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Scripture Reading: 2 Cor. 13:11-14
In this message we shall consider the last four verses of 2 Corinthians, 13:11-14.
In 13:11 Paul says, “For the rest, brothers, rejoice! Be perfected, be encouraged, think the same thing, be at peace, and the God of love and peace shall be with you.” Since the apostles are rejoicing (v. 9), they are able to exhort the believers to rejoice too. This is not to be done in their natural life, but in the Lord (Phil. 3:1; 4:4; 1 Thes. 5:16).
According to the New Testament, the Christian life should be a life of rejoicing. If your life is not a rejoicing life, your Christian life is not normal. To rejoice includes more than just being joyful. It is possible to be joyful without rejoicing. Joyfulness is something inward, but rejoicing means that our inward joy is expressed outwardly. I believe that Paul would say that in order to rejoice we must use our voice; that is, we need to sound out our joy, to give it voice. Thus, to voice out our joy is to rejoice. We should rejoice either by singing, praising, shouting, or calling on the Lord. Therefore, to rejoice is to voice out our inner joy, to sound it out. This rejoicing is an important characteristic of our Christian life. If our Christian life is normal, it will be a life of rejoicing.
In verse 11 Paul also appeals to the Corinthians to be perfected. Literally the Greek word rendered “perfected” means completed thoroughly, that is, repaired or adjusted, put in order again, mended, perfectly joined together, thus restored. In Greek it is the root of the word for perfecting in verse 9 and also the root for perfecting in Ephesians 4:12.
To be perfected is to be restored, mended, repaired, and adjusted. It is to be brought back to the right position and restored to the right track so that we may be built up together with others in the Body. The books of 1 and 2 Corinthians are books of perfecting. The unique goal of these two Epistles is to perfect the damaged, distracted, and divided saints at Corinth. The believers there had been damaged, and the situation among them was unhealthy. Therefore, these two books were written to perform the necessary task of perfecting the believers, of bringing them back to a healthy condition full of life, of edifying them, and of equipping them for the building up of the Body. All this is included in Paul’s charge, “Be perfected.”
We may regard the exhortation “be perfected” as active-passive in voice. Strictly speaking, this is passive. Nevertheless, it also contains an active element. This is the reason we speak of it as being active-passive. God is waiting to perfect us; however, we must take the initiative to be perfected. Moreover, the apostle was used to perfect the Corinthians. This means that a perfecting work was being done. But the Corinthians still had to be perfected. We may liken Paul to a physician and say that he was ready to dispense medicine into the believers, but it was still necessary for them to take the initiative to receive the medicine. The doctor was at hand and the medicine was ready, but the crucial question was this: Were the Corinthians willing to take the medicine and be healed? This was the reason Paul urged them to be perfected.
In verse 11 Paul also tells the Corinthians to be encouraged. The apostles are encouraged by the God of all encouragement (1:3-6). The Corinthians were much discouraged by the apostle’s first Epistle to them. Now, in the second Epistle, he encourages them with the encouragement of God (7:8-13).
If we study the whole book of 2 Corinthians, we shall understand that in this Epistle encouragement is an important matter. For this reason, Paul’s words “be encouraged” in 13:11 are very meaningful. Being encouraged means that we are first comforted, then made calm, and then satisfied, strengthened, and enabled. Then as a result of all this we are encouraged. We do not lose heart, and we are not discouraged. Here Paul seems to be saying, “Believers at Corinth, the work of perfecting I have been doing on you should not cause you to be sad. Instead, you should be glad and joyful. You should even voice out your joy. Furthermore, you need to be encouraged. Corinthians, do not lose heart.”
The book of 2 Corinthians is a book of encouragement. Chapters one and seven are both full of encouragement. As a book of encouragement, this Epistle brings comfort, satisfaction, strength, enablement, and joy. It brings us whatever we need. If we have been satisfied, strengthened, and thereby encouraged, we shall be energized to go on in the Christian life and in the church life without losing heart.
In verse 11 Paul also charges the Corinthians to think the same thing. Thinking the same thing should be the main factor for the distracted and confused Corinthians to be perfected, adjusted, put in order, and restored. In his first Epistle (1 Cor. 1:10), Paul had already exhorted them to think the same thing: “But I beseech you, brothers, through the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be attuned in the same mind and in the same opinion.” The Greek word translated “attuned” in 1 Corinthians 1:10 is the same word that is translated “mending” in Matthew 4:21. It means to repair, to restore, to adjust, to mend, making a broken thing thoroughly complete, joined perfectly together. As a whole, the Corinthian believers were divided, broken. They needed mending to join them perfectly together that they may be in harmony, having the same mind and the same opinion.
We may take as an illustration the keyboard of a piano. Each key needs to be properly in tune in order to be in harmony with all the other keys. Likewise, Paul exhorted the Corinthians to be attuned in the same mind, that is, to think the same thing and not to have peculiar thoughts. We all need to learn by grace to think the same thing.
