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¹ So I made up my mind that I would not pay you another painful visit. ² For if I cause you pain, who is left to make me happy except the people I have pained? ³ Indeed, this is why I wrote as I did — so that when I came, I would not have to be pained by those who ought to be making me happy; for I had enough confidence in all of you to believe that unless I could be happy, none of you could be happy either. ⁴ I wrote to you with a greatly distressed and anguished heart, and with many tears, not in order to cause you pain, but to get you to realize how very much I love you.

⁵ Now if someone has been a cause of pain, it is not I whom he has pained, but, in some measure — I don't want to overstate it — all of you. ⁶ For such a person the punishment already imposed on him by the majority is sufficient, ⁷ so that now you should do the opposite — forgive him, encourage him, comfort him. Otherwise such a person might be swallowed up in overwhelming depression. ⁸ So I urge you to show that you really do love him. ⁹ The reason I wrote you was to see if you would pass the test, to see if you would fully obey me. ¹⁰ Anyone you forgive, I forgive too. For indeed, whatever I have forgiven, if there has been anything to forgive, has been for your sake in the presence of the Messiah ¹¹ so that we will not be taken advantage of by the Adversary — for we are quite aware of his schemes!

¹² Now when I went to Troas to proclaim the Good News of the Messiah, since a door had been opened for me by the Lord, ¹³ I could not rest, because I failed to find my brother Titus. So I left the people there and went on to Macedonia.

¹⁴ But thanks be to God, who in the Messiah constantly leads us in a triumphal procession and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of what it means to know him! ¹⁵ For to God we are the aroma of the Messiah, both among those being saved and among those being lost; ¹⁶ to the latter, we are the smell of death leading only to more death; but to the former, we are the sweet smell of life leading to more life. Who is equal to such a task? ¹⁷ For we are not like a lot of folks who go about huckstering God's message for a fee; on the contrary, we speak out of a sincere heart, as people sent by God, standing in God's presence, living in union with the Messiah.