So …: Revised Standard Version, following the original, continues the sentence begun in verse 6, but it will be much better in most languages to begin a new sentence here, as in Good News Translation.

The pronoun you is plural, referring to those who will read this letter and who have been involved in the case of the offending Christian.

The word rather suggests a contrast with the idea of punishment in verse 6. New Jerusalem Bible says “and now by way of contrast you should forgive and encourage him.” God’s New Covenant says “now you ought rather to take the opposite course, forgiving him and encouraging him”; and Revised English Bible says “Something very different is called for now.” New Revised Standard Version uses the word “instead.” A few manuscripts omit the word rather, but even if the word were not actually written in the Greek text, the context would still make the idea of contrast implicit.

The pronouns him and he refer to the person mentioned in verse 5. Revised English Bible says “forgive the offender.” Since Paul is referring to a specific situation, Contemporary English Version incorrectly generalizes: “When people sin, you should forgive and comfort them.”

Comfort: see 1.3. Either meaning of the Greek word fits well in this context: “to comfort” (Revised Standard Version, New Revised Standard Version, New International Version, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible) or “to encourage” (Good News Translation, New Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible, Bible en français courant). Anchor Bible argues that in certain contexts the Greek word has the meaning of “seek reconciliation” (see 1 Cor 4.13, where Revised Standard Version translates this verb as “to conciliate,” and Good News Translation says “to answer back with kind words”), so Anchor Bible says “deal kindly with him.” All three translations, “to comfort,” “to encourage,” and “to deal kindly with” are possible meanings and each fits the context, so it is difficult to know which sense Paul intended here. Translators must simply choose one of these meanings, knowing that nothing really favors one interpretation over the others.

Or: meaning “otherwise,” but in some languages this will have to be made more explicit by beginning a new sentence saying something like “If you do not do this….”

Be overwhelmed: literally “be swallowed up.” The implicit thought is that the offender may “give up [the faith] completely.” The passive form may have to be avoided by saying something like “if you don’t forgive him, he might be so sad that he quits in despair.”

The excessive sorrow is that of the offender and not the community.

Knox restructures the last sentence of this verse, using the negative: “You must not let him be overwhelmed by excess of grief.”

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellingworth, Paul. A Handbook on Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1993. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .