The apostle has a little more to say to the Corinthians. They had found fault with his ministry, even questioning his apostleship.
Verses 1, 2. “This is the third time I am coming to you.” Every word must be established in the mouth of two or three witnesses. He had spoken twice before of coming to them. Now he speaks, though absent, as if he had come to them the second time. And it is telling them that if he comes again he will not spare, but he wished their edification and not their destruction.
Verses 3-5. He presents to their minds this thought: They were converted through him, then if he was not the apostle he claimed to be, they were not Christians. If he was false, they also must be false, for it was from him they had learned the truth. Notice the parenthetic part which left out (middle of verse 3 and verse 4 is the parenthesis) is; “Since ye seek a proof of Christ speaking in me,... Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?” If Christ had not spoken by him, Christ did not dwell in them. If he was not an apostle, they were not Christians. That is what is meant by, “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith.” The Word of God has given the Christian full assurance. The Holy Spirit who dwells in the Christian leads him to look at Christ at God’s right hand, and to see himself in Christ, and also Christ dwelling in him.
Verses 6-8. This is turning their foolish, contemptible speeches back on themselves, and he does it with such grace, “But I trust that ye shall know that we are not reprobates. Now I pray to God that ye do no evil; not that we should appear approved, but that ye should do that which is honest, though we be as reprobates. For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth.”
The parenthetic portion (in verses 3 and 4) beginning with, “which to you-ward is not weak, but is mighty in you,” speaks of the character of his ministry, which though carried out in his weakness, yet was in the mighty power of God in them, and the blessed Lord is spoken of as having been crucified through weakness, thus yielding Himself, yet now lives by the power of God:
“By weakness and defeat
He won the mead and crown;
Trod all our foes beneath His feet
By being trodden down.”
The apostle’s service and ministry was after that pattern, as he says, “For we also are weak in Him, but we shall live with Him by the power of God.” In chapter 12:9, 10, he takes pleasure in weaknesses, that the power of Christ might rest upon him, “for when I am weak, then am I strong.”
Verses 9, 10. “For we are glad, when we are weak and ye are strong: and this also we wish, your perfection,” —that is, of apprehension of the truth. “Therefore, I write these things being absent, lest being present I should use sharpness, according to the power which the Lord hath given me to edification, and not to destruction.” What a devoted servant, such an absence of self-esteem, with a love that only sought their good. What an example for us!
Verses 11-14. “For the rest, brethren, rejoice; be perfected; be encouraged; be ye of one mind; be at peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you” (New Trans.).
He closes with entreating them to salute each other with unfeigned affection, and all the saints salute them. Then his earnest desire for their spiritual state is given:
“The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and The love of God, and The communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you all. Amen.”