-
2:1 So I made up my mind not to make you another painful visit. 2:2 For if I cause you pain, who is there to make me glad but the one whom I have pained? 2:3 And I wrote as I did, so that when I came, I might not suffer pain from those who should have made me rejoice; for I am confident about all of you, that my joy would be the joy of all of you. 2:4 For I wrote you out of much distress and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to cause you pain, but to let you know the abundant love that I have for you. 2:5 But if anyone has caused pain, he has caused it not to me, but to some extent-- not to exaggerate it-- to all of you. 2:6 This punishment by the majority is enough for such a person; 2:7 so now instead you should forgive and console him, so that he may not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. 2:8 So I urge you to reaffirm your love for him. 2:9 I wrote for this reason: to test you and to know whether you are obedient in everything. 2:10 Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. What I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ. 2:11 And we do this so that we may not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs. 2:12 When I came to Troas to proclaim the good news of Christ, a door was opened for me in the Lord; 2:13 but my mind could not rest because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said farewell to them and went on to Macedonia. 2:14 But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads in every place the fragrance that comes from knowing him. 2:15 For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; 2:16 to the one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? 2:17 For we are not peddlers of God's word like so many; but in Christ we speak as persons of sincerity, as persons sent from God and standing in his presence.