¹And I resolved on this: not to come to you again in grief. ²For if I am causing you grief, then who can cheer me up except him who is grieving because of me? ³And I wrote this very thing to you, so that I would not have grief when I came from those people over whom I should have rejoiced, trusting in you all that my joy is that of you all. ⁴For I wrote to you from much tribulation and distress of heart, with many tears, not that you should grieve, but that you should know the love which I have most profusely towards you. ⁵But if anyone has caused grief, he has not caused me grief, except for a while, so that I do not weigh down on you all. ⁶The censure which is given by the majority is sufficient for such a man, ⁷so that on the contrary rather, you show grace and give encouragement, in case such a man should in any way be overwhelmed by too much grief. ⁸So I encourage you to assure him of your love of him. ⁹For I wrote to this effect, that I should know your proven character – whether you are obedient in all things. ¹⁰If you forgive anyone anything, so do I. And indeed if I have forgiven anyone anything, I forgave him because of you in the presence of Christ, ¹¹so that we might not be taken advantage of by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his intentions. ¹²And when I came to Troas for the purpose of the gospel of Christ, and a door was opened to me in the Lord, ¹³I did not have peace of mind, because I did not find Titus my brother, but I took leave of them and departed for Macedonia. ¹⁴But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and who makes the scent of knowledge of him manifest through us in every place. ¹⁵For we are a sweet smell of Christ to God among those on the road to being saved and among those who are on the road to perdition: ¹⁶to some a savour of death leading to death, to others a savour of life leading to life. And who is worthy of these things? ¹⁷For we are not as others who corrupt the word of God, but we are sincere, and we speak in Christ, as from God, in the presence of God.