Paul Urges Forgiveness

2 But I determined this within myself, ^(A)that I would not come again to you in sorrow.

²³ Moreover ^(A)I call God as witness against my soul, ^(B)that to spare you I came no more to Corinth.

^10 (A)Therefore I write these things being absent, lest being present I should use sharpness, according to the ^(B)authority which the Lord has given me for edification and not for destruction.

²⁰ For I fear lest, when I come, I shall not find you such as I wish, and that ^(A)I shall be found by you such as you do not wish; lest there be contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, backbitings, whisperings, conceits, tumults; ²¹ lest, when I come again, my God ^(B)will humble me among you, and I shall mourn for many ^(C)who have sinned before and have not repented of the uncleanness, ^(D)fornication, and lewdness which they have practiced.

⁴ For out of much ^[a]affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you, with many tears, ^(A)not that you should be grieved, but that you might know the love which I have so abundantly for you.

²¹ What do you want? ^(A)Shall I come to you with a rod, or in love and a spirit of gentleness?

Final Messages

¹² When I send Artemas to you, or ^(A)Tychicus, be diligent to come to me at Nicopolis, for I have decided to spend the winter there.

⁵ For indeed, ^(A)when we came to Macedonia, our bodies had no rest, but ^(B)we were troubled on every side. ^(C)Outside were conflicts, inside were fears. ⁶ Nevertheless ^(D)God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by ^(E)the coming of Titus, ⁷ and not only by his coming, but also by the ^[a]consolation with which he was comforted in you, when he told us of your earnest desire, your mourning, your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced even more.

⁸ For even if I made you ^(F)sorry with my letter, I do not regret it; ^(G)though I did regret it. For I perceive that the same epistle made you sorry, though only for a while.

Sparing the Church

¹⁵ And in this confidence ^(A)I intended to come to you before, that you might have ^(B)a second benefit— ¹⁶ to pass by way of you to Macedonia, ^(C)to come again from Macedonia to you, and be helped by you on my way to Judea. ¹⁷ Therefore, when I was planning this, did I do it lightly? Or the things I plan, do I plan ^(D)according to the flesh, that with me there should be Yes, Yes, and No, No?