Note 1 at 2 Cor. 2:5: Paul is now speaking about a particular individual who has caused grief, i.e. the man who had the incestuous relationship spoken of in 1 Corinthians 5. Paul states that the injury done in this situation affected not just himself but the whole congregation.

The Amplified Bible relates the interpretation of this passage directly to the incestuous relationship of 1 Corinthians 5 by stating: "But if someone [the one among you who committed incest] has caused [all this] grief and pain, he has caused it not to me, but in some measure, not to put it too severely, [he has distressed] all of you."

Likewise, the Phillips translation states, "If the behaviour of a certain person has caused distress, it does not mean so much that he has injured me, but that to some extent (I do not wish to exaggerate) he has injured all of you."

This reveals that Paul's corrective measures prescribed in 1 Corinthians 5 were not vindictive, motivated by personal feelings, but he had given the instructions about church discipline for the benefit of the whole body of believers in Corinth. That one sin, if left unchecked, would be like leaven and infect the whole body (1 Cor. 5:6).