PARENTHOOD
a divine stewardship

"Test yourselves whether you are in the faith; prove yourselves" (2 Corinthians 13:5). This verse, even more than the first, does not tell us to examine our inward condition. This portion indicates something specific. At that time in Corinth, there were many who slandered Paul by saying that Paul was not an apostle. Therefore Paul asked them, "Examine yourselves, whether you have faith or not. If you have faith, then that is the proof of my being an apostle. If God had not called me to be the apostle to the Gentiles, then how could you be saved? God called me to preach the gospel to you, Corinthians. Your salvation proves that I am a true apostle. If you have no faith, then I am a false apostle." The self-examination mentioned here is not a self-examination during our pursuit of holiness. Rather, it is a particular case of a particular condition existing in Corinth—a self-examination of whether or not there was faith.

In the Old Testament in the Chinese Bible, there is at least one more place which mentions examining oneself. "Examine your ways" (Haggai 1:5, 7 KJV). First, please take notice that it does not say that you must consider yourselves; rather, it says that you must examine your ways. This is outward. Second, the word examine in the original language means "to consider." It says that you must consider your outward behavior. It does not say that you should examine your inward condition.

When we read the context of the three portions mentioned above, we should realize that they are not talking about introspection. Rather, they talk about the examination of a particular matter. Therefore, we have the confidence to conclude that the Bible does not teach Christians to examine themselves.

2. Can Self-examination Enable Us to Know Ourselves?

Even if we examine ourselves, our experience tells us that we still cannot know ourselves. Let us see what the Bible says about us.

Jeremiah 17:9 says: "The heart is deceitful above all things / And it is incurable; / Who can know it?" Since our heart is deceitful, our self-examination will not be reliable. Because we are using a deceitful heart to examine ourselves, we cannot avoid being deceived by this deceitful heart. Perhaps you are wrong, but your heart may tell you that you are not wrong. Or perhaps you are not wrong, but because of some weaknesses, your heart may tell you that you are wrong. If the heart were proper, then it could be used as a standard; but, since the heart is deceitful, how can it be used as a standard? If you use an inaccurate standard to examine yourself, surely it will be hard for you not to be deceived....

We have to know that the structure of our inward psychological parts is complex. Our desire, thought, feeling, and other manifestations of our heart are very complex. We cannot clearly analyze how they influence and interact one with the other. In such a complicated condition, even though we can examine ourselves, self-examination will never give us accurate self-knowledge....Many times concerning a certain matter we lose the proper view and do not have the accurate knowledge regarding our own intentions because there is a little hidden sin, wrong thought, or little prejudice inside us or because of our disposition by birth and innumerable other little causes. Any knowledge which we derive from ourselves is inaccurate because it is so complicated and untrustworthy....

Psalm 19:12 asks, "Who can discern his errors?" No one can know. We cannot know for sure our errors by ourselves.

3. Is Self-examination Profitable?

Not only is there no teaching in the Bible concerning self-examination and not only do our experiences tell us that we are incapable of examining ourselves, but also there is even great harm to our spiritual living if we examine ourselves. Self-examination will produce two kinds of results: either self-contentment or discouragement. When someone feels that he is quite good after self-examination, he becomes self-contented; when one feels that he is wrong after self-examination, he is discouraged.

Hebrews 12:2 says: "Looking away unto Jesus ...." In the original language between looking and Jesus there are some small words. We must translate it as "Looking away-unto Jesus." This means in order for you to look unto, you must first look away. You must first look away from what you should not be looking at; then you can look unto what you should....Our spiritual living is based upon looking unto Jesus and not on turning back to ourselves. If we do not obey the command of the Bible to look unto Jesus but instead turn to look inside ourselves, we will suffer much spiritually. I have already said before that introspection—ourselves analyzing ourselves and our own feeling, intention, and thought—is most harmful. Griffith Thomas said, "There is now a common saying that if you look at yourself once, you must then look at Christ ten times. But I think this must be changed to look at Christ eleven times and do not look at yourself even once."...

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