SOME FINAL EXHORTATIONS TO CORINTH

2 Cor. 13:11

Morning Meditation 11/23/2012

Paul's final exhortations to the believers in Corinth are found in the words: "Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you."

We will examine these exhortations. The words "Finally, brethren, farewell" set the stage for the exhortations to follow. The word "finally" (loipon) means "remaining, the rest, hereafter, for the future, henceforth." It means that Paul is making a final statement in this letter. It does not mean that he is making a final statement in this life. Final statements are important even in a case like this. The word "brethren" (adelphos) means first of all "one born in the same family." Here it means "a fellow believer, united to another by the bond of affection." Paul always considered himself one with other believers. The primary meaning of the word "farewell" (chairo) is "rejoice, be glad." It was used in greetings and in this case a parting word. It is translated by nine different words in our KJV.

The first exhortation is "be perfect." The word "perfect" (katartizo) means "to render, i.e., to fit, to be sound, to be complete." Strong adds: "ethically: to strengthen, perfect, complete, make one what he ought to be." It is a present passive imperative verb. The present tense is continuous action. The passive voice is where the subject is acted upon. I believe Paul is telling them to allow the Word of God and the Holy Spirit to affect soundness and maturity in their lives. The imperative mood mean it is an apostolic command with urgency. Immature believers can be led astray easily by false teachers. This was a real problem in that day as well as this. It is urgent that a young Christian be brought to maturity as soon as possible. "Be being brought to maturity and soundness" might be a good way to restate what Paul is saying. The imperative mood is the mood of volition. It is a choice. Every one of us are confronted with a choice in the matter of spiritual growth. We can choose to fill our minds with the Word and meditate on it day and night (Psa 1:2), or we can spend our time in front of a TV, or in some other activity that stands in the way of spiritual growth. Paul is telling them to make the right choice concerning their maturity.

The next exhortation is "be of good comfort" (parakaleo) and means "to console, to encourage and strengthen by consolation, to comfort" It is a present passive imperative verb. The present tense is an exhortation to continuous comfort in the present tense of their lives. The passive voice is where the subject (the believers in Corinth) is continuously being acted upon by an outside source. The outside source is twofold. The Scriptures and the Holy Spirit. Jesus said in John 14:16: "And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever;" The word "Comforter (parakletos) comes from the same root word that Paul uses here. It means "summoned, called to one's side, esp. called to one's aid; one who pleads another's cause before a judge, a pleader, counsel for defense, legal assistant, an advocate." So the Holy Spirit would be One who would give comfort to them as they depended upon him. The Scriptures would be another source. We do not need to think of the Scriptures as separate from the Holy Spirit as a Comforter. He uses the Scriptures to comfort. However, they are not the same. There is the Holy Spirit as a person, then there is what he has said or inspired, i.e., the Scriptures. The passive voice means that they are to allow the Holy Spirit and the Scriptures to be a constant source of comfort. Paul says, "Be comforted." He said this in the imperative mood. This is a command and expresses urgency. It is urgent that believers be constantly comforted. A believer who is not being comforted in the trials of life will fail. As the Holy Spirit and the Scriptures comfort us, we have our Lord's explanation for our situation and grace to sustain us. I also want to suggest that this is an exhortation to prayer without saying it. The study the Scripture without prayer would be like trying to read a newspaper in a dark room. The Holy Spirit speaks to me the clearest in the atmosphere of prayer. There is no doubt in my mind that the Corinthian Christians understood this as Paul made this exhortation.

The word "one" in "Be of one mind" (autos) means "the same" here. This word is hard to pin down to a definition. For instance it is translated the following ways in the KJV. This information is from Strong's concordance: "AV - It is translated him 1947 times, them 1148 times, her 195 times, it 152 times, not translated 36 times, misc 1676 times; the total number of times used in the New Testament is 5118. Paul wanted the Corinthian Christians to think alike. The word for "mind" (phroneo) means "to have understanding, to feel or to think." It is a present active imperative verb. He told this Church in the First Epistle, "Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment" (1 Cor. 1:10). There is only one way for this to take place. The Word of God will put us together in our thinking. If we are taught by the same Teacher (The Holy Spirit using the Scriptures) we will think the same thing. The thing that divides Christians who believe that the Bible is the verbally inspired inerrant Word of God is interpretation. The definition of words and the conclusions of grammar would put us together. It is our own opinion (interpretation) of the application of that truth that divides us. And I'm not going to straighten that out! So off we go to the next statement.

The words "live in peace" translate one word (eireneuo) and mean "to cultivate or keep peace, to be in harmony." It is a present active imperative verb. This means Paul wants this to be the continuous action of the believer and he says it is imperative. It is hard for a highly opinionated person to keep from bringing up things that divide. Many times there must be Spirit empowered self control (which I don't always exercise). Now truth will divide. You cannot sacrifice truth for the sake of harmony. But much wisdom must be used. God does want his children to live in peace with one another.

The words "and the love of God and peace be with you" are Paul's words of blessing upon them. Does God allow his men to bestow blessings upon others? I will have to leave that to another study.

May the Lord bless each of you.

In Christ

Bro. White