examine your own selves if ye be in the faith; prove your own selves do ye not recognise yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you, unless indeed ye be reprobates?
Paul ends this letter by answering critics who demanded proof that Christ spoke through him. His reply turns the demand back on them, so the verse is a rebuke, not a call to doubt your salvation.
The command to examine yourself does not stand alone. It is the second half of a sentence that starts two verses earlier, broken by a long aside.
It helps a lot in understanding what follows to see this. Whether it is marked in print or not, a parenthesis opens after the first clause of verse 3 and runs through verse 4 as well. So the first clause of verse 3 connects with verse 5: "Since you seek proof that Christ is speaking in me … examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves." It is a final notice of, and answer to, their unworthy questioning of Paul's apostleship.
Read that way, the tone is not anxious but sharp. Paul is pointing at the one thing his critics could never explain away — their own conversion.
The Corinthians had questioned whether Christ spoke in Paul, and whether he was a real apostle. You can see it all through both letters. As a final argument he says, "You had better examine yourselves. How did you come to be Christians?" He was the one God used to convert them. So he adds, "Do you not know your own selves, that Christ dwells in you, unless you are reprobates?" How did He get there?
The ESV ends the verse with "unless indeed you fail to meet the test." Older translations read "unless indeed you are reprobates," and that older word is the one these writers explain.
A reprobate is someone thrown out as good for nothing. The picture comes from silver rejected as worthless. He means, "If you are Christians, Christ has spoken through me, and it is through me that you are Christians."
That raises a fear: could a believer end up in that group?
With the apostle there were only two things in view: either Christ Jesus in you, or you are reprobates. There is no thought of a Christian becoming a reprobate. He says, "But I trust that you will know that we are not reprobates."
Paul's question expects a yes.
We turn first to the case of the Corinthians. We read, "Do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? — unless indeed you fail to meet the test!" So Christ was in the Corinthians after all, as He is in every true child of God. The only exception, according to the verse, is the reprobate, the unconverted.
The verse is often used to keep believers unsure. Commentators push back hard on that use.
This also shows how groundless the far too common misuse of this passage is. People use it to justify a doubting self-examination. The truth is that a look at the context clears the error away — an error that strikes at the peace of the believer, and even at the truth of the gospel. These misreadings wear the cover of concern for holiness, but they plunge the soul at once into doubt by making it question itself.
Where then should a troubled believer look? Not inward.
Nothing in the Apostle's words tells the Christian to look inside himself for the assurance that he is a Christian. It is the outward look to Christ risen that gives inward peace, and the word of God that gives assurance. When the Lord appeared among His disciples on the day of the resurrection, He found them troubled by thoughts rising in their hearts. At once He dispelled their fears by directing their gaze to Himself: "See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself." Looking within filled them with doubts and fears. Looking out at their risen Lord, they saw in His hands and feet the proofs that He had died for them and was risen, and this brought peace and joy.
Commentators differ on how much self-searching Paul intends. One writer reads it as a real summons: the Corinthians had judged Paul, so now "let them test and prove themselves, about the faith they boast in" (A. Pridham). Others draw a line between testing your walk and testing your relationship.
It is quite right to examine whether we are living up to it. But that is a very different thing. A child does right to examine how he behaves as a child. It would be sad work for him to do the other thing and examine whether he is a child. Being aware of a relationship — an awareness that never fails — is one thing. Living consistently with it is another. We must not confuse the two.
- Context. Verse 3 runs straight into verse 5, because verses 3b–4 are an aside. Read together, they answer people who wanted proof that Paul was Christ's messenger.
- Proof. His evidence was the Corinthians themselves. If Christ was in them, He had spoken through the man who brought them the message.
- Gift. "Christ in you" is not a prize to hunt for. It is the mark of every true child of God. The only exception named is the unconverted.
- Limit. "Reprobate" means cast out as worthless, like rejected silver. Paul names two groups only, and no path from one to the other.
- Result. Assurance comes from looking out at the risen Christ and resting on God's word. Examine your walk; do not put your relationship on trial.
Now I hope that ye will know that *we* are not reprobates.
Paul closes his letter by answering people at Corinth who demanded proof that Christ really spoke through him. He turns the question back on them, and verse 6 is his quiet counter-claim: he and his fellow workers are not "reprobate," as older translations put it — they have not failed the test.
