2 Corinthians 2

  • 2Corinthians 2:1 But I determined this with myself, that I would not come again to you in heaviness.
  • 2 For if I make you sorry, who is he then that maketh me glad, but the same which is made sorry by me?
  • 3 And I wrote this same unto you, lest, when I came, I should have sorrow from them of whom I ought to rejoice; having confidence in you all, that my joy is the joy of you all.
  • 4 For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote unto you with many tears; not that ye should be grieved, but that ye might know the love which I have more abundantly unto you.
  • 5 But if any have caused grief, he hath not grieved me, but in part: that I may not overcharge you all.
  • 6 Sufficient to such a man is this punishment, which was inflicted of many.
  • 7 So that contrariwise ye ought rather to forgive him, and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow.
  • 8 Wherefore I beseech you that ye would confirm your love toward him.

If the old devil can't get us one way, he will try another. This is why proper love and proper discernment is necessary in all things.

In 1st Corinthians Paul dealt with the serious issue that the church had one among them committing open adultery with his father's wife. The church thought they were okay and didn't need to worry about it. After all, are we not saved by grace and not works? Paul quickly admonished them and made it clear that they should be grieved, not rejoicing that one among them was living in sin and still claiming to be a spirit filled child of God.

Paul quickly asked them to correct the man and not even pray for his physical healing if he were to get sick.

The man apparently repented and turned from his ways but now the people are going to the opposite extreme and are not to easy to forgive. Paul is admonishing them to forgive him and restore the fellowship they had with him before he sinned.

We are to seek to restore anyone who commits error and sin. Our job is to save the lost, not just to condemn. If one refuses to change or repent, we are to let the person know that they have sinned and leave him or her up to God. While we are not to condone sin, we are to restore and forgive one who repents and shows a desire to make himself right with God. If one repents and we do not forgive, we stand in jeopardy ourselves for Christ said that we are to forgive if any trespass against us.

This may be the first love the Ephesians church had lost when Christ was admonishing them. They were great in sound doctrine and rebuked those that claimed to be something they were not, yet they were complimented by Christ for not allowing false teachings of the Nicolaitans. They had left there first love. Perhaps they had lost their compassion for the lost and those in trouble spiritually as well as forgetting the presence of Jesus in their midst and His compassion for all of us.

True love will correct the wrong because the end result is the saving of the soul but true love also will forgive when a person asks forgiveness and desires to turn to the right way.

  • 2Corinthians 2:9 For to this end also did I write, that I might know the proof of you, whether ye be obedient in all things.
  • 10 To whom ye forgive any thing, I forgive also: for if I forgave any thing, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person of Christ;
  • 11 Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.

Satan continues to defile the church where and when he can. If he can't get us to forsake righteousness and allow sin, he will try to get us to be so strict and straight-laced that we have no compassion upon the poor, suffering, the sinner or the repentant saint. When we study the teaching of the 7 churches in Revelation we see examples of the types of error that can creep into a church.

Some can be lukewarm and claim to have so much love that they never correct or reprove sin and some can be so strict that they lose their compassion for sinners.

Both extremes are wrong.

  • 2Corinthians 2:12 Furthermore, when I came to Troas to preach Christ's gospel, and a door was opened unto me of the Lord,
  • 13 I had no rest in my spirit, because I found not Titus my brother: but taking my leave of them, I went from thence into Macedonia.
  • 14 Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savor of his knowledge by us in every place.
  • 15 For we are unto God a sweet savor of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish:
  • 16 To the one we are the savor of death unto death; and to the other the savor of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things?

To those who will receive the gospel, we are as a sweet fragrance but to those who reject the gospel, we are not a fragrance but a reminder to them that they will suffer loss and eternal death.

  • 2Corinthians 2:17 For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ.

Corrupting the word of God would be to leave out part of it and only preach the good things or preach the bad and not comfort by preaching the good. Another way is to take verses out of context to push a doctrine that fits what we want to convey instead of what the word itself teaches if one leaves the verse in its surrounding context.

An example would be to quote.

Isaiah's prophesy:

  • Isaiah 43:19 Behold, I will do a new thing;

We could use just that part of a verse to put with anything we wanted to teach as God's new thing. Some have done it.

Yet here is the whole verse:

  • Isaiah 43:19 Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.

If one reads the whole chapter, we see that God is talking to Israel with a promise that they will be restored after being in bondage to Babylon. It is clear also that the Lord is talking of the time of Christ's second return when HE (Jesus Christ) will set up His kingdom and Israel will be restored all their land that was promised to Abraham.

Those who quote, "God is doing a new thing," needs to be careful not to add to or take away from the word of God. The new thing God does is bring salvation to those who believe in Jesus Christ. The new thing is the new birth when one receives Christ whether as an individual or as a nation. The new thing to the church has already been revealed. The new thing is salvation through Christ.

How can we improve upon that which we already have? Behold He makes all things new. This is first the new birth then the new kingdom at the second coming of Jesus Christ.

The kingdom of God is within each and every believer. This is the new thing. That one can be lost and separated from God but through Jesus one can be saved and inherit eternal life. That is the new thing and not some manmade thing we use this verse to teach. When God completes this new thing, it will be when Christ comes back in person to set up His kingdom and casts out the evil. That new thing can happen to each one of us as individuals but one day it will happen to the whole world. Isaiah prophecies of the restoration of Israel and bringing Israel back into fellowship with God that they lost because of sin.

The new thing is the first and second coming of Jesus Christ to bring eternal life to all who believe. 

11 Corinthians 3

 

 
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