2 Corinthians 2:1-11

Butler's Commentary

SECTION 1

Discord (2 Corinthians 2:1-11)

2 For I made up my mind not to make you another painful visit. 2For if I cause you pain, who is there to make me glad but the one whom I have pained? 3And I wrote as I did, so that when I came I might not suffer pain from those who should have made me rejoice, for I felt sure of all of you, that my joy would be the joy of you all. 4For I wrote you out of much affliction and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to cause you pain but to let you know the abundant love that I have for you.

5 But if any one has caused pain, he has caused it not to me, but in some measurenot to put it too severelyto you all. 6For such a one this punishment by the majority is enough; 7so you should rather turn to forgive and comfort him, or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. 8So I beg you to reaffirm your love for him. 9For this is why I wrote, that I might test you and know whether you are obedient in everything. 10Any one whom you forgive, I also forgive. What I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ, to keep Satan from gaining the advantage over us; for we are not ignorant of his designs.

2 Corinthians 2:1-4 Pain: The pain of discord among Christian brethren is severe, This is especially true when a preacher (like Paul) suffers the alienation of any part of his congregation. A person (or persons) in the church at Corinth had been attacking Paul's integrity. They had also been causing divisions in the church (see Background notes in this commentary). Paul had made a visit to Corinth (see chart, Corinthian Correspondence and Visits, pp. 57-61) to resolve this estrangement and it was painful. The Greek word translated painful is lupo and means grieve. It was a grief-filled experience. Paul knew the pain and loneliness of having brethren alienate themselves against their father in the faith. Apparently the visit did not produce the harmony Paul desiredespecially with one person. So he sat down and wrote a severe letter (2 Corinthians 2:3-9; 2 Corinthians 7:8-12) directing the church to discipline the troublemaker.

The apostle did all he felt the Lord would want him to do to resolve the situation. He determined he would not make another painful visit. If he goes on inflicting pain and causing the Christians there to grieve, who will be there to make him glad? He does intend to make another visit to Corinth but he wants it to be a happy occasion. Paul was tender-hearted and would acknowledge that when he pained the Corinthians, he would hurt too. All he would get back from paining them was pain. And his desire to keep from causing them sorrow was because he loved them so dearly.

What a lovely picture he humbly paints of himself in 2 Corinthians 2:4. The severe letter he wrote after returning from his painful visit was written with much affliction and anguish of heart and through tear-dimmed eyes. What an example for preachers today who may suffer without warrant the alienation and trouble-making of certain members of the flock! With Paul there is no defensiveness, no resentment, no desire to retaliate. There is much distress, much anxiety and much crying. Everything done (visits and letters) was done out of abundant love.

From the very beginning of the trouble in Corinth, Paul felt the loneliness and pain of their alienation. He wanted it resolved. He got no thrill or satisfaction out of stirring up the situation or prolonging it or intensifying it. Anxiety for all the churches was a constant thing with Paul (see 2 Corinthians 11:28-29). The pain any of the brethren suffered hurt Paul. The Corinthian brethren are not the only ones over whom Paul shed tears (see Acts 20:18-19). Some preachers are not able to endure the affliction, anguish, anxiety and tears of loneliness in the ministry. They quit the ministry. There is failure on the part of both congregation and preacher when preacher burn-out occurs. But if both congregation and preacher were willing to pattern their faith and obedience more on the examples of the New Testament, there would be less failure.

2 Corinthians 2:5-11 Powerlessness: Before Paul wrote II Corinthians, he had found Titus in Macedonia (2 Corinthians 7:6-16) and Titus had reported encouraging news from the church in Corinth. The worst between the church and Paul was over. Titus reported that the Corinthian brethren were longing, mourning and zealous for Paul. Nevertheless, he wrote the words of this text to caution the brethren about prolonging the discord and alienation lest it sap them of their spiritual power.

Who is the one who has caused pain? Many commentators think this one is the incestuous man mentioned in 1 Corinthians 5:1-8. Look at this characterization of the one who has caused pain:

a.

The Corinthians felt the person had caused pain only to Paul, but the apostle corrected them and said he had caused pain to the Corinthians as well, 2 Corinthians 2:5.

b.

The majority of the congregation had exercised some form of severe discipline upon the person, 2 Corinthians 2:6.

c.

Some of the congregation did not think the discipline was adequate, and were planning to extend it, thus prolonging the alienation, 2 Corinthians 2:6.

d.

The person was in danger of being overwhelmed by excessive sorrow, 2 Corinthians 2:7.

e.

So Paul strongly urged the congregation to not prolong the punishment, but forgive, comfort and reaffirm their love for him, 2 Corinthians 2:7-8.

f.

He had written his former severe letter to them about this offender in order to test their obedience to apostolic authority, 2 Corinthians 2:9.

g.

Paul states he is willing to forgive the offender and that he forgives the man for the sake of the whole congregation in order to keep Satan from gaining an advantage over either Paul or the congregation at Corinth.

In light of the fact that the Corinthians believed the pain caused by this offender was all Paul's fault (which they surely would not have believed in the case of the incestuous man of 1 Corinthians 5:1-8), and in view of fact that the Corinthian congregation had not joined in the inflicting of punishment on the incestuous man but were indeed boasting of their liberality toward him, we believe the offending brother of this text (2 Corinthians 2:5-11) is not the incestuous man of 1 Corinthians 5:1-8.

