2 Corinthians 2
2
1But I have judged this with myself, not to come back to you in grief. 2For if I grieve you, who also is it that gladdens me, if not he that is grieved through me? 3And I have written this very letter to you, that coming I may not have grief from those from whom I ought to have joy; trusting in you all that my joy is that of you all. 4For out of much tribulation and distress of heart I wrote to you, with many tears; not that ye may be grieved, but that ye may know the love which I have very abundantly towards you.
5But if any one has grieved, he has grieved, not me, but in part (that I may not overcharge you) all of you. 6Sufficient to such a one is this rebuke which has been inflicted by the many; 7so that on the contrary ye should rather shew grace and encourage, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with excessive grief. 8Wherefore I exhort you to assure him of your love. 9For to this end also I have written, that I might know, by putting you to the test, if as to everything ye are obedient. 10But to whom ye forgive anything, I also; for I also, what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, it is for your sakes in the person of Christ; 11that we might not have Satan get an advantage against us, for we are not ignorant of his thoughts.
12Now when I came to Troas for the publication of the glad tidings of the Christ, a door also being opened to me in the Lord, 13I had no rest in my spirit at not finding Titus my brother; but bidding them adieu, I came away to Macedonia. 14But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in the Christ, and makes manifest the odour of his knowledge through us in every place. 15For we are a sweet odour of Christ to God, in the saved and in those that perish: 16to the one an odour from death unto death, but to the others an odour from life unto life; and who is sufficient for these things? 17For we do not, as the many, make a trade of the word of God; but as of sincerity, but as of God, before God, we speak in Christ.
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First published in 1890. This edition is maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.
2 Corinthians 2
2
1I have decided not to make my next visit with you so painful. 2If I make you feel bad, who would be left to cheer me up, except the people I had made to feel bad? 3The reason I want to be happy is to make you happy. I wrote as I did because I didn't want to visit you and be made to feel bad, when you should make me feel happy. 4At the time I wrote, I was suffering terribly. My eyes were full of tears, and my heart was broken. But I didn't want to make you feel bad. I only wanted to let you know how much I cared for you.
Forgiveness
5I don't want to be hard on you. But if one of you has made someone feel bad, I am not really the one who has been made to feel bad. Some of you are the ones. 6Most of you have already pointed out the wrong that person did, and this is punishment enough for what was done.
7When people sin, you should forgive and comfort them, so they won't give up in despair. 8You should make them sure of your love for them.
9I also wrote because I wanted to test you and find out if you would follow my instructions. 10I will forgive anyone you forgive. Yes, for your sake and with Christ as my witness, I have forgiven whatever needed to be forgiven. 11I have done this to keep Satan from getting the better of us. We all know what goes on in his mind.
12 #
Ac 20.1. When I went to Troas to preach the good news about Christ, I found that the Lord had already prepared the way. 13But I was worried when I didn't find my friend Titus there. So I left the other followers and went on to Macedonia.
14I am grateful that God always makes it possible for Christ to lead us to victory. God also helps us spread the knowledge about Christ everywhere, and this knowledge is like the smell of perfume. 15-16In fact, God thinks of us as a perfume that brings Christ to everyone. For people who are being saved, this perfume has a sweet smell and leads them to a better life. But for people who are lost, it has a bad smell and leads them to a horrible death.
No one really has what it takes to do this work. 17A lot of people try to get rich from preaching God's message. But we are God's sincere messengers, and by the power of Christ we speak our message with God as our witness.
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.