Hello, sorry for the long wait and not having written in a while. I actually was not planning to write today and almost convinced myself out of it considering the daunting backlog of possible topics and verses I have down in another draft but lo and behold, here I am.
There are two fun things that I would like to look at within 2 Corinthians 2 today.
The first is 2 Cor 2:5-11.
5 If anyone has caused grief, he has not so much grieved me as he has grieved all of you to some extent—not to put it too severely. 6 The punishment inflicted on him by the majority is sufficient. 7 Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. 8 I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your love for him. 9 Another reason I wrote you was to see if you would stand the test and be obedient in everything. 10 Anyone you forgive, I also forgive. And what I have forgiven—if there was anything to forgive—I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake, 11 in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.
2 Corinthians 2:5-11 NIV
I think it’s easy to get to a section of scripture and have our first reaction be: what does this say about God? What does this say about me? What does this say about…
But as I read these couple of verses, my first thought that comes to mind is a class on Paul which I took last semester. And in it, one of my professors suggested that some people believe the person written in these verses is the same person who shows up in 1 Cor 5.
What strikes me about that is that the person who was written about here in 2 Corinthians 2 and the other person in 1 Corinthians 5, whether or not they’re the same person, is that they were real people. Paul was a real person and he wrote to other real people that they needed to find forgiveness in their hearts for whatever wrongs this person may have done. This is clearly something they struggled with and it’s unsurprisingly something we struggle with as well.
You don’t have to look deeply into this passage for what Paul is trying to teach. I’m sure you could spend hours dissecting the Greek and having a word study and you could find all sorts of theological truth but if we remember that Paul was a real person who wrote to other real people, his message is clear and simple. Forgiveness is hard and love is hard but you (the people of Corinth) can do it!
The second couple of verses that stood out to me were 2 Cor 2:14-16
14 But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere. 15 For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. 16 To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life. And who is equal to such a task?
2 Corinthians 2:14-16 NIV
I’ve included verses 14 and 16 simply for some additional context but the key phrase that has grabbed my attention is verse 15.
While I was doing some readings for my Dead Sea Scrolls class the other day, one thing stood out to me. This was the belief that the Qumran community saw themselves as an offering to God. They believed that righteous living was a sacrifice to God and justified this belief using Ezekiel 20:41:
41 I will accept you as fragrant incense when I bring you out from the nations and gather you from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will be proved holy through you in the sight of the nations.
Ezekiel 20:41 NIV
41 As a pleasing aroma I will accept you, when I bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the countries where you have been scattered. And I will manifest my holiness among you in the sight of the nations.
Ezekiel 20:41 ESV
(I’ve included both versions to show I am not just manipulating the translations)
This seems pretty similar to the language that Paul uses in 2 Corinthians 2 when he says that we (I’m not completely sure if the we is believers or Paul’s group) are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ. So I just wonder if Paul is saying that he (we?) are sacrifices to God through the way we “spread the aroma of knowledge of him everywhere” (v. 14).
If you are not sure what ‘aroma’ has to with the sacrifices, read: Gen 8:21, Exodus 29:18, or you can just take a look over here.
Jason
Jason Reads the Bible 