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THE NORTHERN KENTUCKY SEARCHER VOLUME 6, NUMBER 32, AUGUST 13, 2006 FINALLY, BRETHREN, FAREWELL 2 Corinthians 13:11, is one of my favorite verses in the New Testament. As Paul was bringing his second letter to the Corinthians to a close, he wrote, “Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you.” It has become my custom to use this verse as a way of bringing meetings that I hold to a close. 2 Corinthians is not an easy letter to read. It is a very emotional book filled with Paul’s responses to numerous personal attacks that he had endured, as well as his response to several charges that had been leveled against him. Paul holds nothing back in the book. He meets the personal attacks head on, and answers in often stern language the charges that had been made by some against him. Yet we also note in the book some of the great, fundamental doctrines of Christianity. We see in 2 Corinthians the glory of our Lord Jesus, the majesty of His work of reconciliation, and the power of the gospel to change men. He writes of the life of service that Christianity demands and of the need to avoid sin. However, this letter is probably the least doctrinal of all of Paul’s letters to churches. Paul was a man of great passion and that passion is never more evident than it is in the 2 Corinthian letter. One man wrote, “Yet it is not the events of his outward life which attract our supreme interest. It is rather the revelation which is here made of the apostle’s soul. We look into his very heart. We see his motives, his anguish, his joys, his fears, his hopes, his wounded feelings, his ardent love. Evidently the whole letter was written under the stress of strong emotion.” (Erdman, Charles, The Second Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians). Paul was so plain in this letter, strict and to the point. When rebuke was necessary, he rebuked in language that could leave no room for misunderstanding. No one could read this letter and come away wondering what Paul believed or what he thought of any issue that he addressed within it. As a matter of fact, in 13:10 , Paul wrote, “Therefore I write these things being absent, lest being present I should use sharpness, according to the power which the Lord hath given me to edification, and not to destruction.” The letter was meant to stimulate those guilty of making the false charges against Paul to repent, lest when he was present among them he would need to deal with those individuals severely. Now, as forceful and as powerful as Paul was in this letter, as plain and severe as his rebukes were, did this indicate that Paul had anything but love in his heart for these brethren? No, in fact, he brings the letter to a close with a word of loving exhortation. He had had stern words for those involved in sin, and he had severely rebuked those who needed rebuking, but now he includes them all as his “brethren.” “Finally, brethren, farewell.” More literally that would be “finally, brethren, rejoice.” There is much in which to rejoice in being a Christian. Surely there is joy in our redemption and we should be moved to rejoice in our union with our Lord and our Father. I am not exactly sure what Paul was saying to these brethren when he urges them to “rejoice,” but perhaps he is expressing the thought, “Let my last word to you be to rejoice.” “Be perfect,” or “press on to perfection.” The content of the letter indicates that there was a great deal among the brethren in Corinth that needed to be fixed. Many sins had been committed, and in many areas some had fallen so far short and Paul had not hesitated to point those things out. Now he is saying, Fix it! Be what you ought to be, walk as the Lord would have you walk. “Be of good comfort.” The same word can be translated as comfort or counsel. It is probable that Paul was saying that they were to give heed to the things that he had written unto them. Obey his words and know real comfort. “Be of one mind.” This takes me back to the first chapter of Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians. In 1 Corinthians 1:10, Paul had written, “Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.” That letter went on to address several of the issues that were causing problems and divisions among the Corinthian church. The word for “divisions” was the same word used to designate a tear in a piece of material; while the word for “perfectly joined together” came from a word meaning “to mend fishing nets.” Paul was exhorting the Corinthians to fix the divisions, to mend those things that were tearing them apart. He didn’t mean ignore them, or pretend that the problems didn’t exist. He meant to fix them. When brethren do that, they will. “Live in peace.” Unity – how blessed it is! However, true unity is not “agree to disagree.” True unity is obtained when all accept the same standard and abide therein. I am reminded of the words of Jesus in John 17:19-21, “And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that they hast sent me.” An even more blessed consequence of being “of one mind” is that “the God of love and peace shall be with you.” I love 2 Corinthians 13:11. It gives me an attitude of heart to shoot for. No matter what issues must be addressed, no matter how passionate the method of addressing may be, it is always based on love.
Greg Litmer
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