New Testament

2 Corinthians 2

Love, Pardon, and Apostolic Witness

5 passages

Overview

Paul explains his tearful letter and his decision to forgo a painful visit to Corinth, urges the community to forgive and restore a repentant sinner lest Satan gain a foothold, recounts his restless departure from Troas driven by pastoral anxiety over Titus and the Corinthians, and closes with a vision of apostolic ministry as a triumphal procession in which the fragrance of Christ brings life to those who receive the Gospel and deepens the ruin of those who reject it — all proclaimed in sincerity, before God, in Christ, by those who are no mere merchants of the sacred word.

Passages

1–4Tears Written in Love: Paul's Pastoral Heart 5–11Restore the Sinner: Mercy, Discipline, and the Snares of Satan 12–13The Open Door and the Restless Heart: Paul's Vigil at Troas 14–16The Apostolic Triumphal Procession and the Aroma of Christ 17Speaking as from God: The Mark of Authentic Ministry

Study Resources

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2 Corinthians 2

¹But I determined this for myself, that I would not come to you again in sorrow. ²For if I make you grieve, then who will make me glad but he who is made to grieve by me? ³And I wrote this very thing to you, so that when I came, I wouldn’t have sorrow from them of whom I ought to rejoice; having confidence in you all that my joy would be shared by all of you. ⁴For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you with many tears, not that you should be made to grieve, but that you might know the love that I have so abundantly for you.

⁵But if any has caused sorrow, he has caused sorrow not to me, but in part (that I not press too heavily) to you all. ⁶This punishment which was inflicted by the many is sufficient for such a one; ⁷so that, on the contrary, you should rather forgive him and comfort him, lest by any means such a one should be swallowed up with his excessive sorrow. ⁸Therefore I beg you to confirm your love toward him. ⁹For to this end I also wrote, that I might know the proof of you, whether you are obedient in all things. ¹⁰Now I also forgive whomever you forgive anything. For if indeed I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven that one for your sakes in the presence of Christ, ¹¹that no advantage may be gained over us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes.

¹²Now when I came to Troas for the Good News of Christ, and when a door was opened to me in the Lord, ¹³I had no relief for my spirit, because I didn’t find Titus my brother, but taking my leave of them, I went out into Macedonia.

¹⁴Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and reveals through us the sweet aroma of his knowledge in every place. ¹⁵For we are a sweet aroma of Christ to God in those who are being saved and in those who perish: ¹⁶to the one a stench from death to death, to the other a sweet aroma from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? ¹⁷For we are not as so many, peddling the word of God. But as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God, we speak in Christ.

2 Corinthians 1 2 Corinthians 3