2 Corinthians 2:1-11 Click here for Bible Verses
Hi GAMErs,
Today’s passage is 2 Corinthians 2:1-11. Let’s go!
2 Corinthians 2:1-11 (NIV)
1 So I made up my mind that I would not make another painful visit to you.
2 For if I grieve you, who is left to make me glad but you whom I have grieved?
3 I 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.
4 For 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.
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 for him.
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 The reason I wrote you was to see if you would stand the test and be obedient in everything.
10 If 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,
11 in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.
On verses 1-11: It appears that there were two incidents that caused evident tension in the relationship between Paul and the church in Corinth. The first incident Paul mentions was his most recent visit to the church in Corinth, a visit which Paul described as “painful” (v1). It was painful probably because Paul seriously reprimanded people in the church for not resolving certain problems that he had warned them about before, or because someone in the church publicly criticized and tried to embarrass Paul to his face, or both.
The second incident was a letter Paul wrote “out of great distress and anguish of heart and with many tears” (v4), a letter in which Paul poured out his heart for the church, expressed his distress about the direction they were moving in (v3) and likely rebuked the church as well. Paul’s goal in writing that letter was “not to grieve you but to let you know the depth of my love for you” (v4) and “to see if you would stand the test and be obedient in everything” (v9). This letter caused a minority in the church – in fact, probably just one person – to behave extremely immaturely and start bashing Paul.
The majority of people in the church in Corinth did not agree with the way that this very critical minority were treating Paul and felt bad for Paul. Given the way Paul had been treated, the church as a whole may have feared that this was the end of their relationship with him.
Paul tells the church not to worry about how that hyper critical person has affected him, and how that person “has not so much grieved me as he has grieved all of you” (v5). Paul tells them that “the punishment inflicted on him by the majority” – i.e. the way the majority in the church stood up for Paul, rebuked this hyper critical person and possibly removed him from their meetings – is enough and that now instead they “ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow” (v7). In other words, Paul is reaching out not only to the entire church in Corinth, but also to that one individual who had acted immaturely and hypercritically toward him. Paul tells the church to “reaffirm your love for him” (v8) and essentially to extend forgiveness to that person, saying that “if you forgive anyone, I also forgive him” (v10). Paul’s reason for extending such grace and forgiveness toward that person is not just out of love for the church in Corinth and for that person who hurt him, but even more “in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes” (v11) – in other words, so that bitterness would not take root in the relationship between Paul and the church as a whole, between the church and that person who acted immaturely, and between Paul and that person who acted immaturely.
What can we learn from all this?
1. Paul here is evidently taking the higher road. Paul was the one who had been hurt and embarrassed by someone in the church in Corinth, but Paul chooses to extend grace to that person and asks that the rest of the church do the same. How we respond to those who hurt us is a measure of our maturity.
2. When we hold onto bitterness and resentment instead of extending forgiveness to those who hurt us, we give Satan an opportunity to wreak havoc in our lives and in our relationships. If someone has hurt you badly, you need to forgive them and move on in love in Jesus’ name, so that bitterness and resentment do not poison your heart and your relationships. Praise God that we will never have to forgive anyone more than God has already forgiven us.
Heavenly Father, when someone hurts me, help me to respond in a mature way, to not deny the hurt, but to bring the hurt to You, and by Your power to extend forgiveness and grace to that person so that my heart and my relationships would not be poisoned by bitterness. Thank You. In Jesus’ name, AMEN!
