2 Corinthians 2:5

Paul leaves the man unnamed. He writes “if any”, eí tis, a plain “if anyone”, though his readers knew exactly whom he meant. Believers differ on who this was. Some hold that he is the man of 1 Corinthians 5:1–5, who was living with his father’s wife, and whom Paul told the church “to deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.” On that reading the church had obeyed, the man had repented, and the church that once tolerated his sin now has to learn to receive him back. Others hold that the offender was someone who opposed Paul and challenged his authority as an apostle, which would explain why Paul speaks of the grief caused to himself and of a letter that tested the church’s obedience. On either reading the man’s sin wounded the whole church, the church dealt with it, and he has turned from it.

The letter Paul speaks of in verse 9 is the one he wrote “out of much affliction and anguish of heart” (2 Corinthians 2:1–4), as he explains just before this passage, when he tells why he wrote instead of making another painful visit. Some identify that sorrowful or severe letter with 1 Corinthians, some with a letter written between the two that has been lost, and some with chapters 10–13 of 2 Corinthians.

Corinth was a busy, wealthy port city where honour and shame weighed heavily, and the young church there struggled with divisions, immorality, lawsuits and challenges to Paul’s authority. Public sin brought shame on the whole community, so its discipline was public, and Paul wants its restoration to be just as public.

In verse 5 Paul turns the grief away from himself. The verb lypéō, to distress or to make sad, stands behind both “caused grief” and “grieved”. The man has grieved Paul “but in part”, and the word for part, méros, means a share or portion. Paul’s sorrow was one share of the grief, and the rest belonged to the church. When one member of the body sins, the whole body feels it, just as when “one member suffer, all the members suffer with it” (1 Corinthians 12:26).

He gives his reason: “that I may not overcharge you all.” The verb epibaréō means to be heavy upon someone, and figuratively to be severe toward them. If Paul dwelt on his own injury, he would lay a heavy load of guilt and accusation on the whole congregation, and he would keep their eyes on his feelings at the very moment they belonged on restoring the man. So he plays down his own wound for their good. This fits the way he bore suffering throughout his ministry for the sake of the gospel and the church (2 Corinthians 4:7–12). By putting his own grievance aside, he leaves the way open for the whole church to forgive.

“Sufficient to such a man is this punishment.” The word hikanós means enough, sufficient. The discipline has been as much as was needed, and it has done what it was meant to do. The word for punishment, epitimía, is used here of a penalty, a censure laid on him by the church. Most likely it was the withdrawal of fellowship that Paul had commanded, putting the man out of the community. Paul had given the purpose of that discipline from the start: “that the spirit may be saved.” It was always meant to bring him to repentance and back to God.

The penalty “was inflicted of many”. The word pleíōn is the comparative of polús, “more”, and it can mean the greater part. The censure was carried out by the body of the church together, the majority of the congregation, and Paul and a few leaders did not impose it alone. This matches the way Jesus taught his disciples to deal with a brother who sins, going to him alone, then with witnesses, and at last telling it to the church (Matthew 18:15–17). The whole church shares the responsibility for upholding holiness, and so the whole church shares the work of restoring the sinner.

Once the discipline has achieved its aim, the time for censure is over. The same church that confronted the sin now has to restore the brother, as Paul writes elsewhere: “ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness” (Galatians 6:1).

“So that contrariwise ye ought rather to forgive him.” The word “contrariwise” marks a complete turn. The church that had rightly been severe must now go the other way. The verb to forgive is charízomai, which comes from charis, grace, and means to grant something as a favour, to give freely, to pardon. Forgiveness is a gift. The man cannot earn it, and the church gives it as God gives his forgiveness to us.

“And comfort him.” This verb, parakaléō, has a wide range: to call near, to invite, to plead, to exhort, to encourage, to console. Here it means consoling and encouraging the repentant man, helping him through the shame and pain of his sin and of the discipline he has borne. Forgiveness on its own would leave him standing at a distance, and comfort brings him in.

The reason is urgent: “lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow.” The verb katapínō means literally to drink down, to gulp entire, and figuratively to devour or to drown. Paul pictures a man so overwhelmed by sorrow that it swallows him whole. Godly grief over sin had done its work, and grief beyond that point could drive him into despair, or even away from the faith altogether. Discipline that was meant to heal would then destroy.

Scripture puts no ceiling on this kind of forgiveness. Jesus told Peter to forgive his brother “until seventy times seven” (Matthew 18:21–22), and said that if a brother repents, we are to forgive him, even seven times in a day (Luke 17:3–4). Paul tells believers to forgive one another as God for Christ’s sake has forgiven them (Ephesians 4:32), “even as Christ forgave you” (Colossians 3:13). When the LORD proclaimed his own name to Moses, he declared his mercy and his abundant goodness and truth (Exodus 34:6), and a church that forgives the repentant reflects that mercy.

