Now, regarding the one who started all this—the person in question who caused all this pain… Now is the time to forgive this man and help him back on his feet. If all you do is pour on the guilt, you could very well drown him in it. My counsel now is to pour on the love.
(2 Corinthians 2:5-8 MSG)
Whether Paul is referring to the incident recorded in First Corinthians chapter 5 is unclear, but one thing is clear – the person who had committed the offence had expressed genuine sorrow for his sin and the apostle now counsels the Corinthian church to stop being so hard on him and “to pour on the love.”
We live in an imperfect world and pain is inevitable. There are people who will cause us a lot of pain. And it’s so easy to “pour on the guilt” until that person is “[drowned] in it.” But Paul had a different mindset. The apostle who didn’t carry around a list of personal grudges (2 Corinthians 2:10), advices the Corinthians (and us) to stop pouring on the guilt and instead, to help that person back on their feet. After all, this is what Jesus did when He died on the cross for our sins. He poured on the love.
God has called us to hate sin but to love the sinner.
Rising with the Son 