Dual Panel1So I decided that my next visit to you would not be another visit to make you sad.
2If I make you sad, then who will make me happy? Only you can make me happy— you that I made sad.
3I wrote you a letter for this reason: so that when I came to you I would not be made sad by those people who should make me happy. I felt sure of all of you. I felt sure that all of you would share my joy.
4When I wrote to you before, I was very troubled and unhappy in my heart. I wrote with many tears. I did not write to make you sad. I wrote so that you could know how much I love you.
Forgive the Person Who Did Wrong
5A person {in your group} has caused sadness. He caused this sadness not to me, but to all of you—I mean he caused sadness to all in some way. (I don’t want to make it sound worse than it really is.)
6The punishment that most of your group gave him is enough for him.
7But now you should forgive him and encourage him. This will keep him from having too much sadness and giving up completely.
8So I beg you to show him that you love him.
9This is why I wrote to you. I wanted to test you and see if you obey in everything.
10If you forgive a person, then I also forgive that person. And what I have forgiven—if I had anything to forgive—I forgave it for you, and Christ was with me.
11I did this so that Satan (the Devil) would not win anything from us. We know very well what Satan’s plans are.
Paul’s Anxiety in Troas
12I went to Troas to tell people the Good News
13But I had no peace because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said good-bye and went to Macedonia.
Victory Through Christ
14But thanks be to God. God always leads us in victory through Christ. God uses us to spread his knowledge everywhere like a sweet-smelling perfume.
15Our offering to God is this: We are the sweet smell of Christ among people who are being saved and among people who are being lost.
16To the people who are being lost, we are the smell of death that brings death. But to the people who are being saved, we are the smell of life that brings life. So who is good enough to do this work?
17We don’t sell the word of God for a profit like many other people do. No! But in Christ we speak in truth before God. We speak like men sent from God.