2 Corinthians 7:12 Commentary and Bible Study

We are surprised at first to read the apostle saying that he did not correct the wrong in order to relieve the suffering of the person who had been wronged, but rather ‘that our care for you in the sight of God might appear unto you.’ At first glance that seems all wrong, but we have not understood Paul properly. We have to see that sometimes the language of the first century was different from how we would put it. We would put it something like this: ‘Though I wrote unto you, I did not write to you primarily to correct the sin. I did of course write to correct the sin, but it was not my primary purpose. Nor did I write primarily to bring relief to the person who had been so wretchedly wronged. I did write to achieve that,’ the apostle might well say, ‘but it was not my primary purpose.’ Here is the spiritual view of correction: ‘I wrote primarily so that ultimately you might see the mercy and the care of God to you channelled through his apostle to rescue you and put you on your feet again. How cared for we are by the living God, and we praise him and give him the glory.