Beloved, I am glad to share with you today the above theme from 2 Co 2:2-3 and following. Indeed, the apostle had delayed his trip to Corinth to give his first letter time to take effect. Thank God, the expected work of conscience had occurred, both in the congregation and in the man who had to be excluded. But now the Corinthians were in another danger: that of forgetting grace for the repentant culprit. From a reprehensible indulgence, they had gone to a severity without love. For Satan is always ready to make us pour from one extreme into the other.
His means are varied to accomplish his purposes, which do not change: to annihilate the witness given to Christ and to keep men under his domination. He even uses the jokes about him (so common in the world) to make people forget his fearsome designs. Let us therefore be wary against any lightness vis-à-vis the devil and his power. Thus, the apostle, in his concern about the Corinthians, had left a beautiful field of work to meet Titus who brought him their news. But Paul is consoled by thinking that wherever he goes, he spreads “the good smell of Christ.” Is this same fragrance noticeable to everyone who knows us? And above all, is it for God?
Having again recalled the care which manifests his affection for them, the apostle expresses his conviction that what had pained him, had also pained the Corinthians; they had shown this by the way they had treated the transgressor. Paul exhorts them to receive again and encourage the poor culprit in danger of being completely burdened by the discipline exercised against him by the mass of Christians, adding that if Christians forgive him for his fault, he too forgives him.
He did not want Satan to take any advantage of this case of discipline to bring disagreement between him, Paul, and the Corinthians, because he knew well what the Enemy wanted to get at, he knew the purpose for which the Enemy wanted to use this matter. This gives Paul the opportunity to show how much he always carried the Corinthian saints on his heart. Having come to the Troad for the Gospel and a wide door being opened to him, he had not been able to stay there because he had not found Titus, and he had left the Troad and continued on his way to Macedonia.
For there is nothing more blessed, happier for us than the Gospel. What a joy, when we see him penetrate into consciences and bring souls to the Lord through conversion! It is a wonderful work in which we are given to take part! However, in that moment, one thing was more important to Paul than even the open door to the gospel. He desired to see a true restoration in his beloved children in the faith: an assembly, taking up by complete repentance, by the judgment of itself, a path where the Lord could be glorified. That was what filled his heart.
This taking place, the Enemy could not succeed in his designs. Satan would have wanted to spread disunity again, to separate the assembly from the apostle; for thus she would have been unanimous in judging, and the apostle alone in forgiving. When the Enemy of our souls can prevent us from walking in the same thought, in the same feeling, let us be sure that there is no shortage of it.
It will be remembered that instead of passing through the western coasts of the Archipelago to visit Macedonia, thus crossing Corinth to return later by the same path, the apostle had sent Titus to Corinth with his first letter, taking himself the path of Asia Minor: this road that took him along the eastern coasts of the Archipelago led him to the Troad where Titus was to come to meet him. But having not found him there, and worried about the Corinthians, he had not been able to indulge with a quiet heart in the work that was offered there, and had passed by to meet Titus.
So he went to Macedonia, where he finally found him, as we will see later. But the thought of having left the Troad affects Paul, for indeed, it is a serious and painful thing for the heart to have missed an opportunity to proclaim Christ, especially since men are willing to receive Him, or at least to hear about Him. Leaving the Troad was indeed proof of Paul’s affection for the Corinthians, and the apostle reminds them of this circumstance as a strong proof of this affection. He consoles himself for having missed this work of evangelization by the thought that after all God was leading it as if in triumph. The Gospel that the apostle carried with him, the witness of Christ, was like the perfume of the aromatic drugs that were burned in the triumphal processions, a sign of death for some of the captives, a sign of life for others: and this fragrance of the good news of Christ was pure in his hands.
The apostle was not like a few who adulterated the wine they supplied; he worked in Christian integrity before God. Here we learn how we behave towards our brothers, when we have been forced to take them back. Sometimes we charge them even more heavily when we see that the reprimand has not produced all the desired effect; and we are thus increasing the burden on them. The apostle did not act in this way. Seeing the Corinthians restored to an extent, he did not seek to add to their burden. He says: What I desire is joy, it is love; and he urges them to forgive, to console such a man, lest he be burdened with too much sadness.
The following verses have been compiled for your edification and grouped together for your better understanding.
