Chapter Thirteen

¹ Chapter Thirteen. Behold, this third time I am coming to you; in the mouth of two witnesses and of three shall every word be established.[1] Just as God threatens much but is ever slow to punish, so also Paul, His imitator, gives much warning beforehand, and says: As it is written, that before two or three witnesses every doubtful matter is established, that is, confirmed; so also at my three comings every threatening word shall be set in array against you, and shall be ratified, unless you repent. For in place of witnesses he sets his comings.

² I have said beforehand, and I say beforehand, as when present the second time, so also now being absent I write to those who have sinned before, and to all the rest, that if I come again, I will not spare. I both foretold, he says, and again I foretell; for as, having come a second time and being present, I told you, so also now through the letter I proclaim—to those who have sinned before, as needing correction; but to the rest, as witnesses: That if I come again, I will not spare. And he did not say, I will chastise, but used a fatherly word, that of sparing. For if I find them uncorrected, he says, I will no longer defer.

³ Since you seek a proof of Christ speaking in me. With much indignation toward those who set him at naught as weak and despised, he says these things. For since you wish to test whether Christ dwells in me, and on this account mock me as weak and bereft of Christ—you shall know it assuredly, if indeed you remain uncorrected. And he shows that the words he speaks are spiritual, and that henceforth one must fear the threat, as of Christ speaking; yet he did not chastise for this reason, as though about to give them a proof and trial; but since you sin incurably, of necessity, he says, I must chastise you, and you shall know through the deeds themselves the proof which you seek.

⁴ Who toward you is not weak, but is mighty in you. Why did he add Toward you, seeing that He is mighty everywhere? Because it is likely that they had also formerly had experience of His power. He says, then, that From the time you have already received experience, you know assuredly that toward you He is not weak, but mighty—that is, able. Or because at the present He shows His power toward you who are able to be corrected, smiting now, that He may then let go; but toward the unbelievers, in the day of judgment. And he shows also that, even if He is about to take vengeance, it is not he himself who will take vengeance, but Christ.

⁵ For though He was crucified out of weakness, yet He lives by the power of God.[2] Many are made to stumble by this saying; but learn that “weakness” is spoken both of the body, and also of unsoundness concerning the faith, as in, Receive him who is weak in the faith. And “weakness” is spoken also of plots and dangers and dishonors, as in, I take pleasure in weaknesses, and the like. According to this signification, then, the Lord was crucified out of weakness, having endured plotting, and danger, and insult; for these things seem to come about out of weakness. As, therefore, Paul calls the preaching “foolishness,” not as being so, but as being so reckoned by the unbelievers, so also he says the Lord was crucified out of weakness—the weakness reckoned so among the unbelievers, not the real one. Yet He lives by the power of God, that is, of the Father, or rather His own; for all that is the Father’s is also His, and what is His, the Father’s. So that the power is common; or rather, He Himself is the power of the Father. So that He also raised Himself, as indeed He foretold: Destroy this temple, and I will raise it up. And all these things Paul says because they set him at naught as one persecuted and plotted against, and supposed that he suffered these things out of weakness. He shows, then, that Christ also was in no way harmed by this reputed weakness.

⁶ For we also are weak in Him, but we shall live with Him by the power of God toward you. That is, We are persecuted, driven about; for these things are the “weakness.” In Him, meaning, For His sake and for His preaching. But just as He was not harmed when plotted against, so neither are we; but we shall live with Him; that is, We shall be found unconquered toward you; that is, for your profit. And perhaps he still frightens them, that, Even if you think us weak, yet we are living toward you; that is, for the purpose, if you are not corrected, of chastising you.

⁷ Examine yourselves, whether you are in the faith; prove your own selves. And why do I speak, he says, concerning myself, that Christ speaks in me, and that I am indeed able, yet, imitating Him who was crucified, do not proceed against you? For you too, if you are willing to examine yourselves, will see Christ within yourselves—if indeed you all have the faith (for those who believed then worked miracles), whether the simple faith, or that of the signs, which is more particular. So that, if Christ is in you the disciples, much more is He in me the teacher.

⁸ Or do you not recognize your own selves, that Jesus Christ is in you, unless you are reprobate? That is, unless you have fallen from the grace of the signs which you received. And he hints that they had also been corrupted in their life. For since many who had faith were yet without share in the working of wonders, inasmuch as they were corrupted in life, he says that, As it seems, you do not recognize your own selves, that Christ is in you? But He is not in you, by reason of your being reprobate as to your life. Yet he did not declare it outright, lest he should wound, but set it down by way of hesitation.

⁹ But I hope that you will know that we are not reprobate. Great here too is the threat. For since, he says, you wish to receive the proof through the chastisement laid upon you, I hope that we shall not be at a loss to give you the demonstration that we are not reprobate, nor have fallen from the grace of the signs and of the power; or that we are not corrupted in our life, so that Christ should be banished from us, but that there is in us what belongs to an approved life, and that He will take vengeance on those among you who are disobedient.

