2 Corinthians 2
The apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians with a heavy heart, not intending to cause them sorrow, but to express his love and charity towards them. He sought to test their obedience and to confirm their love for one another, particularly towards someone who had caused sorrow. Paul forgave this individual in the name of Christ and encouraged the Corinthians to do the same, lest Satan take advantage of their discord. He then expressed his gratitude to God for the triumph of the Gospel and the fragrance of Christ that is manifested through him and his ministry.
But I determined this within myself, not to return again to you in sorrowFor if I make you sorrowful, then who is it that can make me glad, except the one who is made sorrowful by meAnd so, I wrote this same thing to you, so that I might not, when I arrive, add sorrow to sorrow for those with whom I ought to rejoice, having confidence in you in all things, so that my joy may be entirely yoursFor with much tribulation and anguish of heart, I wrote to you with many tears: not so that you would be sorrowful, but so that you might know the charity that I have more abundantly toward youBut if anyone has brought sorrow, he has not sorrowed me. Yet, for my part, this is so that I might not burden all of youLet this rebuke be sufficient for someone like this, for it has been brought by manySo then, to the contrary, you should be more forgiving and consoling, lest perhaps someone like this may be overwhelmed with excessive sorrowBecause of this, I beg you to confirm your charity toward himIt was for this reason, also, that I wrote, so that I might know, by testing you, whether you would be obedient in all thingsBut anyone whom you have forgiven of anything, I also forgive. And then, too, anyone I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, it was done in the person of Christ for your sakesso that we would not be circumvented by Satan. For we are not ignorant of his intentionsAnd when I had arrived at Troas, because of the Gospel of Christ, and a door had opened to me in the LordI had no rest within my spirit, because I was not able to find Titus, my brother. So, saying goodbye to them, I set out for MacedoniaBut thanks be to God, who always brings triumph to us in Christ Jesus, and who manifests the fragrance of his knowledge through us in every placeFor we are the sweet fragrance of Christ for God, both with those who are being saved and with those who are perishingTo the one, certainly, the fragrance is of death unto death. But to the other, the fragrance is of life unto life. And concerning these things, who is so suitableFor we are not like many others, adulterating the Word of God. But instead, we speak with sincerity: from God, before God, and in Christ
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