2 Corinthians 13:5

And what am I saying about myself, that Christ speaks in me, that I am powerful, even though I imitate Him who was crucified and do not proceed to punishment. For you too, if you wish to test yourselves, will see Christ in yourselves, since …

After threatening God's severe judgment, the Apostle warns them to be ready, so that they will not experience a severe judgment. First, he gives the admonition; secondly, he assigns the reason for it (v. 10). In regard to the first he does two things. First, …

Know ye not yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you - All Christian believers know this, by the witness and by the fruit of his Spirit. Some translate the words, Jesus Christ is among you; that is, in the church of Corinth; and understand them of the miraculous gifts and the power of Christ which attended the censures of the apostle.

): Examine yourselves, &c. Hereby he intimates that, if they could prove their own Christianity, this would be a proof of his apostleship; for if they were in the faith, if Jesus Christ was in them, this was a proof that Christ spoke in him, because it was by his ministry that they did believe.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens

Examine yourselves whether ye be in the faith,....

Examine--Greek, "Try (make trial of) yourselves." prove your own selves--This should be your first aim, rather than "seeking a proof of Christ speaking in me" (2Co 13:3). your own selves--I need not speak much in proof of Christ being in me, your minister (2Co 13:3), for if ye try your own selves ye will see that Christ is also in you [CHRYSOSTOM], (Ro 8:10).

I HAD INTENDED to address you this morning from the third title given to our blessed Redeemer, in the verse we have considered twice before—“Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God;” but owing to excruciating pain and continual sickness, I have been unable to gather my thoughts together, and therefore I feel constrained to address you on a subject which has often been upon my heart and not unfrequently upon my lips, and concerning which, I dare say, I have admonished a very large proportion of this audience before.

I HAD INTENDED to address you this morning from the third title given to our blessed Redeemer, in the verse we have considered twice before—“Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God;” but owing to excruciating pain and continual sickness, I have been unable to gather my thoughts together, and therefore I feel constrained to address you on a subject which has often been upon my heart and not unfrequently upon my lips, and concerning which, I dare say, I have admonished a very large proportion of this audience before. You will find the text in the thirteenth chapter of the second epistle to the Corinthians, at the fifth verse—“Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?”—a solemn text, that we cannot preach too impressively, or too frequently meditate. The Corinthians were the critics of the apostles’ age. They took to themselves great credit for skill in learning and in language, and as most men do who are wise in their own esteem, they made a wrong use of their wisdom and learning—they began to criticise the apostle Paul. They criticised his style.

Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith - Ἑαυτους πειραζετε· Try yourselves; pierce your hearts; bore yourselves throughout; try yourselves by what I have written, and see whether ye retain the true faith of the Gospel. Prove your own selves - Ἑαυτους δοκιμαζετε· Put yourselves to the test, as you would try gold or silver suspected of adulteration. No more take that for Gospel which is not so, than you would take adulterated money for sterling coin. This is a metaphor taken from testing or assaying adulterated metals. Know ye not your own selves - Are ye not full of wisdom and understanding? And is it not as easy to find out a spurious faith as it is to detect a base coin? There is an assay and touchstone for both. If base metal be mixed with the pure you can readily detect it; and as easily may you know that you are in the faith as you can know that base metal is mixed with the pure. Does Jesus Christ dwell in you? You have his Spirit, his power, his mind, if ye be Christians; and the Spirit of Christ bears witness with your spirit that ye are the children of God. And this is the case except ye be reprobates; αδοκιμοι, base counterfeit coin; mongrel Christians. This metaphor holds excellently here. They had a Judaizing Christian among them; such, presumptively, was the false apostle: they had received his Judaico-Christian doctrine, and were what the prophet said of some of the Israelites in his time. Reprobate silver, adulterated coin, shall men call them, Jer 6:30. And thus, when they were brought to the test, they were found reprobate; that is, adulterated with this mixture of bad doctrine. There is no other kind of reprobation mentioned here than that which refers to the trial and rejection of adulterated coin; and, by way of metaphor, to the detection of false Christianity. […]