Forgive, Comfort, and Reaffirm Your Love

 

Forgive, Comfort, and Reaffirm Your Love

“…you should rather forgive and comfort him, lest somehow such a one be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. Wherefore, I urge you to reaffirm your love for him.”

2 Corinthians 2:7-8

Recently, my youngest, when she gets in trouble, desperately says, “Do you still love me?” I quickly reassure her of my love, along with hugs and kisses, but it demonstrates the reassurance many of us need when we’ve wronged someone we love. We ask for forgiveness, and when comfort and an affirmation of love are given along with the granting of forgiveness, our hearts can truly rest. Joseph, the favorite son of his father Jacob, was severely wronged by his brothers. They hated him and sold him into slavery (Gen. 37:28). After many years and many trials, Joseph, now in the place of power over his brothers, does not exact revenge, but offers forgiveness. His forgiveness is not merely words, however, but by dealing kindly with them and providing for them and their little ones, he demonstrates his forgiveness through his actions. Paul, likewise, encouraged the Corinthians in their dealings with a repentant brother, “..you should rather forgive and comfort him, lest somehow such a one be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. Wherefore, I urge you to reaffirm your love for him” (2 Cor. 2:7-8). This passage concerning forgiveness culminates in verse 11 with Paul’s warning of the consequence of unforgiveness. He urges forgiveness, comfort, and love for an offending, repentant brother, “in order that no advantage be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes.” Paul didn’t want them uninformed about a subtle way that Satan may take believers captive: unforgiveness. 

The context of this admonishment is that a leader in the Corinthian church had risen up against Paul. In response, the Corinthian church had practiced church discipline, and now that the brother had repented, Paul called upon them to encourage the offending brother and treat him with love. Paul does not ignore the fact that sorrow had been felt by himself and by the rest of the church because of this man’s actions. But Paul recognizes that it may be a time when they could be vulnerable to Satan’s schemes. The first part of Satan’s strategy had been to cause disruption in a relationship, but further damage could be done through the failure to forgive, and so Paul calls on them to actively forgive. 

How often does Satan use this strategy in our own homes and churches? Wrongs are committed, and disruption in relationships begins. This breach in the relationship is further widened when one refuses to fully forgive and bitterness grows, or someone refuses to repent and reconciliation and restoration of the relationship is stalled. Or how often is forgiveness expressed, yet coldness toward one another remains, or the wrongs are repeatedly brought up the next time an argument occurs? But Paul urges the Corinthians, and us, to forgive and then live out that forgiveness by offering comfort and a reassurance of love. Comfort includes encouraging, consoling, and alleviating sorrow. In this text, Paul tells them to comfort the offending brother otherwise he may be “overwhelmed by excessive sorrow” (2:7). Overwhelmed here means to be swallowed up, drowned. Paul was concerned that this brother would be drowned in his sorrow and discouragement. Likewise, those who have sinned and repented, may be overcome with sorrow over the damage they have caused, and they need the comfort and encouragement that we can give them, since we know that we ourselves also are sinners in need of forgiveness.  

Forgiveness includes reaffirming love for one another. In the context of 2 Corinthians where the sinning brother had been under church discipline, reaffirming their love may have looked like welcoming him back into the fellowship, conversing with him at the fellowship meals, doing business with him in the marketplace, and greeting him with a kiss of love. When someone has wronged us, and they have repented, or we have overlooked the offense and forgiven them, what might it look like for us to comfort and reaffirm our love for that person? The call to forgive, comfort, and love is a reflection of our God. We forgive as God in Christ forgave us (Eph. 4:32). We comfort because the Holy Spirit, our Comforter, enables us to minister comfort because He is the God of all comfort (2 Cor. 1:4). We love because God has commanded us to love one another, and He, our Father, is love; and without love, we show that we do not know Him (John 15:12; 1 John 4:8). 

Forgiveness is a matter of obedience. Paul told the Corinthians that one of the reasons he was writing was to see if they would be obedient even in this matter (2:9). Forgiveness is not a matter of obedience only for the Corinthians. It applies to us as well. God calls upon us, as His children, to “be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you” (Eph. 4:32). “Jesus Christ taught that unwillingness to forgive is evidence of not having experienced his forgiveness” (Hughes, Kent). “For if you forgive men their transgressions, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions” (Matthew 6:14-15). Our forgiveness of others is always rooted in the forgiveness of God. He forgave us, reconciled us to Himself, and has not counted our trespasses against us (2 Cor. 5:18-19). The one, who knows his own heart and the unmerited forgiveness he has received, will be willing to forgive those who have wronged him. It may seem impossible at times, however, Christ empowers us to be obedient to Him. He never demands from us what He will not enable us to do. 

Satan would love to outwit the people of God by sowing seeds of discord and unforgiveness. But we cannot be ignorant of his schemes (2 Corinthians. 2:11). When there is unforgiveness, this is an opportunity for Satan to get the better of us through his cunning and cleverness. Perhaps he can’t fool some of us with incorrect doctrine or trip us up with sins of impurity or sensuality, but maybe he could cripple us through a lack of forgiveness, or looking like we’re taking the moral high ground, like we’re standing for truth, when in reality we’ve cloaked our unforgiveness with those things. Satan will use any scheme he can come up with in order to make God’s people stumble. Paul did not want the Corinthians to be ignorant of Satan’s schemes, and we can’t afford to be either. “Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith” (1 Peter 5:8-9a). Don’t let unforgiveness be what devours you. 

One of my favorite demonstrations of forgiveness is the story of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32). A son, who had scorned his father and wasted his life and inheritance, comes to his senses and returns to his father, feeling unworthy. “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him, and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him, and kissed him” (15:20). The father lavishly showers comfort and love on his son and calls for a feast and for all to be joyful and rejoice. What if the father had said, “Son, I forgive you,” and simply put his son to work. What if he had not run to his son, not embraced him, not kissed him, not killed the fatted calf for him, not rejoiced at his return? I think the son would have wondered if his fatherly truly forgave him and was reconciled to him. It was the acts of love and comfort that proved the real forgiveness of the father to his son. Likewise, may our forgiveness not be merely words, but acts of comfort and love as well.    

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