2 Corinthians 2:2

2 For if I grieve you, who is left to cheer me but those whom I have grieved?

2 Corinthians 2:2 Meaning and Commentary

2 Corinthians 2:2

For if I make you sorry
That is, should he come among them, and be the means of fresh grief and sorrow:

who is he then that maketh me glad?
such was his love and affection for them, and sympathy with them, that should they be grieved, he should grieve also; they were the only persons he could take any delight in at Corinth; wherefore should they be in heaviness, he would be so too, and then what pleasure would he have in being among them? since not a man of them would be in a condition and capacity to make him cheerful:

but the same which is made sorry by me.
The Ethiopic version without any authority reads this clause, "except he whom I have made glad"; but the apostle is to be understood either of some particular man, the incestuous person, who had been made sorry, by that awful punishment of being delivered up to Satan, inflicted on him; or else the singular number being put for the plural collectively, is to be understood of all the members of the church at Corinth, who had been greatly grieved by the sharp reproofs he had given them; and therefore unless this trouble was removed, he could not expect to have much comfort and pleasure with them.

2 Corinthians 2:2 In-Context

1 So I made up my mind not to make another painful visit to you.

2 For if I grieve you, who is left to cheer me but those whom I have grieved?

3 I wrote as I did so that on my arrival I would not be grieved by those who ought to make me rejoice. I had confidence in all of you, that you would share my joy.

4 For through many tears I wrote you out of great distress and anguish of heart, not to grieve you but to let you know how much I love you.

5 Now if anyone has caused grief, he has not grieved me but all of you—to some degree, not to overstate it.