The term Paul uses is a metal-worker's word. It describes something tested and thrown out.
A reprobate is one cast out as good for nothing; a figure from reprobate silver.
The word carries no mild sense anywhere in the New Testament, which is why Paul's denial of it here is so firm.
Some soften this word down to "disapproved," but the New Testament never uses it in any sense but the worst. Said of "land" (Hebrews 6), it means "worthless" — bearing thorns and briars, but no acceptable fruit. Paul uses it the same way in 2 Corinthians 13:5-6, 7, never for something good that merely falls short.
Paul does not produce credentials. He points at the people reading the letter. Their own faith was the one piece of evidence he needed.
The apostle was content with no better evidence than his Corinthian converts, unless indeed they were reprobate, which was far from the ground they took or he.
The logic runs in one direction only. If they doubt him, they must doubt the very thing that made them Christians.
He appeals to them, and to God's call that turned them from idols to Him, "as the seal of his apostleship." It is as if he said, "If Christ has not spoken by me, how is it that you are Christians?"
Verse 5 tells them to examine themselves. Commentators warn against reading that as a call to anxious inward searching.
Nothing in the Apostle's words suggests that a Christian should look within to make sure he is a Christian. It is the outward look to Christ risen that gives the inward peace, and the word of God that gives assurance. When the Lord appeared among His disciples on the day of His resurrection, He found them troubled by the thoughts rising in their hearts. At once He calmed their fears by turning their eyes to Himself: "See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself" (Luke 24:36-39). Looking within filled them with doubts and fears. Looking outside themselves at their risen Lord, they saw in His hands and feet the proof that He had died for them and was risen, and this brought peace and joy into their hearts.
One commentator traces this misreading to a long parenthesis in the passage.
Missing the long parenthesis here has made people think that Paul really meant them to examine themselves to see whether they were in the faith. In fact his argument rests on the very fact that they did not need to examine themselves and could not. He turns to them at once with the question: "Do you not recognise yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you, unless indeed you are reprobates?"
His hope here is not about winning an argument.
His trust is that they too will acknowledge the truth about him, and about those he gloried in as his fellow workers for the kingdom of God: they really were what they claimed to be. This present letter, if they read it with clear eyes, should stand as his witness in the sight of God.
There is a gentle rebuke folded into it. They would never accept the label for themselves — so why hang it on the man who brought them the gospel?
They would not accept this designation! And they would hardly go so far as to brand Paul a reprobate. Verse 6 should at least have alerted them to how heartless their unfair criticism of him was.
The next verse shows why his confidence is not vanity. He would trade his own reputation for their good.
He prayed that they might do no evil, and so be clearly approved and not reprobate. He did not pray this so that his own work among them would be approved and bring him glory. He prayed it so that they might do what is right, and so prove beyond all question that they were not reprobates. If that were so he would be content, even though he appeared to be a reprobate himself. That he was not a reprobate he knew very well, and he trusted they knew it too, as he says in verse 6.
- Tested. The word means metal tested, then thrown out as worthless — never a good thing that simply fell short.
- Turned. Challenged for proof, Paul hands the test back. If Christ is in you, ask who brought Him to you.
- Outward. Assurance never comes from searching inside yourself. It comes from looking to the risen Christ and resting on God's word.
- Trusted. He hopes that readers with clear eyes will see him and his fellow workers as what they truly claim to be.
- Released. He is certain he passes the test, yet he would rather be thought worthless himself than have them do wrong.
But we pray to God that ye may do nothing evil; not that *we* may appear approved, but that *ye* may do what is right, and *we* be as reprobates.
Paul writes to Corinth as a man whose credentials many there had doubted. He answers the doubt with a prayer — not for his own name, but for their conduct. The trade is striking. He will let himself be written off, as long as they do what is right.
Paul asks for something negative: that they would do no wrong. One writer finds in that short wish the whole measure of Christian living.
