Chapter 13

The first three verses of this chapter are the anticipation of a personal visit to Corinth.

“This” is the nominative neuter singular of o(utoj which is a demonstrative pronoun. It is used here to resume something previously mentioned. The subject has already been broached once in 2 Corinthians 12:14 and Paul is now repeating it. And there is a principle in what he is saying here. Paul is writing to the Corinthians because he is not there, because he has not given them any face to face teaching lately. To other churches which he started he has returned but Corinth is not on the return list up until now. Paul has only given Corinth face to face teaching once.

There is a purpose here. The first purpose in these three verses is to remind us that as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, if we have constant face to face teaching then we are graced out and blessed of the Lord. The Corinthians did not have constant and consistent face to face teaching. They are suffering for it. Most of them are in some stage of reversionism. There is no substitute for face to face teaching but face to face teaching is not always possible. Paul writes to the Corinthians instead of coming personally so that they will start on the road to reversion recovery.

“third time” is an adverb, triton. It does not mean he has come three times, it means he has attempted to come three times. Out of the three attempts only one so far has succeeded. Paul’s first visit to Corinth resulted in founding the church — Acts 18. Paul was ready to return to Corinth a second time — 2 Corinthians 1:15-17. However, because of reversionism he had to cancel the trip — 2 Corinthians 1:23; 2:1. Now a third time Paul is going to try and make the trip. He has mentioned it in 2 Corinthians 12:14, and now in 13:1. This time apparently he will succeed. If he succeeds this will be his official second trip to Corinth. He tried once before but didn’t make it.

“I am coming” — present active indicative of e)rxomai. This indicates that he will come and be in their geographical presence; “to you” — proj plus the accusative, ‘face to face with you.’ Literally, “This third time I am coming face to face with you.”

Then he adds Deuteronomy 19:15 — “In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established.” Why quote this? Obviously it is here for a reason and for us to understand it. This is a quotation from the LXX.

“In the mouth” — the preposition e)pi plus the genitive singular of stoma [e)pi = upon; stoma = mouth]. However, there is a problem there. E)pi plus the genitive is also ‘by.’ And then there is another problem, there is no definite article. That is the first clue that Paul is using this quotation not in its historical exegetical sense of establishing a point of law in a courtroom, but of establishing a point of doctrine with the Corinthians. Now we start to get answers. The absence of the definite article in front of stoma begins to tell us a tale. Whenever the Greeks wanted to establish the identity of a noun they used the definite article in front of it. But if they wanted to establish the quality of the noun then they cut out the definite article. Stoma is our noun, it means ‘mouth.’ By taking the definite article out you are talking about a communicator mouth, a mouth that communicates Bible doctrine, a sanctified mouth. So, ‘by a mouth.’

“of two or three” — duo is an indeclinable noun, and it is followed by the ablative plural of martuj. Martuj is generally a witness in a court, but with the absence of the definite article in front of stoma it is talking about the quality of the mouth. Martuj is in the ablative plural, it has to be because it goes with duo which is ‘two.’ And not only is it a numeral which is indeclinable but when we get to ‘three,’ treij, three is declinable. Literally duo comes before martuj but treij comes after martuj. The literal translation is, “of two witnesses or from three.” This indicates we are not dealing with a courtroom. This is actually being applied to the Corinthians in reversionism. The anarthrous construction of the preposition followed by an idiom which has both declinable and indeclinable nouns all thrown in together, followed by the phrase “every word,” and all of a sudden we go to the nominative case, the nominative neuter singular of paj. Then we go to the nominative singular of r(hma. R(hma is used in two ways in this kind of an idiom: a) For an accusation; b) For a transaction of business.

Translation: “By a mouth of two [indeclinable] or from the source of three every accusation shall be confirmed.” What accusation? Three men on Paul’s team have been in Corinth (Apollos had been there too but he is not on Paul’s team). Paul has been there, he founded the church there and he was successful there. Titus has been there and he was tough. Then there was Timothy, and he didn’t succeed. Here it is: 1st witness — Paul; 2nd witness of the duo — Titus. “From the source of three” — now with the ablative from treij, that brings them all in. There are three people who are communicators. Stoma doesn’t have a definite article in front of it. Each one was a mouth — Paul, Titus, and Timothy. They are communicators of the Word. Paul the mouth, Titus the mouth, Timothy the mouth, communicators of the Word of God. Two of them went in there and told them face to face. One went in there and tried to be nice and got tossed out on his ear. So two of them laid it on the line. They tossed the third one out, so he can’t be included in the declinable noun duo, he has to be a third witness but he didn’t lay it on the line. They didn’t understand from Timothy in what bad shape they were. So the witnesses in this case are communicators of the Word of God. But more than that, each one is an authority. Corinth is a group of people in reversionism minus authority at this time. They have rejected the authority of the Word, therefore someone has to get to them with the Word. So three men with authority.

Verse 2 — “I told you before, and foretell you.” Twice we have the word prolegw [pro = before; legw = speak, communicate], to speak or communicate before, to say previously, to state something previously. The first time the verb occurs is the perfect active indicative, the second time it is the present active indicative. He is saying that in the past the have failed, perfect tense. ‘I told you in the past that you have failed’ — that is 1 Corinthians. ‘I am telling you now’ — that is 2 Corinthians. And then he is saying, ‘I am using an epistle, 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians, because it is just as if I was present. In other words, what I am writing in these epistles is like being there in person.’ He uses the comparative particle w(j, translated correctly “as.”