¹⁰ Now I pray to God that you do no evil—not that we may appear approved, but that you may do what is good, and we may be as reprobate. See his tender affections: he was despised, mocked, as though able to do nothing, but only blustering in letters; and not only does he defer the punishment, but he even prays both that they may never sin, and that he himself may not come to the necessity of taking vengeance. For I am not earnest about this, he says, that I may appear approved, as having power to chastise, but that you may always do what is good, and even if you ever sin, that you may repent; and that I may be as reprobate—that is, that I may seem to the many weak and powerless, inasmuch as I find no occasion to chastise you. For he was not in truth going to be reprobate; rather he was found approved, in that he so schools his disciples that they sin in nothing. But because of the supposition of the many he said, As reprobate.

¹¹ For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth. Lest he should seem to be showing them favor, he says: It is altogether from a mind free of vainglory that I do this, that if we find you without fault, we shall not be able to chastise; but even if we attempt it, God will not cooperate. For He has given us power that we may bring a true verdict, not one contrary to the truth. And he votes truly who punishes the one who is worthy; but against the truth votes he who attempts to chastise the one who is not sinning.

¹² For we rejoice when we are weak, but you are strong. Again he shows himself exceedingly careful for them. For he says, Do not suppose that, because I am not able—you being without fault—to display my grace, I am grieved on this account; for I rejoice most of all when I myself am weak—that is, am reckoned weak, as not displaying any power in taking vengeance—but you are strong; that is, virtuous, faultless.

¹³ And this also we pray for, your perfecting. Not only, he says, do I wish this, but I even pray that you may be blameless and perfected—that is, made complete, presenting no gap.

¹⁴ For this reason I write these things while absent, that being present I may not deal sharply, according to the authority which the Lord gave me for edification, and not for tearing down. Since he had reproved them severely and threatened them, he now makes his defense, and says: For this reason I wrote in this manner, wishing the threat and the sharpness to extend only as far as the letter, and not to be displayed in the deeds. For if I find them uncorrected, I will surely chastise them sharply, since the Lord has given me authority. From this, then, he shows that the Lord also chastises through him as His instrument. And showing that he does not desire to use the authority for their punishment, he added, Not for tearing down, but for edification; that is, primarily the Lord does not will to tear down, that is, to chastise, but to build up, that is, to confer benefit; yet even the bringing of demolition upon the uncorrected is to build up.[3]

¹⁵ Finally, brethren, rejoice. I, he says, have done my own part. It remains, therefore, for you to contribute your own. For having been corrected, you will gain the unfading joy that comes from a good conscience, even though I have spoken words of grief to you.

¹⁶ Be made complete. Meaning, Become perfect both in doctrines and in life, and fill up the things that are lacking to you.

¹⁷ Be comforted. Since the trials and dangers were many, he says: Be comforted both by yourselves and by one another, and by the change for the better. For a good conscience is a great comfort.

¹⁸ Be of the same mind, live in peace. This he asked of them in the former epistle also, as of men given to faction.[4] And it is possible to be of the same mind in doctrines, yet not to be at peace in one’s dealings with one another; Paul, therefore, requires both.

¹⁹ And the God of peace and love shall be with you. Not only does he exhort, but he also prays; or rather this is not even a prayer, but a foretelling of what will follow accordingly: that If you live in peace, God will be with you. And He is called the God “of love,” either as being its fountain, or as having displayed it toward us in surpassing measure; or because, where love is, there He too is present, and is shown to be its Master. And likewise also “of peace”: either as its fountain, or as having made peace with the things in heaven and the things on earth, or as Master of His possession.

²⁰ Greet one another with a holy kiss. Not with a treacherous and deceitful one, like Judas;[5] for on this account we kiss, that we may the more kindle love; since the mouth is, beyond the other members, that which binds souls together. For indeed, on returning home, we show our union by kissing with the mouth. Or also, since we are a temple of God, and the porch of this temple is the mouth, we kiss the porches; for through these porches Christ enters, when we commune.

²¹ All the saints greet you. Those who are present he joins through the kiss, but those who are absent through the salutation; and these too the mouth joins, for the salutation is from the mouth.

²² The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you all. Amen.[6] Since he has joined all together, he prays over them according to custom: the grace of the Son, through which He saved us, not from our own works, but by grace, being Himself slain on our behalf; and the love of the Father, with which He loved us, giving the Only-Begotten on our behalf. And, as though asked, Whence is the grace of the Son? he says, From the love of the Father. And what did He accomplish? The communion of the Holy Spirit—that is, the participation in Him and the partaking, by which we are sanctified, having become, by the visitation of the Paraclete upon us, partakers of Him, and being ourselves also “spirit,” not in essence, but by participation. And where are those who set aside the Spirit, because Paul does not place Him at the beginning of the Epistles? For behold, he has placed Him here, and the Trinity has been numbered in full by Paul; by which Trinity may we be preserved, holding fast the doctrines of the truth securely, and showing forth an incorruptible life, that we may be in very deed made complete, being well in both respects, and shown to be perfect servants of the perfect God in Trinity; to whom be glory to the ages of ages. Amen.