◄ 2 Corinthians 13:7 ►
Now we pray to God that you will not do anything wrong--not that we will appear to have stood the test, but that you will do what is right, even if we appear to have failed.
Study Bible
Now we pray to God
This phrase emphasizes the apostle Paul's reliance on divine intervention and guidance. The Greek word for "pray" here is "προσευχόμεθα" (proseuchometha), which implies a continuous and earnest communication with God. Paul’s prayer is not just a ritual but a heartfelt plea, reflecting the early Christian understanding of prayer as a vital connection with the divine. Historically, prayer was central to the life of the early church, serving as a means to seek God’s will and strength.

that you will not do anything wrong
Paul's concern is for the moral and spiritual integrity of the Corinthian believers. The Greek word for "wrong" is "κακόν" (kakon), which denotes evil or morally bad actions. This reflects the apostle's pastoral heart, desiring that the church live in a way that honors God. In the historical context, Corinth was a city known for its moral challenges, and Paul’s exhortation is a call to stand apart from the prevailing cultural norms.

not that we may appear to have passed the test
Here, Paul addresses the potential misunderstanding of his motives. The phrase "passed the test" comes from the Greek "δόκιμοι" (dokimoi), meaning approved or proven genuine. Paul is not seeking validation for himself or his ministry but is focused on the spiritual well-being of the Corinthians. This reflects a selfless leadership model, where the leader's success is measured by the spiritual health of those they lead.

but that you will do what is right
The phrase "do what is right" is translated from the Greek "τὸ καλὸν" (to kalon), which means the good or noble thing. Paul’s desire is for the Corinthians to embody the virtues of the Christian faith. This aligns with the broader scriptural call to live righteously, as seen throughout the New Testament. The historical context of this exhortation is significant, as the early church was often counter-cultural, called to live by a higher standard.

even if we may seem to have failed
Paul acknowledges the possibility of being perceived as unsuccessful. The Greek word "ἀδόκιμοι" (adokimoi) means disqualified or failing the test. This humility is a hallmark of Paul’s ministry, where personal reputation is secondary to the spiritual growth of the church. In the historical context, this reflects the apostolic willingness to endure misunderstanding and hardship for the sake of the Gospel.

Persons / Places / Events
1. Paul the Apostle
The author of 2 Corinthians, addressing the church in Corinth with pastoral concern and apostolic authority.

2. The Corinthian Church
The recipients of the letter, a diverse and often troubled congregation in the city of Corinth, known for its moral and spiritual challenges.

3. God
The ultimate authority to whom Paul prays, seeking divine intervention and guidance for the Corinthians.

4. Paul's Apostolic Test
The context of Paul defending his apostleship and the authenticity of his ministry to the Corinthians.

5. Moral and Spiritual Integrity
The central theme of the verse, emphasizing the importance of doing what is right in God's eyes.
Teaching Points
Prayer for Righteousness
Paul emphasizes the power of prayer in seeking moral integrity. Believers should regularly pray for themselves and others to act rightly.

Integrity Over Appearance
The focus is on doing what is right, not merely appearing successful. Christians should prioritize genuine righteousness over external validation.

Apostolic Concern
Paul's pastoral heart is evident as he desires the Corinthians' spiritual well-being over his own reputation. Leaders should prioritize the spiritual health of those they serve.

Testing and Authenticity
The verse challenges believers to examine their actions and motives, ensuring they align with God's standards rather than human approval.

Community Accountability
The call to do right is communal, encouraging believers to support one another in living out their faith authentically.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does Paul's prayer for the Corinthians challenge us to pray for others in our community?

2. In what ways can we prioritize doing what is right over seeking approval from others?

3. How can we apply the principle of integrity in our daily lives, especially when faced with moral dilemmas?

4. What role does community play in helping us maintain spiritual and moral integrity, according to this passage?

5. How can we discern whether our actions align with God's standards, and what steps can we take to ensure we are living authentically?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Philippians 1:9-11
Paul prays for the Philippians to grow in love and discernment, paralleling his desire for the Corinthians to do what is right.

James 1:22-25
Encourages believers to be doers of the word, not just hearers, aligning with Paul's exhortation for the Corinthians to act rightly.

1 Thessalonians 5:21-22
Advises testing everything and holding onto what is good, similar to Paul's call for moral integrity.

Romans 12:2
Urges transformation by renewing the mind, which supports the idea of doing what is right as a reflection of inner change.

