2 Corinthians 2 Discussion

A wide open door for ministry sits in front of Paul and he walks away anyway. That single decision in 2 Corinthians 2 exposes a deeper set of questions we all face: What does faithful leadership look like when your heart is heavy? When does love confront, and when does love step back? And how do you keep ministry from becoming an excuse to ignore the people God has actually placed in your care? 

We follow Paul’s explanation for why he changes his travel plans and sends a painful, tear-soaked letter instead. His words cut against the idea that spiritual correction should be harsh or detached. Paul disciplines because he loves, and he refuses to turn conflict into revenge. From there, we talk about forgiveness and restoration after church discipline and why Paul warns that being too severe can leave someone crushed with sorrow and can even become part of Satan’s strategy. That’s a needed word for church life, reconciliation, and any Christian trying to hold truth and mercy together. 

Then we unpack one of the most vivid images in the New Testament: Christ leading believers in triumphal procession and the gospel as an aroma. The same message can smell like life to one person and death to another, depending on what they do with Jesus. We also address the temptation to “peddle” God’s word for personal gain and why sincere ministry matters. We end with hands-on application, including ordered loves, spiritual discernment, and being ready to forgive. 

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Transcript

Pastor Plek 0:10

And welcome back to a chapter day. Keeps the devil away. I'm Pastor Pleck. This is Pastor Holland. We're talking 2 Corinthians chapter 2. We're going to observe it. We are going to interpret it. We're going to apply it so that you and Jesus can walk fully committed to his way today. Now let's start with the outline. Look at verses 1 through 4. You got a further explanation of the changed plans and what Paul's motivation actually was. Then you got verses 5 through 11. You've got the appeal for forgiveness and restoration of the guy who offended the church, Paul Jesus. Then you got verses 12 through 17. You got Paul has anxiety and troas, and his ministry is being a triumphant aroma, which we'll talk more about what that means.

Pastor Holland 1:01

Yeah, well, okay, first observation, you get more information in this uh chapter about, you know, just what's going on with Paul and why he didn't visit them and why he wrote them a letter. And um uh he he says in verse four, 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. So in between first and second Corinthians, you had Paul was going to visit them, but he decided not to, and instead wrote them the tearful letter, um, expressing, you know, his uh pastoral concerns um about something going on there and also his love for them. Um and so he's explaining that situation and then addressing it here. So I just think that's important for the context.

Pastor Plek 1:45

Yeah, it is important, and I and I think, you know, whether he was preempted by that almost dying, or whether he was preempted by he felt led differently by the Lord, either one works.

Pastor Holland 1:56

Yeah, well, verse one, he says, I made up my mind not to make another painful visit to you. Okay, there you go. So, you know, it may have been like while he was experiencing, you know, m this like very challenging suffering, he goes, You know what? I don't want to bring pain on them. I'm gonna write this letter instead and hopefully let them sort it out. So I yeah. Okay.

Pastor Plek 2:18

Uh now I like how now if anyone has caused pain, he's caused it not to me, but in some measure, not to put it too severely to all of you. What do you think he's meaning there?

Pastor Holland 2:28

Okay. So um ESV study Bible here, I'll say, I'll just bring this up. It says that um the person in view here, when it says, if anyone has caused pain, um, is probably a Corinthian leader who was opposed to Paul. Um, someone who, you know, maybe like in 1 Corinthians, he's talking about some follow Paul, some follow Apollos. There were some people, um, and again, we know later who were saying, like, hey, don't listen to Paul, follow the super apostles instead. And so um, when he says, they haven't caused me pain, they've caused you pain, meaning I'm not offended by this person. But now our this church is on rocky ground, you know, there's division, there's strife. Um, so it could be that the this was a um a leader in the Corinthian church who is causing division, and they kicked him out of the church for it. And Paul's saying, Okay, well, you know, that's enough. That was a sufficient punishment. And now if this guy has repented, then receive him back, you know. Um verse verse seven uh turn to forgive and comfort him, or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. I beg you to reaffirm your love for him.

Pastor Plek 3:38

Yeah, I always thought this was his um issue with the guy with the weird, incestuous relationship with his father's wife. From 1 Corinthians 5. Right. Um, but it it could it could be, yeah. And I think I'm as I'm looking at um all my scholar notes, it goes a lot, people historically have gone both ways. Um, so I think you can got it go both ways. I kind of prefer that one because it makes a hey, listen, we we you brought punishment on that guy, and now here's the restoration aspect. Like, there is should be like, hey, you need to be outside the church for a season, let Satan buffet you. Oh, he's buffeted, and we'll bring that guy back in and restore him and treat him like a brother. Yeah, uh, but I think it also fits like if somebody was divisive, they would have got rid of that guy too. So there you go. It fits for both. Yeah.

