NIV
2 Corinthians 2
- 1<pb/>So I made up my mind that I would not make another painful visit to you.
- 2For if I grieve you, who is left to make me glad but you whom I have grieved?
- 3I wrote as I did, so that when I came I would not be distressed by those who should have made me rejoice. I had confidence in all of you, that you would all share my joy.
- 4For I wrote you out of great distress and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to grieve you but to let you know the depth of my love for you.
- 5<pb/>If anyone has caused grief, he has not so much grieved me as he has grieved all of you to some extent—not to put it too severely.
- 6The punishment inflicted on him by the majority is sufficient.
- 7Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow.
- 8I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your love for him.
- 9Another reason I wrote you was to see if you would stand the test and be obedient in everything.
- 10Anyone you forgive, I also forgive. And what I have forgiven—if there was anything to forgive—I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake,
- 11in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.
- 12<pb/>Now when I went to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ and found that the Lord had opened a door for me,
- 13I still had no peace of mind, because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said goodbye to them and went on to Macedonia.
- 14<pb/>But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere.
- 15For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.
- 16To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life. And who is equal to such a task?
- 17Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, as those sent from God.