2 Corinthians 13:5 - Exposition

Prove year ownselves. In other words, "test your own sincerity." Jesus Christ is in you. To this truth—that the body of every Christian is a temple of the Holy Spirit of Christ—St. Paul returns again and again ( Galatians 2:20 ; Galatians 4:19 ; Ephesians 3:17 ; Colossians 1:27 ). We find the same truth frequently in St. John ( John 15:4 , John 15:5 ; 1 John 3:24 , etc.). Except ye be reprobates. The Greek word adokimoi— from the same root as the verb "to test"—means tried and found to be worthless. " Reprobate silver shall men call them, because the Lord hath rejected them" ( Jeremiah 6:30 ). The word is found almost exclusively in St Paul ( 2 Corinthians 13:5 , 2 Corinthians 13:6 , 2 Corinthians 13:7 ; Romans 1:28 ; 1 Corinthians 9:27 ; 2 Timothy 3:8 ; Titus 1:16 ). The only other passage of the New Testament where it occurs is Hebrews 6:8 ; and the reader must not read Calvinistic horrors into an expression which gives no sanction to them.