2 Corinthians 2–3

2But I determined this within myself, ^athat I would not come again to you in sorrow. ²For if I make you ^bsorrowful, then who is he who makes me glad but the one who is made sorrowful by me?

Forgive the Offender

³And I wrote this very thing to you, lest, when I came, ^cI should have sorrow over those from whom I ought to have joy, ^dhaving confidence in you all that my joy is the joy of you all. ⁴For out of much ¹affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you, with many tears, ^enot that you should be grieved, but that you might know the love which I have so abundantly for you.

⁵But ^fif anyone has caused grief, he has not ^ggrieved me, but all of you to some extent—not to be too severe. ⁶This punishment which was inflicted ^hby the majority is sufficient for such a man, ⁷ⁱso that, on the contrary, you ought rather to forgive and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one be swallowed up with too much sorrow. ⁸Therefore I urge you to reaffirm your love to him. ⁹For to this end I also wrote, that I might put you to the test, whether you are ^jobedient in all things. ¹⁰Now whom you forgive anything, I also forgive. For ²if indeed I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven that one for your sakes in the presence of Christ, ¹¹lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices.

Triumph in Christ

¹²Furthermore, ^kwhen I came to Troas to preach Christ’s gospel, and ^la ³door was opened to me by the Lord, ^13mI had no rest in my spirit, because I did not find Titus my brother; but taking my leave of them, I departed for Macedonia.

¹⁴Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us ⁴diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. ¹⁵For we are to God the fragrance of Christ ⁿamong those who are being saved and ^oamong those who are perishing. ^16pTo the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life. And ^qwho is sufficient for these things? ¹⁷For we are not, as ⁵so many, ^rpeddling ⁶the word of God; but as ^sof sincerity, but as from God, we speak in the sight of God in Christ.

Christ’s Epistle

3Do ^awe begin again to commend ourselves? Or do we need, as some others, ^bepistles of commendation to you or letters of commendation from you? ^2cYou are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men; ³clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ^dministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not ^eon tablets of stone but ^fon tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart.

The Spirit, Not the Letter

⁴And we have such trust through Christ toward God. ^5gNot that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but ^hour sufficiency is from God, ⁶who also made us sufficient as ⁱministers of ^jthe new covenant, not ^kof the letter but of the ¹Spirit; for ^lthe letter kills, ^mbut the Spirit gives life.

Glory of the New Covenant

⁷But if ⁿthe ministry of death, ^owritten and engraved on stones, was glorious, ^pso that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away, ⁸how will ^qthe ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? ⁹For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry ^rof righteousness exceeds much more in glory. ¹⁰For even what was made glorious had no glory in this respect, because of the glory that excels. ¹¹For if what is passing away was glorious, what remains is much more glorious.

¹²Therefore, since we have such hope, ^swe use great boldness of speech—¹³unlike Moses, ^twho put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at ^uthe end of what was passing away. ¹⁴But ^vtheir minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ. ¹⁵But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. ¹⁶Nevertheless ^wwhen one turns to the Lord, ^xthe veil is taken away. ¹⁷Now ^ythe Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is ^zliberty. ¹⁸But we all, with unveiled face, beholding ^aas in a mirror ^bthe glory of the Lord, ^care being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as ²by the Spirit of the Lord.