Paul had given instructions in his first letter to the Corinthian congregation in chapter 5 concerning a man engaging in a particular offensive sexual immorality. He said they should cast him out. Here Paul reveals two motives behind that directive. First, he did not want to be grieved by them when he arrived (3-4). Second, he was testing their obedience (9). They did as Paul instructed and cast the man out.
Now Paul is encouraging them to forgive the man and invite him to join them again. Paul had already forgiven him.
One interesting statement here is, “if there was anything to forgive.” Another is, “that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not aware of his schemes.”
Satan wants to destroy all of Christ’s congregations. He has different schemes to accomplish this. A particularly common one is to divide us. In this case, he used a man who persisted in incest. Thus, Paul said the man needed to be cast out. They obeyed.
Satan’s scheme did not stop there. Now the congregation needed to forgive the man and accept him back into the church unconditionally. Forgiveness is an important act of love. Jesus taught me to pray, “forgive us of our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.” Holding regret and judgment is self-destructive to me and to congregations. Discernment, separation from persistent sin, and unconditional forgiveness should all be done in love.
