Never skip over a passage of Scripture no matter how unimportant you may assume it to be! Biblical benedictions are not mere religious wording, or space fillers, but are rich expressions full of profound Christian truth.

In today’s text, the apostle Paul concludes this very emotional epistle in which he opened his heart to these saints in Corinth. In his first epistle, he had been dealing with the grievous moral state of the Corinthians. This second epistle expresses Paul’s great sense of relief that these dear believers had indeed heeded him and had humbled themselves.

The remarkable feature of this benediction is that it is a trinitarian one. This simply means that the blessed Trinity is invoked in Paul’s closing blessing on the Corinthian saints. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit. How wonderful! It was the grace of the Lord Jesus which saved the Corinthians—and us. Paul had earlier said to them, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich” (2 Cor. 8:9). It emanated from the “love of God,” He gave heaven’s best for earth’s worst. As those born of the Spirit we can walk in fellowship, or communion, with Him on a daily basis.

When believers fall into sin, as had been the case among the Corinthians, are we happy to just “get rid of” the offender? Or do we rejoice at any sign of repentance? Evidently Paul did; his benediction was a heartfelt desire for them in this matter. May this attitude be ours as well! If so, then the grace, love, and communion of our God will be with us.