Do You Pass the Test?

What Paul says about himself in 2 Corinthians 13:6 is, to me, one of the most shocking statements in the New Testament.  He expresses his hope that the believers in Corinth will realize that he does not fail the test of the previous verse.  Could there be any doubt that Paul was saved?  Yet he phrases his assertion of confidence as if there might be some question of it.  This great apostle hopes they will realize that he passes the test.  There is no swaggering or boasting in his statement.  Modern Christians are often instructed to take salvation for granted after they have “prayed the prayer.”  They therefore don’t question its reality and rarely, if ever, take the command in 2 Corinthians 13:5 to heart.  Paul wasn’t playing a game.  While he knew for certain he would get to heaven, and expressed that in the most glowing statements of assurance found in the Bible, still the danger of possible failure never left him.  I think evangelicalism desperately needs to recapture this kind of “on guard” humility.