“as if” — there is no word for ‘if’ and the translator put it in because he thought that the participle ‘present’ was a conditional participle. That is probably all right because he is not there. and therefore ‘if’ is merely part of the translation of the phrase “I were present,” present active participle of pareimi which means to be present. Then he uses another word which is declinable, another word for ‘second’ — duteroj, “as if I were present the second time.” There is a definite article with it. In other words, when he gave them 1 Corinthians it was as if he was there the first time. Now that he is giving them 2 Corinthians it is like face to face teaching. The Word of God contains our food, our doctrine. It is as if the apostle Paul were speaking face to face.

“and” — transitional use of the conjunction kai. This emphasises the fact that whether present or absent Paul is teaching Bible doctrine, the Word of God. In other words, Paul is not a mouse when present and a lion when absent as his critics had maliciously declared. He is actually the same at any time. It is the message that is needed, it is God’s Word, and that is what he is going to communicate whether he writes it down on paper or whether he speaks it face to face.

“now” — nun, the reality of the situation; “I write” is not found here, just the adverb nun. So, “now to the ones who have sinned before.” This is a dative plural perfect active participle of proamartanw. The perfect tense indicates a continuous consolidated state of existence. They are in a continuous state of sin. It is a description of reversionism. Dative of disadvantage, it is to their disadvantage to be in a constant state of reversionism. It also refers to those who have recently been saved in Corinth who are antagonistic toward doctrine. Their condition is that of a spiritual moron. They have never had an ECS, they are in a constant state of reversionism. Then there are also those in Corinth who are growing up. They have an ECS and have reached the supergrace life, and they are mentioned — “to all the rest.” These are the growing believers, the believers who are still positive.

“that” — o(ti acts as a quote. Paul is quoting himself; “if” — e)an plus the subjunctive introduces a 3rd class condition; “I come” — e)rxomai, and then the word “again” is a prepositional phrase, e)ij plus the adverb palin, ‘toward you again.’

And then he says to all of the Corinthians, supergrace [there are a few], those building an ECS [there are a few], but mostly there are reversionists and spiritual morons: “If you think I am a mouse when I am present, now hear this. ‘I will not spare.’” This is the future active indicative of feidomai plus o)uk. He won’t spare any of them, he will call the shots as they are. More than anything in the world a right congregation needs, ‘What does the Word say.’ No matter how it hurts they need to know what the content of any passage of the Word says.

Translation: “I have said previously, and I do say previously [I told you previously, I do so again], as if I were present the second time; although now being absent, to the ones who have sinned before, and to all the rest, that, I will not spare.”

Translation of verse 2 — “I have said previously, and I say prior to coming, as if I am present the second time, although being absent at the present time; to the ones who have sinned before [reversionism], and to all the rest, that, if I come again, I will not spare [any of you].”

Verse 3 — the second purpose. “Since” is a conjunction which continues the present sentence, e)pei. It is a temporal and causal conjunction. The causal use is translated ‘since,’ the temporal, ‘when.’ We have a causal use here. Why is he going to lay it on and be honest with them and not spare them?

“ye seek” — the present active indicative of zetew means a critical type seeking, the kind that looks for something wrong. This is not seeking doctrine, this is seeking the basis for forming a criticism. The present tense is linear aktionsart which indicates not only constantly searching but diligently searching. The active voice: the reversionists and spiritual morons have joined in rejecting the message, and before that the message of the apostle.

“a proof” — accusative singular of dokimh. The word denotes the quality of being approved and here it means evidence: ‘you are seeking evidence.’ They aren’t seeking doctrine, spiritual food. They do not want to listen to Paul or have Paul around because they are enthusiastic about his ministry, they are looking for an excuse for what they have already done which is condemn him in their minds.

“of Christ” — genitive singular plus the definite article of Xristoj, ‘the Christ.’

“speaking” — present active participle of lalew used for communication of Bible doctrine; “in me” — e)n plus the instrumental, ‘by means of me” or ‘through me.’ Outside of Peter, James, John and Paul that is about it for the communication regarding the Church. Jesus taught very little about the Church. Paul is the greatest teacher regarding the Church and regarding Christ of all of the apostles. There is no one who is going to come along and do a better job of laying it on the line to the Corinthians than the apostle Paul. Furthermore, at the time of writing 2 Corinthians he is their right pastor. Furthermore, the present active participle indicates that this is the source of the supergrace life. It is communicating through him that is this source.

“which” is the relative pronoun o(j and it refers to Christ, therefore it should be translated ‘who.’ Now we have a reference to the Lord Jesus Christ; “is not weak to you-ward” — the present active indicative of a)sqenew means here means to be deficient of strength; and ‘to you-ward’ is the preposition e)ij plus the accusative plural which means reference and direction — ‘with reference to all of you.’

