9 I wrote you that letter because I wanted to find out how well you had stood the test and whether you are always ready to obey my instructions.
10 When you forgive someone for what he or she has done, I forgive them too. For when I forgive — if, indeed, I need to forgive anything — I do it in Christ's presence because of you,
11 in order to keep Satan from getting the upper hand of us; for we know what his plans are.
12 When I arrived in Troas to preach the Good News about Christ, I found that the Lord had opened the way for the work there.
13 But I was deeply worried, because I could not find our brother Titus. So I said goodbye to the people there and went on to Macedonia.
14 But thanks be to God! For in union with Christ we are always led by God as prisoners in Christ's victory procession. God uses us to make the knowledge about Christ spread everywhere like a sweet fragrance.
15 For we are like a sweet-smelling incense offered by Christ to God, which spreads among those who are being saved and those who are being lost.