2 Corinthians 2
2:1-4. One of the big preoccupations of more recent Bible scholars is convincing themselves that there is a lost letter of Paul to the Corinthians between First and Second Corinthians. No one can prove there wasn’t such a letter, but to me their evidence for it is very thin. Their strongest point seems to rest on v.4, as the majority of commentators are said to feel that “the character of 1 Corinthians as a whole hardly suits a letter said to have been written ‘out of much affliction and anguish of heart’ and ‘with many tears'” (Norman Hillyer). It almost makes one wonder if they haven’t been studying some lost cheery letter rather than the 1 Corinthians the rest of us read (cf. 1 Cor.4:18-5:2).
2:5-11. Until corrected by the uncanny insights of the modern scholars above, everyone had supposed that this passage refers to the scandal of fornication and incest that demanded attention in 1 Cor.5:1-8. Not that it matters much whether it does or not, but it seems to me that if it were the same incident, I would have expected Paul to write exactly as he does here, upon his hearing of the repentance of such a man. But somehow they see Paul responding to the repentance of some personal rival who contradicted Paul’s theology. It is evident many such rivals existed.
The real principle to be learned here all can agree on. The purpose of church discipline is two fold. First, it is to protect the flock from the dangers of the sin involved, whether doctrinal or moral. Second, to secure the repentance and restoration of the sinner, if possible. Almost as bad as a lack of proper discipline is a church divided over some measure of discipline taken. This is always Satan’s follow-up scheme in discipline cases (11).
2:12-13. Paul was so worried about not hearing news from Titus about Corinth, that he left his promising work in Troas early to search for Titus in Macedonia. (He did find him there, and got good news, cf. 7:5-7.)
2:14-17. Remembering the joy he felt at receiving good news from Corinth, Paul interrupts his thoughts with praise and thanksgiving to God for the triumph of the gospel of Christ. The victory is entirely Christ’s, for what preacher is adequate to bear the word that brings either life or death to his hearers (16)? Just as the Lord’s Supper is eaten as judgment to some, and a means of grace to others (1 Cor.11: 23 ff.), so it is for those who hear the preaching of the cross. Like the OT sacrifices that pictured it, the cross can have the fragrance of life, or only the stench of a burning animal, depending on whether you have faith that God accepts it as atonement for your sins or not. But how do we stand before God? When the cross is preached, are we a fragrance of Christ to God (15)? Does his blood cover us? By faith we put on Christ, and we come before the Father clothed in his righteousness. The blessing belonging to our beloved elder brother is imputed to us. God no longer detects the stench of our sins in his nostrils. We are like Jacob dressed in his brother’s robe, and the Father, now blind to our sins, embraces us like the blind Isaac crying, “See, the smell of my son” (Gen.27:27).
The high priest could not appear before God unless he wore consecrated garments. Part of the consecration was a whole burnt offering of a ram, the smoke of which was “a soothing aroma, an offering by fire to the LORD” (Ex.29:18). Christ is our high priest. May his sacrifice give us the fragrance of Christ to God.