In 13:11 Paul also exhorts the Corinthians to be at peace. This means to be at peace with one another and probably with God as well. Paul knew that there had been strife and rivalry among the Corinthians. First Corinthians 1:11 says, “For it was made clear to me concerning you, my brothers, by those of the household of Chloe, that there are strifes among you.” This clearly indicates that among the believers at Corinth there was not any peace. Here in 13:11 Paul urges them to be at peace.
The Christian life is a life of rejoicing and also a life of peace. Thus, to strive against others or to have rivalry with them is contrary to a basic principle of the Christian life. Strife and rivalry are characteristics of the life of fallen mankind. Today the world is full of strife and rivalry. In every aspect of human society, rivalry, and fighting are common. The Christian life is absolutely different from this. As a heavenly people, we should always be at peace with one another.
According to Paul’s word in verse 11, if we rejoice, are perfected, are encouraged, think the same thing, and are at peace, then the God of love and peace will be with us. The Corinthians were lacking in love (1 Cor. 8:1; 13:1-3, 13; 14:1) and short of peace through being disturbed by the distracting teachings and confusing concepts. Hence, the apostle wishes that the God of love and peace shall be with them for their adjusting and perfecting. They need the love and peace of God to fill them that they may walk according to love (Rom. 14:15; Eph. 5:2) and have peace with one another (Rom. 14:19; Heb. 12:14).
Because the believers at Corinth had strife and rivalry, they certainly were short of love. The book of 1 Corinthians has an entire chapter, chapter thirteen, devoted to the subject of love. Now in his conclusion of 2 Corinthians Paul emphasizes the God of love. He does not emphasize the God of power or the God of miracles. Here Paul seems to be telling the Corinthians, “You are lacking in love, and therefore you need the God of love. Because of your situation, you do not need the God of power or the mighty God. The One you need is the God of love and peace.”
When many Christians think of God, they think of Him as the powerful One, the mighty One, the One who performs miracles. But here Paul’s emphasis is on the God of love and peace. He indicates to the Corinthians that they need the God of love and peace. They emphasized the gifts, in particular, tongue-speaking. For this reason, they may be regarded as ancient Pentecostals. From experience I know that Pentecostal people especially need the God of love and peace. They may embrace each other one day and be divided the next. They have much difficulty knowing what is genuine, for they are lacking in the God of love and peace.
We need to rejoice, be perfected, be encouraged, and be at peace. We also need to think the same thing. If we have all this in our experience, we shall enjoy the God of love and peace.
Actually, love is the motivating factor of rejoicing. If we are lacking in love, we shall not have any joy, and we shall not be able to rejoice. You may try to rejoice if you have hatred in your heart, but it will not work. Likewise, we cannot rejoice if we are full of jealousy. A rejoicing one is one who is filled with love, kindness, and peace.
It certainly would be worthwhile to put 2 Corinthians 13:11 on our wall at home. But more important, we should keep these words within us.
In verse 12 Paul says, “Greet one another with a holy kiss.” This is a kiss of pure love, without any contaminating mixture. Paul’s word in verse 12 implies that in our Christian life there should be balance. It is not sufficient simply to have love and peace. Our love needs to be balanced with holiness. Realizing the need for this balance, Paul charges the Corinthians to greet one another with a holy kiss. Then in verse 13 he says, “All the saints greet you.”
Among the sixty-six books of the Bible, 2 Corinthians is unique in that it concludes with a blessing: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” This blessing is composed of attributes of the Triune God: grace, love, and fellowship. The love of God the Father is the source, the fount, and grace is the flow, the expression, of love. With love as the source, we may do something for others or give something to them. This is grace as the outflow and expression of love. For example, I may desire to give a watch to a brother. The giving of the watch is an expression of my love for him. The love within me is expressed by my giving him a watch. We may use this to illustrate the love of God and the grace of Christ. Love is with the Father as the source, and grace is with the Son as the course, the flow, the expression.
The fellowship of the Holy Spirit is a matter of communication, transportation, transmission. Therefore, love is the source, grace is the flow, and fellowship is the transmission of the flow with the source. In this way we have love, grace, and fellowship as our enjoyment, and we participate in them.
Second Corinthians 13:14 clearly says that grace is of Christ, love is of God, and fellowship is of the Holy Spirit. Because the book of 2 Corinthians emphasizes grace, grace is mentioned first in 13:14. Elsewhere in this book Paul speaks strongly of grace. For example, in 1:12 he says, “For our boasting is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in singleness and sincerity of God, not in fleshly wisdom, but in the grace of God, we conducted ourselves in the world, and more abundantly toward you.” Then in 8:1-15 we see grace from four parties, in particular, the grace of Christ. In 8:9 Paul says, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, being rich, for your sakes He became poor, in order that you by His poverty might become rich.” Then in 12:9 we have perhaps the most famous verse on grace in the whole Bible: “And He has said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness.”
Grace as presented in 2 Corinthians is actually the Triune God embodied in the Son and transmitted into our being through the Spirit for our enjoyment. Hence, grace is the Triune God as our life, life supply, and enjoyment. This grace issues out from the Father’s love and is transmitted into our being by the Spirit. Therefore, we have the grace of Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit — the full enjoyment of the Triune God.
