‘The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion (fellowship) of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.'
The letter comes to an end with this fullest of ascriptions, not paralleled in full elsewhere. As elsewhere in the Corinthian letters Paul brings together the three members of the Godhead (2 Corinthians 1:18-22; 1 Corinthians 6:11; 1 Corinthians 12:5-7). It is suggestive of the fact that this is deliberate in view of their divided state. Paul seek the overall activity of the Godhead in working among the Corinthians. It is not that Paul thinks that this will be more effective, but that he hopes that it will more fully impress the Corinthians.
We note that ‘the Lord Jesus Christ' comes first. This is not because of priority but because He is the personal Saviour. The whole of the letter from the beginning has concerned salvation and deliverance in Christ (2Co 1:5-6; 2 Corinthians 1:10; 2 Corinthians 2:14-16; 2 Corinthians 4:11; 2 Corinthians 5:14-21; 2 Corinthians 10:5; 2 Corinthians 11:2; 2 Corinthians 13:5). For the titles and their order contrast 2 Corinthians 1:2 and see on that verse for the significance of all three titles of Christ. Thus his concern is that the saving, unmerited, active love of Christ be always with the Corinthians, bringing about their true salvation. This will necessarily produce grace within their own hearts.
‘The love of God', coming from the God of love (2 Corinthians 13:11). As John puts it, ‘we love because He first loved us' (1 John 4:19). Thus does Paul desire that God's active love be revealed towards them, resulting in their themselves being infused with it.
‘And the communion (fellowship) of the Holy Spirit.' In line with the previous two phrases this would primarily mean that he wishes the Holy Spirit's ‘sharing in common' with Christians to be with them, as He comes to them as their Helper and Encourager, that is that they might know His active work in them in true oneness with Him, bringing about love, spiritual awareness, and unity among them as they are His one Temple (2 Corinthians 6:16).
But as with the other phrases there is probably the twofold meaning so that we can also see it as referring the unity between believers that the indwelling of the Holy Spirit brings about.
We will close with the question that must affect us all. What did happen when Paul arrived in Corinth? We can never, of course, be sure but there are grounds for thinking that it was not too stressful.
For example Paul wrote Romans during his three months stay in Corinth (Acts 20:2-3,56-57 AD), and in it there is no indication that there were problems in Corinth that he could not cope with. Moreover he did proceed with his plans to evangelise unreached areas, which he would surely not have done if the Corinthian church still required his in depth attention (compare 2 Corinthians 10:14-16).
Paul also wrote to the Romans that the Corinthians “were pleased” to complete their collection for the Jerusalem saints (Romans 15:26-27). And finally the Corinthian church's preservation of 2 Corinthians argues may argue for this church's acquiescence to Paul's admonitions and warnings. It would hardly have been preserved by the false teachers.
These are not certainties, for there could be other explanations. He may have kept to himself the struggles he was having, although that is not like Paul elsewhere. His further outreach might have resulted from his despairing of Corinth, but then we might have expected him to mention this in other letters, and ask for prayer for the loyal members who were suffering adversity. His reference to the Corinthian contribution is a fairly strong evidence, for he had no need to mention it if it had been done by them separately from him. But it is always possible that Paul was making the best of a bad job. And the preserving of his letter may have been by a loyal member of a disloyal church.
It is rather the fact that there is no hint anywhere of catastrophe at Corinth that can give us the most hope, but that the Corinthian church continued to be difficult, probably mainly arising from the background and environment of its members, comes out in that later in the century Clement of Rome could write of their quarrelsome behaviour. They had a reputation for dissension.