Chapter 2
Paul says he didn't want to come and be disappointed in the Corinthians. I think that's what he's saying. He had written them that severe, scolding, reprimanding letter. He had "spanked his grandchildren severely", and feeling awful that he'd had to do it. And even after that, he was almost afraid to be around them, lest he find out they held it against him, and blamed him, and revolted further, rather than turning back from what they were doing in repentance, and realization that the severity of the letter was because of his fear of losing them to rebellion, not because of ill will toward them.
There was apparently someone who was so out of line on something - immorality maybe, given the first letter, or one of the false apostles - that the church majority had inflicted a severe punishment on him. Maybe something like banishment from the body, a withdrawal of fellowship to the point of not even seeing that person. And though some likely disagreed, they had all participated in order to be united in their action. Paul is afraid that this person, so treated, and now apparently repentant, will not be forgiven, and that forgiveness is being withheld, at least in part, because they don't think Paul will ever forgive this person. Maybe it was the person who had publicly insulted Paul when he made the trip from Ephesus to try and fix things??? That seems a likely thing. Now that he has repented, Paul encourages forgiveness. This is also possibly about unity within the church. The reason to exclude someone is to encourage their repentance. And if that is accomplished, there should be a way for them to come back. This is almost as if one of the founding members of this church got taken in by the false apostles, went nuts with carnality, and despite the love everyone had for him, between the church and Paul, he had to be put out.
2021- We just cannot know the details. There are two missing letters that may explain it all. But in these two letters, we don't know what happened. Therefore, we can only look at this in principle. The principle is that church discipline applied to church members can be a very heavy load to bear for those so disciplined, and that wisdom must be exercised in the timing of reconciliation, lest the damage be too extensive. Further, Satan might use even the application of required and necessary discipline - when overdone - to create division and disunity within a church.
2021-2, I think unity is the issue here. Look at these verses:
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. [2Co 2:10-11 ESV]
Satan's design seems to be to create division over whether or not to withhold forgiveness. You have the "high horse" group, who along with Paul, pronounced a severe punishment on someone. They feel powerful and authoritative, and perhaps would rather not face this person, so they maintain that the punishment stay in effect despite the appearance of true repentance. On the other side you have the merciful, who cannot bear to see this repentant old friend in distress and they want to forgive and embrace and bring him back into fellowship. Both these traits - excluding those who persist in sin, and forgiving those who are repentant - are good Christian qualities, as church requirements...ahh...maybe that is the key here...Satan is playing church discipline against individual mercy. So even though both groups are trying their hardest, their sincerest, to do the right thing according to the teaching of God and Paul, they are in conflict with each other, creating a rift in church unity.
These verses:
15 For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, 16 to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? [2Co 2:15-16 ESV] If we are consistent, we will appeal to some on behalf of Christ, and we will be violently avoided by some. We are light or dark. We smell sweetly or we smell of death. People's reactions to us will reflect how we "smell" to them. If we are sincere...Those who are just there to "peddle", to sell a little snake oil, to make a few feel better for a little while, to collect a few paychecks and move on...These won't evoke the reactions that those who are commissioned by God in the sight of God will evoke. I think...Is Paul saying that the pain his letters have caused, the severe words he has used with them, and the discipline he has insisted they invoke have made some revise their view of him completely, while the "pacifiers", and the "there there" people are still regarded well...even though they don't really care how things go as long as they get paid? Is this a lesson about speaking out when doctrine is being diluted, or when outright lies are being told? It might be...But I think mostly Paul wants these people in Corinth where he spent so much time to kindly regard him now, after all that has happened, as they did when he was with them the first time. That is what this is. Corinth was like home, and Paul is feeling unwelcome at home. Yes. That's the sense of this.