1 A s I thought about it, I decided I would not come to you again. It would only make you sad.

But I have judged this with myself, not to come back to you in grief.

2 I f I make you sad, who is going to make me happy? How can you make me happy if I make you sad?

For if I grieve you, who also it that gladdens me, if not he that is grieved through me?

3 T hat is why I wrote that letter to you. I did not want to visit you and be made sad by the ones who should be making me happy. I am sure when I am happy, you are happy also.

And I have written this very, that coming I may not have grief from those from whom I ought to have joy; trusting in you all that my joy is of you all.

4 I wrote you with a troubled heart. Tears were coming from my eyes. I did not want to make you sad. I wanted you to know how much I loved you. Forgiving a Christian

For 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.

5 I f someone among you has brought sorrow, he has not made me as sad as he has all of you. I say this so I may not make it hard for you.

But if any one has grieved, he has grieved, not me, but in part (that I may not overcharge ) all of you.

6 M ost of you have punished him. That is enough for such a person.

Sufficient to such a one this rebuke which by the many;

7 N ow you should forgive him and comfort him. If you do not, he will be so sad that he will want to give up.

so that on the contrary ye should rather shew grace and encourage, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with excessive grief.

8 I ask you to show him you do love him.

Wherefore I exhort you to assure him of love.

9 T his is why I wrote to you. I wanted to test you to see if you were willing to obey in all things.

For to this end also I have written, that I might know, by putting you to the test, if as to everything ye are obedient.

10 I f you forgive a man, I forgive him also. If I have forgiven anything, I have done it because of you. Christ sees me as I forgive.

But to whom ye forgive anything, I also; for I also, what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, for your sakes in person of Christ;

11 W e forgive so that Satan will not win. We know how he works!

that we might not have Satan get an advantage against us, for we are not ignorant of his thoughts.

12 W hen I arrived in the city of Troas, the Lord opened the door for me to preach the Good News of Christ.

Now when I came to Troas for the glad tidings of the Christ, a door also being opened to me in Lord,

13 I was worried because I could not find our brother Titus. After saying good-bye, I went on my way to the country of Macedonia.

I had no rest in my spirit at not finding Titus my brother; but bidding them adieu, I came away to Macedonia.

14 W e thank God for the power Christ has given us. He leads us and makes us win in everything. He speaks through us wherever we go. The Good News is like a sweet smell to those who hear it.

But thanks to God, who always leads us in triumph in the Christ, and makes manifest the odour of his knowledge through us in every place.

15 W e are a sweet smell of Christ that reaches up to God. It reaches out to those who are being saved from the punishment of sin and to those who are still lost in sin.

For we are a sweet odour of Christ to God, in the saved and in those that perish:

16 I t is the smell of death to those who are lost in sin. It is the smell of life to those who are being saved from the punishment of sin. Who is able for such a work?

to the one an odour from death unto death, but to the others an odour from life unto life; and who sufficient for these things?

17 W e are not like others. They preach God’s Word to make money. We are men of truth and have been sent by God. We speak God’s Word with Christ’s power. All the time God sees us.

For 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.