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Restitution not Retribution (2 Corinthians 2:1-11)
Graham Powell, 21 May 2017
Part of the Defending the Faith series, Sunday Evening service
Our society seems to love seeing people fail – gossip columns and magazines make a lot of money out of such stories. Paul tells the church at Corinth to be different and to show love and compassion to those who have made a mess of things – to seek restitution not retribution.
2 Corinthians 2: 1-11
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|---|---|---|
| « I really did want to come | What's in it for me? | Living in Freedom » |
2 Corinthians 2:1–11 (Listen)
2:1 For I made up my mind not to make another painful visit to you. 2 For if I cause you pain, who is there to make me glad but the one whom I have pained? 3 And I wrote as I did, so that when I came I might not suffer pain from those who should have made me rejoice, for I felt sure of all of you, that my joy would be the joy of you all. 4 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.
5 Now if anyone has caused pain, he has caused it not to me, but in some measure—not to put it too severely—to all of you. 6 For such a one, this punishment by the majority is enough, 7 so you should rather turn to forgive and comfort him, or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. 8 So I beg you to reaffirm your love for him. 9 For this is why I wrote, that I might test you and know whether you are obedient in everything. 10 Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. Indeed, what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ, 11 so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.
(ESV)