2 Corinthians 2

Intro:

We love stories about revenge

Princess bride

“Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father, prepare to die.”

Or The Count of Monte Cristo

We even at times have a hard tim processing acts of mercy and forgiveness

Jean Val Jean/ Javert

Here in , we have a wonderful example of what it means to forgive instead of pursuing personal vengeance.

Read 2:1-11

Background:

We are beginning to see the cost of loving those for Christ’s sake who treat you poorly from within the church. Corinthians had treated Paul poorly.

Reminder: Paul spent 18 months founding this church

Some interpretive challenges that we need to understand.

Three items to note from these verses:

“Another painful visit.” (v. 1)

we know Paul intended to have a prolonged stay with the Corinthians

1 Corinthians 16:5–7 ESV

I will visit you after passing through Macedonia, for I intend to pass through Macedonia, and perhaps I will stay with you or even spend the winter, so that you may help me on my journey, wherever I go. For I do not want to see you now just in passing. I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits.

1 Corinthians 16:

but it seems not to have happened as he envisioned

2 Corinthians 1:15–16 ESV

Because I was sure of this, I wanted to come to you first, so that you might have a second experience of grace. I wanted to visit you on my way to Macedonia, and to come back to you from Macedonia and have you send me on my way to Judea.

2 Corinthians

indeed, much of the first chapter of 2 Corinthians is Paul’s defense as to why that didn’t materialize

yet it seems from this text, and most commentators agree, that between 1st and 2nd Corinthians, Paul was at Corinth, and this visit was painful and likely brief—evidence from this letter suggests there was a bit of a theological mutiny against Paul’s ministry going on

this visit was so painful to Paul, that it was the stated reason why he did not follow through on his original travel plans (for which he is now being attacked)

2. “I wrote you as I did” (v. 2)

Three times in these eleven verses Paul references a letter

We are already familiar with three letters

Letter referenced in

1 Corinthians 5:9 ESV

I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people—

and then 1 Corinthians, as well as this book, what we call 2nd Corinthians, which is really 4th Corinthians

So, between 1st and 2nd Corinthians, Paul stops at Corinth, but it is not a pleasant visit. He writes them a letter, called by most commentators “the severe” letter

Imagine—the first letter Paul wrote to this church apparently told them to stop consorting with sexually immoral (:9)

1 Corinthians clarifies that they are the sexual immoral people, specifies the need for discipline of a man sleeping with his father’s wife, along with a laundry list of other dysfunctional aspects of their fellowship

And yet it is this third, unpreserved letter, that commentators style as the “severe” letter

3. “The Sinner” (v. 5-11)

it seems that some member of the Corinthians church— some commentators suggest the ringleader of the theological mutiny—had personally opposed Paul

But this opposition threatened the church more than it affected Paul —(note what Paul says in about “better to suffer wrong” than to litigate personal issues amongst yourselves)

Observations:

Paul’s love for the church was deep and sacrificial.

some of us delight in reproving each other—of having a sense of superiority in another’s failings

Paul reproves, not to be judgmental, but to confront sin.

His goal was their repentance

His hope was they might share in the joy of fellowship again

Paul wrote them “out of much affliction and anguish of heart and with many tears” (v. 4)

why? “not to cause you pain, but to let you know the abundant love that I have for you.” (v. 4b)

Is our “joy and sorrow” intimately connected to how we are in relation to other believers? Are we quick to judge and reprove without a genuine heart of love? Do we shed “many tears” over those headed down a destructive path?

The necessity of forgiveness

the response to Paul’s letters was apparently positive

Titus brought back a positive report, and chapter 7 has a lengthy discourse on the sincerity of the Corinthians repentance

they disciplined the one Paul told them to discipline

Paul now lays before them the necessity of forgiving the one whom they disciplined

although the attack was against Paul, it was really of greater harm to the whole body of believers

so for the sake of the body, Paul has already forgiven this man, and asks that the church do the same

Why? for the sake of restoring this one to fellowship, and frustrating Satan

“Paul’s aim in the exercise of discipline was not vengeance but correction; he did not aim to knock a man down, but to help him get up.” -William Barclay

Paul was also forgiving his man “for your sake” because he knew the church was shamed and humiliated for their disloyalty to Pual

2 Corinthians 7:6–7 ESV

But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus, and not only by his coming but also by the comfort with which he was comforted by you, as he told us of your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced still more.

Forgiveness frustrates the purposes of Satan within the church—but are you more likely to forgive, or to continue to press your case against someone who has wronged you? Do we realize the goal is reconciliation, not condemnation?