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.