2 Corinthians 2:5-11 Study Guide: Forgiveness and Restoration

Community Group Study Guide — Forgiveness and Restoration 

2 Corinthians 2:5-11

Study Information:

Many of us have been deeply wronged by other Christians and Jesus’s teaching on forgiveness can be challenging for us. We know that we’re commanded to forgive but that comes with a lot of emotion and opens up a ton of questions around what restoration looks like. In our previous study guide we talked about jumping to conclusions, assuming motives and criticism between people and it appears that what was going on in Corinth could be traced back to an individual or small group of people who were the ringleaders of the anti-Paul movement. It is like that you have had many situations where someone has deeply wronged you either through lying, gossip or by assuming the worst of you. In an ideal world, those people repent and ask for forgiveness. But, what happens when their sin was not just against an individual but against the church? What if that person was brought under church discipline and then repented? In our text, Paul referred to a church discipline situation that led to one’s repentance, which is the goal of church discipline, however the church struggled to actually forgive and restore the brother or sister to fellowship. Forgiveness and restoration can be a struggle for us because we often have a hard time imagining that someone else can actually change and we do not want to be put in a situation where we will be hurt again. Yet, Paul gives us practical steps when someone who has wronged us repents and we would be wise to follow them. 

Factions in Corinth

2 Corinthians 2:5-6

We know from Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians that the church struggled with unity and factions and our text here talks about “punishment by the majority” meaning that there was likely a minority group that disagreed with what happened. So what’s going on? Paul referenced one who had caused him pain and how that caused the entire church pain and that this individual was punished (2 Cor 2:5). This could be referring to the situation in 1 Cor 5 where a man was having sexually immoral relations with his step mom and Paul instructed the church to put the man out of fellowship rather than tolerate the sin. However, it is unlikely that Paul was thinking about this instance given the context of 2 Corinthians. What is more likely is that there was a specific ringleader in the anti-Paul movement at Corinth who was pushing the story that led to their collective criticism of Paul that we explored previously. Titus, who was present in Corinth as they worked out these issue and processed Paul’s previous “painful” letter, probably brought a report back to Paul about the situation. It could have gone something like this, the ringleader started to drum up accusations against Paul and created a faction of people at Corinth who formed their criticisms against him which led to the pain in Paul’s previous visit (2 Cor 2:1). Paul then sent Titus to them and some time later Paul wrote his “painful letter.” The church received that letter and in some time repented of their criticisms and attitudes towards Paul they then the church responded with church discipline for the anti Paul faction ringleader, but took it too far. The “majority” severed fellowship with him and after some time this individual repented but they took it too far in that they held their grudge against him and would not allow him to be restored. 

Church discipline is the practice that Christ commanded us to follow when someone was living in unrepentant sin and is designed for our holiness and repentance. Jesus taught in Matthew 19 that if someone sins against you, you’re to go to them and tell them their fault. Obviously there are certain sins that we love look in love (1 Pet 4:8), but if someone continues in sin or sins grievously, we have a responsibility to seek their holiness. If that person does not listen, we are to get another and go to them again, and finally if they are unrepentant we are to “tell it to the church.” Paul’s teaching in 1 Corinthians 5 also escalated church discipline to removing them from fellowship in hopes they’d turn and repent. This whole process has the goal to be restorative and to seek the holiness of the one who was caught in sin. Likely this is what happened with the “punishment by the majority” in this particular case, except that the Corinthians were unwilling or slow to let this individual back into church fellowship. They seemed to have used church discipline punitively rather than a means of restoration and this was causing excessive sorrow (2 Cor 2:7). 

Forgiveness and Restoration

2 Corinthians 2:7-11

In response to repentance Christians are to turn and forgive (2 Cor 2:7). Forgiveness means to release another’s debt against us. When we forgive we are saying that we are no longer going to hold that action against them or seek revenge. Forgiveness does not mean that we ignore justice or that the same level of trust is restored or that we are unwise in our future actions with them, but it means that we let go of bitterness or punishment against them. In this case, Paul was talking to the church rather than an individual and has different instructions because of that. Not only was the church to forgive, but the church was commanded to comfort and reaffirm their love (2 Cor 2:7-8). This implies the releasing of debt and the restoration of warmth in community. If this person was removed from fellowship for an extended period of time the necessity of reaffirming love would be really important. People can hold grudges and bitterness and treat others differently even after genuine repentance and that is not godly. Likewise, this person may have been in need of some sort of formal affirmation to highlight that they had been restored to the church. They would need to be included once again in the regular life of the church and treated as a brother or sister in Christ. This does not mean that they would be without consequence or wisdom, for example it would be hard to imagine restoring this person in Corinth to a prominent role of leadership given how they had abused that leadership in the past, but it would be ungodly and a harsh punishment to treat them as a “lesser” Christian or to keep them at arm’s length in terms of regular ongoing fellowship. 

Forgiveness and restoration are so important in the life of the church because it reflects the gospel. Paul connected their forgiveness of this repentant sinner to the work of Jesus when he wrote that anything they forgave that he also forgave for their sake “in the presence of Christ (2 Cor 2:10).” The church has the ability to act as an agent of reconciliation and minister on behalf of Christ on this side of eternity (2 Corinthians 5:18-19). This means that we get to model the gospel in our extending forgiveness and restoring repentant sinners into fellowship. You know who loves disunity and unforgiveness? Satan. Satan desires for our fellowship to be disrupted and disunited and he rejoices when churches hold grudges and break into factions (2 Cor 2:11). He loves when we bite and devour each other and have hatred for one another because when we do that we weaken the gospel witness. So consider whether or not you’re withholding forgiveness and restoration towards repentant Christians and if so take steps to reassure them of your love, comfort them and forgive them as God forgave you in Christ. 

At your community group:

Take 15-20 minutes to share about how God has been at work in your life, prayer concerns and pray for one another.

How did God speak to you through the scripture and the sermon this week? 

Discussion Questions:

2 Corinthians 2:5-11

Describe the context of what was happening in the church of Corinth. How was the church disunited and broken into factions?

What is the goal of the church discipline process and how does Paul reference that in 2 Cor 2:5-11? 

Paul gave them three specific actions: forgive, comfort and affirm your love. How is restoration of a repentant sinner different than just forgiveness? Some question to consider: Can you forgive someone who is unrepentant? Can you restore someone to fellowship who is unrepentant? What does it look like for a church to affirm their love for a repentant sinner?

What are some ways we can be personally challenged to show forgiveness and restoration? How can you take a step forward in extending forgiveness this week?