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Now, if anyone has caused you pain, he has not caused it
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 shall 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. 2 Corinthians
2:5-9 (ESV
Paul writes to the
Corinthian church. He tells them that, if someone brings hurt to them, that
person causes injury to all of them.
He continues by telling them
that the offender deserves forgiveness and comfort lest he becomes saddened. He pleads with them to
reaffirm their faith in the one guilty of wrongdoing.
Each of us, when we cause hurt to the LORD, can seek forgiveness and receive
comfort from Him. When someone brings hurt to us, we are to extend forgiveness
to that person. Sometimes we have to ask God to do it for us. But we must
forgive because God will not forgive us if we don’t forgive others.
The Apostle Paul then
explains the reason for his writing. He took the time to test the believers and
to know if they were obedient in everything. Paul speaks of forgiveness and of
obedience in this passage. We are to forgive the sinner because of God’s love
for us and for them. Paul tells us Bear
with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against
someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. Colossians 3:13 –(NIV)
Our motive for extending
forgiveness to someone who has sinned is that we want to be in God’s will and
obey Him. I wonder, have I ever not been
completely obedient to God? Due to being human, I probably have not always
obeyed Him.
Thanks for this words Cecelia. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. Now I am thinking. How was He forgiving me? It was zo rich, so amazing, so...
ReplyDeleteAritha, Thank you for your thoughts. God forgives each of us in ways of His choosing.He may ease the heartache we feel when we realize we have sinned. He may open a door to us that we thought was closed. Peace and blessings to you and yours.
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