Notice how much this short wish holds. It is worded negatively, yet it seems to be the measure of a saint's perfection as one who bears the name of Christ. To be blameless and harmless in our obedience to the faith is to be as sons of God (Phil. 2:15). It is to be like Him who did no evil, and who in Himself was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners. Being kept from temptation and delivered from evil are among the few things the Master taught His disciples above all to pray for. Goodness that is positive and active will surely grow out of such a state of soul. But stopping sin must always come before doing its opposite. As we unlearn evil we learn good, and when we deny ourselves we do what pleases the Lord most.
Older translations use "reprobate" where the ESV says "failed." One reference work traces that same Greek word through the New Testament.
Paul kept his body under control, in case, though he had preached to others, he himself should be a castaway. 1 Cor. 9:27. The same word is translated 'reprobate' in Rom. 1:28; 2 Cor. 13:5-7; 2 Tim. 3:8; Titus 1:16; and 'rejected' in Heb. 6:8. It is the negative form of 'approved,' Rom. 16:10; etc.
Here the word covers one thing only: the worth of his ministry.
Whatever might be the case with them, he trusted they would know that he was not reprobate. He only prayed to God that they should do no evil. He did not pray this so that he himself would not be reprobate — that is, worthless in his ministry, for here he is speaking of ministry. He prayed it so that they might do good even if he were reprobate.
Their good behaviour would have proved that his work among them was real. He refuses to pray on that ground.
He prayed that they might do no evil, and so be clearly approved and not reprobate. He did not pray this so that their conduct would approve his work among them and bring him glory. He prayed it so that they might do what is right, and prove beyond all question that they were not reprobates. If that were so he would be content, even though he appeared to be a reprobate himself.
Another writer puts the choice in one line: whose honour comes first.
He desires not that he may shine, but they. Let them only be found in the way of that honour which comes from God, and he was content to be still slandered by men.
Their honest behaviour would answer the question for people outside the church as well.
His prayer to God was that they might be kept from evil practice. He did not ask this only to commend the Apostle who had been used in their conversion. He asked it so that, by acting honestly, they would prove to the world that they were no reprobates, however much the world might belittle him.
Paul had authority to discipline them, and had said so. This prayer aims at making that authority unnecessary.
His heart was set on their further blessing, more than on his apostolic office. He claimed that office for their sakes more than his own... But he prayed that they might give no such occasion. He did not pray this so that his own claim would be shown valid, but so that they might do what was fitting for saints — even though he might lack such proofs, or however much people ran him down. Then there would be no occasion for a display of power, since their honourable walk would speak for the truth.
- Prayer, not power — Paul's first move against wrong in Corinth is prayer. He asks that they do none, so his power never has to fall on them.
- Failing the test — "Reprobate" is the negative of "approved." Here it touches the worth of his ministry, and Paul was sure he was not one.
- Stop, then start — the wish is negative on purpose. Leaving off evil comes first, and active goodness grows out of that state of soul.
- His name for their good — he gives up the credit their obedience would bring him. He would sooner be thought worthless and see them do right.
- Their walk speaks — honest conduct is the proof, to them and to the watching world, that they are no reprobates.
For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth.
Paul ends this letter by naming the one limit on his power. It runs in a single direction, and that is both a warning and a great comfort.
Paul had real power, but it was not his own to aim wherever he liked.
He knew that all the power in which he served came from God. So it was only available as long as he was working for the truth and in the truth. If he had turned against the truth, he would have lost that power at once. There are powers hostile to the truth, but in the long run they cannot prevail. So against the truth he was powerless, while for it he was powerful.
The wording matters. Paul does not say he is not allowed to act against truth. He says he cannot. And the proof lies in the final outcome, not in how things look now.
He does not say we may do nothing, but we can, and power must be measured by its final results... And for a while the scoffers seem to win the day... Christ, by dying, destroyed for His people the one who had the power of death. In the same way, the injuries done to truth are the sure though delayed destruction of her enemies. They record their own condemnation in the wounds they inflict.
The same writer warns that no one is safe here by default:
Resisting the Spirit and speaking evil of the way of truth are, sadly, all too easy and natural to man. A Christian is not exempt from the danger of that same guilt, if his mind is not kept in due subjection to the written word.
Paul is not exempting himself from scrutiny. He is placing himself and his readers under the same authority, which is why the verse cuts and consoles at once.
Words not only of warning but of great comfort too. Truth sits in Christ in its personal majesty, as the umpire of all our acts. It must judge both the teacher and the taught; so they need not fear his words, but weigh them in their consciences. If his words went against what was written elsewhere, they had no power and no authority.
