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I wrote as I did, so that when I came I would not be distressed by those who should have made me rejoice. I had confidence in all of you, that you would all share my joy.
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For I wrote you out of great distress and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to grieve you but to let you know the depth of my love for you.
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Forgiveness for the Offender
If anyone has caused grief, he has not so much grieved me as he has grieved all of you to some extent—not to put it too severely.
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The punishment inflicted on him by the majority is sufficient.
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Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow.
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Another reason I wrote you was to see if you would stand the test and be obedient in everything.
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Anyone you forgive, I also forgive. And what I have forgiven—if there was anything to forgive—I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake,
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Ministers of the New Covenant
Now when I went to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ and found that the Lord had opened a door for me,
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I still had no peace of mind, because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said goodbye to them and went on to Macedonia.
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But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere.
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For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.
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To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life. And who is equal to such a task?
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Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, as those sent from God.
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Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some people, letters of recommendation to you or from you?
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You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone.
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You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.
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Such confidence we have through Christ before God.
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Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God.
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He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
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The Greater Glory of the New Covenant
Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, transitory though it was,
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will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious?
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If the ministry that brought condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness!
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For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory.
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And if what was transitory came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts!
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Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold.
