1 So I decided that my next visit to you would not be another one to make you sad.
2 If I make you sad, who will make me glad? Only you can make me glad—particularly the person whom I made sad.
3 I wrote you a letter for this reason: that when I came to you I would not be made sad by the people who should make me happy. I felt sure of all of you, that you would share my joy.
4 When I wrote to you before, I was very troubled and unhappy in my heart, and I wrote with many tears. I did not write to make you sad, but to let you know how much I love you.
5 Someone there among you has caused sadness, not to me, but to all of you. I mean he caused sadness to all in some way. (I do not want to make it sound worse than it really is.)
6 The punishment that most of you gave him is enough for him.
7 But now you should forgive him and comfort him to keep him from having too much sadness and giving up completely.
8 So I beg you to show that you love him.
9 I wrote you to test you and to see if you obey in everything.
10 If you forgive someone, I also forgive him. And what I have forgiven—if I had anything to forgive—I forgave it for you, as if Christ were with me.
11 I did this so that Satan would not win anything from us, because we know very well what Satan’s plans are.
12 When I came to Troas to preach the Good News of Christ, the Lord gave me a good opportunity there.
13 But I had no peace, because I did not find my brother Titus. So I said good-bye to them at Troas and went to Macedonia.
14 But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s victory parade. God uses us to spread his knowledge everywhere like a sweet-smelling perfume.
15 Our offering to God is this: We are the sweet smell of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are being lost.
16 To those who are lost, we are the smell of death that brings death, but to those who are being saved, we are the smell of life that brings life. So who is able to do this work?
17 We do not sell the word of God for a profit as many other people do. But in Christ we speak the truth before God, as messengers of God.