“but” — the adversative conjunction a)lla denotes a contrast between weakness and power; “is mighty” — present active indicative of dunatew, and it means to ‘show himself powerful.’ Not deficient in strength but showing Himself powerful is the example of Jesus Christ during His humanity. And what is the example that Paul is using in the Holy Spirit? First of all, by the time He was twelve Jesus Christ was building an ECS — Luke 2:40 and other verses in that chapter. His power came from the fact that relied upon Bible doctrine in His human soul, the same pattern that we follow today. He had in His soul total grace provision from supergrace. The apostle Paul uses the Lord Jesus Christ as an example to the Corinthians. Even though all members of the human race have an old sin nature we also have the function of GAP. We also have Bible doctrine in writing and therefore we can get it from the Word through the medium of the pastor-teacher. And we can have it in our soul, and having it in our soul we can utilise it to the glory of God as Jesus Christ did.

“in you” should be ‘among you all’ — the preposition e)n plus the locative plural. This is a reference to the fact that the power of God works through Bible doctrine in the souls of the Corinthians. God has graced out the Corinthians who do not even deserve the existence of living on this earth, much less the glorious future of heaven. But they have these things and therefore under the principle of GAP they can erect the ECS and enter into the supergrace life. Jesus Christ set the pattern in His humanity.

Translation: “Since you are seeking evidence of the Christ through me, who is not deficient in strength with reference to all of you but is showing himself powerful [the supergrace provision] among you all.”

Verse 4 — problems of entering the supergrace life. He begins to relate the supergrace life to the first advent of Jesus Christ. “For though” is a combination of kai gar, a very emphatic way to start a sentence. This is actually an Attic Greek phrase which has come into the Koine and is very emphatic, so much so that we have to say ‘for in deed’ or ‘for although.’

“he was crucified” — aorist passive indicative of staurow. Crucifixion was the ordinary Roman system of execution of non-Romans. The idea was that in the ancient world all Roman soldiers fought with their feet on the ground. All maneuvering was done with their feet and they had a very short sword call a maxaira, therefore a Roman was never off-balance. When he went through various types of movements always he had to have his feet on the ground to kill the enemy. The whole point was that the Roman said, “As long as I have my feet on the ground you will never conquer me. But when I get my enemies and capture them, I get their feet off the ground.” And how do you get their feet off the ground? You hang them on a piece of wood. That is the point. When Jesus Christ had His feet lifted off the ground He was perfect, He was free, He was without sin. He was qualified to do something that in the course of SPQR that none of the millions of crucifixions carried out in the Roman empire had been qualified to do — bear the sins of the world. The wages of sin is spiritual death. Christ must pay the wages of sin, and did. With His feet off the ground He paid for man’s defeat and turned it into victory.

Therefore Christ “was crucified out from weakness [not ‘through weakness’]” — aorist passive indicative of staurow. The aorist tense is a gnomic aorist, it is axiomatic, it is a fact. The gnomic aorist is the most absolute fact. It is almost the same as the culminative aorist which views the crucifixion in its entirety are regards it from the standpoint of its results. The passive voice: Christ received the action of the verb, crucifixion. The indicative mood is the mood of reality, the reality of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and the reality of what He did on that cross, He provided eternal salvation. But notice the prepositional phrase e)k plus the ablative singular of a)sqeinia which means ‘out from weakness.’ Crucifixion emphasises the impeccability but strong humanity of Christ under His supergrace life. The weakness was not with Christ, the weakness was with the Jews, with the Romans, with the human race. The noun a)sqeneia is used to portray the fact that Jesus Christ was strong all the time. As He said, He could have sent legions of angels and destroyed everyone at the crucifixion scene. But Jesus Christ in supergrace did not raise His voice in protest, nor did He do anything to stop this particular situation. The humanity of Christ had an ECS and total supergrace when He went to the cross. It was out from weakness that He was crucified; man’s weakness, not His. Neither His deity nor His humanity was weak in any way.

“yet” — the adversative conjunction showing the power by which He lives today; “he liveth” — present active indicative of zaw. This refers to living under the concept of the function of life, therefore the resurrection of the humanity of life: ‘but he keeps on living.’ He died physically because His work was finished; now He keeps on living by a power that is great: “by the power of God” — e)k plus the ablative of dunamij. Crucifixion was e)k a)sqeneia — out from the weakness of those who put Him on the cross. But He was taken out of the grave, e)k plus the ablative of dunamij and it is related to God, ‘out from the source of the power of God.’ Dunamij is the inherent power of God, the omnipotence of God. He was put on the cross by man’s weakness, He was resurrected by God’s power. But whether he was subject to man’s weakness or whether He was subject to God’s power in His humanity He was in supergrace. Supergrace can take the changing circumstances of life without any problem at all.

This is used as an illustration and we now get the point: “for” — the explanatory gar used to introduce the doctrine. Jesus Christ is the illustration; “we also” — kai h(meij, the adjunctive used of kai, the nominative plural h(meij which comes from the personal pronoun e)gw.

“are weak” — present active indicative of a)sqenew, used to portray the grace orientation of the supergrace believer. This anticipates the doctrinal principle that the plan of God is where the weakness of the supergrace believer and the power of God meet. Weakness means that the believer is oriented to grace to the point where he is totally dependent on who and what God is. The weakness of the believer and the power of God meet first in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. They meet in His ascension, His session, and the fact that He is seated at the right hand of the Father. This is the same concept that you find in 2 Corinthians 12:9.