The context within which Paul discusses this one who has caused pain clearly indicates (2 Corinthians 1:15 to 2 Corinthians 2:17) the offender to be a ringleader of the bitter opposition against Paul's integrity and apostolic authority.

The following is probably the sequence of events which led to Paul's admonition here:

a.

The schismatism and challenge to Paul's apostolic authority mentioned in I Corinthians evidently intensified under the leadership of a ringleader who had singled out Paul for his verbal attacks.

b.

Paul made a quick, painful visit to the church but failed to resolve the alienation.

c.

Returning to Ephesus, Paul wrote a painful letter (not extant) directing the church to inflict some severe punishment (probably excommunication) upon the rebellious member, and thus reaffirm their obedience to apostolic authority.

d.

He then sent Titus to Corinth to discover and report back the condition of the church and the state of this problem.

e.

Titus did not return when Paul expected, so Paul went to Troas and Macedonia in search of Titus.

f.

Finding Titus in Macedonia, Paul received the report that the Corinthian congregation had severely disciplined the offender and reaffirmed their obedience to apostolic direction.

g.

Titus also reported that the offender was so contrite and penitent that he was in danger of being overwhelmed with excessive sorrow. He wanted to be reinstated to fellowship.

h.

The church, Titus reported, had refused to forgive the offender, probably thinking that to do so would be a sign of disloyalty to Paul.

i.

Paul now sits down in Macedonia and writes to the Corinthians (2 Corinthians 2:5-11) begging them to forgive the man because to intensify and prolong the punishment will be to prolong the alienation, drive the offender to despair, and push both the offender and the congregation into the camp of Satan.

There are a number of lessons to be learned and practiced from this apostolic pronouncement:

a.

When Christians rebel against godly spiritual leaders and verbally attack them, their attacks bring grief upon the whole church of God as well as their leaders.

b.

It is the responsibility of the whole church to bring such rebellion to a resolution, even if severe discipline is necessary.

c.

If the offender repents and expresses desire to be reinstated in fellowship with the congregation, the congregation must forgive, comfort (strengthen) and love him.

d.

For there is a clear danger that severe spiritual discipline could cause a Christian to be overwhelmed (Gr. katapothe, swallowed up) with grief.

e.

The apostles expect the church to obey in everything taught by them.

f.

Not forgiving a penitent brother makes any Christian vulnerable to Satan's designs.

The words gaining the advantage are a translation of one Greek word, pleonektethomen. The Greek word is also translated, defrauded, or wronged, or taken advantage of (see 1 Thessalonians 4:6; 2 Corinthians 7:2). It is the Greek word from which the word covetousness is derived. Literally, it means, to get more of. Paul's warning is that the attitude of unforgiveness makes Christians vulnerable to being defrauded by Satan. The devil can steal their soul just as surely for an unmerciful attitude as he can for impenitent adultery. This verse tells us that a church or an individual Christian may be overcome by the evil one simply by failing to do right! We are easily deceived into believing that evil only has power over us when we do something wrong. But according to Paul (and Jesus in Luke 12:47-48; and James 4:17) righteousness is a positive way of life, not a negative one. Failure to do right is in itself the most common sin of Christians.

Paul states that Christians are not ignorant of Satan's designs. The Greek word noemata is from noema which means, mind, thought, purpose. Paul believed in the existence of a real, personal devil whose purpose is to defraud and take advantage of God's people as well as prevent the salvation of the lost. But, the apostle declares, Christians do not need to be defraudedthey may protect themselves against itbecause they are not ignorant of the devil's thoughts and schemes. How may the Christian know what the devil thinks and how he operates? By reading and believing the Bible, of course. Jesus exposed the devil's thinking and working in his confrontation with the him in the Judean wilderness (Matthew 4:1-11); in casting out demons (Matthew 12:22-37); in exposing the hatred of the Jewish rulers (John 8:34-47). In the Acts, in the Epistles, in Revelation we are informed about how the devil thinks and acts. In the history of man's creation we are clearly instructed about Satan's purposes and practices (Genesis 3:1-24). The apostle John tells us that only by listening to (heeding) the words of the apostles will we be able to know the difference between the spirit of truth and the spirit of error (1 John 4:1-6). There is only one way we may be certain that we are not ignorant of the devil's devices and that is to trust only what the Bible says about the devil. All other information purporting to be about the devil is suspectwhether from movies, religious crusaders against the occult, or teachers of Satanism.

One of the primary schemes of the devil is to enlist church members in causing division and perpetuating alienation between brethren. In doing so he creates disorder, discouragement, excessive sorrow, loneliness, and eventually, destruction. Many a preacher has been destroyed through this Satanic assault from within the church itself! The devil uses false brethren who are brought in secretly to spy out our freedom. They are legalists who want to enslave us again to the elemental things of the world (see Galatians 2:4; Galatians 4:8-10; Colossians 2:8-23, etc.). Satan will even misquote the Scripture to gain advantage over us (see Matthew 4:6). He will use everything God created for good (man's appetites, the law of God, human governments) in subtle, perverted ways to take advantage of us. The only way a human being can have the advantage over Satan is to dispel all ignorance of the devil's designs by accepting only divinely revealed knowledge about him.