2 Corinthians 2
Daily Bread 2 Corinthians 2
2 Corinthians 2
1So I made up my mind that I would not make another painful visit to you. 2For if I grieve you, who is left to make me glad but you whom I have grieved? 3I wrote as I did so that when I came I should not be distressed by those who ought to make me rejoice. I had confidence in all of you, that you would all share my joy. 4For I wrote you out of great distress and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to grieve you but to let you know the depth of my love for you.
Forgiveness for the Sinner
5If anyone has caused grief, he has not so much grieved me as he has grieved all of you, to some extent—not to put it too severely. 6The punishment inflicted on him by the majority is sufficient for him. 7Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. 8I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your love for him. 9The reason I wrote you was to see if you would stand the test and be obedient in everything. 10If you forgive anyone, I also forgive him. And what I have forgiven—if there was anything to forgive—I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake, 11in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.
Observation:
In this second letter to the Corinthians (or really 4th?), Paul continues to address some of the internal issues in this young church. Because he has started this church, he feels an obligation to continue to provide spiritual oversight to the church. Paul describes the anguish he has over these issues that reduced him to tears. Ie. He cares a lot about this church and its spiritual health, just like one might feel about their own family.
Paul then describes a process of discipline, in which the goal is to restore the person who has strayed significantly and immorally back into the fellowship of grace and a right relationship with God. Yes, there was punishment for the behavior, but Paul also warned about not having excessive punishment and always returning to a principle of forgiveness. Paul warns that Satan can be involved in either too little punishment (leniency) or too much (legalism).
These are tough calls and it is hard for Paul to mitigate them from afar, yet he does the best he can. Ultimately as spiritual leaders confront sin in their congregations, the ruling principle is faith acting in love and forgiveness, but not compromising the truth.
Application:
Often in the church we fail to carry out discipline in this manner, because we don’t want to offend someone, or else we reason, “Well we are all sinners so what does it matter?” The problem is that is not the “truly loving” thing to do. To allow a person to go on in a habitual sinful lifestyle opposed to God’s teaching, is not the kind of love Jesus portrayed.
But of course the catch is that we are all sinners, so such decisions need to be made carefully and humbly. It takes a truly spiritually mature person to exercise such judgment with the same grace they too have been forgiven with. But the flipside is that if sin is never confronted then the viability of the Christian witness is severely tarnished, for those outside the body of Christ might say, “Well they are no different than we are so what’s the point!’
Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that all of us won’t struggle with our sinful natures until we die, but as believers we have been called out of the darkness and into the light. We are called to put aside the deeds of darkness and walk in the light of Christ. We are warned to repent from habitual sins like sexual immorality, which are improper for God’s holy people.
But in all this we are to operate in love and grace, realizing if not for the grace of God there go I. That is why ultimately any kind confronting must be done in love and seasoned with grace. In this way we can have a heart like Paul’s for this community Jesus died for.
Prayer: God help us to live a life worthy of our calling. May our faith communities be places where people are encouraged to walk in your grace and when necessary confront behaviors and lifestyles that don’t glorify Your Holy Name. Give us the balance of grace and truth that you walked so perfectly with and which we can only achieve by the power of Your Spirit, in Jesus’ name, Amen.
2 Corinthians 2
1So I made up my mind that I would not make another painful visit to you. 2For if I grieve you, who is left to make me glad but you whom I have grieved? 3I wrote as I did so that when I came I should not be distressed by those who ought to make me rejoice. I had confidence in all of you, that you would all share my joy. 4For I wrote you out of great distress and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to grieve you but to let you know the depth of my love for you.
Forgiveness for the Sinner
5If anyone has caused grief, he has not so much grieved me as he has grieved all of you, to some extent—not to put it too severely. 6The punishment inflicted on him by the majority is sufficient for him. 7Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. 8I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your love for him. 9The reason I wrote you was to see if you would stand the test and be obedient in everything. 10If you forgive anyone, I also forgive him. And what I have forgiven—if there was anything to forgive—I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake, 11in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.
Observation:
In this second letter to the Corinthians (or really 4th?), Paul continues to address some of the internal issues in this young church. Because he has started this church, he feels an obligation to continue to provide spiritual oversight to the church. Paul describes the anguish he has over these issues that reduced him to tears. Ie. He cares a lot about this church and its spiritual health, just like one might feel about their own family.
Paul then describes a process of discipline, in which the goal is to restore the person who has strayed significantly and immorally back into the fellowship of grace and a right relationship with God. Yes, there was punishment for the behavior, but Paul also warned about not having excessive punishment and always returning to a principle of forgiveness. Paul warns that Satan can be involved in either too little punishment (leniency) or too much (legalism).
These are tough calls and it is hard for Paul to mitigate them from afar, yet he does the best he can. Ultimately as spiritual leaders confront sin in their congregations, the ruling principle is faith acting in love and forgiveness, but not compromising the truth.
Application:
Often in the church we fail to carry out discipline in this manner, because we don’t want to offend someone, or else we reason, “Well we are all sinners so what does it matter?” The problem is that is not the “truly loving” thing to do. To allow a person to go on in a habitual sinful lifestyle opposed to God’s teaching, is not the kind of love Jesus portrayed.
But of course the catch is that we are all sinners, so such decisions need to be made carefully and humbly. It takes a truly spiritually mature person to exercise such judgment with the same grace they too have been forgiven with. But the flipside is that if sin is never confronted then the viability of the Christian witness is severely tarnished, for those outside the body of Christ might say, “Well they are no different than we are so what’s the point!’
Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that all of us won’t struggle with our sinful natures until we die, but as believers we have been called out of the darkness and into the light. We are called to put aside the deeds of darkness and walk in the light of Christ. We are warned to repent from habitual sins like sexual immorality, which are improper for God’s holy people.
But in all this we are to operate in love and grace, realizing if not for the grace of God there go I. That is why ultimately any kind confronting must be done in love and seasoned with grace. In this way we can have a heart like Paul’s for this community Jesus died for.
Prayer: God help us to live a life worthy of our calling. May our faith communities be places where people are encouraged to walk in your grace and when necessary confront behaviors and lifestyles that don’t glorify Your Holy Name. Give us the balance of grace and truth that you walked so perfectly with and which we can only achieve by the power of Your Spirit, in Jesus’ name, Amen.
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