2 Corinthians 13:4

For though he was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth by the power of God. For we also are weak in Him, but we shall live with Him by the power of God toward you.

Paul here follows his usual method of making the end of his letters as impressive as possible. In a very formal manner he announces: This is the third time that I am coming to you. This is, in a way. a reminder of Matthew 18:15; for two apostolic visits had gone before, in the course of which Paul had used every form of instruction, of persuasion, of admonition. For his third visit, therefore, he deliberately chooses as his motto: At the mouth of two witnesses or three every statement shall be established. The disciplinary proceedings which he intended to institute would be rigid and precise. He does not quote this word as a command of Moses which is valid for the New Testament, but because this order of establishing the truth by a sufficient number of witnesses was found good by Christ, Matthew 18:16. See 1 Timothy 5:19.

Very solemnly and emphatically he again states: I have said beforehand and now do say beforehand, as when I was present the second time, so now in my absence, to those that have sinned before and to all the rest: If I come again, I will not spare. With great forbearance Paul had suffered the incorrigible transgressors in Corinth. He had warned them upon the occasion of his visit to them, the very presence of his representatives had been tantamount to a warning; he had rebuked their proneness to sins of immorality, chap. 12:21; he had warned them on account of their tendency to form factions and parties. His present admonition, therefore, is the last one, for the time comes when forbearance and long-suffering ceases to be a virtue. He can no longer be satisfied with mere appeals that are ignored; he cannot permit his apostolic authority to be challenged and questioned.

The reason why he would not spare them on the coming visit he tells them: Since you seek a proof of the fact that Christ speaks in me (and by your conduct challenge this). Not all the members of the Corinthian congregation had become so rebellious, but neither had they taken the proper steps to quell the disturbance which threatened to undermine the apostle's authority. Rightly, therefore, Paul includes the rest as well as the positively guilty ones in his rebuke. They were challenging his call, his mission from Christ to speak in His name. And this in spite of the fact, as Paul writes: Who toward you is not weak, but strong in you. Was not the very existence of their congregation a testimony to the power of Christ in His servant? Had the signs of an apostle done in their midst not been sufficient to convince them? Christ was indeed not weak, but His grace had proved itself powerful in their midst. Christ, having come in the apostolic word and spirit to the Corinthians and now living in their midst, was now again standing at the door and knocking, and nothing would be more foolish on their part than evasion or open hostility.

Two evidences for the presence and for the power of Christ in their midst Paul adduces: For He also was crucified from weakness, but He lives through the power of God. That is the first reason: the resurrection of Christ, by which He proved Himself to be the Victor over death. Christ indeed, having taken upon Himself the form of a servant, Philippians 2:7, was nailed to the cross as a consequence of that weakness which He voluntarily assumed for the sake of mankind. He yielded to the weakness of suffering and dying out of that wonderful love which caused Him to bear our griefs and carry our sorrows, Isaiah 53:4. But by His resurrection He entered into His glory by the divine power of Him who raised His Son from the dead, as well as by the power of Him who conquered death and brought life and immortality to light. And as a result of this manifestation of Christ's power the second reason holds good: For we also are weak in Him but we live with Him by the power of God toward you. So the strength which Christ, the risen King, imparts, gives power to Paul in the discharge of his duty toward the Corinthians. As Christ indeed was weak in the eyes of the world, so Paul might seem weak before them. But as a matter of fact, he is a partaker of that wonderful divine life and energy which is characteristic of the risen and glorified Christ. Note: Paul here insists that the almighty, infallible Christ lived in him and worked through him, and that his office was to be esteemed accordingly.