2 Corinthians 2:10Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Do you see how again he lowers himself before them, setting them in the first place and himself in the second?

He does all this in order to soften hardened souls and bend coarse hearts.

Then, lest he give occasion to think that the whole matter has been left to their authority, and lest they become obstinate in forgiving the guilty man, he again moves them to it.

He says that he himself has also granted him forgiveness. "For I also, if I have forgiven anyone anything, I have forgiven it for your sakes."

"This very thing," he says, "I have done for you."

The first time, when he commanded the guilty man to be cut off, he did not give them authority to forgive him.

"Whom you forgive anything, I also forgive." By this he softens the disagreement and obstinacy by which they might fail to show condescension to the man.

Here he presents them as the source of his forgiveness, and himself as agreeing with them. He says, "Whom you forgive anything, I also forgive."

"For I also, if I have forgiven anyone anything, have forgiven him for your sakes in the presence of Christ."

Lest they think forgiveness has been left to their authority and therefore neglect forgiving the man, he shows that he has already granted it to him, so that they cannot oppose him.

Yet, lest they be offended as though disregarded, he says: for your sakes I granted him forgiveness, for I knew that you would agree with me.

For if you forgive anyone anything, so much more do I. For if I have granted forgiveness to anyone through the request addressed to you, I have granted it for your sake before the face of Christ, precisely for the sake of Christ's love.

Finally, concerning one who repented after fornication, the Apostle said: "On the contrary, you ought rather to forgive and comfort him. If you forgive anyone anything, I also forgive" (2 Cor. 2:7, 10). And lest we think that a man's gift should be despised, he added: "For if I have forgiven anything, to whom I have forgiven it, I have done so for your sake in the presence of Jesus Christ" (v. 10). The gifts of Christ are diverse.

It is clear here that the Apostle himself does the same thing that he commands others to do.

For he cannot refuse himself in the very matter about which he wrote urgent recommendations in his epistles, though he had authority to command.

In his first epistle he deeply condemned the crime of the named man, so that all would recoil from him in horror.

Now, when the Apostle wants that man received back, he appeals to the brethren not to wound their hearts further against him and to abandon harsh treatment of him.

The brothers did not have such discernment as the Apostle Paul, so that they could immediately grasp the need to do what the Apostle was now saying.

Therefore Paul implores them to forgive him, pointing out that God has forgiven him.

"Whom you forgive anything, I also forgive." When he pronounced the punitive sentence upon him, he did not give them the right to show any leniency.

He saw that they held the scales of judgment incorrectly.

But since he learned that they had drawn benefit from what was written, he gives them the right to show generosity.

He says, "Whom you forgive anything, I also forgive. For I also, if I have forgiven anything, whom I have forgiven, I have forgiven for your sakes."

This word suggests the thought that the Corinthians, through the blessed men Timothy and Titus, had asked the Apostle concerning the sinner.

Lest anyone think that the Apostle, out of pleasing men, neglected justice, he added: "in the presence of Jesus Christ."

That is, I do this while Christ sees it and is well pleased with what has been done. He also states the reason.

Thus, since holy men keep sleepless watch in order to examine themselves from every side and guard themselves everywhere, they do not desire evil for its own sake.

Nor do they commit it under the appearance of good. That is, they do not deceitfully admit vices into themselves as virtues.

Therefore they have the whole body full of eyes all around, because every action of theirs is both filled with and surrounded by prudent care.

For this reason the Apostle Paul, when he wished the Corinthians to have compassion on a certain man repenting of the crime he had committed, says: "Whom you forgive anything, I also forgive.

If you forgive anything, I also forgive. He calls mercy a gift, reminding them by this that in the Church everything is done by grace. "I forgave for your sake." This word led blessed Theodoret to think that the Corinthians, through the blessed men Timothy and Titus, asked the Apostle on behalf of the one who had sinned. "In the presence of Jesus Christ." Just as, in the case of excommunication, the Apostle commanded that it be done in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 5:4), so he commands the reception to be done in the presence of Jesus Christ. Both here and there he joins himself to the Corinthians.

He places himself in the closest bond with the Corinthians, so that where they are, there he is also.

He lets them go ahead and presents himself as following after them. He shows them his obedience, so as to cut off every fault in them that might lead to disobedience.

He had already pronounced mercy on the guilty man before they had even thought of it. But he pronounced it with their benefit, their good, and their common salvation in view.

"I have forgiven," he says, "for your sakes." He did this not by displaying and exercising his own authority, but by drawing the motive for such action from them.

It was as though he had received the command from them.