“in him” — e)n plus the locative is positional sanctification. Positional sanctification demands that you move to the supergrace life. Every believer is in union with Christ. Your union with Christ demands that you get to supergrace, maximum Bible doctrine in the soul.

“but we shall live” — future active indicative of zaw refers to the believer under supergrace; “with him out from the power of God.” ‘With him” is sun plus the dative and it connotes association. The point of association is the supergrace life. As close as you will ever come experientially to what you have as of the moment of salvation positionally is in the supergrace life.

“by the power of God” is e)k plus the ablative of dunamij, ‘out from the power,’ and then plus the genitive of qeoj — ‘out from the source of the power of God.’ This refers to the supergrace life.

“toward you” — e)ij plus the accusative plural of su again. E)ij has the concept of direction and reference: “with reference to you.”

Translation: “For although he was crucified out from weakness, yet he keeps on living out from the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but we shall live with him out from the source of the power of God with reference to you all.”

Summary

1. The direction of supergrace living on the part of the apostle Paul is toward the Corinthian believers.

2. Therefore supergrace must live toward reversionism in a communicator to challenge reversionism to recover.

3. In other words, it is important for the communicator to crank out doctrine under shock methods to reversionists. They must be alerted as to their status quo.

4. In order to do this the apostle Paul has selected the only celebrity of Christianity as the illustration.

5. In other words, the supergrace of the crucified and resurrected Christ available in Paul’s time through GAP is still available today.

6. Beyond the ECS is the supergrace life which Christ had during His incarnation.

7. Now as a challenge to the Corinthians in reversionism certain believers will accompany Paul on his return to Corinth to challenge the reversionistic Corinthians to recover their ECS and move into supergrace.

8. For this reason supergrace is related to the first advent or the incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ.

In verses 5 & 6 we have the testing for the ECS or reversionism. Are you in supergrace? Are you in reversionism? Are you constructing an ECS or are you going through the stages of retrogression?

Verse 5 — “Examine yourselves.” Such a passage has leant itself to many types of subjectivity, to many types of hypersensitivity, to many types of devotionals which lead to apostasy. It must be clearly understood at the outset that there are many types who examine themselves without any particular profit.’ Examine yourselves,’ then, must be regarded in the light of a believer who has had some doctrine, a believer who has progressed to the point of having started an ECS. In other words this is a command, present active imperative, but it belongs to a believer who has taken in doctrine as gnwsij and the Holy Spirit has made that objective information. It is a command, then, to a believer who has had some consistent exposure to Bible doctrine. This is a present active imperative of one of two verbs, both of which are in this verse. The first is peirazw and the second one, we will discover, is dokimazw. ‘Examine yourselves’ is the present active imperative of peirazw; ‘prove yourselves’ is the present active imperative of dokimazw. While they both mean to test they are not quite the same. Both of them mean to test. One, peirazw, means to test, to discover if something is good or bad. It was originally used for an assayer. Dokimazw means to test for one purpose only, to approve, to run someone through some kind of a test to graduate them, to give them a reward, to recognise them, to approve them. So the first of the two words we will translate, “Be testing yourselves.” The present tense is linear aktionsart. This is something the believer has to do periodically and it is a very easy test. The active voice: you have to do it yourself and you must give yourself privacy when you do it. The imperative mood means it is a command and as long as you live on this earth this command is before you. There will never be a time when you can avoid this command. Good here means progressing and bad means retrogressing.

The test: a) You must ask yourself, Am I positive or negative toward Bible doctrine?; b) Do I have doctrine and the personality or the person who teaches it mixed up? The person doesn’t means a thing; c) What keeps me from doctrine? What the attitude is toward doctrine is the key to the whole thing. Doctrine is the only basis for advance or retreat.

“yourselves” is the accusative plural from the reflexive pronoun e(autou.

Next we have a particle, the particle of possibility, e)i, ‘if.’ Here the possibility is a reality. The particle is used as a conjunction to indicate the first class condition of supposition. Not all first class conditions are reality but they are reality from the standpoint of the writer, the thinker, the one who is testing himself.

“you be” — present active indicative of e)imi, ‘you are.’ You have to come to conclusions about yourself from the standpoint of absolute status quo; “in the faith” — the preposition e)n plus the locative of pistij plus the definite article. When you have pistij with the definite article it refers to doctrine. In other words, it isn’t faith, it is what is believed, the content of faith and it is used for doctrine. It refers to doctrine that is heard communicated. “Be testing yourselves if you are in the sphere of the doctrine.”

“prove” is dokimazw, present active imperative. This means to put someone through a course for progress. This is testing for the purpose of graduation, for the purpose of approval; “yourselves” — again we have e(autou in the accusative plural — ‘for approval.’ The objective is that out of this test you will get back to doctrine. This is self-examination for the purpose of getting yourself out of, away from, reversionism.

“Know ye not” — present active imperative of e)piginwskw which means to know exactly, to recognise and perceive. But here it has a technical connotation for Bible doctrine in the human spirit, Bible doctrine in the right lobe. As long as you have some doctrine and you test yourself often enough you will use whatever doctrine you have to evaluate. It is when you are totally out of doctrine that you are in danger. The believers who die the sin unto death fail to test themselves and as a result they get too far gone. If you test yourself with some degree of frequency you won’t get into this jamb because you will have enough doctrine in the soul to be objective. It is when that doctrine is gone through reversionism that you are in trouble. E)piginwskw here, then, is used for self-evaluation on the basis of doctrine you have in your soul.