In verse 9 Paul explains why he wrote his earlier letter: “that I might know the proof of you, whether ye be obedient in all things.” The verb gráphō is simply “to write”. The word for proof, dokimḗ, means testing, proving, and so the evidence that something is genuine. It is the language of testing metal to show its worth. Peter uses the same picture of faith that is “tried with fire” and found precious (1 Peter 1:6–7), and James says that the trying of our faith works patience (James 1:2–4). The LORD tested Israel in the wilderness in the same way (Deuteronomy 8:2).

The word for obedient, hypḗkoos, means listening attentively, and so submissive. Paul wanted to know whether the Corinthians would heed him “in all things”, including the hard instruction to discipline a brother. They had passed that test. Now the same obedience calls them to the next step, which is forgiveness. A church that obeys only when obedience means severity has obeyed in part, and Paul wants their obedience to be whole.

Obedience of this kind is the fruit of real faith. Jesus said, “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15), and James writes that faith without works is dead (James 2:17). The Corinthians’ response would show whether they were standing in the gospel Paul had preached to them and they had received (1 Corinthians 15:1–2).

In verse 10 Paul joins his forgiveness to the church’s: “To whom ye forgive any thing, I forgive also.” The verb is charízomai again, the same verb as in verse 7. Paul stands with the congregation, and the church and its apostle act as one in restoring the man. The words “if I forgave any thing” pick up the light touch of verse 5, as Paul plays down his own part in the wrong, and the repeated “forgave” makes plain that his forgiveness is real and settled.

He forgave “for your sakes”. The preposition diá followed by the accusative means “for the sake of”. Paul forgave for the church’s good, for its peace and unity, so that bitterness and division would have no room to grow. Elsewhere he urges believers to keep “the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:3).

He forgave “in the person of Christ”. The word prósōpon means the face, the countenance, and so the presence or the person. Paul forgave in Christ’s presence, before his face, and as one who represents him. His forgiveness carries Christ’s authority and expresses Christ’s will. Jesus gave his church authority to bind and to loose (Matthew 18:18), and after his resurrection he told his apostles, “Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them” (John 20:23). Paul writes a little later in this letter that God has given to us the ministry of reconciliation, and that we are ambassadors for Christ (2 Corinthians 5:18–20). When the church forgives a repentant sinner, it carries on that ministry.

Verse 11 gives the deepest reason for all of this: “Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.” The name Satanâs, which Strong’s traces to a Chaldee (Aramaic) source, means the adversary, the chief enemy of God and of his people. The verb for “get an advantage”, pleonektéō, means to be covetous, to overreach, to take more than one’s share, even to defraud. Satan is pictured as a predator watching for an opening, ready to cheat the church of its unity, its peace and a brother restored.

His “devices” are his nóēma, a word for thoughts, purposes and the mind, used here of his schemes. They are deliberate and planned. Paul says that “we are not ignorant” of them, so the church can recognise them and refuse them.

Everything Paul asks of the Corinthians rests on what Christ has done. God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, so that we might be made the righteousness of God in him (2 Corinthians 5:21). He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). He gave himself for our sins to deliver us from this present evil world (Galatians 1:4), and made peace through the blood of his cross (Colossians 1:20). God showed his love in that Christ died for us while we were still sinners, and reconciled us to himself by his Son’s death (Romans 5:8–10).

Jesus came to call sinners to repentance (Luke 5:32). He forgave the sinful woman who loved much (Luke 7:47–50), sent away the woman taken in adultery with the words “go, and sin no more” (John 8:1–11), and told of a father who ran to meet his returning son (Luke 15:11–32). On the cross he prayed for those who crucified him, “Father, forgive them” (Luke 23:34). He came that his people might have life abundantly (John 10:10), and he commands us to love one another as he has loved us (John 13:34).

He is also the perfect example of the obedience Paul looks for in verse 9. He became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross (Philippians 2:8), and learned obedience by the things he suffered, becoming the author of eternal salvation to all who obey him (Hebrews 5:8–9). Through him believers have obeyed from the heart and been set free from sin (Romans 6:17–18). Our forgiving one another flows from his forgiving us.

This passage gives the church a whole picture of discipline, from the grief of sin to the joy of a brother restored. God takes sin seriously enough to have his church confront it, and he loves the sinner enough to set a limit on the punishment. When repentance comes, he calls the same people who censured the man to forgive him, comfort him and make their love for him plain to all.

We also see who God is. He is the God who disciplines in order to save, who knows when sorrow has done its work, and who will have his people forgive as freely as he has forgiven them. Paul’s own example shows a leader who sets his hurt aside so that others can be healed. And the warning about Satan shows that forgiveness is part of the church’s defence, because a forgiving church gives the enemy nowhere to stand.