コリントの信徒への手紙二13:5-7

信仰を持って生きているかどうか自分を反省し、自分を吟味しなさい。あなたがたは自分自身のことが分からないのですか。イエス・キリストがあなたがたの内におられることが。あなたがたが失格者なら別ですが……。　　　　　（二コリント13:5）

「信仰を持って生きているかどうか自分を反省し、自分を吟味しなさい」というのは、キリスト教の信仰に基づいたキリスト教的な生き方をしているかどうかを吟味しなさい、ということでしょう。「吟味しなさい」と翻訳されているドキマゾーというギリシア語の動詞は、「本物かどうかを決めるために批判的に吟味すること」という意味です。これは、「キリストがパウロによって語っておられるかどうか」を吟味しようとしているコリント教会の信徒たちへのパウロからの反論です。それは、3節の「あなたがたはキリストがわたしによって語っておられる証拠を求めている」という文の「証拠」と翻訳されている言葉が、吟味のプロセスや吟味の結果を表すドキメーというギリシア語であることからわかります。「あなたがたコリント教会の信徒たちは、自分たちに福音を宣べ伝えて指導をしてくれたわたしパウロを吟味しようとしていますが、それよりもまずあなたがた自身を吟味しなさい」とパウロは反論しているのです。

それでは、「あなたがたは自分自身のことが分からないのですか」という問いかけはどういう意味でしょうか？この問いかけは、その次の「イエス・キリストがあなたがたの内におられることが」という言葉と結びつけて読まなければなりません。つまり、「あなたがたは、イエス・キリストがあなたがたの内におられるという、自分自身のことが分からないのですか」という意味です。「イエス・キリストがあなたがたの内におられる」とは、キリストが聖霊によってコリント教会の信徒たち一人一人の内におられるということと、キリストが聖霊によってコリント教会という共同体の内におられるということの両方の意味でしょう。先ほどもお話ししましたように、コリント教会は問題の多い教会でした。しかし、だからと言ってキリストが聖霊によってコリント教会の信徒たちや共同体の内に働いておられないということではありません。パウロはこの手紙の最初から一貫して、聖霊がコリント教会の信徒たちに宿っているという前提で手紙を書いています。パウロは、問題の多いコリント教会も、キリストが聖霊によって宿っておられる教会であることを認めています。ですから、コリント教会の信徒たちが自分自身を正しく吟味したならば、「自分たちは罪深い者たちであるけれども、その自分たちの内にキリストがおられる」という結論になるはずなのです。そうすると、その同じ「キリストがパウロによって語っておられる」ということもわかるはずなのです。　　　　　　　　　　　（1月29日の説教より）

Adults’ Sermon (29 January 2023)

2 Corinthians 13:5-7, “Examine yourselves” by Rev. MIYOSHI Akira

We human beings tend to be lenient on ourselves and harsh on others. The well-known words of Christ ask: “Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?” (Matthew 7:3). And it may seem easy, but it is actually difficult, to apply this question to ourselves.

When I read these words of Christ, I am reminded of something. A person had great respect for the pastor who had baptised and mentored him. He then studied theology and became a pastor himself. However, when he became a pastor and gained experience, he began to criticise harshly the pastor who had once mentored him. There may have been some points that the pastor being criticised deserved to be criticised. But shouldn’t the harsh criticism have been directed first and foremost at himself? Because as long as he has been under the guidance of that pastor, the same thing must be in him. If he criticised the pastor who mentored him as if it were not in himself, then he would be following the parable of “seeing the speck that is in your brother’s eye” and “not noticing the log that is in your own eye.” Instead, should he not have looked at God’s work in calling the sinful to salvation and using the deficient as servants to proclaim the gospel of salvation?