The second half of the verse does more than limit Paul. Commentators read it as a description of what happens to every attack on truth.
Verse 8 stresses that nothing can overthrow truth. Whatever a person does, even out of opposition to the truth, it will only end up showing truth to be completely triumphant. Faith about this will put us now wholeheartedly on the side of truth.
Another writer applies that confidence to attacks on the Bible and on Christ Himself:
Blessed be God, the Scriptures have stood the ceaseless attacks of the long centuries. And attacks on the Person of our blessed Lord can only recoil to the destruction of those who make them.
If power and truth belong together, the verse turns into a question we can ask before any decision.
If we are wise, we shall live for the Lord. We shall be wise and happy too if we can say with the apostle, "we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth." Of everything we may ask: will it help the truth? No? Then it will not do for me, says the heart that is true to Christ.
Paul's restraint is not weakness. The point of the surrounding verses is that he would rather never use his authority at all than use it to tear down.
After all, nothing could really be done against the truth — nothing could prevail against it — only for the truth. We must be on the other side of things, with God, to realise how true this is; but it is so.
- Source — Paul's power came from God, so it worked only while he laboured for the truth; turn it the other way and it is gone.
- Danger — No one is safe by default. A mind not kept under the written word can fight the truth like anyone else.
- Umpire — Truth in Christ judges teacher and taught alike. Words that go against what is written carry no authority, whoever speaks them.
- Outcome — Attacks look like winners for a while. But power shows itself in final results, and the wounds attackers inflict on truth record their own condemnation.
- Test — Ask of everything: will it help the truth? If not, the heart true to Christ lets it go, sure that nothing can prevail against the truth in the end.
For we rejoice when *we* may be weak and *ye* may be powerful. But this also we pray for, your perfecting.
Paul has spent much of this letter defending his standing as an apostle. Now he drops the defence. He is happy to look weak, as long as the Corinthians are strong. That raises a question for any leader: do you want to win the argument, or to see people grow?
Paul had the right to come to Corinth "with a rod," and he would rather never use it. His gladness is the gladness of a man whose authority can stay in its sheath.
The mind that was in Christ Jesus was in His servant too, for he counts these Corinthians better than himself. To be among them with a rod would be no joy to him. But to hear that they were thriving, and, if God so willed, to find them full of strength in both faith and love — that would be his heart's delight. In such a case he could gladly be weak, and go unfelt as an apostle among them. The hidden powers of his calling would be forgotten, because the one need that could call them out was gone. Meanwhile what he wishes for them is their perfection — their conduct brought into line with their faith.
The verse opens with "for," pointing back to what Paul has just said about truth. His weakness is not carelessness. Power in service runs one way only.
Whatever men might say about the Apostle, nothing will prevail against the truth. Go against the truth and we lose our power. We are strong only as we stand for the truth, whether it is the truth about Christ or the truth about His people. He was content to be weak in his own frailties if it led to them standing strong for the truth. He longed for their "perfecting" — the complete knowledge of Christianity and the mind of the Lord.
The strength Paul wants for them is God's strength, the same strength he leans on himself. Notice also what he does not want: any hold over them. The ESV calls what Paul prays for their "restoration"; the writers quoted here call it their "perfecting."
Paul's weakness leaned on the strength of God, and it made him glad — above all if it made the Corinthians spiritually strong. He wanted no control over them. He wanted God's strength to work in them in full measure. Their perfection, or mature growth, was the object of his labours with them.
Paul does hold real authority. In the next verse he explains why he writes rather than visits.
He was not master of the Corinthians for his own gain. He was content to be weak so that they might be strong, for what he wanted was their perfection. So he wrote while he was away, in the hope that when he came he would not have to act harshly. The Lord had given him authority for building up, not for tearing down.
The prayer at the end of the verse is not a closing formality. Paul's answer to a church that doubted him was to pray about their conduct, not about his own name.
He prayed that they would give him no such occasion. He did not pray that his claim would be proved valid, but that they would live as God's people should — even if he lacked such proofs, or was belittled ever so much. Then there would be no need for a display of power. Their honourable walk would speak for the truth. And the apostle could say, "For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth. For we are glad when we are weak and you are strong." And he prayed for this too, their perfecting.