Triumph, Aroma, And Gospel Reactions

Pastor Holland 4:28

Um what about um you said something about the triumphant triumphal procession?

Pastor Plek 4:35

This to me, I I felt has always been like a really cool thing. What do you what are your thoughts on what he means by like this smell and all that?

Pastor Holland 4:42

The triumphal procession was like uh when you would like conquer a um, you'd have like a victory parade, right? When you conquer someone and you like uh parade through the town with like the dead bodies and like the decapitated heads um and the prisoners of the people you conquered. And it's like, look, you know, we won, you guys. And so he's saying, um, Christ leads us in triumphal procession. Um and so, like when wherever we go, we're being led by Christ saying, Hey, we have victory over sin and darkness and evil and you know, um, demonic spirits and Satan, like we're the winners. And the fragrance, the fragrance of like the like Roman triumph parades would be like the fragrance of like the nasty dead bodies that they're carrying, right?

Pastor Plek 5:31

I always thought it was like they actually burned like some sort of incense. Okay. And as they'd have some incense. And so to the people that were like imprisoned, that was that was like that was a death smell. Yeah. To those who are the winners, the winners, it's like, hey, we win.

Pastor Holland 5:45

So it's the same and so as the gospel goes out, yeah. You know, like the gospel is like the fragrance of life to those who believe are like, yay, Jesus. Um, and to those who hate Jesus, it's like, oh, the stench of death. Yes, exactly. So that it's cool. The same smell can be life to one and death to another, depending on how you see Jesus. Okay.

Pastor Plek 6:05

How about look at verse 12? When I came to Trias to preach the gospel of Christ, even though a door was open for me in the Lord, my spirit was not at rest because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I took leave of them and went on to Macedonia. So he chooses not to share the gospel. Even though there was a wide open door, even though he probably would have been successful, but he missed his buddy Titus. Yeah. I that's kind of crazy. Yeah. Like his affection for Titus outweighed his desire to preach the gospel that souls might be saved. Yeah. And this is where, like, I think sometimes Paul gets sort of like accused of not understanding family because he was not never married. But here he has a love for uh another guy who's so deep that it prevented him from doing ministry because he wanted to make sure that Titus was good.

Pastor Holland 6:57

Yeah. I mean, I imagine if like I showed up on a mission trip to go preach the gospel somewhere, and I get a call that like my daughter's in the hospital or something. Like, as much as I want to lead people to Christ there, I'm gonna go be with my daughter and make sure she's okay. Yeah. Um, and I'm like, that kind of ordering of loves um makes sense to me. I think it's important to understand.

Pastor Plek 7:19

Let's talk about order of loves real quick. What's that mean?

Pastor Holland 7:21

Ordo amoris. Ordo amoris. The Latin phrase. Um, yeah, of ordered love, essentially saying um you have limitations. You can't do everything for everyone all the time. You have to choose often between who what's what the priorities, um, how your uh kind of time, resources, affections are gonna be um, you know, what they're gonna be focused on. Because even though I love all children in the world, you know, I want all children to know Jesus. I can't, I don't have access to get the gospel to all children, but I do have my children. Right. And so I'm gonna love them um first and most. Um that's the idea of ordered love. Is you have particular duties based on your responsibilities, um uh who's closest to you, you know, the nation you live in, the um community that your house is is in, that kind of thing. Um, your family, you have certain duties. And so for Paul, um, he's got his brother Titus that um he's worried about. Yeah. And he's like, I want to preach the gospel to everybody, but I gotta make sure Titus is okay.

Peddling God’s Word For Profit

Pastor Plek 8:28

Yeah, I love that. Um how about this one? Let's get actually let's first get into the nature of man. Um, men have a tendency to peddle God's word. What do you think about that?

Pastor Holland 8:42

Yeah, uh verse 17, he says we're not like so many peddlers of God's word already at you know, this early in Christianity. There are already televangelists. Yeah. There's already guys going, how do we make a buck off this? And um, you know, and I I would, you know, that kind of that already existed before Christianity too. You had old testament prophets who, you know, they just told the king whatever he wanted to hear, and they just wanted their paycheck and their, you know, royal whatever benefits. And um, and Paul says, you know, we're we're not like that, but that does happen a lot.

Pastor Plek 9:17

Yeah, that is wild. Okay, uh, what other ops or whatever nature of man thoughts do you have here?

Pastor Holland 9:24

To the unsaved, the gospel is a is a stench of death. Yeah. A fragrance from death to death. Um, there's a hatred of Jesus that you have as as someone who's not a believer. How about this one?

