2 Corinthians - Chapter 2

¹So I made up my mind that I would not make another painful visit to you.

Paul’s original plan was to travel to Corinth on his way to Macedonia and then again on his way back from there. So somewhere between the writing of 1 Corinthians and the writing of 2 Corinthians he has visited them on his way to Macedonia, but did not go back to visit on his way back as planned. Here he says the first visit was so painful he couldn’t bear to re-visit.

²For if I grieve you, who is left to make me glad but you whom I have grieved? ³I wrote as I did, so that when I came I would not be distressed by those who should have made me rejoice. I had confidence in all of you, that you would all share my joy. ⁴For I wrote you out of great distress and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to grieve you but to let you know the depth of my love for you.

His reference to a letter he had written, which obviously upset some of the members of the church, could have been 1 Corinthians. Some theologians believe there may have been another letter written between 1 and 2 Corinthians that has been lost. He says here his intent was not to upset them, but to show his love for them.

⁵If 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. ⁶The punishment inflicted on him by the majority is sufficient. ⁷Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. ⁸I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your love for him. ⁹Another reason I wrote you was to see if you would stand the test and be obedient in everything. ¹⁰Anyone 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, ¹¹in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.

Some theologians believe Paul is speaking of a particular incident here. Someone within the church has committed a serious offense and the Church has disciplined him. Some believe Paul is still referring to the man mentioned in 1 Corinthians 5:1-3.

Paul tells them their punishment was enough and they shouldn’t continue to berate this person. He has shown genuine sorrow for his actions and has repented and therefore, the punishment should be discontinued and he should be lovingly restored into their fellowship. Although Church discipline is important, it should not be allowed to develop into a form of graceless rigor in which there’s no room for forgiveness and restoration. Discipline should always be exercised in love, not done in anger. There is no place for a holier-than-thou attitude. This will only cause bitterness and resentment rather than the desired repentance.

Satan is cunning. He uses church members to cause unrest and dissatisfaction within the church. In many churches today there are members who carry the Bible under one arm and the church constitution under the other. But they pay more attention to the man-made document than to the Bible. So business meetings are filled with hassles over points of order and the will of the majority is restricted by ridiculous rules of that particular church. Even a slight deviation from the printed bulletin causes some to go into a rant. Although we need order within the service, these rules and documents made by man are not always inspired. There are times when the Holy Spirit my lead the service into another direction.

This is what happened with Paul. Although his PLAN was to visit them twice, it caused a lot of turmoil within the church when those plans changed.

This criticism of Paul being fickle because he changed his travel plans seems trivial enough. Why not simply ignore it? Because there was more at stake than Paul’s personal reputation. His message of grace was also being questioned.

Have you ever heard the term “poisoning the well”?  “Poisoning the well” means to attack someone’s character if you can’t come up with an argument against his claims. This tactic is used in courts a lot, and we’ve certainly seen enough examples of it during this presidential campaign! If a witness has a strong testimony against a defendant, then the attorney will try to discredit him as a viable witness. This is what those who were against Paul were doing. They couldn’t argue against his message, so they were trying to discredit his apostleship. Therefore, Paul found it necessary to defend himself and explain his reasons for his change of plans.

Paul’s delayed visit had accomplished a purpose. A church needs to be able to handle problems internally, not depend on anyone outside of the church to ‘fix’ things. By Paul staying away, the church members disciplined the offending member and did it in such a way as to cause him to see his error and repent. Paul was proud of them for this. The purpose of discipline within a church is to bring the person to repentance, not to get even or rid the church of that person. A vengeful attitude is forbidden by Scripture—vengeance belongs to God.

Galatians 6:1 says “Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted.”

Matthew 18:15-20 tells us there are four steps in discipline:  1. go to the individual alone to reason with him;  2. take a witness the second time;  3. take the matter to the church;  4. excommunicate him. If at any time along the way, the person repents, the process stops and he is welcomed back and shown tender loving care so he can be restored.

¹² Now when I went to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ and found that the Lord had opened a door for me, ¹³ I still had no peace of mind, because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said goodbye to them and went on to Macedonia.

