2 Corinthians_2
Scripture
2 Corinthians 2: 5-11
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.
Observation-What does it say?
In this section of the letter from Paul to the Corinthian church, he is talking about “restoring a repentant offender.” (Reference: Matthew Henry’s Bible commentary (concise) on christianity.com)
Also, disclaimer, when I speak about the Church in this post, I’m speaking about the people, not the meeting place.
Understanding-What does it mean?
Repent and Forgive!
Every sin has a consequence. God gives us consequences so that we would learn and grow from our mistakes, not repeat them. He loves us that much! The Church has consequences too to preserve the purity and integrity of what we believe in and stand for in Christ. As a parent, I love my children, so they get consequences and disciplined for behavior that Moses and I do not approve of too, because they are holding the Gaddi name.
What I love about Paul’s letter, is that he highlights repentance as well, someone who is filled with Godly sorrow over worldly sorrow. Godly sorrow makes us take a 180 degree turn, like what Jesus told the woman caught in adultery to do after He forgave her. With repentant believers, we are called to forgive them of their actions and not continue punishing (or disciplining) them for their mistakes. A true repentant believer will already be beating themselves up over their bad decision, so we don’t need to add to that pain and drive them to “excessive sorrow” as Paul says. Instead, we must love, forgive, and comfort them.
Life Application
What repentant sin offender do we need to forgive? Or if we are the offender, have we repented?
As a person who grew up in the church and started attending since the womb, I will be the first to tell you that NO church is perfect. None. And if you feel that you can find a perfect church, you will just be bouncing around in that pursuit because the church is filled with fallen/imperfect people like ourselves.
This is why forgiveness is so important. We will be offended, we will be hurt and grieved by people’s sins, especially if they are against us, and we may even be blindsided by unexpected decisions; however, if our brother or sister is repentant, we must love them and forgive them as Christ loves and forgives us of our sins.
Enforcing extra punishment to repentant sinners is a scheme of Satan and is not the heart of Christ. Let us not fall for his schemes, but rather forgive others as many times as Christ has forgiven us (Ephesians 4:32).
-Michelle Gaddi