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? 2 Corinthians 13:5
When I applied for admission to a Java programming course, the school informed me that I would have to pass an aptitude test before being accepted. I would require a pass mark of 50 percent, and, although the average university student obtained a mark of only 17 on this particular test, I managed to score a 63. The test proved that I had the aptitude required. It also proved that most of those who wrote the test were ‘reprobates’. The meaning for the word translated as reprobate in our text is someone who fails the test. Paul tells us we need to do a personal check to make sure we are not reprobates. This is extremely important, because the stakes are so high!
I know many Java developers who do not have their certification, and yet they are still working as Java developers. Presumably, they do a good job, I know many who do it better than those of us who are certified. For them, and for many others in the programming field, it’s not so important to pass the test. But to fail the test of being a Christian is tragic. We all know that calling oneself a Christian does not guarantee eternal life. Many people will tell us that they are Christians, but they fail the test. The Gospel is a foreign language to them; they are depending on their church membership or their sterling character or their kind and generous deeds to qualify. They fail the test. It doesn’t do any of us any harm to frequently examine ourselves, just to be sure that we pass the test.
It’s a simple test. It’s a free test, too, from our perspective, although not from God’s perspective. It’s a world-dividing test that either confirms or condemns. The test – according to our text – is simply this, is Jesus Christ in you? That’s all there is to it, no catechism, no seminary, no ordinance, no earthly membership, no ritual, no anything other than the presence of Jesus Christ within us. That’s why it is so important to preach the Gospel and to preach it clearly. Only by the new birth, by the admission of Jesus Christ, can we escape the fate of the reprobate and enter the joy of the redeemed.
We were all at one time reprobates. Let us rejoice today that the Lord Jesus dwells within, that we have passed the test. And let us tell the good news to others. -Jim MacIntosh