But I trust that ye shall know that we are not reprobates.
The verse expresses confident trust that the believers will recognize that Paul and his fellow workers and laborers are not reprobates. To be reprobate is to be rejected or found wanting in the test of faith, so that failure to show Christ within makes one a reprobate. This confidence follows the call for believers to examine and prove themselves whether they are in the faith and whether Christ is in them, with Christ within as the test. Those who so examine themselves will know that Christ speaks in Paul and that he is approved and not reprobate. His apostolic proof is mighty and not weak, sustained by the power of God by which Christ lives though He was crucified through weakness.
The confidence belongs to an appeal for clear understanding of God's will and for the mind to be kept under God's control. It is joined to prayer to God that believers do no evil and do what is honest and that which is honest. That prayer for believers to do right stands even if the workers themselves appear disapproved. It is joined to doing nothing against the truth but for the truth. It is joined to gladness when ministers are weak if believers are strong, to wishing their perfection, and to using the power given by the Lord for edification and not for destruction.
For ministers, it calls them to be so related to God and His plans that they exalt the truth, make a success and triumph with the truth, and stand approved in God's sight. It calls them to do no evil and do what is honest, and to do nothing against the truth but for the truth. It calls them to sow no doubt, to show no unbelief in the testimonies, to shake no one's faith, and to work in harmony with brethren in the Spirit of Christ.
The verse expresses confident trust that the believers will recognize that Paul and his fellow workers and laborers are not reprobates. To be reprobate is to be rejected or found wanting in the test of faith, so that failure to show Christ within makes one a reprobate. This confidence follows the call for believers to examine and prove themselves whether they are in the faith and whether Christ is in them, with Christ within as the test. Those who so examine themselves will know that Christ speaks in Paul and that he is approved and not reprobate. His apostolic proof is mighty and not weak, sustained by the power of God by which Christ lives though He was crucified through weakness.
The confidence belongs to an appeal for clear understanding of God's will and for the mind to be kept under God's control. It is joined to prayer to God that believers do no evil and do what is honest and that which is honest. That prayer for believers to do right stands even if the workers themselves appear disapproved. It is joined to doing nothing against the truth but for the truth. It is joined to gladness when ministers are weak if believers are strong, to wishing their perfection, and to using the power given by the Lord for edification and not for destruction.
For ministers, it calls them to be so related to God and His plans that they exalt the truth, make a success and triumph with the truth, and stand approved in God's sight. It calls them to do no evil and do what is honest, and to do nothing against the truth but for the truth. It calls them to sow no doubt, to show no unbelief in the testimonies, to shake no one's faith, and to work in harmony with brethren in the Spirit of Christ.