2 Corinthians 13

The great conclusion to Paul's letter to the Corinthians. Here he doesn't wind down! He ends with a succession of bold statements.

The Corinthians and fractured their relationship with God (and Paul as a result - but he wasn't too concerned about that). Paul's key phrase to them in this passage: "Strive for full restoration".

Restoration ?

The term Paul uses is like when you restore and injury back to health. The Corinthians needed to work hard to fix the fracture between them and God.

Don't settle for fractured religion ?

Sometimes something happens that can cause us to lose faith. We walk away from God and find ourselves in despair. The primary reason for this impact is that we fall into a false religion that preaches a glory without suffering.

Jesus is so clear in His message: "Take up your cross". There will be suffering, hard times, and sorrow - that is the reality of living in a broken world. When those things happen - hold fast! Have faith that God will deliver you and you won't fall into despair. We are to trust in Him and give our whole life.

Paul didn't want people in the church who would bend and give in to temptation. Everything he wrote in this letter was to strengthen the Corinthians to resist the temptation and repent.

There were also those who pretended they believed. They went along with everyone else but had no real faith for themselves. Do you believe? If you don't really then Paul urges you to live honestly and not deceive those around you. You can go to the cross and place yourself there to be cleaned by Jesus' sacrifice.

Strive for full restoration ?

As Christians we fall into sin, repent and vow to not fall into it again. Yet the same temptation comes and we fall into sin again, and so the cycle goes on. We cannot do it ourselves, but settle for being a failure. But remember that we can be strong in the Lord and His power! Instead of looking inside for the strength, we look to Christ and His Spirit and Strength to see us through temptation. Full restoration is a strive - it will not happen immediately.

Renew your mind

We look at things biblically - dig into the word and renew your mind to the mind of God. We learn to think biblically so that everything we do is controlled by the will of God.

Activate your will

You cannot worship without serving. We are saved to do God's will and serve Him. When God's grace takes our fractured life and restores it, we are renewed and strengthened to activate what God wills for us.

The restoration saturates our hearts with the will.of God, and allows us to do the things that Paul mentioned in v11.