“Finally, brothers, rejoice, aim for restoration, comfort one another, agree with one another, live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you.”
– 2 Corinthians 13:11
What an exhortation to close the book of 2 Corinthians. You read through this book and you see Paul’s heart on every page and every verse. He’s encouraging the church at Corinth. He’s at times acknowledging how he’s been hurt in association with the church at Corinth, how he’s been slandered, how he’s been dishonored, how he’s been struck down in different ways. And yet to hear him get to the end of this letter to these brothers and sisters in Christ and say, “finally, rejoice.” In this fallen world where slander and dishonor and being struck down is a reality, rejoice and aim for restoration, work to be restored to each other, comfort one another. What a great command.
2 Corinthians 13:11
Look at every other brother and sister in Christ around you and think, “How can I comfort them? How can I agree with them?” Knowing, and we see this all over different letters that Paul writes, I think about Romans 14 and 15 where he talks about disagreements in the church, where people have differences of conviction in the church. And yet he pleads for them to agree in the Lord.
Agree on what matters most, in Jesus, in the gospel. We see the same thing in Philippians 4. Here he’s saying agree with one another on what matters most and live in peace. Just like he said at the end of Romans, as far as it depends on you live peaceably with all, and the God of love and peace will be with you.
We’re looking around the world right now and praying in light of war in Ukraine, the whole picture with Russia and Ukraine and surrounding countries, and every country in the world and so many other countries in the world involved in that. And don’t we all long for peace? And we should pray for that. I want to lead us to pray for that now. And at the same time only look around us in the church. That’s what 2 Corinthians 13 is talking about.
2 Corinthians 13:11
And we see strife and we see contention and we see disagreement and we see division and we see slander and dishonor and people being struck down. May we heed God’s word to us in 2 Corinthians, 13:11, and pray accordingly. God, we pray for peace in Ukraine. God, we pray for an end to war and violence there. Only You can bring this about ultimately in this world and temporarily in this world.
So God, we pray. We pray for Your calm and grace, for Your mercy. We pray for our brothers and sisters in that part of the world, in Ukraine, in Russia, in other countries around there. God, we pray for the strength of your church, for the purity of Your church, for the love of Your church, to shine through during these days. God, we pray for Your mercy on every single person made in your image in the middle of this.
And then, oh God, we look at Your church, at battles that we’ve seen play out in all kinds of different ways, in local churches, between Christians and different churches. God, we pray for restoration. God, we pray that You would help us to comfort each other, that You would help us to agree with each other in the Lord, and what matters most, in the gospel and the authority of Your word and the beauty of Your love for us as sons and daughters, that You would help us to live in peace.
2 Corinthians 13:11
And then in all of this, we would experience what it means for You, the God of love and peace to be with us. Oh God, in this fallen world. With all the different challenges we face in it. Within ourselves and our close relationships and relationships with people who are farther from us.
God, we pray for grace to rejoice in the middle of it all knowing that one day. Jesus, you’re coming back and You will restore all who trusted in You. To the Father perfectly, that we will experience your comfort forever. That we will experience unity, unhindered unity with each other, and peace. That Your peace and justice and righteousness will reign on the Earth. That You the God of love and peace will be with us. We will be with You. Come Lord Jesus, come quickly. And help us we pray to live according to Your word here in 2 Corinthians 13:11 to us until that day. In Jesus name, amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