- The Duty of Gaiety
Pr 15:13 A joyful heart makes the face serene; But when the heart is sad, the mind is dejected. Pr 17:22 A joyful heart is a good remedy, but a dejected spirit dries out the bones. Jn 16:33 I have told you these things, that you may have peace in me. You will have tribulations in the world; but take heart, I have conquered the world. Acts 27:25, therefore, O men, rest assured, for I have this trust in God that it will be as I have been told. 36 And all, regaining courage, ate too.
- Human forgiveness is ordained
Mk 11:25 And when you stand praying, if you have something against someone, forgive, that your Father who is in heaven may also forgive you for your offenses. Lk 11:4 forgive us of our sins, for we too forgive anyone who offends us; and do not induce ourselves into temptation. Lk 17:4 And if he has sinned against you seven times in a day and seven times he returns to you, saying, “I think again, you will forgive him. Eph 4:32 Be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving each other, as God has forgiven you in Christ. Col 3:13 Support each other, and if one is subject to complaining about the other, forgive each other. Just as Christ forgave you, forgive yourself too.
- The characteristics of true human sympathy
-Benevolence Is 58:7 Share your bread with the hungry, and bring into your house the unfortunate without asylum; If you see a naked man, cover him, and do not turn away from your fellow man.
-Help Acts 20:35 I have shown you in every way that it is by working in this way that one must sustain the weak, and remember the words of the Lord, who said himself: There is more happiness in giving than in receiving.
-Carrying burdens Rom 13.3 It is not for a good deed, it is for a bad one, that the magistrates are to be feared. Do you not want to fear authority? Do it well, and you will have its approval.
-Interest in the unfortunate He 13:3 Remember the prisoners, as if you were also prisoners; those who are mistreated, as also being yourselves in a body.
-To visit the needy James 1:27 Pure and spotless religion, before God our Father, consists in visiting orphans and widows in their afflictions, and in protecting oneself from the defilements of the world.
From all the above, we note that the apostle’s joy was that the brethren of the Corinthian congregation walk together faithfully, humbly, stripped of all self-confidence, quick to judge evil, quick to forgive the wicked repentant. He says, “If anyone has caused sadness.” Since this man is not yet restored, the apostle does not call him: “a brother”, and does not even name him; he is: “someone”. We can draw from this a useful instruction for the conduct of the assembly towards those who are entrenched. “If anyone caused sadness, it wasn’t me they saddened, but, in a way… it’s all of you.” He had been obliged to charge them in his first epistle; now that he sees them saddened, he renounces to write to them severely. He still had, as we will see later, many things to take up, which he could have placed in front of them from the beginning of his epistle, but he did not want to overwhelm them. After repenting, he said to them, you can now be rejoiced, consoled, strengthened by my ministry, and you leave this man, in whom repentance has occurred, in the grip of overwhelm! They had been obedient in exercising judgment; it was now a question of them being obedient to forgive. Paul wanted to know if they were obedient in all things. The difference between this second epistle and the first is very striking. Whether it was a question of judging evil, the apostle had decided to surrender this man to Satan, but he had suspended his verdict. In the second epistle, he hastens to forgive in the person of Christ. Instead of pronouncing the judgment he had delayed, he granted forgiveness, that it might be given by the power and with the authority of Christ to the man who had sinned. Our prayers support you all in your efforts to follow the example of the Apostle Paul, in the name of Jesus.
PRAYER OF ACCEPTANCE OF JESUS CHRIST AS LORD AND PERSONAL SAVIOR
I now invite every person who wants to become a new creation by walking in the truth, to pray with me the following prayer:
Lord Jesus, I have long walked in the lusts of the world ignoring your love for humans. I admit to having sinned against you and ask your forgiveness for all my sins, because today I have decided to give you my life by taking you as Lord and personal Savior. I recognize that you died on the cross of Calvary and rose from the dead for me.
I am now saved and born again by the power of the Holy Spirit. Lead me every day to the eternal life that you give to all who obey your Word. Reveal yourself to me and strengthen my heart and faith, so that your light may be shining in my life right now.
Thank you, Lord Jesus for accepting me into your divine family, so that I may also contemplate the wonders of your kingdom.
I will now choose a nearby watering point to baptize myself by immersion, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
All adoration, power and glory are yours, now and forever and ever. Amen!
I would be happy to respond to any questions and comments you may have, before sharing with you tomorrow on “law and ministry of Spirit, the assembly.”
May the Lord Jesus Christ bless you abundantly.
David Feze, Servant of the Almighty God.