Study Desk

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.

Sufficient for such a person is ^(C1)this punishment which was imposed by the majority,

so that on the other hand, you should rather ^(C1)forgive and comfort him, otherwise such a person might be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow.

Therefore I urge you to reaffirm your love for him.

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.

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,

so that no advantage would be taken of us by ^(C1)Satan, for ^(C2)we are not ignorant of his schemes.

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,

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.

^(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.

For we are a ^(C1)fragrance of Christ to God among ^(C2)those who are being saved and among those who are perishing:

^(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?

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.

Are we beginning to ^(C1)commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some, ^(C2)letters of commendation to you or from you?

^(C1)You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all people,

revealing yourselves, that you are a letter of Christ, ^(F1)(C1)delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of ^(C2)the living God, not on ^(C3)tablets of stone but on ^(C4)tablets of ^(F2)(C5)human hearts.

Such is the ^(C1)confidence we have toward God through Christ.

Not that we are adequate in ourselves so as to consider anything as having come from ourselves, but ^(C1)our adequacy is from God,

who also made us adequate as ^(C1)servants of a ^(C2)new covenant, not of ^(C3)the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but ^(C4)the Spirit gives life.

But if the ^(C1)ministry of death, engraved ^(C2)in letters on stones, came ^(F1)with glory ^(C3)so that the sons of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses because of the glory of his face, fading as it was,

how will the ministry of the Spirit fail to be even more with glory?

For if ^(C1)the ministry of condemnation has glory, much more does the ^(C2)ministry of righteousness excel in glory.

For indeed what had glory in this case has no glory, because of the glory that surpasses it.

For if that which fades away was ^(F1)with glory, much more that which remains is in glory.

^(C1)Therefore, having such a hope, ^(C2)we use great boldness in our speech,

and we are not like Moses, ^(C1)who used to put a veil over his face so that the sons of Israel would not stare at the end of what was fading away.

But their minds were ^(C1)hardened; for until this very day at the ^(C2)reading of ^(C3)the old covenant the same veil ^(F1)remains unlifted, because it is removed in Christ.

But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their hearts;

^(C1)but whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where ^(C1)the Spirit of the Lord is, ^(C2)there is freedom.

But we all, with unveiled faces, ^(C1)looking as in a mirror at the ^(C2)glory of the Lord, are being ^(C3)transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from ^(C4)the Lord, the Spirit.