The Covenantal Farewell Text: 2 Corinthians 13:11-13
Introduction: The Shape of a Healthy Church
We come now to the very end of Paul's second letter to the troubled church in Corinth. This is a letter that has been filled with turmoil, with apostolic warnings, with deep pastoral anguish, and with glorious theological truth. Paul has had to defend his apostleship, confront gross sin, and call a chaotic and proud church back to the simplicity and power of the gospel. And after all the thunder and lightning of the previous chapters, he concludes not with a final rebuke, but with a series of sharp, staccato commands that function as a blueprint for a healthy church. This is what it all comes down to.
We live in an age that is allergic to commands, especially when it comes to the life of the church. Modern evangelicals often want the church to be a therapeutic center, a place of affirmation, a casual gathering of like-minded consumers. They want the "peace of God" without the "God of peace," which requires obedience. But Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, ends with a volley of imperatives. This is because the Christian life is not a passive drift; it is a disciplined march. And the health of a church is not measured by the square footage of its building or the slickness of its programs, but by its cheerful, robust obedience to the commands of God.
These final verses are not sentimental fluff. They are not the equivalent of "have a nice day." This is a covenantal farewell. Each phrase is packed with theological weight, and together they form a picture of what a church looks like when it is finally getting things right. This is the goal toward which all the rebukes and corrections were aimed. Paul is telling the Corinthians, and by extension, us, "This is what you are to be doing when I am not here breathing down your necks." This is the ordinary, everyday business of a faithful church. It is a call to joy, maturity, unity, and love, all grounded in the presence of the Triune God. If we want to be a church that matters, a church that stands as an outpost of the kingdom in a crumbling culture, we must take these final instructions with the utmost seriousness.
The Text
Finally, brothers, rejoice, be restored, be comforted, be like-minded, live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you. Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the saints greet you. (2 Corinthians 13:11-13 LSB)
The Fivefold Command (v. 11a)
Paul begins with a rapid-fire succession of five commands that summarize the practical shape of Christian community.
"Finally, brothers, rejoice, be restored, be comforted, be like-minded, live in peace..." (2 Corinthians 13:11)
First, "rejoice." This is not a suggestion to feel happy if circumstances permit. It is a command. And it is a command that makes no sense apart from the gospel. The Corinthians had every reason not to rejoice. They were a mess. They were shot through with division, carnality, and spiritual arrogance. Paul had just threatened to come to them with a rod. And yet, the first word of his farewell charge is "rejoice." Why? Because Christian joy is not based on our performance, but on God's. It is grounded not in our circumstances, but in our position in Christ. To rejoice is to continually remind ourselves of the objective reality of our salvation. It is a defiant act of faith in the face of our own sin and the world's chaos. It is the fundamental orientation of the Christian heart.
Second, "be restored." The Greek word here means to be made complete, to be mended, to be perfected. It is the same word used for mending nets (Mark 1:19). The Corinthian church was a torn net. There were holes of sin, division, and false teaching. Paul is commanding them to participate in the work of mending. This is a call to sanctification, both individual and corporate. It means dealing with sin. It means submitting to correction. It means striving together toward maturity. A healthy church is one where the members are actively engaged in the business of mending their own lives and the life of the body, all according to the standard of God's Word.
Third, "be comforted." This is not a call to seek cheap emotional highs. This is a command to receive the divine comfort that Paul has been talking about throughout this letter (2 Cor. 1:3-7). True comfort comes from the God of all comfort, and it is mediated through His Word and His people. This command implies that we are to be a people who both receive comfort and give it. We are to bear one another's burdens. In a world that is full of fear, anxiety, and despair, the church is to be an embassy of divine comfort, a place where the broken are bound up by the truth of the gospel.
Fourth, "be like-minded." This does not mean that we must all have the same opinion on every trivial matter. This is not a call for bland uniformity. It means to have the same mindset, the same fundamental way of thinking, which is the mind of Christ (Phil. 2:5). It means we are to agree on the essentials of the faith. It means we are to approach life from the same biblical worldview, valuing what God values and hating what He hates. This like-mindedness is the foundation of true unity. Without a shared commitment to the truth of Scripture, any talk of unity is just sentimental nonsense.