The church of Corinth was born by Paul’s mission. In the autumn of 50 AD, Paul came to Corinth, where the gospel of Christ had not yet been preached, and preached the gospel, establishing the church in Corinth as a community of believers in Christ. Paul preached in Corinth until probably the spring of 52 AD, and then went to Ephesus, his next mission field. However, the congregation of the Corinthian church then did not follow Paul’s leadership and began to rebel against him. There were serious problems in the Corinthian church, including the believers that practised licentiousness and worshipped idols. Paul instructed the congregation of the Corinthian church through some letters and visits to Corinth, while evangelising the people of Ephesus. His leadership was accompanied by great difficulties, including a “Visit of Sorrow,” in which he visited but was not accepted by the congregation, and a “Letter of Tears,” a harsh letter he wrote to the congregation, calling for their repentance. When Paul wrote his letter of 2 Corinthians, God’s guidance had led the slovenly believers to repent and the problems were on the way to being resolved. However, even though the problems were on the way to being resolved, in reality they were only beginning to be resolved. The roots of the Corinthian church’s problems were very deep. So, before his third visit to the Corinthian church, Paul wrote in chapter 12, verses 20 and 21 as follows:

For I fear that perhaps when I come I may find you not as I wish, and that you may find me not as you wish—that perhaps there may be quarreling, jealousy, anger, hostility, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder. I fear that when I come again my God may humble me before you, and I may have to mourn over many of those who sinned earlier and have not repented of the impurity, sexual immorality, and sensuality that they have practiced.

The bad behaviour that is still worryingly present in the Corinthian church could be divided into two main categories. The first is mentioned in verse 20: “quarreling, jealousy, anger, hostility, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder.” Originally, the Corinthian church was a church with internal partisan strife. In 1 Corinthians 1:12, the partisan strife is described as: “I follow Paul,” or “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Cephas,” or “I follow Christ.”. In addition to this, one can imagine that after the writing of 1 Corinthians, the situation was further complicated by the arrival in the Corinthian church of counterfeit evangelists with letters of recommendation from other churches, who watered down the Word of God in order to make money.

Another bad behaviour is mentioned in verse 21: “the impurity, sexual immorality, and sensuality.” There was a believer in the Corinthian church who is sleeping with his father’s wife (I Corinthians 5:1) and those who went to prostitutes even after they had been baptised (I Corinthians 6:15-16). It seems that Paul’s “Letter of Tears” brought many believers to repentance and punished him for his immoral behaviour, and they repented too. That is why Paul wrote in chapter 2 verse 7 of this letter: “You should rather turn to forgive and comfort him, or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow.” Nevertheless, Paul is concerned here: “I may have to mourn over many of those who sinned earlier and have not repented of the impurity, sexual immorality, and sensuality that they have practiced.” The human heart, even after repentance, still has a strong self-centredness that opposes God at the root of its heart. Therefore, if we do not continually repent, our repentance will only be temporary and we will do the same bad deeds as before. Therefore, the character development of Christians requires a rigour that demands constant repentance.

Therefore, Paul sternly warns them in verse 2 before today’s Bible verse, “If I come again, I will not spare them.” And the reason for this is stated in verse 3: “Since you seek proof that Christ is speaking in me.” There were believers in the Corinthian church who held Paul in low esteem: “His letters are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech of no account.” (2 Corinthians 10:10). Such believers felt that they could not accept the weak Paul’s leadership as the leadership of Christ Himself. “If Christ is really speaking in Paul, shouldn’t Paul be more powerful? We would like to see proof of this.” To such a request, Paul responded in the second half of verse 4: “We also are weak in him, but in dealing with you we will live with him by the power of God.” Paul is also united to Christ, who died on the cross and was resurrected afterwards, so he is weak, but he is also powerful towards them.

In verse 5 of today’s passage, Paul wishes the congregation of the Corinthian church to continue to repent: “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!” “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith” would mean that you should examine yourselves to see if you are living a Christian life based on the Christian faith. The Greek verb dokimazo (δοκιμάζω), translated “examine” means “to make a critical examination of something to determine genuineness.” This is an objection from Paul to the congregation of the Corinthian church who are trying to examine “whether Christ is speaking in Paul.” This is evident from the fact that the word translated “proof” in verse 3, in the sentence “you seek proof that Christ is speaking in me,” is the Greek word dokimei (δοκιμή), which describes the process or result of examination. Paul’s reply is, “You are seeking to examine me, Paul, who preached the gospel to you and instructed you, but examine yourselves first!”

