2 Corinthians 2
2
1In fact, I made up my mind about this: # Lit I decided this for myself I would not come to you on another painful visit. # Lit not again in sorrow to come to you 2For if I cause you pain, then who will cheer me other than the one being hurt by me? # Lit the one pained 3I wrote this very thing so that when I came I wouldn’t have pain from those who ought to give me joy, because I am confident # Php 1:25 about all of you that my joy will also be yours. 4For I wrote to you with many tears out of an extremely troubled and anguished heart — not that you should be hurt, but that you should know the abundant love I have for you.
A Sinner Forgiven
5If anyone has caused pain, he has caused pain not so much to me but to some degree — not to exaggerate # 2Th 3:8 — to all of you. 6The punishment inflicted by the majority is sufficient for that person. 7As a result, you should instead forgive # Mt 6:12 and comfort him. Otherwise, this one may be overwhelmed by excessive grief. 8Therefore I urge you to reaffirm your love to him. 9I wrote for this purpose: to test your character # Rm 5:4 to see if you are obedient # Php 2:8 in everything. 10If you forgive anyone, I do too. For what I have forgiven — if I have forgiven anything — it is for you in the presence of Christ. 11I have done this so that we may not be taken advantage # 2Co 12:17 of by Satan. For we are not ignorant of his schemes.
A Trip to Macedonia
12When I came to Troas # Ac 16:8 to preach the gospel of Christ, the Lord opened a door # Col 4:3 for me. 13I had no rest # 2Th 1:7 in my spirit because I did not find my brother Titus, # Ti 1:4 but I said good-bye to them and left for Macedonia. # Ac 16:9
A Ministry of Life or Death
14But thanks be to God, # 1Co 15:57 who always puts us on display # Or always leads us in a triumphal procession, or always causes us to triumph in Christ # Lit in the Christ, or in the Messiah ; 1Co 15:22; Eph 1:10,12,20; 3:11 and through us spreads the aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. # Jn 17:3; 1Jn 4:8 15For to God we are the fragrance # Eph 5:2; Php 4:18 of Christ among those who are being saved # Mt 9:22; Ac 16:30; Eph 2:8 and among those who are perishing. # Jn 6:27 16To some we are an aroma of death # Mt 10:21; Jn 8:51; Php 3:10 leading to death, but to others, an aroma of life # 1Jn 5:12 leading to life. And who is competent for this? 17For we are not like the many # Other mss read the rest who market God’s message # Mt 12:36; Mk 4:14; Lk 6:47; 8:21; Jn 1:1; 2:22; 18:32; Ac 17:11; 2Tm 2:15; Heb 4:12 for profit. On the contrary, we speak with sincerity in Christ, as from God and before God.
Currently Selected:
2 Corinthians 2: HCSB
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
© 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee. All rights reserved.
2 Corinthians 2
2
1So I made up my mind not to come to you again to make you sad. 2For if I were to make you sad, who would be left to cheer me up? Only the very persons I had made sad. 3That is why I wrote that letter to you — I did not want to come to you and be made sad by the very people who should make me glad. For I am convinced that when I am happy, then all of you are happy too. 4I wrote to you with a greatly troubled and distressed heart and with many tears; my purpose was not to make you sad, but to make you realize how much I love you all.
Forgiveness for the Offender
5Now, if anyone has made somebody sad, he has not done it to me but to all of you — in part at least. (I say this because I do not want to be too hard on him.) 6It is enough that this person has been punished in this way by most of you. 7Now, however, you should forgive him and encourage him, in order to keep him from becoming so sad as to give up completely. 8And so I beg you to let him know that you really do love him. 9I wrote you that letter because I wanted to find out how well you had stood the test and whether you are always ready to obey my instructions. 10When you forgive someone for what he or she has done, I forgive them too. For when I forgive — if, indeed, I need to forgive anything — I do it in Christ's presence because of you, 11in order to keep Satan from getting the upper hand of us; for we know what his plans are.
Paul's Anxiety in Troas
12 #
Acts 20.1
When I arrived in Troas to preach the Good News about Christ, I found that the Lord had opened the way for the work there. 13But I was deeply worried, because I could not find our brother Titus. So I said goodbye to the people there and went on to Macedonia.
Victory through Christ
14But thanks be to God! For in union with Christ we are always led by God as prisoners in Christ's victory procession. God uses us to make the knowledge about Christ spread everywhere like a sweet fragrance. 15For we are like a sweet-smelling incense offered by Christ to God, which spreads among those who are being saved and those who are being lost. 16For those who are being lost, it is a deadly stench that kills; but for those who are being saved, it is a fragrance that brings life. Who, then, is capable of such a task? 17We are not like so many others, who handle God's message as if it were cheap merchandise; but because God has sent us, we speak with sincerity in his presence, as servants of Christ.
Currently Selected:
:
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
Good News Bible. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.