So I made up my mind that I would not make another painful visit to y’all. For if I grieve y’all, then who will make me glad but the one whom I have grieved? And I wrote this very thing, so that when I came, I wouldn’t experience grief from those who should make me rejoice. I am confident in all y’all that my joy will also be y’all’s. For I wrote to y’all in tears with great oppression and anguish of heart, not to grieve y’all, but that y’all would know the abundant love I have so for y’all.
Forgiving the Offender
If anyone has caused grief, they have not caused sorrow to me, but to some extent (not to exaggerate) to all y’all. This punishment by the majority is enough for that person, so instead, y’all should forgive and comfort them. Otherwise such a person might swallowed up with overwhelming grief. Therefore I urge y’all to reaffirm y’all’s love for him. I also wrote for this reason: to test y’all to see if y’all are obedient in everything. Anyone y’all forgive, I forgive. For what I have forgiven—if there was anything to forgive—I have forgiven in the presence of Christ for y’all sake, so we might not be exploited by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes.
When I went to Troas for the gospel of Christ, even though the Lord had opened a door for me, I had no rest in my spirit, because I didn’t find Titus my sibling. Instead, I said goodbye to them and set out for Macedonia.
The Aroma of Christ
But thanks be to God who always leads us in Christ’s triumphal procession and through us spreads the aroma of the knowledge of him in every place. For we are to God a pleasing fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. And who is adequate for these things? For we are not like so many who peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, we speak with sincerity in Christ, as those from God and before God.