What then is meant by the question “Do you not realize this about yourselves?” This question must be read in connection with the following words: “that Jesus Christ is in you.” In other words, it means: “Do you not realize this about yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you?” “Jesus Christ is in you” could mean both that Christ is in each one of the believers of the Corinthian Church by the Holy Spirit and that Christ is in the community of the Corinthian Church by the Holy Spirit, too. As I mentioned earlier, the Corinthian church was a troubled church. But that does not mean that Christ is not at work in each believer and community of the Corinthian church by the Holy Spirit. From the very beginning of this letter, Paul consistently assumes that the Holy Spirit dwells in the believers of the Corinthian church. Paul acknowledges that the troubled Corinthian church is also a church in which Christ dwells by the Holy Spirit. Therefore, if the congregation of the Corinthian church examined themselves properly, they would conclude that they are sinful people, but they have Christ in them. Then they would also know that that same Christ is in Paul!.

However, Paul dares to add the ironic words at the end of verse 5: “Unless indeed you fail to meet the test!” The word translated “fail to meet the test” is adokimos (ἀδόκιμος), meaning “unable to bear examination.” In English, the word “un” is added to make it mean the opposite. For example, the word ‘able’ means “can,” but if you add the word “un” to make it “unable,” it means “cannot.” Similarly, in Greek, adding the word a (ἀ) gives the opposite meaning. The Greek word dokimos (δόκιμος) means “genuine as a result of examination,” but when you add a (ἀ) to make it adokimos (ἀδόκιμος), it means the opposite – “unable to bear examination.” In other words, Paul tells the congregation of the Corinthian church to “examine yourselves,” then asks, ‘Do you not realize that Jesus Christ is in yourselves?’ and finally adds, “Unless you cannot bear the examination.” Paul acknowledges the presence of Christ in the congregation of the Corinthian church, so he does not intend to brand the congregation as those who cannot stand examination. But why did he dare to add such ironic language? Perhaps he wrote “Unless indeed you fail to meet the test” with the nuance of a warning that “if you do not continue to repent, “you may fail to meet the test!”.

In the following verse 6, Paul says: “I hope you will find out that we have not failed the test.” If the congregation of the Corinthian church examines themselves, and as a result of that examination, it knows that Christ is in themselves, then they will know that they do not fail to meet the test. Then, if they examine Paul, they will know that Christ is in Paul, and they will know that Paul does not fail to meet the test, too. In other words, the teaching and training Paul does is the teaching and training of Christ, who is doing it through Paul.

When you put it like that, some may think, “What, Paul is just defending himself after all.” However, in the following verse 7, Paul states his feelings as follows: “But we pray to God that you may not do wrong—not that we may appear to have met the test, but that you may do what is right, though we may seem to have failed.” This expresses Paul’s feeling that it does not matter if he is seen as failing, so do good and not wrong anyway. Logically, this language is a little strange. Because if the congregation of the Corinthian church regarded Paul as failing, they would not follow his leadership, which would result in them doing wrong things, such as partisan fights and immoral behaviour. However, Paul is earnestly hoping that, even if he is regarded as failing, the congregation of the Corinthian church will anyway stop doing wrong things, such as factional strife and immoral behaviour, and start doing good things. And he prays to God for that.

If we examine ourselves, we will see that although we are sinners, Christ is at work in us. And it is not just about ourselves alone, but about the different people whom Christ is using. Within the Christian church, which is supposed to be peaceful, there can be conflict. One of the causes is the prideful belief that Christ is working in oneself alone. When you look only at yourself and do not see Christ at work in others, the church becomes a place of conflict. And to some extent this is also true in general society. When conflict occurs in general society, unlike in the church, there are people who know they are doing wrong, but who dare to do wrong. However, something similar to the church can also happen in general society. That is, conflict occurs when people think they are right and stop seeing wrong nature within themselves. And when they fail to see the righteousness in others. The Bible teaches that man is a sinner and that Christ saves him and works in him even though he is a sinner. It then shows the way for men, the sinners, to live in peace under Christ’s rule.