2 Corinthians 13:1

2 COR. 13

Having already exercised marvelous patience with the Corinthian congregation, the apostle in this chapter stated his intention of coming to them as soon as he could with a view to having a genuine showdown regarding the minority of the congregation, including the false apostles, who had been causing the trouble (2 Corinthians 13:1-10); he concluded with an affectionate greeting to them all, a thumbnail summary of the epistle, and the world-famed trinitarian doxology, perhaps the most widely used on earth (2 Corinthians 13:11-14).

This is the third time I am coming to you. And by the mouth of two witnesses or three shall every word be established. (2 Corinthians 13:1)

The third time ... Paul's establishing the church in Corinth was his first visit; and afterward there had been a second, probably between the times of the two canonical epistles; and the one Paul proposed here was the third. Nothing is known of that second visit except what may be inferred from the scanty allusions to it in this epistle. There is no basis for giving any credibility to the imaginative descriptions of that second meeting, in which it is alleged that Paul was insulted, etc., etc. If anything like that had happened, and we cannot believe that it did, would he at this time have convened a court with himself in charge, summoned the witnesses, named the occasion, declared the rules of procedure and ordered the Corinthians to get ready for it?

Two witnesses or three ... The principle of justice requiring that no accused person be convicted upon the testimony of a single witness was established in the law of Moses (Numbers 35:30; Deuteronomy 19:15); and Jesus had indicated the continuing validity of the principle in Matthew 18:16. Paul's introduction of this Old Testament injunction without the usual "it is written" indicates that even at this early date it was universally accepted in the church. Hughes observed that "The minimum number of witnesses was two; and three were preferable to two."[1] Barclay's description of what Paul announced in these verses is:

To put it in our modern idiom, Paul insists there must be a showdown. The situation must drag on no longer. Paul knew that there comes a time when trouble must be faced. If the healing medicines fail, there is nothing for it but the surgeon's knife.[2]

Every word shall be established ... Incredibly, some scholars have so far missed the meaning of this that they actually suppose that by this Paul meant, "Any charge still being made against Paul when he arrives will need substantiation by witnesses."[3] It is impossible to imagine, however, that Paul was going to Corinth to clear himself On the contrary, he would go to discipline and correct THEM and to cast out of God's church all incorrigible offenders. Clines was therefore correct in referring this to charges "of Corinthian against Corinthians,"[4] and not to Paul. A full reading of the Old Testament passage appealed to by Paul in this verse makes it absolutely clear what he intended to do:

This is almost verbatim the rendition from the Septuagint (LXX), meaning: "I will judge, not without examination, nor will I abstain from punishing upon due evidence; I shall now assuredly fulfill my threats."[5]

Some scholars, apparently convinced by their own imaginations of what happened on the second visit, are in gross error by viewing the forthcoming confrontation as a church trying the apostle Paul. Such a notion is incompatible with everything in the New Testament.

[1] Philip E. Hughes, Paul's Second Epistle to the Corinthians (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1962), p. 474.

[2] William Barclay, The Letters to the Corinthians (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1954), p. 297.

[3] Norman Hillyer, The New Bible Commentary, Revised (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1970), p. 1087.

[4] David J. A. Clines, A New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1969), p. 441.

[5] W. J. Conybeare, Life and Epistles of St. Paul (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1966), p. 463.