Church Discipline - 2 Corinthians 1-3

2 Corinthians 1:23 - 2:1 (ESV)

But I call God to witness against me—it was to spare you that I refrained from coming again to Corinth. Not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, for you stand firm in your faith.

For I made up my mind not to make another painful visit to you.

The two letters written to the church at Corinth are a great look into early church polity (how churches out to be governed and by who) and politics (how churches are actually governed and by who).   The Corinthian church was a political church, meaning they had many leaders leveraging their position to have authority over others.  Paul had begun the church on his second missionary journey.   Paul was, by all accounts the established leader of the church.  But, false prophets came into the church and not only preached against Christ, but also, against Paul.  Paul sent the first letter to correct them.  He then sent another letter (never actually discovered), referred to in 2 Corinthians 2:4.   Paul then writes 2 Corinthians (shouldn’t it be referred to as 3rd Corinthians in light of 2:4?).  In this letter he is attempting to defend himself and his ministry, while not defending himself.  He wants the fruit of his ministry to defend himself.  So, he is recalling to them his work among them.  

This all brings us to the above passage.  Paul would like to come to them again, but he wants them to have time to respond to this “severe letter” he wrote to them:

2 Corinthians 2:4 (ESV)

For 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.

He does not want to lord over them his authority, but wants to give them time and space to respond to his letter and take the necessary correction, on their own, they should.  This teaches us much about Paul and how to correct the waywardness of others.   Paul wants to come to correct them face-to-face.  But, he also wants them to grow by grace and allow them to self-correct.  Of this passage note what one historian said:

(MacArthur New Testament Commentary Set (33 Vols.)) He knew that, as Augustine wrote, “As severity is ready to punish the faults which it may discover, so charity is reluctant to discover the faults which it must punish”

That should be how love for others manifests itself.  We know we have to have discipline and be severe about it (it is about the reputation of God).  But, we also know that we have to love about it, for love covers a multitude of sins (1 Peter 4:8).   So, it is important to let others hear the word of correction they need to hear and we are to communicate that to them.  But, it is equally true we need to give them time and space to take that correction and make the necessary changes in life to align again with the Word.   This is Paul’s demonstration of how to correct wayward believers in the Body of Christ.   He was righteous enough to address them, but he was gracious enough to allow them to change.   That is spiritual authority at its best.