2 CORINTHIANS CHAPTER 2

[Kevin Young]

Moving forward to Chapter 2 of 2 Corinthians. After you read the chapter, please post your comments, insights, and questions here in this thread. Thank you to everyone who takes the time to post here. God bless.

[Bob]

Verses 5-11 speaks against condemnation, something that is prevalent in today's church. I think the way Paul describes it as "excessive sorrow" is a great point. If someone is going through a divorce, what good is negativity going to do to him? It's better to build, then to tear down.

Forgiveness is a subject that I've been meditating on a lot lately and it keeps popping up over and over again. I have someone that I really need to forgive, but have yet to feel like I've done so in my heart, so it's definitely been something I've been praying about lately.

[bandmonkey08]

For I wrote to you out of much affliction and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to cause you pain but to let you know the abundant love that I have for you.

this is really comforting because i know there have been several many times in my life when i've known the pain of someone else with a situation they're going through or even more personally, my younger sisters are not saved and i pray for them but it's also really hard and painful for me. i like that he writes that the affliction and tears are out of abundant love. that's just SO great. i really relate to that.

So I beg you to reaffirm your love for him.

this is something that really hit me hard. i know that many times when i've been upset with someone and have forgiven them for whatever happened, it's very often grudgingly or like "okay fine" something that takes me awhile. even when someone wrongs us, our reaction to them STILL needs to be out of love.

okay so i don't usually read in the message but as i was studying this section, i went to several different translations to get more revelation out of it and towards the end of the chapter where paul is talking about how we are a fragrance (namely verses 14-16), i was blown away by the different ways it's put in several different translations... so i'm going to share here:

In the Messiah, in Christ, God leads us from place to place in one perpetual victory parade. Through us, he brings knowledge of Christ. Everywhere we go, people breathe in the exquisite fragrance. Because of Christ, we give off a sweet scent rising to God, which is recognized by those on the way of salvation—an aroma redolent with life. But those on the way to destruction treat us more like the stench from a rotting corpse.

the message

But thanks be to God, Who in Christ always leads us in triumph [as trophies of Christ's victory] and through us spreads and makes evident the fragrance of the knowledge of God everywhere,
For we are the sweet fragrance of Christ [which exhales] unto God, [discernible alike] among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing:
To the latter it is an aroma [wafted] from death to death [a fatal odor, the smell of doom]; to the former it is an aroma from life to life [a vital fragrance, living and fresh]. And who is qualified (fit and sufficient) for these things? [Who is able for such a ministry? We?]

amplified bible

But thank God! He has made us his captives and continues to lead us along in Christ’s triumphal procession. Now he uses us to spread the knowledge of Christ everywhere, like a sweet perfume. Our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God. But this fragrance is perceived differently by those who are being saved and by those who are perishing. To those who are perishing, we are a dreadful smell of death and doom. But to those who are being saved, we are a life-giving perfume. And who is adequate for such a task as this?

new living translation

"Our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God."

seriously.
blown away.

[sassy1506]

This makes me feel horrible. He should come back from the dead and apologize!

No, in all seriousness, this DID make me feel horrible. I've made SO many people feel bad in the past couple of years. Probably 'cause I was depressed that all the best friends I had made in the past few years moved 15 or more hours away.

I've long since apologized and even made friends with half the people I used to be a jerk to, but I feel like a jerk. It doesn't help that everyone who's become my friend since I was 11 has told me that before they were my friend they thought that 1) I was a jerk, 2) I was depressing, or 3) both.

I'm really trying to act more Christian now that I actually AM one, but it's REALLY hard.

[stacfo]

I've long since apologized and even made friends with half the people I used to be a jerk to, but I feel like a jerk. It doesn't help that everyone who's become my friend since I was 11 has told me that before they were my friend they thought that 1) I was a jerk, 2) I was depressing, or 3) both.

Read your words above, Sam. See the evidence from your own mouth how you have allowed Christ to change you. Why would you feel horrible, when you can look back and see how you have grown? Show these people the evidence of a life changed, what a great witness!

I'm really trying to act more Christian now that I actually AM one, but it's REALLY hard.

Aquiring things of great worth are hard work.

[Ric]

Excellent points stacfo.

Some points I think should be made in this.

4 For I wrote you out of great distress and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to grieve you but to let you know the depth of my love for you.

Think about what rips your heart out worse - knowing that you've done something wrong, or realizing that you've hurt someone who loves you more than you ever knew. When we sin, we know we've done wrong. What may not be readily visible is the fact that we break God's heart when we sin. I heard a pastor explain this point, and I stopped on the side of the road and balled like a baby, because I knew I had broken God's heart!

A dear friend of mine once told me of a dream he had... he was drinking, smoking pot, feeling up girls, and just partying it up. Then he turned around and came face to face with Jesus. His crown of thorns, His nail-scarred hands and feet, the hole in His side... and He was crying His eyes out over what my friend had been doing! That dream jolted him awake.

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.

A fine example of how to handle someone caught in sin. Too often we get caught up in how awful somebody did instead of how to restore that person to the righteousness of Christ. A wise man once said "It's far easier to curse the darkness than to shine the light."

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....

Forgive as we've been forgiven. In doing so, we rid satan of any chance to let bitterness, envy, jealousy, and all sorts of other evils take over. forgiveness sets the wrongdoer free from guilt. and it how the wrongdoee lets go of the chains that would eventually hold him/her down in anger/bitterness/hurt/etc.

11 in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.

Like modern Navy SEALs, we need to be well aware of how the enemy forces operate. We need to have engrained in our muscle memory the countermeasures that repel their attacks. We need to know and shore up the weak points in our own defenses, and never, NEVER allow the enemy to break our lines!

Ask yourself this question throughout the day. "Am I ready to fight the enemy?"

[Kevin Young]

I have thoroughly enjoyed everyone's thoughts this week. Thanks for the different translations, Liz. That really blessed me.

see, we are not like the many hucksters* who preach for personal profit. We preach the word of God with sincerity and with Christ's authority, knowing that God is watching us. NLT

"Knowing that God is watching us." Wow! What a thought for the day. It reaffirms my belief that God is not interested in "what" we are doing.... but "why" we are doing what we are doing. My prayer for all of us is that we will not just serve God, but that we will serve Him with pure hearts; that He might be glorified. That we might advance His kingdom. That we will not just serve others, but also love them that we are serving.

[stacfo]

Forgive as we've been forgiven. In doing so, we rid satan of any chance to let bitterness, envy, jealousy, and all sorts of other evils take over. forgiveness sets the wrongdoer free from guilt. and it how the wrongdoee lets go of the chains that would eventually hold him/her down in anger/bitterness/hurt/etc.

Wow Ric- Awesome perspective. So often we see forgiveness as weakness, but instead here, you are showing how to put the power back in our hands, and poke satan in the eye. Perfect