2 Corinthians 13:11 ~ 20210411 ~ Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org
04/11_2 Corinthians 13:11; Commands and a Promise; Audio available at: http://www.ephraimbible.org/Sermons/20210411_2cor13_11.mp3
In chapters 1-7 Paul has unfolded what authentic ministry looks like – that it is shaped by the gospel, by the cross of Jesus – it looks like self-sacrificial service for others. In chapters 8-9 he has encouraged an appropriate and practical response to the gospel, generosity toward those in need. And in the closing chapters (10-13) he has confronted the danger of false apostles proclaiming a false jesus, a counterfeit gospel, a different spirit.
First century letters followed a general format; first a greeting, then the body, then a letter closing. We are at the letter closing. But this is no mere formality; Paul invests both the greeting and the closing with rich theological significance. He took the common greeting χαίρειν ‘be well, be happy’ and changed it to χάρις ὑμῖν; grace to you, God’s free and undeserved kindness; and he adds ‘and peace’; God’s grace expressed ultimately at the cross of Jesus Christ brings about our peace with God.
In most of his letter closing, after giving some personal greetings and closing exhortations, he simply reverses this, making mention of peace, and closing with ‘the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.’ But here in 2 Corinthians his closing is dense with exhortation, recapping much of the letter’s contents, and giving a theologically rich benediction.
Brothers
2 Corinthians 13:11 Finally, brothers, rejoice. Aim for restoration, comfort one another, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you. 12 Greet one another with a holy kiss. 13 All the saints greet you. 14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
Notice, first of all, he addresses the Corinthians as ‘brothers’. This is significant. Remember, he has just challenged them in verse 5 to
2 Corinthians 13:5 Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!
He raises the real question that if they are really embracing false teachers preaching another jesus, a different gospel and a different spirit, then they may not be ‘in’ the faith once for all delivered to the saints. The real Jesus may not be living in them. They may not be transformed by the gospel. They may fail the test, in which case, they are false brothers and not real brothers at all. This is sobering and this is serious. He wants them to think carefully about who they are listening to and what they are believing.
But here he affirms, for the first time since chapter 1:8 and then in chapter 8:1 that he recognizes them as brothers. He refers to his co-laborers or those from other churches as ‘brothers’ 9 times. Here as he closes this letter he uses this affectionate term once again, affirming that he hopes and believes the best of them, that they will not fail the test, but that his letter will drive them back to a simple devotion to Jesus alone.
5 Imperatives;
Then he gives them five present imperatives, five commands of how to respond to Paul’s rebuke and challenge. Rejoice, be restored, be comforted, think the same, make peace.
The first command he gives them might sound surprising to our ears in this context. How do you respond when someone deals head on with your sin, confronts you over you failure, brings to light your doctrinal drift into error, even questioning your very salvation? Our inclination would be to take offense, to be hurt, to mount evidence for self-defense or to launch out on our own counter-attack.
1. Rejoice!
He tells them to rejoice. Why? What is there to rejoice about? First, he calls them brothers. If they are indeed brothers and sisters in Christ, if in sincerity they are clinging to the one true Jesus, then they are in Christ. Their blind eyes have been opened to see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (4:6). The Father made his sinless Son to be sin on their behalf, so they might become the righteousness of God (5:21). They have become part of God’s new creation (5:17). Their sins are forgiven, they are reconciled to God, and they have been entrusted with the ministry of reconciliation (5:18-19). They have been prepared to dwell in the presence of the Lord, and they have been given the Holy Spirit as a guarantee (5:5-6). This is a mere short sample of all there is to rejoice in. Regardless of circumstances, for the believer there is much ground of rejoicing in the gospel, in the cross.
They can also rejoice in the fact that the apostle loves them. He loves them enough to confront them, to address their sin, to deal with their issues for their good. At the outset of this letter, Paul made it clear that he was not attempting to lord it over their faith, but rather he was working with them for their joy (1:24). Paul had changed his travel plans to avoid the pain of causing them pain. Instead he wrote as he did, not to cause them pain, but to communicate his love for them. He was pursuing their joy, confident that his joy in them would bring about mutual rejoicing (2:1-4). In chapter 7, he wrote:
2 Corinthians 7:3 ...that you are in our hearts,… 4 ...I have great pride in you; I am filled with comfort. In all our affliction, I am overflowing with joy.