“your own selves” — present active imperative plus e(autou; “how that” — this is a pleonastic use of the conjunction o(ti denoting the content of thought involved in the context; “Jesus Christ is in you” — I)hsouj Xristoj e)n u(min. The preposition e)n plus the instrumental case should be ‘Jesus Christ with you.’ Jesus Christ with you is another way of stating the ECS. So we have a believer moving toward supergrace or in supergrace, having fellowship with Christ in contrast to a reversionistic believer who is said to be lukewarm and has Christ on the outside knocking on the door. The literal translation here is “Christ with you.” That means He is inside your soul. Your soul has a door. If you are in reversionism He is outside. Outside the believer is lukewarm, and outside Jesus Christ knocks on the door — “Behold, I stand at the door and knock.” Jesus Christ is telling you it is time to recover from reversionism. The coming in of Jesus Christ is reversion recovery. If Christ is with you then you are moving toward supergrace, but if Christ is knocking on the door then you are a believer in reversionism.

“except” — e)i mhti means ‘unless’ here. The believer has fellowship with Christ except under two conditions: the spiritual moron, not in view here, or the reversionist; “ye be” — present active indicative of e)imi; “reprobate” — a)dokimoj which is taken from dokimazw, testing for the purpose of approval. You haven’t been doing it, you haven’t been taking in Bible doctrine, the a in front of dokimoj says negative. The word a)dokimoj can be translated ‘unable to stand, not standing the test, unqualified, disqualified, worthless, unfit.’ It is technical for a reversionist.

Translation: “Be testing yourselves, if you are in [Bible] doctrine; be testing yourselves for approval [GAPing it]. Be perceiving yourselves, that Jesus Christ with you, unless you are reversionists.”

Verse 6 — here is the personal testimony of Paul regarding both his ECS and his entrance into the supergrace life. It begins with the word “but” which is not a correct translation. The particle de is used as a continuative conjunction and should be translated “Moreover.”

“I trust” — present active indicative of the verb e)lpizw which means in the present tense to hope. In the aorist tense it means to trust and in the perfect tense it means to have confidence. Here it means to hope: “Moreover I keep hoping,” present active participle.

“that” — o(ti is used here simply as quotation marks to indicate this is Paul’s personal thinking. This introduces the content of his hope.

“you shall know” — future middle indicative of ginwskw which means here to know from the experience of observation or the experience of listening, or being the recipient of Paul’s communication of doctrine whether verbal or written. The future tense indicates from this time, a true temporal future. The middle voice: they will be benefited by the fulfillment of Paul’s hope. The indicative mood anticipates the reality.

“that” — the second o(ti is quotation marks anticipating the thinking and the mind of the Corinthians. We have o(ti twice, once for Paul and once for the Corinthians.

“we are not reprobates” — present active indicative of e)imi plus the strong negative o)uk plus the nominative plural from a)dokimoj which means reprobate or reversionist.

Translation: “Moreover I hope that you shall know in the future that we are not reversionists.”

Verse 7 — the life of the communicator is not the issue in Bible teaching. “Now” should be “Moreover.”

“I pray” — present active indicative first person plural, ‘we pray.’

“to God” — the preposition proj plus the accusative of qeoj, “Moreover we pray face to face with the God.” This phrase indicates the effectiveness of this prayer. The recording of an apostolic prayer is tantamount to communicating Bible doctrine.

“that” is not found in the Greek, it is used to introduce an accusative of general reference where the accusative case takes the place of the nominative and for the verb to have an infinitive. Whenever you have the accusative of general reference it is always to give special emphasis to something; “ye” — the accusative plural of general reference of the pronoun su followed by the infinitive, ‘you all.’

“do no evil” — aorist active infinitive of poiew and the accusative of general reference; “no” is the negative mh plus mhden and it means literally, ‘not nothing.’ It should be translated ‘nothing.’ The word “evil” is the accusative singular of kakoj for all the steps of reversionism. Reversionism is evil.

“not that” — o)uk i(na is a negative purpose clause; “we” — nominative plural from the pronoun e)gw referring to those who have the gift of communication; “we should appear” — aorist passive subjunctive of fainw which means to be seen, to be visible, to appear; “approved” — dokimoj, referring to the believer with an ECS and entering the supergrace life. “Should be visible” is the way it should be translated.

Principle

1. The objective in communicating doctrine is not the approval of the communicator or teacher but the benefit of the recipient.

2. Since dokimoj is a nominative plural it goes with the nominative plural pronoun, it goes with the subject rather than the object of the verb: “Not that we approved should be seen/visible.” The pastor doesn’t stand in front of the congregation to be approved by the congregation.

“but” — adversative conjunction a)lla for contrast between the personality and life of the pastor in contrast to his message; “that” — purpose clause; “ye” - ‘you all.’

