2Co13:1-4
| This will be my third visit to you. "Every matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses." 2 I already gave you a warning when I was with you the second time. I now repeat it while absent: On my return I will not spare those who sinned earlier or any of the others, 3 since you are demanding proof that Christ is speaking through me. He is not weak in dealing with you, but is powerful among you. 4 For to be sure, he was crucified in weakness, yet he lives by God's power. Likewise, we are weak in him, yet by God's power we will live with him to serve you. (2Corinthians13:1-4) |
When people are in the wrong are given constructive criticism or rebuke, they will often respond with the defiant question "Who gives you the right to judge?"
Paul anticipates this question and answers it in a beautiful way. He argues that Christ is speaking in a powerful way through himself to the Corinthians and then he invokes the now familiar paradigm of weakness and strength to explain how Christ is speaking to them:
Just as Christ seemed weak in the crucifixion and was revealed as strong in the resurrection, so Paul, through his boasting, showed that he was weak, but that Christ was strong. It is Paul's track-record of spreading the gospel and planting churches in spite of his weakness that proves that Christ is strong and that Christ is with him.
This is the ultimate aim of Paul's boasting - Paul would say "I'm not a super-apostle, but I have a super-God!"
So, our passage today makes two things clear:
- Bad behaviour should only be tolerated up to a point. When there has been sufficient evidence that things are not going to improve then there is a time to deal decisively with bad behaviour.
- If we're trying to be super-apostles or are overly taken with super-apostles we're going to land up in trouble. It is always better to look to our super-God. Unerringly Paul points us toward Him.