He rejoiced at the good report of Titus about their response to his letter. He rejoiced at the joy of Titus because his spirit was refreshed by them (7:13). In chapter 8 he pointed to the example of the Macedonians, whose ‘abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity’ (8:2). And Paul rejoices when they are walking in the faith, so that he can appear weak among them and they appear strong (13:9).
Joy doesn’t come in the absence of conflict or trial, but in the midst of it. So rejoice!
2. Be Restored
His second command is that they be restored, be mended, be completed, be perfected. In verse 9 he communicated to them that their restoration is what he was praying for. Here he commands them to be restored.
But there is a critical shift in grammar here that we must pay attention to. While ‘rejoice’ is an active imperative; they are commanded to do the rejoicing, this command is a passive imperative; they are commanded to have something done to them by another. Someone else is doing the restoring; they are to be the recipients of that restorative action.
God is the one who restores, who completes, who perfects. This word is used in the gospels of the disciples mending their nets (Mk.1:19). The nets don’t mend themselves; they are mended by the work of another. God is the mender of broken people. This is why Paul prays for their mending, their restoration to wholeness and completeness. They are commanded to allow God to restore them, to mend them.
3. Be Comforted
The next command is also passive, be comforted. This brings us right back to the opening blessing in this letter:
2 Corinthians 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5 For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. 6 If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. 7 Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.
Paul now commands them to receive the comforting, exhorting, encouraging work of God. In chapter 7:
2 Corinthians 7:6 But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus, 7 and not only by his coming but also by the comfort with which he was comforted by you, as he told us of your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced still more.
Paul had been comforted and encouraged by God, and the Corinthians themselves played a role in comforting Titus, and now Paul commands them to receive the Lord’s comforting encouraging work.
4. Think the Same
Next Paul commands them to think the same. Be of one mind. They are to think correctly about gospel ministry. They were on a different page from their apostle, and throughout this letter, Paul is calling them to re-calibrate the way they think about ministry. Ministry is not self-promotion at other’s expense. Gospel ministry looks like the gospel; it is self-sacrificial service for the good of others. It follows the example of Jesus.
They must be of one mind with their apostle not only on what ministry is, but also on the gospel he preached. We must embrace the Jesus Paul preached. It matters what we believe. Doctrine matters. Theology matters. Unity with all believers on the essentials is essential. We must be discerning and reject false teachers who present another jesus, a different gospel, a different spirit. It matters because only the apostolic gospel about the real Jesus can save. Jesus is the only way to God. All other roads lead to hell. Thinking rightly matters.
5 Make Peace
Paul’s fifth imperative in this string is peace. It’s a verb; make peace, live peaceably. This was obviously a big deal at Corinth, where Paul is afraid:
2 Corinthians 12:20 ...that perhaps there may be quarreling, jealousy, anger, hostility, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder.
This is the opposite of peace. They were all to open to receiving false doctrine, but they were all to quick to divide and line up behind their preferred teacher. I follow Paul, I follow Apollos, I follow Cephas. Some were more eloquent than others. Some were better communicators. Some may have been more zealous and passionate, some more reserved. Different personalities all preaching the same gospel. Paul planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth (1Cor.3:3-6).
We are quicker to divide over ministry preference than over gospel content. We must learn to lay preference aside and side by side ‘contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints’ (Jude3). The gospel brings peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Rom.5:1), and we must pursue peace and to build others up (Rom.14:19).
The Presence of the God of Love and Peace
2 Corinthians 13:11 Finally, brothers, rejoice *, be restored, be comforted, think the same, make peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.
The God of love and peace. We find the phrase ‘the God of peace’ in Romans, Philippians, Thessalonians, and Hebrews, but nowhere else do we find ‘the God of love’.
Paul does point to the God who ‘showed his love for us, in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us’ (Rom.5:8), and God who, ‘because of the great love with which he loved us’ when we were dead he made us alive by his grace (Eph.2:4)
It is John who points us to the God who is love:
1 John 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
1 John 4:16 So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
Paul opened this letter pointing us to ‘the Father of mercies and God of all comfort’. Now he closes the letter pointing to the God of love and of peace.
Paul promises us that this God who is love and who is peace; the God who himself is these desperately needed characteristics, will be with us.
These commands: rejoice, be restored, be comforted, think the same, make peace; are followed by a promise, the promise of the presence of the God of love and peace to be with us. We are empowered to show love to our neighbor because the God who is love will be with us. We are enabled to make peace because the God who is peace will be with us. If we are enjoying relationship with the God of love and of peace, we can love others and be peaceable, and rejoice in every circumstance.
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Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org