Here are some questions based on last Sunday’s sermon text (2 Corinthians 13:11-14), in case they’re helpful to you for personal growth or group discussion…

• [11] Paul calls the Corinthian believers “brothers,” even though many in that church hadn’t treated one another—or him—as brothers ought to be treated. In the church, we are brothers (and sisters) in spite of our many differences, even in spite of our failure to love, because of Jesus (see Ephesians 2:11-22). What are some reasons you do not deserve to be called “brother” or “sister” by those in the church? What are some reasons why it is difficult for you to think of others in the church as brothers or sisters? How does it change your attitude toward other specific believers, knowing that, in the church and by God’s grace, we are a new family?

• The five brief commandments in v. 11 are facets and features of the love we ought to show each other in the church as the people of “the God of love and peace.” How can each of these features of love be difficult for you? Have you noticed any of these in the ways your brothers and sisters in the church have treated each other? How do you feel about your brothers and sisters in the Lord when they fail to demonstrate these features of love? Do you respond to them with love? Are you more or less lenient about your own failings?

• [12-13] “Greet one another with a holy kiss.” (See also Romans 16:16; 1 Corinthians 16:20; 1 Thessalonians 5:26.) This might be a cultural practice that we aren’t bound to keep, literally speaking. But it is a good embodiment of the vulnerability, intimacy, and affection we should demonstrate to each other as brothers and sisters in the church. Survey question: would you be opposed to adding this as an element of worship? Why or why not? Questions of contagions aside, can you imagine being humble enough and forgiving enough to warmly greet all your brothers and sisters this way?

• [14] God is Triune, three-in-one and one-in-three, the Trinity. “God is love” (1 John 4:8, 16). The way of his being is love. Essential to his nature is the communion of persons. This is foundational to our understanding of God and reality, and everything about the Christian spiritual life can be traced back to the Trinity. How is this God different from “other gods” you can think of? Do you delight in the Tri-unity of God, even though you may not be able to understand him completely? Or has the Trinity been so confusing to you that you’ve pushed it from your thoughts, relegating it to a relatively unimportant place in your spiritual life?

• The Triune God’s love is gracious, which means that, in Christ, he even brings sinners like us into a full participation of his life and love. Paul blesses a messy church in the name of the Triune God of love and peace. We might have big problems and conflicts in our churches, but we are still the people of the Trinity through faith in Jesus Christ. God defines us more than we define ourselves. How does the knowledge of the Triune God help you to think about the church? about specific brothers and sisters in the church? about the ways in which the church, as the people of the Trinity, are unique from the world (even though we still often act like those who don’t know the Trinity)?