2 Corinthians 2:5-11

Someone in the congregation at Corinth who had done wrong is now to be forgiven. There are still some scholars who think that the person here referred to is the same as the wrong-doer of 1 Corinthians 5:1, the man who had taken his father's widow (?) to wife. But Paul had solemnly adjured the Corinthian church to deliver such a one to Satan (1 Corinthians 5:5 *, p. 649), evidently expecting that his death would follow. And whether or not the church had carried out his command, it is hardly credible that he would refer to the same case as he does here, saying that the punishment has been sufficient, pleading for the offender's being pardoned, emphasizing the fact that he, the apostle, has already forgiven him. Everything points, on the other hand, to a different offender and a different kind of offence. In this case it was Paul himself who had suffered injury, probably in the form of an outrageous slander or insult. This may have taken place on the occasion of his second visit, or it may have occurred in his absence, possibly in the presence of Timothy: but what made it peculiarly galling was that the congregation had, at first at least, failed to resent the attack on Paul. It had sympathised rather with the offender. Now, however, in consequence of Paul's written remonstrance and Titus-' visit, they had been brought to a better mind. They, or at least the majority of them, had passed severe censure on the offender, Probably they had excluded him from their fellowship. Paul now pleads for him. It is true the injury he did affected not only the apostle, but in some degree the congregation also. But Paul does not wish to press that. He urges them to forgive the offender, even by an official act to reinstate him in their fellowship, cancelling the excommunication (2 Corinthians 2:8). The purpose of his previous letter had been, in part at least, to test their loyalty to himself. And so far as he had suffered personal insult if indeed that were worth thinking of he was only too willing that his forgiveness should accompany theirs. A continuance of the unhappy situation would only expose God's work at Corinth to further attacks of the Evil One acting through Judaizing mischief-makers.