2 Corinthians 13 - Paul's Final Warning and Blessing
Paul closes the letter with a call to self-examination and a benediction.
In this final chapter, following the thorn-in-the-flesh account of 2 Corinthians 12, Paul warns that on his coming third visit he 'will not spare' those still unrepentant. He urges the Corinthians to 'examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith' before he arrives.
This third time do I come unto you; on the mouth of two witnesses or three shall every saying be established;
I have said before, and I say `it' before, as being present, the second time, and being absent, now, do I write to those having sinned before, and to all the rest, that if I come again, I will not spare,
since a proof ye seek of the Christ speaking in me, who to you is not infirm, but is powerful in you,
for even if he was crucified from infirmity, yet he doth live from the power of God; for we also are weak in him, but we shall live with him from the power of God toward you.
Your ownselves try ye, if ye are in the faith; your ownselves prove ye; do ye not know your ownselves, that Jesus Christ is in you, if ye be not in some respect disapproved of?
and I hope that ye shall know that we -- we are not disapproved of;
and I pray before God that ye do no evil, not that we may appear approved, but that ye may do that which is right, and we may be as disapproved;
for we are not able to do anything against the truth, but for the truth;
for we rejoice when we may be infirm, and ye may be powerful; and this also we pray for -- your perfection!
because of this, these things -- being absent -- I write, that being present, I may not treat `any' sharply, according to the authority that the Lord did give me for building up, and not for casting down.
Henceforth, brethren, rejoice; be made perfect, be comforted, be of the same mind, be at peace, and the God of the love and peace shall be with you;
salute one another in an holy kiss;
salute you do all the saints;
the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, `is' with you all! Amen.