Chapter 2

Reaffirm Your Love

1 But I determined this 1for my own sake, that I awould not come to you in sorrow again.

2 For if I acause you sorrow, who then makes me glad but the one whom I made sorrowful?

3 This is the very thing I awrote you, so that bwhen I came, I would not have sorrow from those who ought to make me rejoice; having cconfidence in you all that my joy would be the joy of you all.

4 For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I awrote to you with many tears; not so that you would be made sorrowful, but that you might know the love which I have especially for you.

5 But aif any has caused sorrow, he has caused sorrow not to me, but in some degree—1in order not to say too much—to all of you.

6 Sufficient for such a one is athis punishment which was inflicted by the majority,

7 so that on the contrary you should rather aforgive and comfort him, otherwise such a one might be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow.

8 Wherefore I urge you to reaffirm your love for him.

9 For to this end also aI wrote, so that I might 1bput you to the test, whether you are cobedient in all things.

10 But one whom you forgive anything, I forgive also; for indeed what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, I did it for your sakes ain the presence of Christ,

11 so that no advantage would be taken of us by aSatan, for bwe are not ignorant of his schemes.

12 Now when I came to aTroas for the bgospel of Christ and when a cdoor was opened for me in the Lord,

13 I ahad no rest for my spirit, not finding bTitus my brother; but ctaking my leave of them, I went on to dMacedonia.

14 aBut thanks be to God, who always bleads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the csweet aroma of the dknowledge of Him in every place.

15 For we are a afragrance of Christ to God among bthose who are being saved and among those who are perishing;

16 ato the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. And who is badequate for these things?

17 For we are not like many, 1apeddling the word of God, but bas from sincerity, but as from God, we speak in Christ cin the sight of God.

Chapter 3

Ministers of a New Covenant

1 Are we beginning to acommend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some, bletters of commendation to you or from you?

2 aYou are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men;

3 being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, 1acared for by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of bthe living God, not on ctablets of stone but on dtablets of 2ehuman hearts.

4 Such aconfidence we have through Christ toward God.

5 Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but aour adequacy is from God,

6 who also made us adequate as aservants of a bnew covenant, not of cthe letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but dthe Spirit gives life.

7 But if the aministry of death, bin letters engraved on stones, came 1with glory, cso that the sons of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses because of the glory of his face, fading as it was,

8 how will the ministry of the Spirit fail to be even more with glory?

9 For if athe ministry of condemnation has glory, much more does the bministry of righteousness abound in glory.

10 For indeed what had glory, in this case has no glory because of the glory that surpasses it.

11 For if that which fades away was 1with glory, much more that which remains is in glory.

12 aTherefore having such a hope, bwe use great boldness in our speech,

13 and are not like Moses, awho used to put a veil over his face so that the sons of Israel would not look intently at the end of what was fading away.

14 But their minds were ahardened; for until this very day at the breading of cthe old covenant the same veil 1remains unlifted, because it is removed in Christ.

15 But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart;

16 abut whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.

17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where athe Spirit of the Lord is, bthere is liberty.

18 But we all, with unveiled face, abeholding as in a mirror the bglory of the Lord, are being ctransformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from dthe Lord, the Spirit.

Chapter 4

Paul’s Apostolic Ministry

1 Therefore, since we have this aministry, as we breceived mercy, we cdo not lose heart,

2 but we have renounced the athings hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness or badulterating the word of God, but by the manifestation of truth ccommending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.

3 And even if our agospel is bveiled, it is veiled 1to cthose who are perishing,

4 in whose case athe god of bthis 1world has cblinded the minds of the unbelieving 2so that they might not see the dlight of the gospel of the eglory of Christ, who is the fimage of God.

5 For we ado not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants 1for Jesus’ sake.

6 For God, who said, “aLight shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has bshone in our hearts to give the cLight of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

7 But we have this treasure in aearthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of bthe power will be of God and not from ourselves;

8 we are aafflicted in every way, but not bcrushed; cperplexed, but not despairing;

9 apersecuted, but not bforsaken; cstruck down, but not destroyed;

10 aalways carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that bthe life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.

11 For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.

12 So death works in us, but life in you.

13 But having the same aspirit of faith, according to what is written, “bI believed, therefore I spoke,” we also believe, therefore we also speak,

14 knowing that He who araised the Lord Jesus bwill raise us also with Jesus and will cpresent us with you.

15 For all things are afor your sakes, so that the grace which is 1bspreading to more and more people may cause the giving of thanks to abound to the glory of God.

16 Therefore we ado not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our binner man is cbeing renewed day by day.

17 For momentary, alight affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison,

18 while we alook not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.