Galatians 6:9
Encourages perseverance in doing good, resonating with Paul's hope for the Corinthians' righteous actions.
Sermons
Paul's Epistolary Farewell to the CorinthiansD. Thomas, D. D.2 Corinthians 13:1-14
Self-Examination Recommended; Supremacy of Divine TruthC. Lipscomb 2 Corinthians 13:5-10
Paul's Prayer for the Restoration of the Corinthians to Corporate PerfectnessW. B. Pope, D. D.2 Corinthians 13:7-9
People
Corinthians, Paul
Places
Achaia, Corinth
Topics
Appear, Approved, Credit, Demonstrated, Disapproved, Doubtful, Evil, Failed, Honest, Honorable, Met, Nothing, Order, Ourselves, Prayer, Reprobate, Reprobates, Seem, Sincerity, Stood, Test, Though, Unapproved, Whatever, Wrong
Dictionary of Bible Themes
2 Corinthians 13:5-6

     8028   faith, body of beliefs
     8820   self-confidence

Library
Self-Examination
The Corinthians were the critics of the apostles' age. They took to themselves great credit for skill in learning and in language, and as most men do who are wise in their own esteem, they made a wrong use of their wisdom and learning--they began to criticise the apostle Paul. They criticised his style. "His letters," say they, "are weighty and powerful, but his bodily presence is weak and his speech contemptible." Nay, not content with that, they went so far as to deny his apostleship, and for once …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 4: 1858

How to Use the Prayer-Book
Before the Service.--If possible be in your place a few moments before the appointed hour, that you may collect your thoughts and prepare for the service. On entering, go at once quietly to your seat, kneel down, and say a short prayer for yourself and your fellow-worshipers. The Collect for the Nineteenth or the Twenty-third Sunday after Trinity, or the Collect, "Almighty God, unto whom all hearts are open," at the beginning of the Communion Office, you may find appropriate. When you have said …
Jacob A. Regester—The Worship of the Church

"And if Christ be in You, the Body is Dead Because Sin,"
Rom. viii. 10.--"And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because sin," &c. This is the high excellence of the Christian religion, that it contains the most absolute precepts for a holy life, and the greatest comforts in death, for from these two the truth and excellency of religion is to be measured, if it have the highest and perfectest rule of walking, and the chiefest comfort withal. Now, the perfection of Christianity you saw in the rule, how spiritual it is, how reasonable, how divine, how …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Sermon.
The great and blessed God that made heaven and earth, the seas and the great fountains of the deep, and rivers of water, the Almighty JEHOVAH, who is from everlasting to everlasting. He also made man and woman; and his design was to make them eternally happy and blessed. And therefore he made man in his own image; "in the image of God created he him, male and female created he them:" He made them after his own likeness holy, wise, merciful, just, patient, and humble, endued them with knowledge, righteousness, …
William Penn—A Sermon Preached at the Quaker's Meeting House

Reprobation.
In discussing this subject I shall endeavor to show, I. What the true doctrine of reprobation is not. 1. It is not that the ultimate end of God in the creation of any was their damnation. Neither reason nor revelation confirms, but both contradict the assumption, that God has created or can create any being for the purpose of rendering him miserable as an ultimate end. God is love, or he is benevolent, and cannot therefore will the misery of any being as an ultimate end, or for its own sake. It is …
Charles Grandison Finney—Systematic Theology

On Being Filled with the Spirit
Text.--Be filled with the Spirit.--Eph. v. 18. SEVERAL of my last lectures have been on the subject of prayer, and the importance of having the spirit of prayer, of the intercession of the Holy Ghost. Whenever the necessity and importance of the Spirit's influences are held forth, there can be no doubt that persons are in danger of abusing the doctrine, and perverting it to their own injury. For instance, when you tell sinners that without the Holy Spirit they never will repent, they are very liable …
Charles Grandison Finney—Lectures on Revivals of Religion

The Clergyman and the Prayer Book.
Dear pages of ancestral prayer, Illumined all with Scripture gold, In you we seem the faith to share Of saints and seers of old. Whene'er in worship's blissful hour The Pastor lends your heart a voice, Let his own spirit feel your power, And answer, and rejoice. In the present chapter I deal a little with the spirit and work of the Clergyman in his ministration of the ordered Services of the Church, reserving the work of the Pulpit for later treatment. THE PRAYER BOOK NOT PERFECT BUT INESTIMABLE. …
Handley C. G. Moule—To My Younger Brethren

The Greatest of These is Love.
"The greatest of these is Love."-- 1 Cor. xiii. 13. That the shedding abroad of Love and the glowing of its fire through the heart is the eternal work of the Holy Spirit, is stated by no one so pithily as by St. Paul in the closing verse of his hymn of Love. Faith, Hope, and Love are God's most precious gifts; but Love far surpasses the others in preciousness. Compared with all heavenly gifts, Faith, Hope, and Love stand highest, but of these three Love is the greatest. All spiritual gifts are precious, …
Abraham Kuyper—The Work of the Holy Spirit

