2 Corinthians 13:4
For indeed He was crucified because of weakness, yet He lives because of the power of God. For we also are weak in Him, yet we will live with Him because of the power of God directed toward you.
We will live with Him. The believer has been crucified with him, buried with him, raised with him in order to live with him and reign with him (Rom. 6:4-8, Eph. 2:6, Col. 2:12-13, 2 Tim. 2:11-12). The believer’s life cannot be understood in isolation from Christ. Only in him do we live and move and have our being. See entry for Union.
2 Corinthians 13:5
Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test?
(a) Examine yourselves. Paul is not saying, “Examine yourselves to make sure you’re still saved.” He’s saying, “Examine yourselves and see that Christ is in you.” You need to realize that Christ Jesus in you. He is your life. One with the Lord you are as righteous and holy as he is (1 Cor. 1:30). You are pleasing and acceptable to God, able to stand, because Jesus makes you so.
In context, some of the Corinthians had been a bit snarky. “Is Paul even an apostle?” Paul calls them out. “Stop testing me and test yourselves. Be who you are in Christ and stop playing the judgment game.”
(b) Do you not recognize or know? This was one of Paul’s rhetorical trademarks. “Do you not know? By now you should know that Christ Jesus is in you.” See entry for 1 Cor. 3:16.
(c) Jesus Christ is in you. Paul has said this several times (1 Cor. 1:2, 30, 6:19), but do you know it? Have you received this revelation into your heart? “The one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with him” (1 Cor. 6:17). Do you believe it? Are you convinced that Christ is in you and that you are one with the Lord?
(d) Unless you fail the test. Who fails the test of being in Christ but the one who is not in Christ, meaning the unbeliever. If you are an unbeliever, you need to repent and believe the good news that Jesus loves you, died for you and now lives for you. Call on the name of the Lord and be saved. But if you pass the test, meaning you know Jesus as Lord and that he is in you, you have nothing to prove.
Further reading: “Examine yourselves”
2 Corinthians 13:12
Greet one another with a holy kiss.
A holy kiss. Like the Jews before them (Gen. 27:26, Luke 7:45), the early Christians greeted one another with a kiss of friendship (Acts 20:37). Paul called this greeting a holy kiss (1 Cor. 16:20, 1 Thess. 5:26); Peter called it a kiss of love (1 Pet. 5:14).
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God bless you Pastor Paul. I have been liberated through your messages from religion and bad teachings