Biblion Bible Commentary
Read the introduction to 2 Corinthians · About this commentary
Forgive and Comfort Him
2 Corinthians 2:5-8
5 But if any has caused sorrow, he has caused sorrow not to me, but in part (that I not press too heavily) to you all. · WEB
Paul plays down his own injury, calls the discipline finished, and identifies the remaining danger as too much punishment rather than too little.
The offender is never named and the offense is never described. What is said about it is a piece of arithmetic Paul performs against his own interest: if any has caused sorrow, he has caused sorrow not to me, but in part... to you all.
He had the strongest claim to being the injured party and he gives it up. The parenthesis — that I not press too heavily — shows him aware that he could press, and choosing a lower figure than he is owed.
Verse 6 then declares the matter closed: this punishment which was inflicted by the many is sufficient for such a one. Two things are conceded in that sentence. The congregation did act, so the discipline was real and Paul does not second-guess it. And it has reached the point where it has done its work. Sufficient is a limit, and a discipline without one is not discipline.
What follows is an instruction that runs opposite to the direction such cases usually travel: you should rather forgive him and comfort him. Not merely readmit — comfort, the word from the letter's opening, where it was described as something received from God and handed on 2 Corinthians 1:4. The man under discipline is now placed among the afflicted who have a claim on it.
And the reason given is a risk to him: lest by any means such a one should be swallowed up with his excessive sorrow. The verb is used of being drowned or devoured. The danger has changed sides. It was the offense; it is now the grief, and a congregation that keeps punishing a repentant man is described as capable of destroying him.
Verse 8 asks for something formal rather than a feeling: I beg you to confirm your love toward him. The verb belongs to ratifying a decision publicly. Private goodwill will not do, because the injury was public and the restoration has to be visible in the same room.
And Paul asks rather than orders — I beg — in a letter that spends four chapters establishing he has the right to command.
settled What this mark means