Last updated on November 25, 2024
Today and tomorrow we’ll be looking at Paul’s second letter to the Corinthian church. As I mentioned a few days ago, there are several letters between Paul and this church. There’s a first letter from Paul, which has been lost. Then the church wrote him a letter with questions. Then he wrote a letter in response, which we know as 1 Corinthians.
Some apparently pushed back against Paul in their next letter, which is when Paul wrote his “painful” letter (2 Corinthians 2:4), which has also been lost. Then there was silence. Paul was grieved over the situation in Corinth. He loved these people. He had spent 18 months with them.
When Paul arrives in Macedonia, he finds Titus, who had gone to Corinth to deliver the painful letter. Paul breathes a sign of relief when Titus tells him that the church received his letter with humility and repentance. Paul is overjoyed and, since he’s unable to see them in person, writes one final letter. We know this one as 2 Corinthians.
In 1 Corinthians Paul had reprimanded the church for their tolerance of sin. There was a man in the congregation who had been sleeping with his father’s wife. It was completely out in the open. Not only was no one telling this guy that he was wrong, but they were actually proud of the “freedom” that was so evident in their congregation. Paul told them in the letter that they must do better. It’s very possible that their push back was over this situation.
They have apparently now listened to Paul, but he now feels that they’ve gone a little overboard with their punishment. He addresses this in chapter 2. He says that the punishment is sufficient. Who knows what the punishment was, but it sounds like he’s been shunned. Paul says that they now need to take a different approach. Now, they “ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed with excessive sorrow” (2 Corinthians 2:7). He tells them that its now time to reaffirm their love for him.
I find it interesting that the repentance/rethinking took place in the community before it took place in the individual. The community had been celebrating this guy’s “freedom”, even though it wasn’t truly freedom that he was experiencing. Paul wasn’t happy with how this guy was behaving, but he was more troubled by the community’s response. He spoke truth to them. Their tolerance and celebration were not leading to wholeness for this person. And it would have an impact on the community as a whole. That’s why he had used Jesus’ analogy of yeast and dough (1 Corinthians 5:6).
But now the community had listened to Paul. They had been firm with their friend. And their friend had responded. The community responded properly, and now so had he. They had gone a little too far, though, and now Paul was there to help them take the next step. He reminded them that this man needed to experience comfort and forgiveness. He knew that what he had done was wrong. If he continued to be shunned, excessive sorrow would be the result, and that’s a difficult thing to come back from.
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