Bible Study: II Corinthians Conclusion

II Cor 11-13

Paul engages in a bit of folly and sarcasm as he warns the Corinthians about false teachers, and calls both the false teachers, and those suffering fools gladly to repentance!

Paul compares himself and his fellows to the false teachers, speaking of himself as the genuine artice "... in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.”

He reminds the Corinthians he was, "...caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter." Yet Christ's sufficient faith taught him to glory in his infirmities, and the wanting not of theirs, but them, and in the spending of himself for the Corinthians and for us.

Paul teaches us about examining ourselves; answering the age old questions: "how do I know if I'm saved?" And he instructs us on proving our ownselves not by the law, but by the transformation of the renewing of our mind in Christ.