Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test! (2 Cor 13:5)I would rank this among the "verses to ignore" in Scripture in the minds of many Christians these days. We live more in an age of "don't ask, don't tell" when it comes to self-examination and salvation. "Am I in the faith?" Oh, no, don't ask that. And don't tell anyone you thought of it.
Paul told them to do it. If you read what he said, it looks as if he told them to do it as a matter of encouragement, not warning. It reads like, "Test yourselves. Why wouldn't you? You know that Jesus Christ is in you, right?" His approach came from the positive side. "We're Christians -- Christ-followers. We have Christ in us. That should be pretty easy to verify. We ought to do that."
We don't. We don't examine ourselves. We don't test to see if we're "in the faith." And we don't, probably, because we don't have that positive approach that Paul has. "Test myself? Why would I do that? I might find out I'm not in the faith." We come from a "if it feels good do it" society with a free-wheeling "whatever I think is real is real" mentality, so we don't want to upset the apple cart, so to speak, and, after all, what is "the faith" that we're supposed to be "in"? It's whatever we believe ... right?
Paul is not asking us to examine others. "Examine yourselves." So let's not go looking around (at this moment), okay. Just yourself. And he's not suggesting a breast exam, a colon cancer screening, or some other examination -- just "see whether you are in the faith." Very narrow. He uses the term "the faith" as opposed to simply "faith." He's not saying, "Examine yourselves to see if you have faith." He says to see if you are "in the faith." That is, there is this thing called "the faith" that defines what "Christian" or "Christ-follower" is and what Christ-followers believe and, therefore, do. So you ask yourself, "Do I align with that thing called 'the faith'?" Paul expects those who actually are in the faith to "test well," so to speak. It's a done deal. You have Christ in you; you can't fail. But he also expects us to do the test. And the language suggests often.
Do you do that? Do you examine yourself? Do you see whether or not you are "in the faith"? Is yours a "personal thing", where "the faith" is defined however you define it, or is it "the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints" (Jude 1:3)? You might find that you are "in the faith", and that's great. You can see that it is because Christ is in you and you can be grateful and glorify God. On the other hand, if you "fail to meet the test," you can remedy the problem, correct your error, and become "in the faith." Win-win! We shouldn't blow it off because our laissez-faire, lackadaisical, individualistic, "nonjudgmental" world won't let us. It's not a trivial question. The answers, whether positive or negative, can provide great benefit. On the other hand, failing to "do the test" can potentially have a horrendous outcome.
1 comment:
If you are in the faith, then you are in the fight.. i asked the question, and noted that the answer was not so much about the Peace that passes understanding, but rather had to do with struggle of everyday life. i am in constant battle with my sinful nature, it never sleeps.
yes i at times have comfort that Christ is with me, but for the most part, it's just more and more brokenness being revealed in me and the world around me. i know that Stan means to break the Glaze of Mediocrity of our thinking. Thank you Stan. but now i just want Jesus, no more test questions, no more fasting and prayer, no more apologetics, no more deep thoughts. just want to rest in His arms like a tired child.
OK so that's not going to happen anytime soon. so it's like "get up and back up and into the fight"
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