Pastor Plek 9:39

Conflict brings tears. Like, verse 4, I wrote to you out of much affliction and anguish of heart and with many tears. Like he doesn't want to do it to cause you pain, but to let you know the abundant love that I have for you. Like, he is writing a severe letter, not because um not to call like not to like stick it to him, because he wants to let you know how much I love you. In fact, this is why I say to my kids all the time, I love you too much to let you disobey. Yeah. And so I feel like Paul plants the church and is driving him crazy. Um, not because he just wants to stick it to them, but because he planted them. He's like a father to them many ways, and so he wants them to be successful, and it burdens him to no end that they're living in some sort of darkness. Yeah. Amen. Um, how about sometimes uh people there's a real reason to say no to ministry to go and find your brother? Yeah.

Applications: Forgive, Discern, Stay Sincere

Pastor Holland 10:37

Yeah, that's that's important. I think sometimes there are, you know, you know stories of like uh pastors who um end up getting disqualified from ministry because their marriage failed or their their their family, you know, fell apart because they gave all their time to ministry and didn't take care of their family. That's right. Um and it's like that's really sad. And you gotta you gotta get things in order there. Um and uh I I also think related to the um, you know, the the um discipline, Paul's basically disciplining them and saying, you know, this pains me to do this. I'm not trying to hurt you, it's because I love you. Um, but there there are times when you can be too severe. Um he he's warning them, he's saying, I'm trying to discipline you out of love. Follow my example. You I don't want you, you know, the guy that they excommunicated, he's when he's like, uh, for such a one, this punishment by the majority is enough. Meaning, like, don't keep going. Like, you can be too severe in your discipline, your chastisement, your rebuke. There's a tendency for Christians to be too severe in their discipline. Yeah, as opposed to saying, okay, this, you know, it's it's done its work, it's time to kind of welcome back with mercy. Okay.

Pastor Plek 11:52

How about some truths about God? Um how about God leads believers in constant triumph, like turning anxiety and opposition into a victory procession?

Pastor Holland 12:06

Yeah, I love that. Um, God opens doors for the gospel. Yeah, verse 12. And sometimes we walk through them and sometimes we gotta go check on our brother, but God opens the doors.

Pastor Plek 12:16

How about God values sincere ministry over just simply profiteering? Yeah.

Pastor Holland 12:21

Yeah. Um this uh verse 11, so that we would not be outwitted by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his designs. Um, God has revealed Satan's designs to us in the Word. We can read the Word and we can see how the serpent deceived Eve and got to Adam in the garden. We can see how you know Satan has deceived um different rulers or nations in the Old Testament. We can see the attempts that Satan made on Jesus in the wilderness, right? We how how do we know his designs? Well, God's shown us in his word so that we cannot be outwitted.

Pastor Plek 13:01

Nice. Okay, uh let's get into some application. We got sin to avoid or confess, a promise to claim, example to follow, or command to obey, or knowledge to believe. Uh, what do you got? Um, don't be outwitted by Satan. Nice. Uh yeah. Or how about don't withhold forgiveness after discipline? Uh-huh. That allows Satan to overwhelm with sorrow. I I really love that. Um, how about other one thing to confess any peddling of God's word for personal gain or insincerity in sharing the gospel?

Pastor Holland 13:34

Yeah.

Pastor Plek 13:34

Just want to make some bucks.

Pastor Holland 13:36

Yeah. Um, that's a good one.

Pastor Plek 13:40

Um about an example to follow. Um, whenever it comes to um discipline or reconciliation, like follow that tearful, heartfelt example. Uh I'm sure there is times for harsh confrontation, and I I think he probably was hard, but it came with tears, and I'm sure the tears came through the letter.

Pastor Holland 14:07

Yeah. I mean, be ready to forgive. Yeah. Verse 10 anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. Like you can see Paul's heart and all this stuff, you know, is like he want he wants to see people receive the mercy of God.

Pastor Plek 14:22

He's not ready to be a sour grape and be like, grudge, grudge, grudge, grudge, grudge. Um, how about just knowledge to believe? God's the leader of our triumphant processions, and every trial is a victory. And when we come and we talk about Jesus, it stinks to some, but man, it's just grace upon grace. And anytime you hear the stories of God's grace, it makes your heart swell with joy.

Pastor Holland 14:43

Yeah, I love that. Uh the example to follow, we talked about this several times, but for application of Paul, um, his spirit wasn't as re at rest. So he goes to look for Titus. Um, I think that spirit not at rest is a like I think that was a god, like a godly thing. You know, it's it's it's a just a sincere kind of like concern for someone. And like trust, that's like a a godly instinct. So like application-wise, it's like, man, when you have an instinct that's like, ah, this isn't right. I I need to go do this thing. Even though this seems like a really good opportunity, something in my gut is like, I need to, you know what I mean? Like, God can work through those instincts and um emotions.

Closing Takeaways And Farewell

Pastor Plek 15:31

I mean, that's yeah. Um, yeah, I really love that. Uh anything else? I think that kind of lands the plane here. Yeah. Hey, thanks so much for joining us. We'll see you next time on a chapter a day.