2 Corinthians 7:5-16

Agonising Anxiety has been Cancelled by Abundant Joy. The cause of his anxiety had been in part the condition of affairs in the church at Corinth, but even more the measures he had taken to deal with it, followed by torturing doubt as to how these would be received by the Corinthians. Someone had behaved outrageously. Someone had been outraged. There can be no doubt that it was Paul who had suffered, though whether he was personally present or what was the nature of the outrage we cannot tell. What made it serious was that the Corinthians had not repudiated the insult to their friend. Stung by their fickleness, and moved by fear lest they should fall away altogether from himself and the gospel, Paul had written a letter so severe that from the moment he despatched it, probably by the hand of Titus, he was torn with anxiety lest it should have the very opposite effect to what he desired. When he had met Titus in Macedonia, it was to hear news so unexpectedly good that he was lost in thankfulness and joy. They had repented. They had inflicted punishment (2 Corinthians 2:6) on the offender. They had shown by their treatment of Titus both the genuineness of their repentance and their loyal affection for the apostle. All this Paul rehearses with almost breathless thankfulness, and explains (2 Corinthians 7:12) that the deepest consequences (and so, intention) had been their discovery in the sight of God of the reality of their attachment to Paul.