2 Corinthians 2:9–17

⁹I wrote you that letter because I wanted to find out how well you had stood the test and whether you are always ready to obey my instructions. ¹⁰When you forgive someone for what he or she has done, I forgive them too. For when I forgive—if, indeed, I need to forgive anything—I do it in Christ’s presence because of you, ¹¹in order to keep Satan from getting the upper hand of us; for we know what his plans are.

Paul’s Anxiety in Troas

^12*When I arrived in Troas to preach the Good News about Christ, I found that the Lord had opened the way for the work there. ^13*But I was deeply worried, because I could not find our brother Titus. So I said goodbye to the people there and went on to Macedonia.

Victory through Christ

¹⁴But thanks be to God! For in union with Christ we are always led by God as prisoners in Christ’s victory procession. God uses us to make the knowledge about Christ spread everywhere like a sweet fragrance. ¹⁵For we are like a sweet-smelling incense offered by Christ to God, which spreads among those who are being saved and those who are being lost. ¹⁶For those who are being lost, it is a deadly stench that kills; but for those who are being saved, it is a fragrance that brings life. Who, then, is capable of such a task? ¹⁷We are not like so many others, who handle God’s message as if it were cheap merchandise; but because God has sent us, we speak with sincerity in his presence, as servants of Christ.