“should do” — present active subjunctive; “that which is honest” should be ‘the honourable,’ to kalon, accusative singular of kaloj. It means to come to Bible class, sit down, rebound, listen, concentrate, take it in, get it. Come back and do the same thing all over again. Keep on GAPing it. The honourable thing is getting doctrine in the soul. Your soul was saved to fill it up with doctrine.

“though we seem to be” — present active subjunctive; “like reprobates” — a)dokimoj, like reversionists. ‘You go right on with doing the honourable thing even though we seem to be reversionists. You don’t know whether we are or not, we just seem to be.’

Translation: “Moreover we pray face to face with the God that you [Corinthians] do nothing evil [get into reversionism]; not that we approved should be seen, but that you [Corinthians] should do the honourable thing [GAP], even though we [teachers] seem to be like reversionists.”

Verse 8 — the principle which leads to supergrace: God the Holy Spirit has sovereignly bestowed upon X number of male believers at the point of thei salvation the gift of pastor-teacher. This gift eventually leads that believer into a state of preparation whereby at a proper time when he finds his right congregation he becomes the elder and bishop of that congregation. As such he communicates Bible doctrine faithfully, daily, consistently, until those in his congregation who are positive will reach the supergrace life through the construction of the ECS and the continuation in the Word. In other words, the importance of having the elder of a church, also known as the pastor-teacher, is so that the message might be heard and received under the ministry of the Spirit, processed into the soul through the function of GAP, and might result in the spiritual growth that leads to the supergrace life.

With that in mind it becomes necessary to understand an additional principle brought out by this verse. There is no such thing as a man who has the gift of pastor-teacher who is perfect, who is without sin, who is without a sin nature. Nor does any pastor-teacher ever have any so-called victorious experience which gives him the excuse of neither studying nor teaching on a consistent basis. It is the responsibility of the pastor-teacher to communicate a message. Whatever his personal life may be it is just as much a matter of privacy as any member of the congregation. It is not the life of the pastor-teacher that counts, it is his message. Whatever his life may be it is not the business of the congregation.

“For” — the particle gar used as an explanatory particle. It should be translated here, ‘obviously.’ Our first word then tells us that whatever we are to be taught in this passage should be obvious before we begin. It is not the man, it is the message. That essentially is what is said here, but it must be said in such a way that the principle comes through to you.

“we” — by interpretation this is the apostle Paul and his traveling seminary. In his faculty he had men like Titus, Timothy, Luke, and Apollos. These men either had the gift of apostleship or the gift of pastor-teacher. By application this word ‘we’ refers to every man who has the gift of pastor-teacher.

“can do nothing” is a present active indicative of dunamai plus o)uk. No pastor stepping out of line in any way has ever stopped Bible doctrine. The life of an individual pastor is not the basis for the standing or falling of doctrine. Doctrine depends on who and what God is, and doctrine will be here tomorrow and the next day no matter how many pastors fail in how many ways.

“against the truth” — kata plus the genitive of a)lqheia means ‘against doctrine.’ Kata plus the genitive means ‘against.’ Whatever we do or say that is disturbing to others, we cannot in any way neutralise doctrine. However, we are not here to even try.

“but” — the adversative conjunction a)lla; “for” is the preposition u(per, and u(per plus the genitive means “on behalf of.”

“the truth” — doctrine. We can’t do anything to hinder doctrine but we can do something on behalf of doctrine. We can teach it, we can communicate it, we can analyse it, we can classify it, we can illustrate it, we can relate it, but we can’t destroy it. The pastor does these things to communicate it to the priesthood on earth, all those who are born again believers. So it is not what the pastor is, it is what he says. It is not what he does, it is what he communicates that counts.

Translation: “Obviously we pastors can do nothing against doctrine, but on behalf of doctrine.”

Principle of interpretation

1. The pastor’s message is the issue of supergrace, not the pastor’s way of life.

2. The congregation must recognise the authority of the pastor, concentrate on his message of doctrine, but give privacy to his life as to any believer priest.

3. No one earns or deserves blessing from God, whether pastor or congregation.

4. The phrase “against the truth” indicates the pastor’s life is not the issue. He can do nothing against the truth.

5. The prepositional phrase “on behalf of the truth” indicates that the pastor’s function is teaching Bible doctrine, and what he communicates is the issue.

Verse 9 — “For we are glad when we are weak.” ‘For’ is the particle gar used as a conjunction to express inference. This is epexegitcal and it connotes an additional explanation: “we are glad” — present active indicative of xairw which is used for +H. “For we have inner happiness” — present tense, linear aktionsart. The active voice: the supergrace believers produce the action. The indicative mood is the reality of inner happiness even in time of great stress.

“when” is the conjunction o(tan, meaning whenever or on the occasion of; “we are weak,” or “our weakness” — the nominative plural of the personal pronoun e)gw refers to Paul and those who have taken in doctrine under the supergrace principle. It is in the plural to indicate that Paul is not the only supergrace believer, there are others: “When we are weak,” present active subjunctive of a)sqenew, used to portray a person who is hopeless, helpless, useless, and recognises at last through Bible doctrine that grace has found a way to bless, to utilise, to win, in every situation. A)sqenew means total helplessness. The weakness of the supergrace believer is met by the power of God. The helplessness of the supergrace believer is met by supergrace provision, or as James 4:6 puts is, “He gives greater grace.” Weakness means helplessness and hopelessness, therefore total dependence upon what God has provided. The communicator of doctrine must be totally dependent upon the supergrace provision, the believer priest in the congregation must be totally dependent upon supergrace provision regardless of local or national circumstances. So as a result of effective communication of the Word of God this is true in the lives of believers in every facet of history.

