The “third time,” verse 1, refers to Paul’s purpose of going to Corinth; when he had gone there the first time, the Holy Spirit had wrought in much power for God in the salvation of souls; and when the first epistle was written the apostle gave the Corinthians the assurance that he was coming a second time (chapter 16), but he delayed his going, and tells why in chapters 1 and 2 of the second epistle. Therefore he says “This third time I am coming to you,” for Paul was now, or shortly would be, on the way to Corinth.
He had remained away to spare them (chapter 1:23) that their consciences should be given full opportunity for exercise after the first epistle had been delivered; much self-judgment had indeed followed, but the second epistle shows that a further work was needed. What then was the effect of the second epistle, and of Paul’s second visit to Corinth? The Scriptures are silent as to this, but eternity will reveal it. Acts 20:1-31And after the uproar was ceased, Paul called unto him the disciples, and embraced them, and departed for to go into Macedonia. 2And when he had gone over those parts, and had given them much exhortation, he came into Greece, 3And there abode three months. And when the Jews laid wait for him, as he was about to sail into Syria, he purposed to return through Macedonia. (Acts 20:1‑3) gives but the barest mention of the apostle’s journey.
He “departed for to go into Macedonia. And when he had gone over those parts and had given them much exhortation, he came into Greece, and there abode three months, and when the Jews laid wait for him as he was about to sail into Syria, he purposed to return through Macedonia.”
Corinth is not even named, but much of the three months in Greece may well have been spent in that city, and with God’s rich blessing attending.
“In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word (or matter) be established.”
“I have declared beforehand, and I say beforehand as present the second time, and now absent, to those that have sinned before, and to all the rest, that if I come again I will not spare. Since ye seek a proof of Christ speaking in me (who is not weak toward you, but is powerful among you, for if indeed He has been crucified in weakness yet He lives by God’s power; for indeed we are weak in Him, but we shall live with Him by God’s power toward you); examine your own selves if ye be in the faith; prove your own selves! Do you not recognize yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you, unless indeed ye be reprobates? Now I hope that ye will know that we are not reprobates” (verses 3-6, JND).
Since the Corinthians sought a proof of Christ’s speaking in him, the apostle invites them to examine themselves if they were in the faith; to prove their own selves; did they not recognize that Jesus Christ was in them, unless indeed they were reprobates? To us it seems beyond belief that these objects of God’s grace, snatched from the pit of heathenism, and brought into the light and joy of the truth of the gospel, could be persuaded to distrust the apostle through whom this immeasurable blessing had come to them. But Satan is ever active, and the old nature is in every one of us; our safety from a wrong path lies in a walk of communion with the Lord, which is inseparable from prayer and the spiritual food supplied by the Word of God.
“Crucified in weakness” (not through weakness as in the ordinary translation) refers to the principle on which it took place.
Foretold in Genesis 3:1515And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. (Genesis 3:15) (thou shalt bruise—or crush—His heel) Psalm 22; Psalm 69; Isaiah 53; Zechariah 12:10; 13:6-710And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. (Zechariah 12:10)
6And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends. 7Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones. (Zechariah 13:6‑7) and many other Old Testament scriptures, with striking types of a suffering Redeemer, such as Joseph and David afford in their lives, by no other way could redemption be accomplished.
“Yet He lives by God’s power” tells God’s answer to the cross of Christ; divine power came in to raise Him up, though truly death had now no claim on Christ. And we, though weak in Him, shall live with Him by God’s power toward even those erring believers at Corinth. It is a question of the power of God, in contrast to the “weakness” of the one who died for poor lost sinners.
A reprobate is one cast out as good for nothing. The apostle had no doubt that the believers at Corinth were not such, and they would be far from admitting it as true of themselves. They were Christ’s, and they knew it by the indwelling Holy Spirit.
We can but admire the very gracious way of the apostle in dealing with his beloved, but very troublesome, Corinthians in the closing verses of the epistle. How entirely opposite to an exhibition of impatience we have here, though Paul’s spirit must have been deeply tried.
“Now I hope that ye will know that we are not reprobates. But we pray to God that ye may do nothing evil; not that we may appear approved, but that ye may do what is right, and we be as reprobates.”
“For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth. For we rejoice when we may be weak, and ye may be powerful. But this also we pray for your perfecting. On this account I write these things being absent, that being present I may not use severity according to the authority which the Lord has given me for building up and not for overthrowing.”
“For the rest, brethren, rejoice; be perfected; be encouraged; be of one mind; be at peace, and the God of love and peace shall be with you. Salute one another with a holy kiss. All the saints salute you. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you all” (verses 6-14, JND).