2 Corinthians 13:5

Bringing the sermon home:

As the Apostle Paul brings this challenging letter to a close, he exhorts the Christians in Corinth to “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves.” The Corinthians had begun to follow false teachers who preached “another Jesus” and, thus, “a different gospel” (11:4-5). While Paul does not take the time in these closing words to identify the fruit of faith, he does elsewhere throughout this letter.

William Beckham, who preached for us on Sunday, selected three ways that we can test ourselves to see if we are truly “in the faith”, noting that these are the same three tests that the Apostle John repeatedly sets forth in his first epistle.

1. The Moral Test (2 Cor 12:19-21).
   
   Are you actively walking in obedience to the commands of God?
   
   “. . . By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked” (1 John 2:1-6).
   
   
2. The Social Test (2 Cor 2:1-4; 8:24).
   
   Are you actively loving your neighbor as yourself?
   
   As we see in Paul’s letter, true love does not ignore the sins of others, but lovingly confronts it, for love both desires and actively seeks the spiritual good of others.
   
   “. . . We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. . . .” (1 John 3:10-18).
   
   
3. The Doctrinal Test (2 Cor 6:1-13; 12:12).
   
   Are you trusting in the gospel delivered by the Apostles?
   
   “. . . Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. . . .” (1 John 4:1-6).

May each of us "find out that we have not failed the test" (2 Cor 13:6) and thus "reassure our heart before him" (1 John 3:19)!

(See a related follow-up article here.)