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)There are a lot of Christians that don't much like that instruction. "Test myself? How am I supposed to do that?" Some say, "You can't know if you're in the faith." Others argue, "The only test is whether or not you have faith." But I would submit that Paul disagrees with both of those.
It's interesting that the examination is whether or not you are "in the faith." Not whether or not you have faith. Are you in "the faith"? What faith is that? I'd guess it is "the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints" (Jude 1:3). The Christian faith. The faith handed down to us in the Word of God. In this use of the term, it appears that this "faith" is something outside of us. It is an entity, a belief system, a set of doctrines that we can either be "in" or be "out" of. It is independent of us. The faith delivered once for all. This isn't something we vote on or modify or correct. It's what we find and align ourselves with. That faith. The same faith that Jesus gave us. The same faith that Peter had. Are you in that faith?
As for "you can't know," John wrote his first epistle specifically so you can know (1 John 5:13), so let's set that notion aside first off. So what was the test Paul was commanding? He told them. "You seek proof that Christ is speaking in me. He is not weak in dealing with you, but is powerful among you" (2 Cor 13:3). If you belong to Christ, there is a change, a transformation, an ongoing alteration of dead sinner to live saint. Jesus said, "If you love Me you will keep My commandments" (John 14:15) John wrote, "Whoever says 'I know Him' but does not keep His commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps His word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in Him: whoever says he abides in Him ought to walk in the same way in which He walked" (1 John 2:4-6). Jesus said His disciples would be known by their love for one another (John 13:35). We are indeed saved by grace through faith apart from works (Eph 2:8-9), but we are saved for good works (Eph 2:10). If there are no changes that occur in your actions, attitudes, and outlook, it's called dead faith (James 2:17).
There has ever been this condition. Lots of people believe they are "in the faith." They'll assure you that they do a lot for the Lord but don't realize they never had a relationship with Him (Matt 7:21-23). Paul's instructions to the Corinthians was timely for us as well. "Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves." We live in a day where "If he said he's a Christian, he is." We don't do ourselves or anyone else any favors by assuming "I identify as a Christian; therefore I am one." I will point out that the command is to "examine yourself," so while we might encourage others to do so, I am commanded to be sure I am in the faith, not you. Have you looked? We are commanded to examine ourselves to see if we're in the faith. We are provided the means of such an examination and assured we can know. Given the wiles of the devil, I'd hope it was something each of us would be dlligent to accomplish. Probably more than once.
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