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 repro- bates ?
There are two links of association between tins verse ana what precedes. They had been trpng the apostle, seeking proof of Christ speaking in him. He tells them they had bet- ter examine themselves and see whether Christ was in them. Hence the antithesis between €avTov<; (yourselves) placed be- fore the verb for the sake of emphasis, and 8oKt/xr)v ^T^rctre (ye seek a proof, &g.) of v. 3. * Ye would prove me — prove your- selves.' Another idea, however, and perhaps a more important one is this, ' Ye seek a proof of Christ speaking in me, seek it in yourselves. Know ye not that Christ is in you (unless you be reprobates), and if he is in you, if you are really members of his body, ye will know that he is in me.' The passage in this view is analogous to those in which the apostle appeals to the people as seals of his ministry, 1 Cor. 9, 1, and as his let- ters of commendation, 3, 2. To examine and to 2^fove mean the same thing. Both express the idea of trying or putting to the test to ascertain the nature or character of the person or thing tried. Whether ye be in the faith, that is, whether you really have faith, or are Christians only in name. This exhortation to self-examination supposes, on the one hand, that faith is self-manifesting, that it reveals itself in the con- sciousness and by its fruits ; and, on the other hand, that it may exist and be genuine and yet not be knoT\Ti as true faith by the believer himself. Only what is doubtful needs to be determined by examination. The fact, therefore, that we are commanded to examine ourselves to see whether we are in the faith, proves that a true believer may doubt of his good estate. In other words, it proves that assurance is not essen- tial to faith. Calvin, in his antagonism to the Romish doc- trine that assurance is unattainable in this life, and that all claims to it are unscriptural and fanatical, draws the directly opposite conclusion from this passage. Hie locus, he says, valet ad probandam fidei certitudinem, quam nobis Sorbonici sophistse labefactarunt, imo penitus extermiuarunt exhominum animis: temeritatis damnant, quotquot persuasi sunt se esse Christ! membra, et ilium habere in se manentem ; nam morali quam vocant, conjectura, hoc est, sola opinioue contentos esse