Power to Edification Not Destruction 2 Corinthians 13:10

Paul the apostle told the church members in Corinth, “we are glad, when we are weak, and you are strong: and this also we wish, even your perfection”, and in chapter thirteen and verse ten of Second Corinthians, Paul shared with the church members how he was given “”power...to edification, and not to destruction” where we read:

Therefore I write these things being absent, lest being present I should use sharpness, according to the power which the Lord has given me to edification, and not to destruction.

The verse begins, “Therefore I write these things being absent, lest being present I should use sharpness,...” Paul began with the word, “therefore” which means “through and by these grounds, reasons, and account” “I write” which means “Paul delineated or formed letters on a tablet, parchment, paper or other material” “these things” or “so and such then” “being absent” which refers to “Paul not having arrived or at hand or present”, “lest being present” which means “otherwise having arrived, or at hand or present” “I should use sharpness” or “Paul would entreat and employ being abrupt, precipitous, severe and curt”. Paul “wrote” to the church members while he was not “present” with them because if he was with them, he would be more “abrupt, curt and severe”.

The verse continues, “...according to the power which the Lord has given me to edification, and not to destruction.” Paul added the words, “according to” which means “down from, through out, toward and along” “the power” which means “the liberty, leave, permission, authority and right”, “the Lord” which refers to “he to whom a person or thing belongs, about which he has power of deciding; master and the title given to God the Messiah” “has given me” or “has granted, supplied, furnished, extended and appointed” “to edification” which means “to build up and promote growth in Christian wisdom, piety, happiness and holiness”, “and not to destruction” or “not to demolition, pulling down and extinction”. Paul referred to the “power” God gave to Him to “build up” the church members and not “tear them down”.

When we consider these words of Paul, we understand how he was given authority by God to “build up” the church members and not “tear them down”. Though he was “absent” from the church members at the time he wrote, he was pleased because he would have been much more “curt and abrupt” if he were “present” with them. Jesus Christ bestows power and authority upon people to “build up” others in the church, and this “power” should never be used to “diminish” or “pull them down”. When those who are in authority provide correction, not only should the ones they are correcting submit, but also this “authority” should only be exercised in an edifying manner that is pleasing to God.

Next time Paul tells the church members “Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then,

Until tomorrow…there is more…

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