After his brief visit to Corinth (on his way to Macedonia), he went to Troas, a city on the Aegean coast, hoping to find Titus there. But he didn’t find Titus, so Paul continued on to Macedonia. Notice Paul refers to Titus as his brother. Titus and Paul were not related by blood, but Paul held him in high esteem and entrusted him with the collection of funds for the poverty-stricken Christians of Jerusalem. He also chose him to carry this letter to the Corinthians.

Although the people in Troas were welcoming and seemed eager to embrace Paul’s teachings, he decided to leave. Acts 16:8-10 tells us why:  “⁸So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas. ⁹During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us.’ ¹⁰After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.”

An open door doesn’t always mean it is God’s will for you. It is physically impossible for us to enter every door that opens for us. We must rely on God’s guidance to know which opportunities we should pursue. 

If you have a problem in one area and another opportunity presents itself, this doesn’t always mean it is God’s will for you to leave the problem and go elsewhere. Who would have blamed Paul if he gave up on Corinth, with all their problems, and stayed in Troas where everyone was welcoming and wanted to learn? But God wanted Paul to move on and take care of the problems within the already established church. 

On the other hand, when Christians cause problems, they can hinder God’s work. If the church in Corinth had been spiritual, Paul could have stayed and preached in Troas and brought more people to Christ. 

At this point, Paul stops his narrative of his itinerary and digresses. But this lengthy digression (which goes through chapter 7) is still relevant to the main point of this letter. 

¹⁴ But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere. ¹⁵ For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.

Paul describes the church as being led by God. Paul is describing the scene of a Roman triumph in which the victorious general would lead his soldiers and the captives they had taken in a festive parade, while the people watched and applauded and the air was filled with the sweet smell released by the burning of spices in the streets. This was how they celebrated a victory. In the same way, Christians are called to spiritual warfare and are triumphantly led by God in Christ, and it is through him that God spreads everywhere the “fragrance” of the knowledge of Christ.

¹⁶ To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life. And who is equal to such a task?

The sweet fragrance Paul is speaking of here is the aroma of the Gospel released in the world through Christian testimony. But it is received differently by two ultimate categories of mankind:  those being saved and those who are perishing. To the perishing, a Christian’s testimony is the smell of death because in rejecting the life-giving grace of God, the unbelievers are choosing death for themselves. But to those who welcome the Gospel of God’s grace, Christians with their testimony are the fragrance of life. 

 Our sense of smell varies. Some people love to smell seafood cooking, others can’t stand the smell. Some like the smell of fried liver, others detest it. How does the gospel smell to you? Is it the sweet fragrance of life or the stench of death? It didn’t matter to Paul where he preached as long as God was glorified. Some were converted, some were condemned. We need to faithfully present the gospel wherever we have the God-given opportunity to do so. 

¹⁷ Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, as those sent from God.

Here Paul is referring to the false teachers who had infiltrated the Corinthian church. They were insincere, self-sufficient, boastful, and very persuasive. Their chief interest was taking money from gullible church members. Paul, by contrast, had preached the gospel sincerely and free of charge, taking care not to be a financial burden to the Corinthian believers.

Let us speak to others “with sincerity, like men sent from God.”

Some of the things we learn from this chapter:

1.       local churches have a responsibility to discipline members who sin;

2.       discipline is not in the hands of one man, but is the responsibility of the congregation—neither the deacons or pastor have final authority, but the congregation (not even Paul felt he had that authority);

3.       the purpose of discipline should be to restore the offending person-- to bring the offender to repentance and back into the service of the church;

4.       repentance should be followed by forgiveness and restoration;

5.       if we are led by the Spirit, there are times we may have to change our plans;

6.       we should not consider every opportunity to be a calling from God;

7.       wrong handling of discipline can be turned by Satan to his advantage.  (see vs. 11—repentance must be followed quickly by forgiveness and restoration “lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.”)

Satan can take advantage of a disciplinary action within a church:

• He would first tempt the believer to sin, ruining his life and testimony;
• Then he would tempt him to think he is hopeless;
• He would tempt the church to overlook the sin and coddle the sinful members, or cause them to act harshly and discipline with a vengeance;
• Then he would tempt the one who was disciplined to become bitter and resentful.
• If he repents, Satan will tempt the church to withhold forgiveness.