Forgiveness For The Sinner
June 26, 2020
Commentary
“Peace at any price” is not a Biblical principle, for there cannot be true spiritual peace without purity (James3:13-18). Church discipline is not a popular subject and very few churches today really practice it. Too many churches just sweep things under the rug instead of obeying the Scripture by confronting the situation in love (Ephesians 4:15).
In the case of the person referred to in this passage, it seems that the church had disciplined him but now that he had repented, they refused to forgive him. Paul knows that Satan can and will use this incident to hinder the work of God in the Corinthian church unless it is properly handled. Satan’s first objective is to stop the Gospel from going out (4:4). If he can bring disunity to the church, then he has accomplished his objective. Paul urges the church to forgive the man and gives three basic reasons for this admonition:
1. To Forgive him for his own sake (vv. 7-8). The purpose of Discipline is not to destroy but to edify & restore.
2. To Forgive him for the Lord’s sake (vv. 9-10). When others see this unforgiving spirit in Christians, they will have a hard time accepting the Lord’s forgiveness.
3. To Forgive him for the Church’s sake (v. 11). To harbor bitterness and possessing an unforgiving spirit grieves the Holy Spirit and “gives place to the devil” (Ephesians 4:27-32).
“Spare the rod and spoil the child—yes; but, keep an apple, to give the child when he has done well.” Punishment should encourage and not discourage. In the last analysis, this can happen only when we make it clear that, even when we are punishing a person, we still believe in him.
Application
Lord, help me to not be a person who just sweeps wrongdoing under the rug, but at the same time I want to always exercise love and concern toward the person being confronted.
2 Corinthians 2:5– 11 (NET)
5 But if anyone has caused sadness, he has not saddened me alone, but to some extent (not to exaggerate) he has saddened all of you as well. 6 This punishment on such an individual by the majority is enough for him, 7 so that now instead you should rather forgive and comfort him. This will keep him from being overwhelmed by excessive grief to the point of despair. 8 Therefore I urge you to reaffirm your love for him. 9 For this reason also I wrote you: to test you to see if you are obedient in everything. 10 If you forgive anyone for anything, I also forgive him—for indeed what I have forgiven (if I have forgiven anything) I did so for you in the presence of Christ, 11 so that we may not be exploited by Satan (for we are not ignorant of his schemes).