Forgiveness is a Choice! - 2 Corinthians 2

 Forgiveness for the Offender

5 If 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. 6 The punishment inflicted on him by the majority is sufficient. 7 Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. 8 I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your love for him. 9 Another reason I wrote you was to see if you would stand the test and be obedient in everything. 10 Anyone you forgive, I also forgive. And what I have forgiven—if there was anything to forgive—I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake, 11 in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.

Do you ever have a problem with forgiving others who have hurt you?  I think if we were honest at one point we have struggled with forgiveness.  Our natural inclination is when we are hurt by someone is to want them to get their just punishment.  Even when they get what they deserve if the wound is deep enough, we can still struggle with forgiveness and are in need of inner healing. 

Paul addresses the issue of forgiveness in the Corinthian church.  Because he doesn't name the person mentioned in the passage, we don't know who it is.  The two options are for who it is are: 1. the man who was caught having an incestous affair, a situation Paul addresses in 1 Corinthians.  Backing this interpretation is that this account also uses the term "such a man".  2. It is another man, possibly one who was talking behind Paul's back calling him not a "true apostle".  But this is unlikely because Paul talks about the punishment which was inflicted on him, which he recommends in 1 Corinthians 5. Specifically he says in verse 4-5,

  4 So when you are assembled and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, 5 hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh,[a][b] so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord.

So while his recommendation may seem harsh in Paul's first letter, he has a much different tone in this one.  Since they had already confronted him in his sin, now the man needed grace.  Paul's desire for the man's salvation is greater than his deserving punishment for his sin.  Paul, being a man who had received unmerited grace even though as he says he was, "the chief of sinners", extends this same grace to the wayward man.  Paul is concerned that he might be overwhelmed by excessive sorry and guilt from his pubic sin, and he might fall away from Christ.  He states that this is Satan's goal to use this punishment to so weigh down the man by the burden of his sin that he might renounce his faith altogether.  Satan is known as the accuser and he works overtime to make his feel false guilt or overblown guilt. I.e. the guilt doesn't match the sin. 

Instead he encourage the man and re-affirm their love for him. In addition, if they have forgiven the man, he forgives him as well. After all Jesus taught in the Lord's prayer, "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who sin against us."  So we see here the tension between grace and truth.  The man who had committed this gross sin needed to be confronted in his immorality for the sake of the body of Christ and its witness to the world.  But when the man repented, he was to be welcomed back in the church with own arms.  Like the prodigal son, the congregation should throw a party and say, "Our son was lost and now he has been found!" 

Is there someone in your life you are having a hard time forgiving?  Have you spoken the truth in love to them how their actions hurt you?  Did they repent?  We can't control anyone else's actions, but we can control ours. We can choose to forgive based on the forgiveness we ourselves have received for a multitude of transgressions.  Forgiveness is a choice.  God will judge each person fairly and and declared us a righteous through faith in Christ not the righteous things we have done.  Ultimately when we forgive someone we are set free from anger and bitterness which can be a poison in our system!