Dual Panel1For I have decided this for myself, not to come to you again in sorrow.
2For if I [cause] you sorrow, then who will make me glad except the one who is caused to be sad by me?
3And I wrote this very [thing] in order that [when I] came, I would not experience sorrow from those who ought to have made me glad, [because I] have confidence about you all, that my joy _belongs to all of you_ .
4For out of great distress and anguish of heart I wrote to you through many tears, not so that you may be caused to be sad, but so that you may know the love that I have especially for you.
5But if anyone has caused sorrow, he has not caused me sorrow, but _to some degree_ —_in order not to say too much_ —[to] all [of] you.
6This punishment by the majority [is] sufficient for such a person.
7So then, you should rather forgive and comfort him, lest somehow this person should be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow.
8Therefore I urge you to confirm [your] love for him.
9Because for this [reason] also I wrote, in order that I could know your proven character, whether you are obedient in everything.
10Now to whomever you forgive anything, I also [do]; for indeed, whatever I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, [it is] _for your sake_ in the presence of Christ,
11in order that we may not be exploited by Satan (for we are not ignorant of his schemes).
12Now [when I] arrived in Troas for the gospel of Christ and a door was opened for me by the Lord,
13I did not experience rest in my spirit, [because] I did not find Titus my brother, but saying farewell to them, I departed for Macedonia.
14But thanks [be] to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ, and who reveals the fragrance of the knowledge of him through us in every place.
15For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing,
16to those on the one hand an odor from death to death, [and] to those on the other hand a fragrance from life to life. And who [is] qualified for these [things]?
17For we are not like the majority who peddle the word of God, but as from pure motives—but as from God—we speak before God in Christ.