But if anyone has caused grief, he has not grieved me, but all of you to some extent—not to be too severe. This punishment which was inflicted by the majority is sufficient for such a man, so that, on the contrary, you ought rather to forgive and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one be swallowed up with too much sorrow. Therefore I urge you to reaffirm your love to him. 2 Corinthians 2: 5-8, NKJV.
Merciful God, as we enter Your presence today, we ask that Your Holy Spirit may hover over us and help us to understand the Words of Life that You will share with us today. In the blessed name of Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.
We are continuing today in the letter of the apostle Paul to the members of the church at Corinth. In his first letter to the church, (1 Corinthians), he wrote about a certain brother who had brought shame and pain to the cause of Christ. He had described this brother’s sin in some rather strong terms: “as is not even named among the Gentiles (1 Corinthians 5: 1b)! This was such a glaring situation that not even those who did not profess to be Christians, would take part in something like this! To add insult to injury, it was said of the guilty party and his sympathizers, “And you are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he who has done this deed might be taken away from among you” (2).
Because of this, Paul’s advice to the members had been: “In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, along with my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus” (4, 5). Emphasis provided. Wow! It sounds rather harsh does it not? But then, so are the results of sin – are they not?
Other commentators seem to believe that Paul was talking about another incident, which he wrote about in another letter to the Corinthians, which is believed to be lost. They believe it was written between First and Second Corinthians, and that the offender is someone other than the brother who was involved in the incestuous situation.
Be that as it is, what we want to pay close attention to, is the fact that Paul’s advice to the believers was not for the discipline of the persons at fault, to end in perdition, but in redemption – “that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus[!]” If we can only remember that church discipline is for the purpose of destroying the flesh (the tendency to evil); not the sinner! Church discipline is intended by God to redeem! When God allowed His only begotten Son to suffer and die on Calvary’s cross, I believe the greatest reason was for human beings to see the ugly, destructive, unforgiving, nature of sin itself. My friends, sin punishes its victims. God does not have to do it. He simply allows sin to show its real intentions, and do its terrible work. His plan is to save the sinner!
When the ceremonial law was instituted, it was not with the purpose of destroying innocent animals. It was, I believe, an attempt to get human beings to see the ugliness of sin and hate it! The sinner had to take the innocent lamb to the altar and slit its neck, so that human beings could see the destructive nature of sin, for themselves! God has not changed. He is still hoping that our eyes will be opened to our true condition and the true nature of sin!
Whatever the brother had done, Paul is encouraging the members of the church to forgive him and restore him. The discipline that was inflicted was enough. It is now time to receive him back to full fellowship. We do not want him to be overwhelmed with sorrow. Remind him, that through it all, we never stopped loving him! I also have forgiven him to leave you an example, “lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices” (11). Yes, dear friends, behind every fall, every discouragement, every misunderstanding , within the body of Christ, is the Adversary, waiting to “take advantage” of the situation. But if we are willing, God is able, to help us apply the healing balm of forgiveness to those who need it!