Fifth, "live in peace." This is the practical outworking of being like-minded. Because we share the same foundational truths, we are able to live in peace with one another. This peace is not the absence of conflict, but the presence of biblical reconciliation. It is a robust, hard-won peace that comes from speaking the truth in love, forgiving one another as Christ has forgiven us, and putting the interests of others before our own. Unity unattended is disunity in about fifteen minutes. Peace must be actively pursued.
The Covenantal Promise (v. 11b)
Following the five commands is a glorious promise. This is the engine that drives the obedience.
"...and the God of love and peace will be with you." (2 Corinthians 13:11)
Notice the direct connection. The commands are not arbitrary hoops to jump through. They are the very means by which we experience the manifest presence of God. If you want the God of love and peace to be with you, then you must be a people of love and peace. God's presence is not some mystical fog that descends randomly. He promises to dwell with the people who walk in His ways.
He is the "God of love and peace." He is the source of the very things He commands us to pursue. We are to be like-minded and live in peace, and when we do, the God who is Himself perfect love and peace makes His home with us. This is the great promise of the new covenant. God does not stand off at a distance and shout instructions. He comes to dwell in the midst of His people. The goal of the Christian life is not just to get to heaven, but to have the life of heaven, the very presence of God, invade our lives and our churches here and now.
The Covenantal Greeting (v. 12)
Paul then moves from the internal life of the church to a specific, external expression of that life.
"Greet one another with a holy kiss." (2 Corinthians 13:12)
Now, in our touch-starved and simultaneously over-sexualized culture, this command makes us nervous. We tend to either ignore it as a weird cultural relic or spiritualize it away into a bland "be nice to each other." But we should do neither. The command is straightforward. This was a common form of greeting in the ancient world, a sign of fellowship, family, and peace. But Paul adds a crucial adjective: "holy."
A holy kiss is one that is set apart from all that is profane. It is not a romantic kiss. It is not a lustful kiss. It is not a hypocritical, Judas-like kiss. It is a chaste, familial sign of genuine Christian affection and welcome. It is an embodied expression of the spiritual reality that we are brothers and sisters, members of one family, united in Christ. It says, "You are my brother. You are my sister. There is no guile between us. We are at peace."
While the specific cultural form of the greeting may change, the principle is permanent. Our fellowship must not be merely abstract. It must be tangible. It must be expressed in real, physical ways. Whether it is a handshake, a hug, or a holy kiss, there must be a genuine, non-fraudulent warmth and welcome in the household of God. We are not disembodied spirits; we are a body, and our love for one another should be visible and real.
The Covenantal Connection (v. 13)
Finally, Paul reminds the Corinthians that they are not alone. They are part of something much larger.
"All the saints greet you." (2 Corinthians 13:13)
This is more than just a "P.S." from Paul's traveling companions. This is a profound statement about the nature of the Church. The word "saints" simply means "holy ones," those set apart by God. By passing on this greeting, Paul is reminding the chaotic Corinthian church that they are connected to the universal body of Christ. The saints in Macedonia, or wherever Paul was writing from, were praying for them, were concerned for them, and considered them family.
This is a powerful antidote to the kind of congregational pride and isolation that can so easily beset a church. We are not an island. We are one local expression of the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church that spans the globe and all of history. This greeting is a reminder that we are in this together. The struggles of the church in Corinth were the concern of the saints everywhere, and their victories were a cause for rejoicing for the saints everywhere. This fosters a sense of solidarity and mutual accountability. We are part of a vast army, a great cloud of witnesses, and we must conduct ourselves accordingly.
Conclusion: The Ordinary Business of Glory
So what do we take from this? Paul's final words to the Corinthians are a charge to engage in the ordinary, day-to-day business of being the church. It is a call to objective joy in the gospel, a call to the hard work of mutual restoration and sanctification, a call to give and receive real comfort, a call to think biblically, and a call to live in peace.
This is not glamorous work. It doesn't make for exciting headlines. But it is this steady, faithful obedience in the small things that invites the manifest presence of the God of love and peace. When we are faithful in these things, our fellowship becomes tangible and warm, symbolized by the holy kiss. And we remember that we are not alone, but are cheered on by all the saints.
This is the pathway to true revival. It is not found in chasing the latest spiritual fad or in manufacturing emotional experiences. It is found in a simple, dogged determination to obey the commands of Scripture. It is found in being the kind of people with whom the God of love and peace is pleased to dwell. Let us therefore be about this business, for the glory of God and the good of His church.