Fathers

2 Corinthians 2

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But I determined this with myself, that I would not come again to you in heaviness. For if I make you sorry, who is he then that maketh me glad, but the same which is made sorry by me? And I wrote this same unto you, lest, when I came, I should have sorrow from them of whom I ought to rejoice; having confidence in you all, that my joy is the joy of you all. For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote unto you with many tears; not that ye should be grieved, but that ye might know the love which I have more abundantly unto you. But if any have caused grief, he hath not grieved me, but in part: that I may not overcharge you all. Sufficient to such a man is this punishment, which was inflicted of many. So that contrariwise ye ought rather to forgive him, and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow. Wherefore I beseech you that ye would confirm your love toward him. For to this end also did I write, that I might know the proof of you, whether ye be obedient in all things. To whom ye forgive any thing, I forgive also: for if I forgave any thing, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person of Christ; Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices. Furthermore, when I came to Troas to preach Christ's gospel, and a door was opened unto me of the Lord, I had no rest in my spirit, because I found not Titus my brother: but taking my leave of them, I went from thence into Macedonia. Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place. For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things? For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ.

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What the Fathers say

2 Corinthians 2:11

Eastern Fathers

John Chrysostom

"That no advantage may be gained over us by Satan: for we are not ignorant of his devices." Seest thou how he both committeth the power to them and again taketh away that by that he may soften them, by this eradicate their self will. But this is not all that he provides for by this, but shows also that should they be disobedient the harm would reach to all, just as he did at the outset also. …

Homily 4 on 2 Corinthians ↗

Theophylact of Ohrid

Lest, he says, there be common harm and lest the number of Christ's flock be diminished. He beautifully called this matter an injury. For the devil not only takes what belongs to him, but also seizes what is ours, chiefly as a result of our own conduct, that is, on account of immoderately imposed repentance. Therefore he called the craftiness and deceit of the devil his devices, and mentioned how he destroys under the guise of piety; for he casts into perdition not only by drawing into fornication, but also by excessive grief. …

Commentary on 2 Corinthians ↗

Western Saints

Hippolytus of Rome

And she perceived that all the rest of the Aeons, as being begotten, generate by conjugal intercourse. The Father, on the other hand, alone, without copulation, has produced (an offspring). She wished to emulate the Father, and to produce (offspring) of herself without a marital partner, that she might achieve a work in no wise inferior to (that of) the Father. …

Hippolytus Refutation of All Heresies Book VI ↗