Of the Character of the Unregenerate.
Ephes. ii. 1, 2. And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. AMONG all the various trusts which men can repose in each other, hardly any appears to be more solemn and tremendous, than the direction of their sacred time, and especially of those hours which they spend in the exercise of public devotion. …
Philip Doddridge—Practical Discourses on Regeneration

The Third Wall.
The third wall falls of itself, as soon as the first two have fallen; for if the Pope acts contrary to the Scriptures, we are bound to stand by the Scriptures, to punish and to constrain him, according to Christ's commandment; "Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every …
Martin Luther—First Principles of the Reformation

Concerning the Scriptures.
Concerning the Scriptures. From these revelations of the Spirit of God to the saints, have proceeded the Scriptures of Truth, which contain, I. A faithful historical account of the actings of God's people in divers ages; with many singular and remarkable providences attending them. II. A prophetical account of several things, whereof some are already past, and some yet to come. III. A full and ample account of all the chief principles of the doctrine of Christ, held forth in divers precious declarations, …
Robert Barclay—Theses Theologicae and An Apology for the True Christian Divinity

Assurance of Salvation.
"These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may knew that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God." (1 John v. 13. ) There are two classes who ought not to have Assurance. First: those who are in the Church, but who are not converted, having never been born of the Spirit. Second: those not willing to do God's will; who are not ready to take the place that God has mapped out for them, but want to fill some other place. …
Dwight L. Moody—The Way to God and How to Find It

Testimonies.
"Without faith it is impossible to please God."--Heb. xi. 6. In order to prevent the possibility of being led into paths of error, faith is directed, not to a Christ of the imagination, but to "the Christ in the garments of the Sacred Scripture," as Calvin expresses it. And therefore we must discriminate between (1) faith as a faculty implanted in the soul without our knowledge; (2) faith as a power whereby this implanted faculty begins to act; and (3) faith as a result,--since with this faith (1) …
Abraham Kuyper—The Work of the Holy Spirit

The Christian's Peace and the Christian's Consistency
PHILIPPIANS i. 21-30 He will be spared to them--Spiritual wealth of the paragraph--Adolphe Monod's exposition--Charles Simeon's testimony--The equilibrium and its secret--The intermediate bliss--He longs for their full consistency--The "gift" of suffering Ver. 21. +For to me, to live is Christ+; the consciousness and experiences of living, in the body, are so full of Christ, my supreme Interest, that CHRIST sums them all up; +and to die+, the act of dying,[1] +is gain+, for it will usher me in …
Handley C. G. Moule—Philippian Studies

Concerning the Ministry.
Concerning the Ministry. As by the light or gift of God all true knowledge in things spiritual is received and revealed, so by the same, as it is manifested and received in the heart, by the strength and power thereof, every true minister of the gospel is ordained, prepared, and supplied in the work of the ministry; and by the leading, moving, and drawing hereof ought every evangelist and Christian pastor to be led and ordered in his labour and work of the gospel, both as to the place where, as to …
Robert Barclay—Theses Theologicae and An Apology for the True Christian Divinity

Concerning Perfection.
Concerning Perfection. In whom this pure and holy birth is fully brought forth, the body of death and sin comes to be crucified and removed, and their hearts united and subjected to the truth; so as not to obey any suggestions or temptations of the evil one, but to be free from actual sinning and transgressing of the law of God, and in that respect perfect: yet doth this perfection still admit of a growth; and there remaineth always in some part a possibility of sinning, where the mind doth not most …
Robert Barclay—Theses Theologicae and An Apology for the True Christian Divinity

Reprobation Asserted: Or, the Doctrine of Eternal Election and Reprobation Promiscuously Handled, in Eleven Chapters.
WHEREIN THE MOST MATERIAL OBJECTIONS MADE BY THE OPPOSERS OF THIS DOCTRINE, ARE FULLY ANSWERED; SEVERAL DOUBTS REMOVED, AND SUNDRY CASES OF CONSCIENCE RESOLVED. BY JOHN BUNYAN OF BEDFORD, A LOVER OF PEACE AND TRUTH. 'What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded.'--Romans 11:7 London: Printed for G. L., and are to be sold in Turn-stile-alley, in Holbourn. Small 4to, 44 pages. EDITOR'S ADVERTISEMENT. This valuable tract …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

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