Responding to Conviction
8/12/25 Bible Thought (2 Corinthians 13)
Delayed judgment is an act of mercy and opportunity for repentance.
This is the case both with the Lord (see 2 Pet. 3:9) and with His church.
In 2 Corinthians 13, the apostle Paul concluded his letter to the Corinthian believers with a warning of his upcoming visit. He was hoping that upon his arrival, he could use his apostolic authority for building up, rather than tearing down (2 Cor. 13:10).
The call was for them to prove that their faith was genuine by works of repentance (2 Cor. 13:5; see also Matt. 3:8). They would have to turn back against the false teachers, cling to the truth of the gospel, and possibly deal with other sin problems we are not even aware of.
If they did not follow through with repentance, Paul would come and sort things out and it was not going to be pretty. He warned, “I will not spare them” (2 Cor. 13:2).
In some manner unknown to us, he would render judgment—possibly, he would be excommunicating the offenders and, “delivering them over to Satan” (see the previous example in 1 Cor. 5:5).
Regardless, they had a window of opportunity between the letter’s coming and the apostle’s coming for them to repent from their wicked ways.
Paul might have seemed weak. His countless trials might have seemed to disqualify him. His bodily presence might not have been very intimidating compared to his writing (2 Cor. 10:10). Yet, he would be coming with the power of Christ on his side as he dealt with their sins.
Just as Christ is coming again not to save from sin, but to bring about judgment, Paul was no longer going to be gentle in dealing with sin.
In fact, it would be unkind of him to do so! For that would be like an apostolic stamp of approval upon their wrongdoing and support of a false gospel. The most loving thing that Paul could do, apart from their repentance, would be to offer correction—to speak the truth in love (Eph. 4:15) even if it might hurt.
The ball was now going to be in their court. They knew the truth. They heard the apostle’s warning—but would they heed it?
It makes me wonder, what is our response to conviction?
If we are genuinely in the faith, Christ Jesus lives in us by His Spirit (2 Cor. 5:5). He has made His home in our hearts through faith! (see Eph. 3:17). If Christ be in us, then certainly our response to sin ought to be heart-felt repentance when our sin is illuminated to us. We can’t claim to have the life of the Messiah in us if our ways do not reflect His at all and we are aware of it.
Just as Paul would be going to them in judgment, one day we will stand before the Lord of all the earth to give an account for the lives that we led.
If the concern of the apostle’s coming should have been enough to stir them towards right belief and right action, then, as the apostle Peter would write concerning Christ’s coming and the end of the world, “what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness” (2 Pet. 3:11).
Sin is to be grieved over and turned from. In a simple word the right response is repentance.