The verse shows service that has stopped counting what it gets back.
The apostle loved them deeply, and he could rejoice if they were strong, however weak he himself might look. What he sought and prayed for was their perfecting… In all this we see the heart of true ministry. Here is love that forgets itself and pours itself out, simply because it is love. It seeks no gain, except the gain that love counts as gain.
- Weak, gladly. Paul is glad to go unfelt among them. His authority stays unused, because nothing calls for it.
- Weak, but only for the truth. Power in service runs one way; go against the truth and it is gone. He accepts weakness if it leaves them standing firm.
- Weak, so they grow. He wants no control over them. Their "perfecting" is mature growth — a full knowledge of Christianity and the mind of the Lord.
- Weak, and praying. He does not pray that God will prove him right. He prays that their walk will honour the truth, so that he never needs to show his power.
- Weak, because loving. The Lord gave authority for building up, not tearing down. This is love that pours itself out and counts no other gain.
On this account I write these things being absent, that being present I may not use severity according to the authority which the Lord has given me for building up, and not for overthrowing.
Paul closes his letter by explaining why he wrote it. Sharp words on the page were meant to spare him from sharp words in person. Behind that lies the question being argued at Corinth: what authority did he have, and what was it for?
Here Paul names the purpose behind the severity of the last chapters. He wanted the correcting done before he arrived, so he could spend the visit on something better.
In all this a note of sharpness or severity has not been absent. In verse 10 we have the explanation of why he had written in this way. He expected to be among them for the third time. He wanted this letter to overthrow and clear away the evil, so that when he came he would have only the happy work of building up what is good. He had authority given by the Lord, but it was primarily for building up.
The phrase "tearing down" picks up a word used earlier in the letter for pulling down strongholds. That link shows what Paul's power could have done to the Corinthians themselves.
The word translated "destruction" in chapter 10, verse 8 is the same as that translated "pulling down" in verse 4. The word "overthrowing" is possibly better in both places. There is the power of God to overthrow strongholds of unbelief. The same power can overthrow carnal and disobedient believers, if the sad necessity arises. Yet the normal and proper use of that power is for the edification, or building up of the saints.
Paul does not drop his authority to keep the peace. He uses it with patience. His aim was to win back everyone who would listen, and to work with the conscience of the gathering, not over it.
Notice that the apostle refers to his personal authority as an apostle. But he uses it in patience, for he had it for the purpose of edification and not for destruction. He uses it to bring back to obedience and uprightness all those who would listen. And so, preserving Christian unity in holiness, he clothes the apostolic authority with the power of the universal conscience of the assembly, guided by the Spirit, so far as there was a conscience at work.
Paul could have settled every dispute at Corinth by showing up and using his power. That would have been the quickest way to prove his standing. But proving his standing was not his aim.
He might have come with the rod, and no doubt his immediate presence would have stopped many abuses. He knew the power he had "to punish every disobedience," and to be severe in his use of the authority the Lord had given him "for building up and not for tearing down." If his object had been to establish his claim to authority, this would have been the quickest way. But the question with him was how to use that authority for building up. His delight was to see obedience flowing from grace… and to see order produced by inward life and not outward restrictions.
Paul's limit is also a caution to anyone who has to speak firmly. The same words can come from love or from the flesh, and the speaker may not see the difference.
He had written these things while absent. He hoped that when he visited them there would be no need for him to use sharpness. That power was given to him by the Lord for their edification, and not for their overthrow. Since we have the flesh in us, we need to be careful. If the need to use sharpness arises, it must not be used in the malice of the flesh, seeking to bring about the overthrow of a brother.
Restraint is not softness. Paul did use this power when the case demanded it:
See how careful Paul was in using apostolic power. He used it when necessary (1 Tim. 1:20), but only when necessary. The assembly should be just as careful, and just as firm, when it has to use Scriptural discipline against an offender.
Paul's authority was apostolic. But the standard he set for himself still measures anyone with influence among God's people.
He is no doubt referring to his apostolic calling and power, but we also, in a lesser way, are in the same position. Are we sure that we are bending our efforts to edification and not to destruction — building up, not pulling down? … Let us seek help to be useful in building up the saints and, it may be, in recovering them. Let us avoid distressing and scattering the people of God.
