‘But I determined this for myself, that I would not come again to you with sorrow. For if I make you sorry, who then is he who makes me glad but he who is made sorry by me? And I wrote this very thing, lest, when I came, I should have sorrow from those of whom I ought to rejoice, having confidence i... [ Continue Reading ]
‘For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you with many tears, not that you should be made sorry, but that you might know the love that I have more abundantly to you.' For the truth was that he loved them dearly, so much so that the severe letter had cause him much anguish of hear... [ Continue Reading ]
‘But if any has caused sorrow, he has caused sorrow, not to me, but in some measure (so that I do not press the case too heavily) to you all.' Indeed the reason that he dealt with the offender so strongly in his letter is not because of the sorrow the man has caused him, he does not think of that,... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Sufficient to such a one is this punishment (‘censure, reproof, reprimand') which was inflicted by the many, so that, in contrast to that, you should rather forgive him and comfort him, lest by any means such a one should be swallowed up with his overmuch sorrow. Wherefore I beseech you to confirm... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Because for this purpose also I wrote, that I might know the proof of you, whether you are obedient in all things.' He assures them that the main reason that he had written the severe letter to them was not in order to obtain punishment for the man, but so that he could test out their own obedienc... [ Continue Reading ]
‘But to whom you forgive anything, I forgive also: for what I also have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, it is for your sakes in the presence of Christ, so that no advantage may be gained over us by Satan. For we are not ignorant of his devices.' So now he was ready to completely forgive, bec... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Now when I came to Troas for the gospel of Christ, and when a door was opened to me in the Lord, I had no relief for my spirit, because I did not find Titus my brother, but taking my leave of them, I went forth into Macedonia.' He first describes the great concern that he had had about the situati... [ Continue Reading ]
‘But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and is making known through us the fragrance of his knowledge in every place. For we are a sweet fragrance of Christ to God, in those who are saved, and in those who perish. To the one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fr... [ Continue Reading ]
‘For we are not as the many, corrupting (or ‘peddling') the word of God, but as of sincerity. But as of God, in the sight of God, speak we in Christ.' So, Paul concludes, they should now be able to see the truth about him and his fellow-workers. They are not, like many, corrupting and misinterpreti... [ Continue Reading ]