5 If anyone has caused grief, he has not so much grieved me as he has grieved all of you to some extent—not to put it too severely. 6 The punishment inflicted on him by the majority is sufficient. 7 Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. 8 I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your love for him.
9 Another reason I wrote you was to see if you would stand the test and be obedient in everything. 10 Anyone you forgive, I also forgive. And what I have forgiven—if there was anything to forgive—I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake, 11 in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.
One of the members of the Corinthian church caused Paul and the church a great deal of pain. We do not know what sin was committed, but we do know that in a separate letter, Paul had urged the church to discipline the man in a Biblical manner. Once this was done and the man repented, Paul says: “Now it is time to forgive him and comfort him. Otherwise, he may become so discouraged that he won’t be able to recover. Now show him that you still love him.”
9 Another reason I wrote you was to see if you would stand the test and be obedient in everything. 10 Anyone you forgive, I also forgive. And what I have forgiven—if there was anything to forgive—I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake, 11 in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.
One of the members of the Corinthian church caused Paul and the church a great deal of pain. We do not know what sin was committed, but we do know that in a separate letter, Paul had urged the church to discipline the man in a Biblical manner. Once this was done and the man repented, Paul says: “Now it is time to forgive him and comfort him. Otherwise, he may become so discouraged that he won’t be able to recover. Now show him that you still love him.”
What I think we can learn from this is that sin should not be ignored, but neither should the person who sinned be disciplined to the point that they feel hopeless. I once read that the Holy Spirit convicts us of sin so that we will confess it and turn to Christ for cleansing; but Satan accuses us of sin so that we will despair and give up. Of course, we are to follow the model that Jesus gives us in the way that we address sin and forgive others.
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