II Corinthians 13:12

HE THREATENS A SEVERE PROOF OF HIS APOSTOLIC AUTHORITY, BUT PREFERS THEY WOULD SPARE HIM THE NECESSITY FOR IT. (Co2 13:1-14) This is the third time I am coming to you--not merely preparing to come to you. This proves an intermediate visit between the two recorded in Act 18:1; Act 20:2. In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established--Quoted from Deu 19:15, Septuagint. "I will judge not without examination, nor will I abstain from punishing upon due evidence" [CONYBEARE and HOWSON]. I will no longer be among you "in all patience" towards offenders (Co2 12:12). The apostle in this case, where ordinary testimony was to be had, does not look for an immediate revelation, nor does he order the culprits to be cast out of the church before his arrival. Others understand the "two or three witnesses" to mean his two or three visits as establishing either (1) the truth of the facts alleged against the offenders, or (2) the reality of his threats. I prefer the first explanation to either of the two latter.

In this chapter the apostle threatens to be severe against obstinate sinners, and assigns the reason thereof (Co2 13:1-6); then he makes a suitable prayer to God on the behalf of the Corinthians, with the reasons inducing him thereto (Co2 13:7-10), and concludes his epistle with a valediction and a benediction (Co2 13:11-14).

13:12-13 a sacred kiss: The kiss was a common Jewish form of salutation, not only a sign of personal affection. Common in the New Testament church (Rom 16:16; 1 Cor 16:20; 1 Thes 5:26; 1 Pet 5:14), it may have a significance in worship services in uniting fellow believers (the “kiss of peace”). The word for sacred (Greek hagiō) is the same word that is translated God’s people (literally the saints; Greek hagioi) in the next sentence. • God’s people here were the believers in the place from which Paul was writing in Macedonia.