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2 Corinthians 2
1But I determined this for myself, that I would not come to you again in sorrow.
2For if I make you grieve, then who will make me glad but he who is made to grieve by me?
3And I wrote this very thing to you, so that when I came, I wouldn’t have sorrow from them of whom I ought to rejoice; having confidence in you all that my joy would be shared by all of you.
4For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you with many tears, not that you should be made to grieve, but that you might know the love that I have so abundantly for you.
5But if any has caused sorrow, he has caused sorrow not to me, but in part (that I not press too heavily) to you all.
6This punishment which was inflicted by the many is sufficient for such a one;
7so that, on the contrary, you should rather forgive him and comfort him, lest by any means such a one should be swallowed up with his excessive sorrow.
8Therefore I beg you to confirm your love toward him.
9For to this end I also wrote, that I might know the proof of you, whether you are obedient in all things.
10Now I also forgive whomever you forgive anything. For if indeed I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven that one for your sakes in the presence of ,
11that no advantage may be gained over us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes.
12Now when I came to Troas for the Good News of , and when a door was opened to me in the Lord,
13I had no relief for my spirit, because I didn’t find Titus my brother, but taking my leave of them, I went out into Macedonia.
14Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in , and reveals through us the sweet aroma of his knowledge in every place.
15For we are a sweet aroma of to God in those who are and in those who perish:
16to the one a stench from death to death, to the other a sweet aroma from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things?
17For we are not as so many, peddling of God. But as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God, we speak in .
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Questions this passage answers
What is repentance in the Bible?
Scripture describes repentance as turning: a change of mind about sin and about God that turns a person away from sin and toward God, and shows itself in what follows. It is more than regret, since Scripture distinguishes godly sorrow that leads to repentance from worldly sorrow that only produces death, and it is God's gift as well as our act.
What does the Bible say about money?
Scripture treats money as a real good that God provides and as a rival master that can own a person. It never calls money evil; it calls the love of money a root of all kinds of evil, warns that no one can serve both God and wealth, and directs the rich to generosity and everyone to contentment. Its main question about money is not how much you have but who you are serving with it.
Why does God allow suffering?
Scripture never gives one tidy reason for all suffering. It says that pain entered a good world through sin, that God is neither its author nor its prisoner, that he uses it without approving of it, and that he entered it himself in Christ rather than explaining it from a distance. The Bible answers the question with a person before it answers it with an argument.
What is the Gospel?
The Gospel is news, not advice. It is the announcement that God became man in Jesus Christ, lived the life we owed, died the death we deserved, rose bodily from the dead, and now freely forgives and reconciles everyone who turns from sin and trusts him. It is something done, reported to us, before it is anything asked of us.