5 Test your own selves, whether you are in the faith. Test your own selves. Or don't you know as to your own selves, that Jesus Christ is in you? - unless indeed you are disqualified.
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
Try yourselves. He confirms, what he had stated previously -- that Christ's power showed itself openly in his ministry. For he makes them the judges of this matter, provided they descend, as it were, into themselves, and acknowledge what they had received from him. In the first place, as there is but one Christ, it must be of necessity, that the same Christ must dwell alike in minister and people. Now, dwelling in the people, how will he deny himself in the minister. [1] Farther, he had shown his power in Paul's preaching, in such a manner that it could be no longer doubtful or obscure to the Corinthians, if they were not altogether stupid. [2] For, whence had they faith? whence had they Christ? whence, in fine, had they every thing? It is with good reason, therefore, that they are called to look into themselves, that they may discover there, what they despise as a thing unknown. Then only has a minister a true and well grounded assurance for the approbation of his doctrine, when he can appeal to the consciences of those whom he has taught, that, if they have any thing of Christ, and of sincere piety, they may be constrained to acknowledge his fidelity. We are now in possession of Paul's object. This passage, however, is deserving of particular observation on two accounts. For, in the first place, it shows the relation, [3] which subsists between the faith of the people, and the preaching of the minister -- that the one is the mother, that produces and brings forth, and the other is the daughter, that ought not to forget her origin. [4] In the second place, it serves to prove the assurance of faith, as to which the Sorbonnic sophists have made us stagger, nay more, have altogether rooted out from the minds of men. They charge with rashness all that are persuaded that they are the members of Christ, and have Him remaining in them, for they bid us be satisfied with a "moral conjecture," [5] as they call it -- that is, with a mere opinion [6] so that our consciences remain constantly in suspense, and in a state of perplexity. But what does Paul say here? He declares, that all are reprobates, who doubt whether they profess Christ and are a part of His body. Let us, therefore, reckon that alone to be right faith, which leads us to repose in safety in the favor of God, with no wavering opinion, but with a firm and steadfast assurance. Unless by any means you are reprobates. He gives them in a manner their choice, whether they would rather be reprobates, than give due testimony to his ministry; for he leaves them no alternative, but either to show respect to his Apostleship, or to allow that they are reprobates. For, unquestionably, their faith had been founded upon his doctrine, and they had no other Christ, than they had received from him, and no other gospel than what they had embraced, as delivered to them by him, so that it were vain for them to attempt to separate any part of their salvation from his praise.
1 - "En la personne du Ministre;" -- "In the person of the Minister."
2 - "Du tout stupides et abbrutis;" -- "Altogether stupid and besotted."
3 - "La relation et correspondance mutuelle;" -- "The relation and mutual correspondence."
4 - "Que ne doit point oublier le lieu d'ou elle a prins la naissance;" -- "Which ought not to forget the place, from which she has taken her birth."
5 - See Calvin on the Corinthians, [71]vol. 1, p. 112.
6 - "D'vne opinion et vn cuider;" -- "With an opinion and an imagination." -- The Rhemish Translators, when commenting on this very passage, take occasion to oppose the idea of the attainableness of assurance of faith. "The Heretiques," say they, "argue hereupon, that every one may know himself certainly to be in grace; where the Apostle speaketh expressly and onely of faith, the act whereof a man may know and feele to be in himself, because it is an act of understanding, though he cannot be assured that he hath his sinnes remitted, and that he is in all pointes in a state of grace and salvation; because euery man that is of the Catholike faith is not alwaies of good life and agreeable thereunto, nor the acts of our will so subject to understanding, that we can knowe certainely whether we be good or euill." Dr. Fulke, in his Refutation of the errors of the Rhemish Doctors, (Loud. 1601,) p. 584, after furnishing suitable replies to the arguments thus advanced, concludes by remarking, that "our certeintie dependeth not upon our will or workes, but upon the promise of God through faith, that Christ is in us, and we in him, therefore we shall not misse of the performance of his promises." -- Ed.
Examine yourselves - see the note on 1-Corinthians 11:28. The particular reason why Paul calls on them to examine themselves was, that there was occasion to fear that many of them had been deceived. Such had been the irregularities and disorders in the church at Corinth; so ignorant had many of them shown themselves of the nature of the Christian religion, that it was important, in the highest degree, for them to institute a strict and impartial examination to ascertain whether they had not been altogether deceived. This examination, however, is never unimportant or useless for Christians; and an exhortation to do it is always in place. So important are the interests at stake, and so liable are the best to deceive themselves, that all Christians should be often induced to examine the foundation of their hope of eternal salvation.
Whether ye be in the faith - Whether you are true Christians. Whether you have any true faith in the gospel. Faith in Jesus Christ, and in the promises of God through him, is one of the distinguishing characteristics of a true Christian; and to ascertain whether we have any true faith, therefore, is to ascertain whether we are sincere Christians. For some reasons for such an examination, and some remarks on the mode of doing it; see the note on 1-Corinthians 11:28.
