2 Corinthians 2 – Brandon Hatmaker “Stop the Carnage”
Tuesday, July 8th, 2008
“Now if anyone has caused pain, he has caused it not to me, but in some measure—not to put it too severely—to all of you. For such a one, this punishment by the majority is enough, so you should rather turn to forgive and comfort him, or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. So I beg you to reaffirm your love for him. For this is why I wrote, that I might test you and know whether you are obedient in everything. Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. Indeed, what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ, so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.” 2 Corinthians 2:5-11
Although the leaders of the Corinthian church were slow to “discipline” those who needed it, when they finally did, they went too far and became emotionally and spiritually destructive to another believer. This was obviously a very painful situation. So Paul gave them three levels of advice to redeem the situation:
The first level was to recognize that the punishment they had inflicted was enough, and that the man had shown that the punishment had its intended effect; the person had repented of his action.
Second, Paul told them to forgive and comfort the man rather than continue the discipline. He recognized that the punishment of withholding restoration was in itself a continued form of punishment. Instead of aphiemi, a common word used in the NT for forgiveness, Paul uses charizomai, which means to "give freely" and therefore instructing them to forgive based on an attitude of graciousness. Obviously, this is in view of God’s gracious attitude toward us as well as the example of Jesus, and should surely be remembered. Through his words, “or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow”, it is probable that the man was in a constant state of discouragement from their overreaction. Paul is telling them that they need to stop the punishment and replace it with encouragement.
The final level of instruction Paul gives, and is a reminder to us all, is for them to literally and intentionally reaffirm their love for the man. (“So I beg you to reaffirm your love for him” vs. 8) The word "to reaffirm" means "to confirm" or "ratify." This was a common term used in legal documents of the day. Whatever their method, some believe publicly (since the discipline was public), Paul is instructing them to reassure him of their love and show that Christian discipline is always for redemptive purposes and never just for punishment.
I read recently in a commentary about this chapter that, “The Corinthians had to be reminded of this. But it is not much different today. Many church leaders have equal difficulty knowing when to discipline and when to forgive.”
Father, remind us to always pursue and have a posture of encouragement, mercy, and compassion in the offering of restoration. Help us to see when we are neglecting these mandates. In light of your mercy, I pray that we would offer mercy. In light of your healing, I pray for healing for the broken. Amen.
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I think you bring up an incredibly relevant point, Brandon, especially in light of the church landscape today.
ReplyDeleteThere exists within today's church a constant tension of either being too harsh in our discipline, (like Paul speaks of here) or too lenient.
We need discipline in our walks, especially as men. We need to sharpen, challenge and confront each other. We need to be strong enough in our faith to allow someone to sound the call, and help us to hunt down our sin and drag it into the light of Christ to be dealt with forever.
But you're right on when you say that the purpose of discipline in the church is to reassure love "and show that Christian discipline is always for redemptive purposes and never just for punishment." You never want to leave somebody cold and alone in a fragile place of brokenness...Jesus restored and we must do the same.
Similarly, a reluctance to discipline doesn't create disciples, it creates a social club. Churches that are afraid to preach God's word for fear of offending or hurting feelings only drive people away from God and into themselves. Many of these churches pride themselves on "loving" more than others, but true love never allows one to continue walking into a firestorm.
Proverbs 27:6 says that wounds from a sincere friend are better than many kisses from an enemy. One of my all-time favorite quotes is from Ralph Waldo Emerson who says, “I do not wish to treat friendships daintily, but with the roughest courage. When they are real, they are not glass threads or frost-work, but the solidest thing we know.” I think both sum up true love and concern quite nicely.
Love must be at the root of our discipline. We must love enough to discipline, but also enough to pick the willing up off the floor, throw an arm around them and continue on in our walk together toward the glory of Christ.
I think we all need someone in our lives that will tell us as it is. We need someone that we have let so close that can call us on the carpet when we need to be called on the carpet. It is hard to find that type of person. It has to be someone we are comfortable with to allow them to be that close. It hurts to have someone point out our flaws. But, we need that accountability. We need someone to help us walk with God. The enemy would like nothing more than to drive a spike between us and God. We need someone to help us out. When we are straying true love will tell us so and then not cut us loose but, bring us back into our walk with God.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your input guys. One of the things that both of you have drawn out is that while this scripture is certainly giving us the framework for formalized Church Discipline, it's the same heart and motive for the framework of private and personal rebuke and restoration as well. Good stuff. Thanks for your thoughts.
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