2 Corinthians 7:8-13a (HCSB)
For even if I grieved you with my letter, I do not regret it—even though I did regret it since I saw that the letter grieved you, yet only for a little while. Now I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because your grief led to repentance. For you were grieved as God willed, so that you didn’t experience any loss from us. For godly grief produces a repentance not to be regretted and leading to salvation, but worldly grief produces death. For consider how much diligence this very thing—this grieving as God wills—has produced in you: what a desire to clear yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what deep longing, what zeal, what justice! In every way you showed yourselves to be pure in this matter. So even though I wrote to you, it was not because of the one who did wrong, or because of the one who was wronged, but in order that your diligence for us might be made plain to you in the sight of God. For this reason we have been comforted.
Paul’s earlier letter had caused a lot of hard feelings between himself and the Corinthian Christians. It had caused them to look closely at what they were doing and how they were doing it, and as is often the case, their first reaction was defensiveness. And that defensiveness led them to lash out against Paul.
Paul’s initial response had been regret that he had sent the letter, that he had made the accusations in the first place. But he also knew that, as a spiritual father of the Corinthian church, he could not just allow them to continue in the wrong direction. It may be less uncomfortable to ignore sin in the short-term, but it is the least loving thing that you can do in the long-term.
Paul notes that a key result of the Corinthians being confronted with their sin was godly sorrow, which led to repentance. Even though the Corinthians had initially been offended by Paul’s pointing to their sin, after the initial defensiveness had worn off, they had to admit that he was right, and they had repented and reformed their ways.
Now Titus brought his report of their transformation. The Corinthians had assured him that the problems had been fixed, and they were now walking in the righteousness that Paul wanted for them. And Paul now freely acknowledged that, based on Titus report, they were now innocent of the sin they had originally been accused of.
A side effect of this self-inspection, this repentance, and this reformation was that both they and Paul could now see how much Paul mattered to them, and how important it was to them that Paul was proud of them, not ashamed. This was motivating for them, and gratifying for Paul.
Father, the easiest thing to do when we see sin in another, especially in someone we care about, is to do nothing, to avoid confronting them out of fear that the relationship might be damaged by our criticism. But Paul knew that sin, any sin, was never inconsequential. It could not only cause someone’s soul to be lost, if left unconfronted it could easily spread throughout the whole Church. (1 Corinthians 5:6; Galatians 5:9). So, Paul cared enough for the individuals who were sinning, and for the whole Corinthian Church, to confront the sin. He was willing to risk offending someone, and to go through the process of reconciliation in order to save the souls of those he loved so much. In other words, he put the spiritual health and welfare of others above his own discomfort. Lord, help me to care that much for my own Christian brothers and sisters, so that I am willing to confront where that is necessary, to guide when that is needed, and to educate when that is lacking, so that they can be helped to repent, and so that they may be spiritually whole and healthy. Amen.