Prove your own selves - The word used here (δοκιμάζετε dokimazete) is stronger than that before used, and rendered "examine" (πειράζετε peirazete). This word, prove, refers to assaying or trying metals by the powerful action of heat; and the idea here is, that they should make the most thorough trial of their religion, to see whether it would stand the test; see the note on 1-Corinthians 3:13. The proof of their piety was to be arrived at by a faithful examination of their own hearts and lives; by a diligent comparison of their views and feelings with the word of God; and especially by making trial of it in life. The best way to prove our piety is to subject it to actual trial in the various duties and responsibilites of life. A man who wishes to prove an axe to see whether it is good or not, does not sit down and look at it, or read all the treatises which he can find on axe-making, and on the properties of iron and steel, valuable as such information would be; but he shoulders his axe and goes into the woods, and puts it to the trial there.
If it cuts well; if it does not break; if it is not soon made dull, he understands the quality of his axe better than he could in any other way. So if a man wishes to know what his religion is worth, let him try it in the places where religion is of any value. Let him go into the world with it. Let him go and try to do good; to endure affliction in a proper manner; to combat the errors and follies of life; to admonish sinners of the error of their ways; and to urge forward the great work of the conversion of the world, and he will soon see there what his religion is worth - as easily as a man can test the qualities of an axe. Let him not merely sit down and think, and compare himself with the Bible and look at his own heart - valuable as this may be in many respects - but let him treat his religion as he would anything else - let him subject it to actual experiment. That religion which will enable a man to imitate the example of Paul or Howard, or the great Master himself, in doing good, is genuine.
That religion which will enable a man to endure persecution for the name of Jesus; to bear calamity without complaining; to submit to a long series of disappointments and distresses for Christ's sake, is genuine. That religion which will prompt a man unceasingly to a life of prayer and self-denial; which will make him ever conscientious, industrious, and honest; which will enable him to warn sinners of the errors of their ways, and which will dispose him to seek the friendship of Christians, and the salvation of the world, is pure and genuine. That will answer the purpose. It is like the good axe with which a man can chop all day long, in which there is no flaw, and which does not get dull, and which answers all the purposes of an axe. Any other religion than this is worthless.
Know ye not your own selves - That is, "Do you not know yourselves?" This does not mean, as some may suppose, that they might know of themselves, without the aid of others, what their character was; or that they might themselves ascertain it; but it means that they might know themselves, that is, their character, principles, conduct. This proves that Christians may know their true character. If they are Christians, they may know it with as undoubted certainty as they may know their character on any other subject. Why should not a man be as able to determine whether he loves God as whether he loves a child, a parent, or a friend? What greater difficulty need there be in understanding the character on the subject of religion than on any other subject; and why should there be anymore reason for doubt on this than on any other point of character? And yet it is remarkable, that while a child has no doubt that he loves a parent, or a husband a wife, or a friend a friend, almost all Christians are in very great doubt about their attachment to the Redeemer and to the great principles of religion.
Such was not the case with the apostles and early Christians. "I know," says Paul," whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed to him," etc.; 2-Timothy 1:12. "We know.' says John, speaking in the name of the body of Christians, "that we have passed from death unto life;" 1-John 3:14. "We know that we are of the truth;" 1-John 3:19. "We know that he abideth in us;" 1-John 3:24. "We know that we dwell in him;" 1-John 4:13; see also John 5:2, John 5:19-20. So Job said, "I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand in the latter day upon the earth," etc.; Job 19:25. Such is the current language of scripture. Where, in the Bible, do the sacred speakers and writers express doubts about their attachment to God and the Redeemer? Where is such language to be found as we hear from almost all professing Christians, expressing entire uncertainty about their condition; absolute doubt whether they love God or hate him; whether they are going to heaven or hell; whether they are influenced by good motives or bad; and even making it a matter of merit to be in such doubt, and thinking it wrong not to doubt?
What would be thought of a husband that should make it a matter of merit to doubt whether he loved his wife; or of a child that should think it wrong not to doubt whether he loved his father or mother? Such attachments ought to be doubted - but they do not occur in the common relations of life. On the subject of religion, people often act as they do on no other subject; and if it is right for one to be satisfied of the sincerity of his attachments to his best earthly friends, and to speak of such attachment without wavering or misgiving, it cannot be wrong to be satisfied with regard to our attachment to God, and to speak of that attachment, as the apostles did, in language of undoubted confidence.
How that Jesus Christ is in you - To be in Christ, or for Christ to be in us, is a common mode in the Scriptures of expressing the idea that we are Christians. It is language derived from the close union which subsists between the Redeemer and his people: see the phrase explained in the note on Romans 8:10.
Except ye be reprobates - see the note on Romans 1:28. The word rendered "reprobates" (ἀδόκιμοι adokimoi) means properly not approved, rejected: that which will not stand the trial. It is properly applicable to metals, as denoting that they will not bear the tests to which they are subjected, but are found to be base or adulterated. The sense here is, that they might know that they were Christians, unless their religion was base, false, adulterated; or such as would not bear the test. There is no allusion here to the sense which is sometimes given to the word "reprobate," of being cast off or abandoned by God, or doomed by him to eternal ruin in accordance with an eternal purpose. Whatever may be the truth on that subject, nothing is taught in regard to it here. The simple idea is, that they might know that they were Christians, unless their religion was such as would not stand the test, or was worthless.