“and ye are strong” — reversionists always have the wrong idea about themselves, they can never be objective about themselves. So Paul is objective for them, he uses sanctified sarcasm. The word ‘ye’ is a nominative plural from the personal pronoun su and it refers to the congregation of Corinth. They are in reversionism and have totally failed. But they think they are strong, they think they can handle anything; ‘you all are’ — present active subjunctive of e)imi. It is the subjunctive mood which is so interesting here. It is lack of reality here, not even potentiality. You think you are strong but you are really not, the subjunctive says. The active voice: you are the subject of the verb and you really have the subjective impression that you are strong. The present tense is linear aktionsart indicating ‘you keep on being.’ “Strong” is the nominative plural of the adjective dunatoj which means powerful. The word “and” is de used in the adversative sense here: ‘but you are powerful.’

But what is their condition really. They have neglected Bible doctrine, negative volition. They have scar tissue on the soul. Mataiothj has opened up and attacked the right lobe. They have emotional revolt, reversionism, and they practice reverse process reversionism. In this condition they think that they are strong. The subjunctive mood indicates that they do not have reality, objectivity. They have become sensitive, superficial, and subjective.

Now Paul gives a short parenthesis in which he expresses a prayer: “and this also we pray [not ‘wish’]” — the verb is e)uxomeqa and it means to pray. This is a present active indicative here, ‘we keep on praying.’

“your perfection” — is your completion, your edification. They are praying for the Corinthians to grow up. Katartisij means completion, it is technical here for the supergrace life.

Translation: “For we rejoice [inner happiness], whenever we are weak, but you are powerful: and this also we pray, your completion.”

Principle

1. Doctrine, not the life of the pastor, is the basis for believers growing in phase two.

2. Such growth demands the daily function of GAP.

3. Where believers are in their right congregation accepting the authority of their right pastor and exposing themselves constantly to teaching they will erect an ECS and enter into the supergrace life.

4. Only neglect of doctrine can result in reversionism.

5. At no time must the members of a congregation get their eyes on the life of the pastor, but always on his message. His life is not an issue.

6. The pastor-teacher possesses three factors in the Church Age: a) authority; b) a message; c) a private personal life.

7. Only the first two are available to the congregation, his authority and his message. The last, his personal life, is a matter of privacy of his own priesthood. 8. The basis for advance in the Christian life has always been doctrine, not the life of the pastor.

Verses 10-14 is the conclusion of the epistle.

Verse 10 — the purpose of the epistle restated. “Therefore” — dia plus the accusative of touto means ‘Because of this.’ Because of Paul’s desire to see the Corinthians recover from reversionism and move into supergrace; “I write” — present active indicative of grafw. The present tense is dramatic. The active voice: God the Holy Spirit uses the apostle Paul for this message. The indicative mood is the reality of the fact that Paul the apostle has picked up his pen to write to Corinthians, and during the time of writing he is their right pastor; “these things” — the accusative neuter plural of o(utoj refers to the content of 2 Corinthians.

“being absent” — present active participle of a)peimi [e)imi = to be; a)p = away], away from them. They had been highly critical of Paul because he had not returned, now he explains once more; “lest” — the conjunction i(na plus the subjunctive, introducing a purpose clause — ‘that.’

“being present” — present active participle of pareimi [par = beside; e)imi = to be], to be beside them, to be with them, to be present. He intends to come.

“I should use sharpness” — literally it says, ‘I should not use sharpness.’ This is xraomai which means to employ, plus the negative mh. The word ‘sharpness’ is an adverb, a)potomoj, [tomoj = to cut off; a)po = off, off], to cut more off means to be severe, to use curtness — “that being present I should not employ sharpness.” He would rather be relaxed than to have to chew them out.

“according to the power” — the preposition kata plus accusative of e)cousia which means ‘authority.’ The authority comes from Paul’s gift as a communicator. He we have a communication gift connected with authority. Principle: The communication gift has to have authority. The pastor cannot teach the Word of God and be minus authority, he would just not get through.

“which the Lord has given me” — aorist active indicative of didomi. The aorist tense is gnomic, it is axiomatic, it is an absolute. You cannot teach without authority. There are those who respond to the communicator, there are those who do not. Those who do not obviously have the wrong church so they go somewhere else. Those who recognise and accept the authority and stick it out under all kinds of weather are members of that congregation. (You don’t start out using the authority, you start out learning the Word)

“to edification” — the preposition e)ij plus the accusative of o)ikodomh which refers to the ECS. The authority and the message of the communicator are designed for your spiritual growth. That is the principle.

“and not to destruction” — kai o)uk e)ij kaqairesin. The secret here is in the prepositional phrase, e)ij plus the accusative of kaqairesij which means destruction. Destruction is technical for reversionism.

Translation: “For this cause I write these things being absent, that being present I should not use acrimony, according to the authority which the Lord has given me for the purpose of edification, and not for the purpose of reversionism.”

