2Cor 13 | EE | STEP | This is the third time that I will be coming to visit you. Remember this: ‘There must be two or three people to say certainly that another person has done something wrong. Two or three people must agree about the facts.’

2 Corinthians 13

Paul is ready to be angry with the Christians at Corinth

1 This is the third time that I will be coming to visit you. Remember this: ‘There must be two or three people to say certainly that another person has done something wrong. Two or three people must agree about the facts.’ 2 I am speaking now to you people who did wrong things before. I am speaking also to all the other people. I said this before, when I visited you the second time. And I say it again now, while I am away from you. When I visit you again, I will make you feel sorry. I will make everyone who has done wrong things feel sorry. I will not try to be kind to anyone who has done wrong things.

3 You are demanding to know certainly that Christ speaks by me. So, I will cause you to know that certainly. When Christ works in you, he is not weak. No, but he does powerful things among you. 4 Certainly, Christ was weak when people killed him on the cross. But he lives by God’s power. And, because we are united with him, we are weak too. But, by God’s power, we will live with him so that we are strong to work among you.

5 Think carefully about how you yourselves are living. Ask yourselves whether you are really believing Christ. Decide certainly about yourselves. You ought to know that Jesus Christ is in you. You ought to know this, unless you do not really belong to him. 6 I hope that you will be sure about us. We do really belong to Jesus Christ. I hope that you will know that.

7 Now we pray to God that you will do nothing wrong. We do not pray this to show good things about ourselves. We only want you to do what is right. We want that, even if we seem to have failed. 8 We can only work on behalf of what is true. We cannot do anything against what is true. 9 We are happy when we are weak. If our weakness helps you to be strong, then we are happy. We want you to become completely as God wants you to be. We pray for that also.

10 I am writing these things to you while I am away from you. So then, when I arrive, I will not need to be angry with you. I will not have to use my authority to punish you. The Lord gave this authority to me so that I could help you to become stronger. He did not give it to me so that I could destroy you.

11 And now I say ‘Goodbye’ to you, my friends. Try to do only good things. Listen to the things that I am asking you to do. Agree with each other. Do not quarrel, but instead try to be friends with everyone. Then the God who loves will be with you. The God who causes us to be without trouble inside ourselves will be with you. 12 Say ‘hello’ to each other with a friendly kiss because you are God’s people. 13 All God’s people here say ‘hello’ to you. 14 I pray that the Lord Jesus Christ will continue to be very kind to you. I pray that you will love God and each other as God loves you. And I pray that God’s Spirit will cause you to be united.