2 Corinthians 13:5, to understand why examine yourself hits with such force, you need to stand for a moment where it was first heard. Imagine a crowded room in Corinth, voices overlapping, loyalties dividing, this is not a quiet study. The context suggests a church that had grown argumentative and proud. A church dealing with open moral failure and believers taking each other to court. A church where new teachers had arrived and Paul’s authority was being questioned, they were asking for proof, proof that Christ was really speaking through him, they were testing the messenger, you can feel the weight as his second letter to them comes to its close. 2 Corinthians 13:1-4, Paul warns that he is coming a third time, that every matter will be confirmed and that Christ will not prove weak among them.
Then Paul turns the lens around in 2 Corinthians 13:5, notice the reversal, you have been examining me, he says, now examine your own selves, that little word “selves” matters. Paul does not say examine your neighbor, he does not say examine your pastor and decide if he passes, he says look inward, look honestly, look together as a church. Paul does not leave them in doubt, 2 Corinthians 13:6-8, he says he hopes they will see that they pass the test, he prays they will do what is right and he says truth cannot be overthrown, that is not the voice of a man trying to crush faith, that is the voice of a pastor trying to make faith honest, but the question is still there. Does the Bible actually teach that a person can know?
Look at the purpose line John gives near the end of his first letter, it is one of the clearest statements about assurance anywhere, 1 John 5:13, that word “know” is steady, not guess, not wish, know. John wrote a whole letter, so ordinary believers would have a settled confidence that keeps believing. Jesus himself in John 10:28, one hand holding and John 10:29 Jesus adds the father’s hand as well, greater than all, where no one can snatch them away, two hands holding. The imagery is security, not suspense, that means if eternal life is given, not earned as wages, then confidence does not begin with your grip, it begins with his grip. Ephesians 2:8-10, Paul grounds that security in grace through faith as a gift, not earned by works, yet created for a life of good works God prepared. Romans 10:9, so the foundation is laid, promise first, gift first, Christ first.
Then Paul turns the lens around in 2 Corinthians 13:5, notice the reversal, you have been examining me, he says, now examine your own selves, that little word “selves” matters. Paul does not say examine your neighbor, he does not say examine your pastor and decide if he passes, he says look inward, look honestly, look together as a church. Paul does not leave them in doubt, 2 Corinthians 13:6-8, he says he hopes they will see that they pass the test, he prays they will do what is right and he says truth cannot be overthrown, that is not the voice of a man trying to crush faith, that is the voice of a pastor trying to make faith honest, but the question is still there. Does the Bible actually teach that a person can know?
Look at the purpose line John gives near the end of his first letter, it is one of the clearest statements about assurance anywhere, 1 John 5:13, that word “know” is steady, not guess, not wish, know. John wrote a whole letter, so ordinary believers would have a settled confidence that keeps believing. Jesus himself in John 10:28, one hand holding and John 10:29 Jesus adds the father’s hand as well, greater than all, where no one can snatch them away, two hands holding. The imagery is security, not suspense, that means if eternal life is given, not earned as wages, then confidence does not begin with your grip, it begins with his grip. Ephesians 2:8-10, Paul grounds that security in grace through faith as a gift, not earned by works, yet created for a life of good works God prepared. Romans 10:9, so the foundation is laid, promise first, gift first, Christ first.