The purpose of this epistle is to move the Corinthians away from their reversionism into reversion recovery, into the construction or reconstruction of the edification complex and the entrance into the supergrace life.

Verse 11 — this verse has five imperatives which are all related to Bible doctrine. “Finally” — nominative neuter singular from loipoj which is used adverbially to mean ‘as far as the rest is concerned.’

“brethren” is the vocative plural a)delfoi, translated ‘brethren’ but should be ‘members of the family of God.’

The first of the five imperatives is the English text “farewell.” This is a present active imperative of the verb xairw which means to rejoice, to have +H. This first command is ‘Keep on possessing inner happiness.’ This is a command to move toward the supergrace life, a command to take in Bible doctrine on a daily basis and to keep on moving into supergrace. One of the characteristics of supergrace is +H. The characteristics of supergrace: capacity for freedom, for life, for love, for happiness.

The second command is a present passive imperative, “be perfect.” This, too, is an incorrect translation. The present passive imperative of katartizw. The present tense is linear aktionsart. This time the voice is passive, the subject receives the action of the verb, and this is the believer receiving doctrine. The imperative mood is a command. This word is used in five different ways in the New Testament. It is used as a mechanical term in 1 Corinthians 1:10 where it means to tune up the machine. But that is not its use here. It is used in 1 Peter 5:10 as a fishing term where it means to mend a broken net. And while doctrine mends all the broken nets of this life that is not the meaning here. It is used in Galatians 6:1 as a medical term, to set a broken bone. This would be a reference to doctrine as the means of recovery from reversionism, but that is not the meaning here. It is used as a naval term in 1 Thessalonians 3:10 where it means to supply a fleet for operations. Doctrine in the right lobe, the ECS, the human soul is the means of functioning in the supergrace life. But that is not the meaning here. The meaning here is the military connotation of katartizw which means to equip an army for combat. Doctrine equips the believer for the function of the supergrace life and the combat of the angelic conflict, and it should be translated in the passive voice, ‘keep on being equipped.’ Our second command is a command to construct the ECS. Before you can have supergrace you must have an ECS. Both are achieved in exactly the same way, the daily, the constant, the persistent, the consistent intake of Bible doctrine. Bible doctrine is more important than anything in your life. Again, the passive voice means the believer receives the equipment to move toward supergrace.

The third imperative is also incorrectly translated: “be of good comfort” is a present passive imperative of the verb parakalew means to receive comfort, ‘keep on receiving comfort.’ The present tense is linear aktionsart. The believer receives comfort from the Bible doctrine which he already possesses in his soul. He does not seek comfort from the Bible itself but from that doctrine which has been transferred from the Bible to his soul by the daily function of GAP.

The fourth imperative is translated in the KJV, “be of one mind.” This is, again, an active voice. It is the present active imperative from the verb fronew which means to think objectively. This is Bible doctrine in the right lobe. Objective thinking is based upon Bible doctrine on the launching pad.

The fifth of these imperative is also a present active imperative, “live in peace.” The verb is e)irhneuw which means to live in benefit, happiness, blessing, harmony, to live in a status of tranquillity and happiness. We can translate this “be living in happiness.” Your happiness is directly related to your intake of Bible doctrine. This passage is addressed to members of the family of God.

“and the God of love and peace shall be with you” — the word for ‘peace’ e)irhnh refers to tranquillity, benefit, welfare, happiness: “the God of love and benefit.”

“shall be” — future active indicative of e)imi.

Translation: “For the rest of it, members of the family of God, keep on having inner happiness, keep on being equipped, keep on receiving comfort, be living in tranquillity; and the God of love and benefit shall be associated with you.”

All five imperatives are related to the believer’s function under GAP. There is no substitute for Bible doctrine in the Christian way of life.

Verses 12 & 13, the concept of supergrace rapport.

Verse 12 — “Greet” is the aorist active imperative of a)spazomai which means to salute. This is a hero greeting a hero.

“with a holy kiss” — the word means separation by means of a kiss: e)n plus a(gioj plus filhma. This means the custom of greeting or saluting with a kiss which goes back to the time when the men kissed the men and the women kissed the women in greeting — as Judas Iscariot did when he greeted the Lord Jesus Christ. The male meeting the male with a kiss was never used in an ordinary greeting, it was only used when a man of highest authority, like Julius Caesar, would kiss a man who had done very well, a hero for extraordinary courage. In those days a kiss on the cheek by one in highest authority was the highest decoration of the Roman empire. For this reason he was called a friend, a filhma of Caesar. It was someone who had been kissed by the emperor. In other words, saluting one another with a holy kiss is the highest decoration a believer can receive. “Salute one another of the same kind in separation [The words ‘in separation’ means only for those who are heroes] with a holy kiss.” This is not a kiss of love, it is a kiss of recognition of greatness.

Verse 13 — “All the saints” do not kiss; “salute you” — once you hit supergrace this is going to be recognised by others who are believers. All the believers will salute you. Verse 14 — the members of the Godhead will recognise you as well. “The grace from [not of] the Lord Jesus Christ” — ablative of source; “and the love from the God [the Father], and the fellowship from the Holy Spirit, associated with you” — only supergrace ones get this.

Translation: “The grace from the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love from the God, and the fellowship from the Holy Spirit, associated with all of you.”