2 Corinthians 2
2
He does not wish to reiterate censure
1So I would not and could not come to you again in sorrow and reproof. 2Why should I inflict pain on that which is my joy? And why should that bring me pain which was to be my joy? 3-4And indeed I wrote that letter with only one intention in my mind. It was that after I had said what I had to say by letter I might then be able to come to you with all that put behind us, and receive that joy from our meeting and association together which I know you share abundantly with me. 5If anyone in particular has caused pain, that was no pain to me, for in the singling out of that one who was to blame and the cause of trouble, I thereby no longer impute it to all of you. It was a relief rather than a sorrow that his guilt should become clear, and now that this is so, his rebuke is sufficient. 6Your own knowledge of his wrong-doing is quite enough punishment for him; 7-9therefore remember him kindly, be gracious and forgiving towards him; for excessive mortification and punishment only completes a man’s downfall. And remember that in doing so, you represent my feelings also. 10I forgive where you do so; for remember that that forgiveness was for your sake; in the Christ and with your own love set before me I forgave that sin, 11lest by its means Satan might wrestle me a fall. I know his readiness to lay hold of anything in that nature and to get my mind captive thereby.
12I reached Troas then on this intended journey, 13but arrived there I found no help, no one to work with me, for Titus my brother alone could have helped me. A great door was opened for me there, and I had come to proclaim the Christ, yet I could not stay, I was not able to endure without Titus, so I bade them farewell and crossed into Europe. 14Yet in my weakness God himself continually causes me to triumph. It is in the Christ that this happens.
The fragrance of Christian truth
15Through me the fragrance of the knowledge of God is filling the world, like the sweet savour of incense and sacrifice. It is the divine freshness of life in the Christ which forms this fragrance and which makes men whole, and continually points onward to an ever increasing measure of life, and all its infinite possibilities, when released from fate and death. 16But this same fragrance of the new life, alas, to those who know it not and who continue in the power of the flesh and its inevitable doom, this very fragrance shows up the stench of their corruption, so that I become to them the thing of all others that they hate, the index and characteristic sign of their own approaching dissolution. Now who is sufficient for these things? That one should be through the Christ that is present in me, both the life and the death of this material world. 17For that is my position; it is a necessity to me to be all this, it is in utter sincerity that I stand before the world and speak the truth of the Christ as from God in the presence of God. I am not, and you know it, one of those so-called teachers who run round with the Gospel, dispensing it to people for a consideration.
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Translated in 1916, published in 1937.
2 Corinthians 2
2
1So 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.
Forgiveness for the Offender
5If 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.
Ministers of the New Covenant
12Now 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.
14But 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.
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