2 Corinthians 2:5-17

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

Forgiveness for the Offender

⁵ But if anyone has caused grief, he has caused it not to me but to some extent—not to exaggerate it—to all of you. ⁶ This punishment by the majority is enough for such a person;^{(A) 7} so now instead you should forgive and console him, so that he may not be overwhelmed by even worse grief. ⁸ So I urge you to reaffirm your love for him. ⁹ I wrote for this reason: to test you and to know whether you are obedient in everything.^{(B) 10} Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. In fact, what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ. ¹¹ And we do this so that we may not be outwitted by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his designs.

Paul’s Anxiety in Troas

¹² When I came to Troas to proclaim the good news^[a] of Christ, a door was opened for me in the Lord,^{(C) 13} but my mind could not rest because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said farewell to them and went on to Macedonia.

¹⁴ But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession and through us spreads in every place the fragrance that comes from knowing him.^{[b] 15} For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing:^{(D) 16} to the one group a fragrance from death^[c] to death, to the other a fragrance from life^[d] to life. Who is qualified for these things?^{(E) 17} For we are not peddlers of God’s word like so many,^[e] but as persons of sincerity, as persons sent from God, we are speaking in Christ before God.^(F)