2 Corinthians 2:7
2 Corinthians 2:77So instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow.
Acknowledged as Paul's instruction to reinstate a repentant person once discipline has done its work. The Watchtower reads it as supporting its own reinstatement procedure — a removed person who demonstrates repentance over time may be restored by the elders. The emphasis falls on the repentance preceding the welcome.
Read verses 6 to 8 as one movement, because the sequence is the argument. Verse 6: the rebuke given by the majority is sufficient. Sufficient — Paul calls time on it. Verse 7: now you should kindly forgive and comfort him. Verse 8: confirm your love for him. Then look at the reason Paul gives for hurrying: so that he may not be overwhelmed by excessive sadness. Paul's stated fear is that the discipline will crush the man. He is not worried about restoring him too soon; he is worried about leaving him out too long. Set that beside what is widely described by people who have been shunned — a grief with no funeral and no end, relatives who will not take a call, sometimes for decades. The practice produces precisely the outcome Paul wrote this verse to prevent. You can raise this without condemning anyone. Ask what Paul was afraid of here, and whether a discipline that has no "sufficient" in it can be the same thing he was describing. Compare , , .