2 Corinthians 2–3

CHAPTER 2

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

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

³And 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.

⁴For 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 abundantly for you.

Forgive and Love the Sinner

⁵But ^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.

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

⁷so that on the contrary you should rather ^agraciously forgive and comfort him, lest such a one be swallowed up by excessive sorrow.

⁸Therefore I encourage you to reaffirm your love for him.

⁹For to this end also ^aI wrote, so that I might ^bknow your proven character, whether you are ^cobedient in all things.

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

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

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

¹³I ^ahad no rest for my spirit, not finding ^bTitus my brother. But ^csaying farewell to them, I went on to ^dMacedonia.

^14aBut thanks be to God, who always ^bleads us in triumphal procession in Christ, and manifests through us the ^caroma of the ^dknowledge of Him in every place.

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

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

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

CHAPTER 3

Ministers of a New Covenant

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

^2aYou are our letter, having been written in our hearts, known and read by all men,

³being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, ^aministered to by us, having been written not with ink but with the Spirit of ^bthe living God, not on ^ctablets of stone but on ^dtablets of hearts of ^eflesh.

⁴And such ^aconfidence we have through Christ toward God.

⁵Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but ^aour sufficiency is from God,

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

⁷But if the ^aministry of death, ^bin letters having been 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, which was being brought to an end,

⁸how will the ministry of the Spirit not be even more in glory?

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

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

¹¹For if that which was being brought to an end was ¹with glory, much more that which remains is in glory.

^12aTherefore having such a hope, ^bwe use great boldness,

¹³and 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 consequence of what was being brought to an end.

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

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

¹⁶but ^awhenever a person turns to the ¹Lord, the veil is taken away.

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

¹⁸But 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.