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Reaffirm Your Love

¹ But I made up my mind ^(C1)not to grieve you with another painful visit.² For if I ^(C1)cause you grief by a well-deserved rebuke, who then provides me enjoyment but the very one whom I have made sad?³ And I ^(F1)(C1)wrote this same thing to you, so that ^(C2)when I came, I would not be filled with sorrow by those who ought to make me glad, for I trusted in you and ^(C3)felt confident that my joy would be shared by all of you.⁴ For I ^(C1)wrote to you out of great distress and with an anguished heart, and with many tears, not to cause you sorrow but to make you realize the overflowing love which I have especially for you.

⁵ But ^(C1)if ^(F1)someone has caused all this sorrow, he has caused it not to me, but in some degree—not to put it too severely—he has distressed and grieved all of you.⁶ For such a one ^(C1)this punishment by the majority is sufficient,⁷ so instead of further rebuke, now you should rather graciously ^(C1)forgive and comfort and encourage him, to keep him from being overwhelmed by excessive sorrow.⁸ Therefore I urge you to reinstate him in your affections and reaffirm your ^(F1)love for him.⁹ For this was my purpose in ^(C1)writing, to see if you ^(C2)would stand the test, whether you are obedient and ^(C3)committed to following my instruction in all things.¹⁰ If you forgive anyone anything, I too forgive that one; and what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake ^(C1)in the presence of and with the approval of Christ,¹¹ to keep ^(C1)Satan from taking advantage of us; for ^(C2)we are not ignorant of his schemes.

¹² Now when I arrived at ^(C1)Troas to preach the ^(C2)good news of Christ, even though a ^(C3)door of opportunity opened for me in the Lord,¹³ my spirit ^(C1)could not rest because I did not find my brother ^(C2)Titus there; so ^(C3)saying goodbye to them, I left for ^(C4)Macedonia.

^14 (C1)But thanks be to God, who always ^(C2)leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us spreads and makes evident everywhere the sweet ^(C3)fragrance of the ^(C4)knowledge of Him.¹⁵ For we are the ^(C1)sweet fragrance of Christ which ascends to God, discernible both among ^(C2)those who are being saved and among those who are perishing;^16 (C1)to the latter one an aroma from death to death a fatal, offensive odor, but to the other an aroma from life to life a vital fragrance, living and fresh. And who is ^(C2)adequate and sufficiently qualified for these things?¹⁷ For we are not like many, acting like merchants ^(C1)peddling God's word shortchanging and adulterating God's message; but ^(C2)from pure uncompromised motives, as commissioned and sent from God, we speak His message in Christ ^(C3)in the sight of God.