2 Corinthians 13:4 Commentary and Bible Study

Some of the Corinthians are still thinking like children and making judgments like children. They are inclined to listen to Paul’s enemies when they put him down and emphasise his weakness, they are too ready to make carnal evaluations of situations. To help them think about these things with more maturity, Paul reminds them that Christ came into this world in a mortal body, and his death, his crucifixion, was the clearest evidence of that weakness, but that was not the end. He was raised from the dead and now lives by the power of God – declared to be the Son of God with power (Romans 1:4) – and none of them would dare think otherwise. But just as Christ came in weakness, so he allows his people to serve him in weakness, so ‘that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us’ (2 Corinthians 4:7). To despise Paul because of his weakness was therefore to fail to understand how God works, and to value carnal things that he sets no value on. Our present weakness will be transformed by his power into something wonderful and glorious, when we are all changed at the last trump. Christ too will come in power at the last day. Why will this be? Because at his first coming his glory was hidden (Philippians 2:8) and he was crucified in weakness; but at his second coming his glory must not be hidden. His enemies must see who it is that they have been resisting. He must destroy the devil with his full power. So far, the world has only seen a partial revelation of the Son of Man; it must see a full revelation. At the same time, the world which does not know the sons of God, will see that Christ has made them also to be like him, and the weakness which the Corinthians are so ashamed of will be gone.