Biblion Bible Commentary
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Crucified in Weakness
2 Corinthians 13:1-4
1 This is the third time I am coming to you. “At the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established.” · WEB
The demand for proof of his authority is answered by pointing at a crucifixion, where weakness and power stood in the same event.
This is the third time I am coming to you. Then a rule of evidence: at the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established.
The legal principle from the law of Moses is applied to his own visits. Two have happened and a third is coming, which makes three occasions on which the same warnings were given — so the requirement of multiple witnesses is satisfied by the repetition rather than by producing other people. He has been his own second and third witness.
Verse 2 removes any ambiguity about what the visit will involve: I have warned previously, and I warn again... if I come again, I will not spare. The earlier reluctance to arrive in force 2 Corinthians 10:2 is not withdrawn, but the alternative is now stated plainly.
And verse 3 quotes the demand behind the whole confrontation: seeing that you seek a proof of Christ who speaks in me who is not weak, but is powerful in you.
They wanted a demonstration. The word is the one used of testing metal, and what they were testing was whether Christ actually speaks through this unimpressive man. Paul grants that the question is fair and points out where the answer already exists — Christ is powerful in you, so the evidence they are demanding is their own existence as a congregation.
Then verse 4, which is where the letter's argument finally rests on something other than Paul: he was crucified through weakness, yet he lives through the power of God.
Both clauses describe one person and one sequence. The weakness was not a phase Christ passed through on the way to strength; it was the means. A crucifixion is the most complete public demonstration of powerlessness available, and it is named as the manner of the thing rather than an obstacle to it.
And the pattern is then applied to himself and to them in the same sentence: we also are weak in him, but we will live with him through the power of God toward you.
So Paul's weakness is not a deficiency he has been excusing for thirteen chapters. It is described as participation — weak in him — which is why the thorn could not be removed 2 Corinthians 12:9 and why the basket at Damascus was the right story to end the boasting with 2 Corinthians 11:33. The apostle looks like the message. Anything stronger would have looked like something else.
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