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, Jeremiah 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. This reprobation came of the people themselves: they, not God, adulterated the pure metal. Man pollutes himself; then God reprobates the polluted.
(2) 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?
(2) He confirms that which he spoke about the power of God appearing in his ministry, and he gathers by the mutual relation between the people's faith and the minister's preaching, that they must either reverence his apostleship, upon whose doctrine their faith is grounded, or they must condemn themselves of infidelity, and must confess themselves not to be of Christ's body.
Examine yourselves whether ye be in the faith,.... These words are to be considered in connection with 2-Corinthians 13:3 for seeing they sought and demanded a proof the voice and power of Christ in the apostle, he directs them to self examination, to look within themselves, to try, prove, and recognise their own souls; where if things were right, they would find a proof of Christ's speaking in him, to them: he advises them to examine the state of their own souls, and see whether they were in the faith; either in the doctrine of faith, having a spiritual and experimental knowledge of it, true love and affection for it, an hearty belief of it, having felt the power of it upon their souls, and abode in it; whether, as the Syriac version reads it, , "ye stand in the faith", firm and stable; or in the grace of faith, either of miracles, or that which is connected with salvation; and which if they were in it, and had it, is attended with good works; operates by love to Christ and to his people; by which souls go out of themselves to Christ, live upon him, receive from him, and give him all the glory of salvation: and if this was their case, he desires to know how they came by their faith; and suggests, that their light in the doctrine of the Gospel, and their faith in Christ Jesus, as well as the miraculous gifts many of them were possessed of, were through his ministry as the means; and this was a full proof of Christ's speaking in him:
prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you; by which he means, that if they took a survey of things in their own souls, it would appear that Christ was in them; not as he is in all the world, filling heaven and earth with his presence; or as he is in every rational creature, as the Creator and author of the light of nature; but in a special and spiritual manner, by his Spirit and grace; the Father reveals him in his people, as the foundation of their hope of glory; he himself enters and takes possession of their hearts in conversion, communicates his grace, and manifests himself, and is formed there by his Spirit; his graces are implanted, his image is stamped, his Spirit is put within them, and he himself dwells by faith: and this upon inquiry would be found to be the case of the Corinthians,
except, says the apostle,
ye are reprobates; meaning not that they were so, as such may stand opposed to the elect of God; for persons may as yet neither be in the faith, nor Christ in them, and yet both be hereafter, and so not be left of God, or consigned to destruction; but that if they were not in the doctrine of, faith, then they were reprobate concerning it, or void of judgment in it; and if they had not the grace of faith, and Christ was not in them, then they were not genuine, but nominal professors, like "reprobate silver", counterfeit coin; which when detected, would be "disapproved", not only by God, but man, as this word also signifies, and so stands opposed to them that are "approved", 2-Corinthians 13:7 or if they did not make such an examination, probation, and recognition of themselves, they would be without probation: or as the Arabic version, without experiment. The apostle hereby brings them into this dilemma, either that if upon examination they were found to be in the faith, and Christ in them, which blessings they enjoyed through his ministry, then they did not want a proof of Christ speaking in him; but if these things did not appear in them, then they were persons of no judgment in spiritual things, were not real Christians, but insignificant and useless persons.
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" (2-Corinthians 13:3).
your own selves--I need not speak much in proof of Christ being in me, your minister (2-Corinthians 13:3), for if ye try your own selves ye will see that Christ is also in you [CHRYSOSTOM], (Romans 8:10). Finding Christ dwelling in yourselves by faith, ye may well believe that He speaks in me, by whose ministry ye have received this faith [ESTIUS]. To doubt it would be the sin of Israel, who, after so many miracles and experimental proofs of God's presence, still cried (Exodus 17:7), "Is the Lord among us or not?" (Compare Mark 8:11).
except ye be reprobates--The Greek softens the expression, "somewhat reprobates," that is, not abiding the "proof" (alluding to the same word in the context); failing when tested. Image from metals (Jeremiah 6:30; Daniel 5:27; Romans 1:28).
Examine yourselves. Let there be self-examination. See whether you are in Christ.
Know ye not, etc. Christ must dwell in them unless they are reprobate. If Christ is in them it will be seen in the power of a Christian life.
I trust ye shall know, etc. Christ is in those who are not reprobates, but the power of Christ (2-Corinthians 13:3), that he will display when he comes, will show that he is not reprobate.
Now I pray, etc. If they should do evil, Paul's display of power would show that he was not a reprobate (2-Corinthians 13:6), but he prays that their freedom from evil may leave him without that proof. The next verses show that he desires only to promote the truth.
Prove yourselves - Whether ye are such as can, or such as cannot, bear the test - This is the proper meaning of the word which we translate, reprobates. 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.
*More commentary available at chapter level.