So I made up my mind that I would not make you another painful visit.
If I cause you pain, who is there to make me glad but you, the very ones whom I have pained?
This is the very reason I wrote, so that when I came, I might not have pain from those who should give me joy. I had confidence in all of you, to share with you my joy.
For I wrote to you out of great distress and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to cause you pain but to let you know the abundant love I have for you.
But if anyone has caused pain, he has caused it not to me, but in some measure—not to put it too severely—to all of you.
This punishment is enough for such a one, so now you should rather forgive and comfort him, or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow.
So I urge you to reaffirm your love for him.
Wherefore I wrote you, so that I might test you and know whether you are obedient in everything.
Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. Indeed, what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ,
so that we may not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.
When I came to Troas to proclaim the gospel of Christ, even though a door was opened for me in the Lord,
I had no rest in my spirit because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I took leave of them and went on to Macedonia.
But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere.
For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing;
to the one we are an aroma that brings death, to the other an aroma that brings life. And who is sufficient for these things?
We are not commending ourselves to you again, but giving you an opportunity to boast about us, so that you may be able to answer those who boast in outward appearance and not in the heart.
For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you.
For the love of Christ urges us on, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died.
And he died for all, so that those who live might live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised for them.
From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way.
So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!
All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation;
that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us.
So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
This is the Patristics text that appears when you select Patristics.
