and set-backs. Perhaps they pay out-of-pocket for multiple in-house treatment programs. Perhaps they allow the child to come back home and sleep in her old bedroom when she gets fired from another job. They talk to her about their concern when money and jewelry goes missing. They are patient because they love her and want her to get better. But as the problem worsens and the behavior gets more brazen, they reach a point where they cannot continue to do what they’ve done up to that point. They cut the child off. No money to pay utilities. No bed to sleep in after a loss of another job. They tell family members not to give the child money. They institute this discipline not because they hate her and no longer care if she lives or dies, but because they realize that she is taking their patient help as a means to continue the addiction rather than as a means to get clean. They realize that she is going to have to bottom out before she will change her life.
- Let’s look at Matthew 18:15-17. There are multiple steps of increasing severity in trying to guide the erring brother or sister back in the right direction.
- Of course, the American church is often disobedient in exercising church discipline these days, but that doesn’t change the need for it.
MISUNDERSTANDING WEAKNESS AND POWER IN JESUS' KINGDOM:
1. Jesus’ crucifixion was not a sign of weakness, but of love.
- 2 Corinthians 13:3b-4a.
- Ephesians 2:14-18.
- Jesus did not operate the way the super-apostles do. Jesus does not operate the way the super-apostles do. If the Corinthians thought Paul was weak, then they would naturally also find Christ to be weak as well since Paul was following His example.
- In v. 3b Paul notes that, despite their thoughts to the contrary, Christ is not weak among them but powerful.
- The beginning of v. 4 notes the bright, shining example that Jesus left for us on the way that He handles power and weakness. It’s the cross.
- What do we learn from the cross?
- In the moment of Jesus going to cross, it seemed a defeat. It seemed that evil had won and Jesus was not powerful enough. But we know that is not what was actually going on. Jesus’ crucifixion was not a sign of weakness, but of love. Jesus did not go to the cross because He lacked power to overcome the Pharisees and Romans, but because He loved us and wanted to free us from our sin.
- Look at Ephesians 2:14-18.
2. Our weakness in Him leads to our dependence on Him.
- 2 Corinthians 13:4b – “yet he lives by God’s power.”
- John 14:10; 2 Corinthians 12:7-11.
- Where does the power show up, then, in our lives? Again, Christ is the pattern.
- Jesus during His life spoke of His dependence on the Father to accomplish what He was doing. Look up John 14:10.
- That manifests in our lives as well. It is our awareness of our dependence on the Father that opens the door for God’s power. Look up 2 Corinthians 12:7-11.
- And so our power in Christ does not come from pretending like we are “all that,” like the super-apostles did. Rather, it comes through humbling ourselves and believing that God’s power flows through our weakness.
- Just as Christ’s resurrection (“He lives by God’s power”) came from the power of the Father, so too our power comes from admitting our weakness and letting the Father’s power flow through us.
3. Paul is not focused on his position, but seeing Christ’s power change them.
- 2 Corinthians 13:4c (put NASB and Amp in sermon outline).
- I don’t think the NIV captures the thought here particularly well, so let’s look at the NASB and Amplified.
- NASB: “. . . yet we will live with Him because of the power of God directed toward you.”
- Amplified: “. . . yet in dealing with you [we shall show ourselves] alive and strong in [fellowship with] Him by the power of God.”
- Paul now explicitly makes the point we’ve been leading up to: “Likewise we are weak in Him . . . .” We are in the same situation now that Christ was in during His earthly life.
- And Paul intends to handle their problems in that same way. He is not going to start acting like the super-apostles, but instead is going to continue to rely on God’s power to accomplish what needs to be done.
- The power to change the Corinthians’ behavior has to come from Christ. Paul knows that and explicitly says that. He is turning them over to Christ.
- Even in the NIV and its mention of “serve you,” the idea is not that Paul is going to let them do whatever they want, but that the way he can truly serve them is by doing all he can to get them back on track in following Jesus.
