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Reaffirm Your Love

¹ But I decided this ^(F1)for my own sake, that I ^(C1)would not come to you in sorrow again.² For if I ^(C1)cause you sorrow, who then will be the one making me glad but the one who is made sorrowful by me?³ This is the very thing I ^(C1)wrote you, so that ^(C2)when I came, I would not have sorrow from those who ought to make me rejoice; having ^(C3)confidence in you all that my joy was the joy of you all.⁴ For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I ^(C1)wrote to you with many tears; not so that you would be made sorrowful, but that you might know the love which I have especially for you.

⁵ But ^(C1)if anyone has caused sorrow, he has caused sorrow not for me, but in some degree—^(F1)not to say too much—for all of you.⁶ Sufficient for such a person is ^(C1)this punishment which was imposed by the majority,⁷ so that on the other hand, you should rather ^(C1)forgive and comfort him, otherwise such a person might be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow.⁸ Therefore I urge you to reaffirm your love for him.⁹ For to this end ^(C1)I also wrote, so that I might ^(F1)(C2)put you to the test, whether you are ^(C3)obedient in all things.¹⁰ But one whom you forgive anything, I also forgive; for indeed what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, I did so for your sakes ^(C1)in the presence of Christ,¹¹ so that no advantage would be taken of us by ^(C1)Satan, for ^(C2)we are not ignorant of his schemes.

¹² Now when I came to ^(C1)Troas for the ^(C2)gospel of Christ and when a ^(C3)door was opened for me in the Lord,¹³ I ^(C1)had no rest for my spirit, not finding ^(C2)Titus my brother; but ^(C3)saying goodbye to them, I went on to ^(C4)Macedonia.

^14 (C1)But thanks be to God, who always ^(C2)leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us reveals the ^(C3)fragrance of the ^(C4)knowledge of Him in every place.¹⁵ For we are a ^(C1)fragrance of Christ to God among ^(C2)those who are being saved and among those who are perishing:^16 (C1)to the one an ^(F1)aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. And who is ^(C2)adequate for these things?¹⁷ For we are not like the many, ^(F1)(C1)peddling the word of God, but ^(C2)as from sincerity, but as from God, we speak in Christ ^(C3)in the sight of God.