2 Corinthians 2
1I made this decision for my own sake: not to come to you in grief again. 2For if I cause you grief, who is left to make me glad except the one I have grieved? 3I wrote this very thing so that when I arrived, I would not be grieved by the very people who ought to make me rejoice. I have confidence in all of you that my joy belongs to all of you. 4For out of much affliction and a constricted heart I wrote to you through many tears—not so that you would be grieved, but so that you might know the overflowing love I have for you.
5Now if anyone has caused grief, he has not grieved me, but to some extent—not to overstate it—he has burdened all of you. 6This disciplinary censure by the majority is sufficient for such a person. 7So now, on the contrary, you should rather extend grace and comfort, so that such a person is not consumed by excessive grief. 8Therefore I urge you to formally ratify your love for him. 9I also wrote for this purpose: to see the proof of your character, whether you are obedient in everything. 10Anyone you forgive, I also forgive. For what I have forgiven—if I have forgiven anything—I have done for your sake in the presence of Christ, 11so that we might not be outmaneuvered by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his schemes.
12When I came to Troas for the good news of Christ, even though a door was opened for me in the Lord, 13I had no relief in my spirit because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said my farewells to them and left for Macedonia.
14But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him in every place. 15For we are the sweet aroma of Christ to God, both among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing: 16to the latter, a scent of death leading to death; to the former, a scent of life leading to life. And who is sufficient for these things? 17For we are not like the many who huckster the word of God. On the contrary, we speak in Christ with sincerity, as those sent from God and standing in the presence of God.