- Given — The authority is the Lord's gift, and it comes with one purpose: building up.
- Restrained — He wrote while away so he would not need to be severe in person. The letter does the hard work; the visit does the happy work.
- Reserved — The power that pulls down strongholds can pull down disobedient believers. Paul used it only when he had to.
- Patient — He waited for obedience that grew from grace and inward life, not from the pressure of his presence.
- Tested — The measure still stands for anyone with influence today. Am I building up or pulling down? Is my sharpness love, or the flesh?
For the rest, brethren, rejoice; be perfected; be encouraged; be of one mind; be at peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you.
Paul ends a hard letter to a divided assembly not with a threat but with short commands and a promise. His closing words raise a plain question. What does a group of believers need, if God is to be with them? Is His presence tied to how they treat each other?
These commands answer a chain of problems. The same chain still runs through the church today.
Verse 11 gives us the closing desires. If we are perfected, encouraged, of one mind, and at peace, we will indeed do well. The Corinthians clearly needed these things. But we need them just as badly. The church of God today, as a whole, is in much the same condition. There is plenty of immaturity, discouragement, disunity, and strife — and these things seem to flow one out of the other.
Commentators differ on the first word. Older English versions read "farewell," but others render it as a call to joy:
"Finally, brothers, rejoice." (Not farewell, but rejoice.) The believer's joy, and his boasting too, is in the Lord.
Paul offers that joy to people he had just corrected at length. It does not wait for them to improve:
In his closing greetings the Apostle desires that these saints may rejoice. Whatever failure may have marked them, they can still rejoice in the Lord. He also desires that they may be perfect, fully answering to the Lord's mind for them.
The ESV reads "Aim for restoration," where older versions read "Be perfect." The word behind it is not the usual one for maturity. It is the word used for mending fishing nets.
The first is, "Be perfect." We think this is not addressed to the individual believer. It is to the assembly of God at Corinth. The word itself shows this. It is not the common word meaning "full age," that is, maturity in the Christian life. It is a word that means mending something into a complete whole, in which every part has its own place. It is the word used, for example, in Matthew 4:21 for mending nets. So the apostle urged these Corinthian believers to allow no breaks or quarrels among themselves.
Paul had already named the source of comfort at the start of this same letter.
At the start of the letter Paul had written that God was the God of all comfort, or encouragement. He had shown the Corinthian saints the source of it all. So he might well urge them to be encouraged or comforted. Whichever meaning of the word you take, there is nothing we need more... It is an immense thing, therefore, to know where to turn.
Being of one mind sounds like forced agreement on everything. One writer says it means something else:
Scripture after scripture presses the Lord's desire that we should be of one mind, or likeminded. Of course this does not mean that everyone must think alike on every subject. But if all had in them that self-effacing mind which was also in Christ Jesus, what perfect harmony would follow! Shall we put it to the test?
The promise at the end of the verse hangs on the commands before it. That makes strife costly.
The apostle says, "Agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you." He means that if they did not live in peace, they must not expect His company to stay with them long.
Why are love and peace named together? One writer treats them as one thought about God's presence:
In 2 Corinthians 13:11 Paul wanted the Corinthian disciples to be at peace, as the way to enjoy the presence of God. That peace at once brings in the love that goes with it, and the two make one thought. Love and peace were together one idea of the blessed power and sweetness of the divine presence.
So how are commands like these kept?
The exhortations of Scripture are fulfilled by us without effort as our thoughts are upon Him, for beholding the Lord's glory, we are transformed into the same image. And what an object is He for our contemplation — the One who was here on earth in lowliness and subjection to God, who never strove with men for His rights, who was gentle to all... It is as we contemplate Him that we shall be comforted and carry out these exhortations, and the God of love and peace shall be with us.
- Mend — "aim for restoration" is the net-mending word: repair the tears among you so every part has its place.
- Comfort — Paul named the source at the letter's opening: God Himself. So you know where to turn.
- Mind — one mind is the self-effacing mind of Christ in each, not identical opinions in all.
- Peace — hold on to strife, and you must not expect God's company to stay.
- Presence — love and peace are one thought: God near. Look at Christ, and the commands follow.