13:11 In closing (“Finally . . .”) Paul lists five exhortations. These are not throwaway remarks, niceties now that he has said what he really wants to say. On the contrary, these exhortations are particularly worth hearing as they represent a summary of all that Paul has said throughout the letter. He is gathering up the message of the epistle as a whole.

Most of the five exhortations are a single Greek word (the only exception being “agree with one another”). The first, “rejoice,” is not unexpected for anyone who has read Paul’s letters. He is the apostle of joy. Never an advocate of glib, superficial cheeriness in mere circumstance, Paul pursued a central aim of leading his readers into the green pastures and still waters of joy in God himself. When the American pastor Jonathan Edwards was getting fired from his church for reasons of unjust pettiness on the part of some in the church, another pastor observed: “I never saw the least symptoms of displeasure in his countenance the whole week, but he appeared like a man of God, whose happiness was out of the reach of his enemies, and whose treasure was not only a future but a present good, overbalancing all imaginable ills of life.”84 This is the kind of invincible rejoicing Paul is ever commending.

The second exhortation is “aim for restoration.” The word used here (Gk. katartizō) is the verb form of the noun “restoration” in verse 9. Paul is speaking of something broken that is being put back together. Such restorative work is difficult, but this is where the gospel takes us, compelling us to lay down all the scorekeeping and resentments preventing such restoration.

The third exhortation is to “comfort one another.” Paul uses the verb parakaleō for the eighteenth and final time in this letter. The need for comfort implies pain, and this has clearly been the case in this dysfunctional church infiltrated by false teachers. So Paul calls them to console one another. Fourth, “agree with one another.” Paul of course cannot mean this in an absolute way; he himself had a “sharp disagreement” with Barnabas (Acts 15:39). He means they must pursue an impulse toward harmony, a desire for unity, a stepping toward one another in peaceableness, a culture of mutual deferentiality. Flowing naturally from this is the fifth exhortation: “live in peace.” They are to strangle the natural rising animosities toward others, even other believers, that so easily bubble up from within.

The final phrase of the verse—“and the God of love and peace will be with you”—is not meant to be contingent on the fulfillment of Paul’s exhortations, as if the Corinthians have to earn God’s love and peace. Rather, Paul means that as the Corinthians move by grace into the beautiful harmony outlined in these five exhortations, they will naturally experience the kiss of heaven. Horizontal love facilitates an experience of vertical love.

13:12–13 A sixth exhortation comes in verse 12: “Greet one another with a holy kiss.” This was a warm brotherly form of greeting in the first century, as is the case in some cultures to this day. The Corinthians were tempted to hold one another at arm’s length. Paul does not legitimize such coolness, despite how righteous it often feels. He sends the Corinthians in to embrace one another. The Bible’s vision of Christian relationships is both sacred and earthy. Paul commends a greeting that is “holy”—pure, spiritual, reflecting the perfection of God himself—but also a “kiss”—affectionate, involving touch, reflecting our nature as embodied beings.

Not only are the Corinthians to greet each other, but Paul also gives greetings from “all the saints” (v. 13). We cannot know exactly whom Paul has in mind, whether a smaller circle of believers he is presently with as he writes, the whole body of Christ worldwide, or something in between. Most likely, given his trans-Mediterranean travels around the time of writing, he has the whole church in mind, bringing greetings from the global body as a reflection of the harmony and unity he has just been exhorting.

13:14 This closing benediction, clearly Trinitarian in nature, is the note left ringing in the ears of the Corinthians as Paul signs off. He has said some hard things to them in the course of this letter. Indeed, the lofty calmness of this closing blessing stands in somewhat jarring contrast to the tumultuous volatility at several points in the letter. One might even have wondered at certain points if Paul had had enough of them and was giving up on them. But he makes clear at certain junctures that even his hard words have been out of a concern for their spiritual welfare. That Paul longs for the Corinthians to be lifted up into joy and love and not beaten down into guilt or discouragement is clear one final time as Paul leaves them with one of the richest blessings to be found in the Bible.

The Puritan John Owen famously wrote on how believers can commune distinctly with each person of the Trinity.85 He argued that we commune with God the Son primarily through grace, with God the Father primarily through love, and with God the Holy Spirit primarily through comfort. Owen’s book is the rich exposition that this verse deserves, mapping on cleanly to Paul’s categories here. There is one God in three persons, and these three persons are to be engaged in distinct ways: the Son by enjoying the lavish grace he loves to pour out on needy sinners and sufferers by virtue of his perfect life, atoning death, and triumphant resurrection; the Father by receiving the ocean of love that naturally flows from his deepest heart to those he has endearingly chosen; the Spirit by entering into the communion of the triune Godhead itself through the Spirit who now indwells us.

And this enchanting and entrancing reality of communing with the triune God is not for the spiritually elite. It is for “you all.” Every poor Christian, however weak and needy—indeed, in light of the message of 2 Corinthians, especially the weak and needy—is warmly welcomed into these divine embraces.