2 Corinthians 13:5 “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?”

In these troubled times today (which differ little from many other times in the history of this sinful world in which we live), I have had many an occasion when I need to stop and do a self-examination, to be sure I am not allowing my thoughts of what is transpiring in the world, to contaminate my thoughts of what is good and right before my Lord; because those good thoughts are what is, “in the faith;” and everything else is of the hearts and minds of men, of which some may be profitable, but much may be unprofitable.

It is always beneficial and more profitable for the child of God to continually examine themselves as to their thoughts, words, walk and deeds, to see whether there are the things manifested within, which would testify of Christ in their lives, and whether they be in the faith. We know, that perfection is beyond our reach in the flesh; but we have a spiritual witness in us as children of God, which is a creature created by the Spirit of God, and is able to stand as a witness of the faith of God and the hope it teaches us, even though it is subject to the vanity of our natural thoughts and minds. Rom. 8:20

Looking at the word “examine” here, we see a variety of things we might use to reconcile our self-examination, and see “whether we be in the faith.” The Greek word for “examine” here is Peirazo or “pi-rad-zo.” Some of the terms used here in the definition of the word “examine” are: To test, to scrutinize, to entice, to discipline, to assay, to go about, to prove, to tempt, and finally to try. This is not a passive exam looking only at the things we are happy with, but an examination of our every value, and action and hold them up against the pattern given us by the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. We need to search ourselves continually to see whether we “be in the Faith” He once delivered to the saints. Jude v. 3

Now, the second of the two sentences in our text. The first was for our instruction in righteousness, but the second is a question to us, whether we know we are children and disciples of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ: “Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?” Are we not abundantly blessed by our Lord God; our Abba, Father, to know we have indeed a Spirit within us which gives us thoughts of peace and love? Are we not blessed additionally as children of God in the truth? Not just to know the Lord, but to know about our Saviour; and how we are able to know Him and the power of His resurrection, in the truth of God's Holy Word (Which is His Word and His Truth), that truth which is revealed to us by the Spirit of God (1Cor. 2:10).

Is it not a blessing sometime hard for us to confess, that God has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Christ, and we are able to know Him and worship Him in Spirit and in truth: Can we not confess freely how we feel ourselves to be the children of God, and of our Lord Jesus Christ, that we know Him, and we know how unworthy we are: How our examinations have shown us our many sins and imperfections, and yet how greatly we have been blessed to know about Jesus, and how we do know Him as our Lord and Saviour, by the Holy Spirit of God; and how we can cry unto Him “Abba, Father,” knowing our own selves to be the children of God, with Christ in our hearts, and peace in our souls.