Day 3 – 2 Corinthians 2:1-17

But I determined this for my own sake, that I would not come to you in sorrow again. For if cause you sorrow, who then makes me glad but the one whom I made sorrowful? This is the very thing I wrote you, so that when I came, I would not have sorrow from those who ought to make me rejoice; having confidence in you all that my joy would be the joy of you all. For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you with many tears; not so that you would be made sorrowful, but that you might know the love which I have especially for you. But if any has caused sorrow, he has caused sorrow not to me, but in some degree—in order not to say too much—to all of you. Sufficient for such a one is this punishment which was inflicted by the majority, so that on the contrary you should rather forgive and comfort him, otherwise such a one might be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. Wherefore I urge you to reaffirm your love for him. For to this end also I wrote, so that I might put you to the test, whether you are obedient in all things. But one whom you forgive anything, I forgive also; for indeed what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, I did it for your sakes in the presence of Christ, so that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes. Now when I came to Troas for the gospel of Christ and when a door was opened for me in the Lord, I had no rest for my spirit, not finding Titus my brother; but taking my leave of them, I went on to Macedonia. But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. And who is adequate for these things? For we are not like many, peddling the word of God, but as from sincerity, but as from God, we speak in Christ in the sight of God.^[1]

There is far too much in these seventeen verses to examine in depth. Let me, therefore, attempt a brief summary of what seems to have happened leading Paul to write as he does in this second chapter. It appears that there was an incident that occurred prior to the drafting of this letter so offensive that Paul wrote at some point a scathing rebuke. The incident seems to have been perpetrated by one person but was so severe that it brought offense to the entire community. Paul writes to encourage the community to do as he has done and to reaffirm their love by forgiving the offender. We have no idea what the nature of the offense might be or who the offender was. We do know that Paul seemingly had to convince the community of the necessity to forgive the offense and the offender.

What is of particular note in these verses is the emphasis Paul puts on the imperative of forgiveness, first of all, so that Satan would not be able to take advantage of them; and, second that their witness would not be tainted because they are “a fragrance of Christ to God.” The enemy of our souls will use any manifested weakness to lead us astray. We can limit his ability by freely forgiving those who have sinned against us. Failing to forgive places us in peril of not being forgiven ourselves, but it also sends a poor signal to the world around us who already seek to bring accusation against us. We never know who may be watching us trying to discern whether what we espouse is real and true. Paul makes our public witness vivid by using words like fragrance and aroma. They are words that point to what others perceive about us without ever having to hear us open our mouths. As we represent Christ today let us make certain that we do not leave ourselves open to attacks of our enemy through our lack of forgiveness. Freely we have been forgiven, now let us freely forgive.

Dear Lord, there is much in our lives you have forgiven. We are grateful that you do not treat us as our sin demands otherwise none of us could stand. We marvel at Your grace and mercy demonstrated to us every day. We, however, often fail to forgive others. We hold grudges. We avoid one another. We talk about one another trying to draw others into our negative attitudes. We are heartily sorry for misrepresenting You by our lack of love. Help us to forgive as freely as You have forgiven us and to love as You love us. This we ask in the name of Jesus our Lord. Amen.

^[1] New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update (LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995), 2 Co 2:1–17.