{"id":6585,"date":"2020-07-08T08:10:43","date_gmt":"2020-07-08T13:10:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/wp\/?p=6585"},"modified":"2020-07-08T08:28:12","modified_gmt":"2020-07-08T13:28:12","slug":"2-corinthians-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/?p=6585","title":{"rendered":"2 Corinthians 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

For I made up my mind\u00a0not to make another painful visit to you.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>2\u00a0<\/span>For\u00a0if I cause you pain, who is there to make me glad but the one whom I have pained?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>3\u00a0<\/span>And I wrote as I did, so that when I came I might not suffer pain from those who should have made me rejoice,\u00a0for I felt sure of all of you, that my joy would be the joy of you all.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>4\u00a0<\/span>For\u00a0I 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.<\/span><\/p>\n

Paul hoped that his letter would get all the painful work out of the way. Then when he did visit them personally, it would be a pleasant visit because they would have taken advantage of the opportunity he gave them to get right.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Forgive the Sinner<\/span><\/h3>\n

5\u00a0<\/span>Now\u00a0if anyone has caused pain,\u00a0he has caused it not to me, but\u00a0in some measure\u2014not to put it too severely\u2014to all of you.<\/span>\u00a06\u00a0<\/span>For such a one,\u00a0this punishment by the majority is enough,<\/span>\u00a07\u00a0<\/span>so\u00a0you should rather turn to forgive and comfort him, or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow.<\/span>\u00a08\u00a0<\/span>So I beg you to reaffirm your love for him.<\/span>\u00a09\u00a0<\/span>For this is why I wrote, that I might\u00a0test you and know\u00a0whether you are obedient in everything.<\/span>\u00a010\u00a0<\/span>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,<\/span>\u00a011\u00a0<\/span>so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for\u00a0we are not ignorant of his designs.<\/span><\/p>\n

Paul wrote strongly in 1 Corinthians 5, and the Corinthian Christians met the test by doing what Paul said to do. Now he puts them\u00a0to the test\u00a0again, telling them to show love to the repentant brother.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Triumph in Christ<\/span><\/h3>\n

12\u00a0<\/span>When\u00a0I came to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ, even though\u00a0a door was opened for me in the Lord,<\/span>\u00a013\u00a0<\/span>my spirit\u00a0was not at rest because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I took leave of them and went on to Macedonia.<\/span><\/p>\n

14\u00a0<\/span>But\u00a0thanks be to God, who in Christ always\u00a0leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads\u00a0the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere.<\/span>\u00a015\u00a0<\/span>For we are the aroma of Christ to God among\u00a0those who are being saved and among\u00a0those who are perishing,<\/span>16\u00a0<\/span>to one a fragrance from death to death,\u00a0to the other a fragrance from life to life.\u00a0Who is sufficient for these things?<\/span><\/p>\n

In the same way, the message of the gospel is a message of life to some and a message of condemnation to those who reject it.<\/strong><\/p>\n

17\u00a0<\/span>For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God’s word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ\u00a0<\/span>from death to death,\u00a0to the other a fragrance from life to life.\u00a0Who is sufficient for these things?<\/span><\/p>\n

In the same way, the message of the gospel is a message of life to some and a message of condemnation to those who reject it.<\/strong><\/p>\n

17\u00a0<\/span>For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God’s word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

Pastor Nathan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"excerpt","protected":false},"author":1168,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","filesize_raw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6585","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible-reading"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6585","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1168"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6585"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6585\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6588,"href":"http:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6585\/revisions\/6588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}