The Exam

Paul wrote to the church at Corinth,

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)

First, we must note the personal nature of this text. "Examine yourselves," it says. Not "Check out your neighbor" or anything like that. "Test yourselves." Not someone else.

What are we supposed to test for? "To see whether you are in the faith." Notice the definite article, "the." There is a difference between "faith" and "the faith." "Faith" simply refers to belief, confident assurance, "to be convinced." "The faith" refers to a specific body of beliefs -- the beliefs that constitute genuine Christianity. Jude uses the phrase when he writes, "I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints" (Jude 1:3).

Scripture speaks of faith as a gift (2 Peter 1:1; Php 1:29; Acts 3:16; Rom 12:3). Paul said, "The gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable" (Rom 11:29), so it is not possible to lose a gift from God. Clearly, then, the verse in 2nd Corinthians is not a warning about losing your faith. It's a warning about failing to remain in the faith -- the true Christian doctrine.

So, what do we know about "the faith"? We know "the faith" is the body of doctrine and practices we get from God's Word. If your version of the Christian faith differs from God's Word, I'm concerned that it might be off base. We know it is what was provided "once for all" to the saints (Jude 1:3). If you're version of the Christian faith differs from the original, you can be pretty sure there is a problem. We know that the faith is predicated on "saved by grace through faith" and not of works (Eph 2:8-9), so if your Christian faith is based on works or any other method, you are certainly in the realm of "another gospel" which is not a gospel (Gal 1:6-8) and that's a dangerous place to be (Gal 1:8-9).

We each need to examine ourselves to see if we're in the faith. Not "Do I have faith?", but "Is my theology in line with 'the faith once for all delivered to the saints'?" A little bit out of that can be harmful. Very far out of that can be spiritually fatal (if Christ Jesus is not in you). It's an important question to ask yourself.