2 Corinthians 2:1--3:18
2:1 So
I made up my own mind
not to pay you another painful visit.
2:2 For if I make you sad, who would be left to make me glad
but the one I caused to be sad?
2:3 And I wrote this very thing to you,
so that when I came
I would not have sadness from those who ought to make me rejoice, since I am confident in you all that my joy would be yours.
2:4 For out of great distress and anguish of heart I wrote to you with many tears, not to make you sad, but to let you know the love that I have especially for you.
2:5 But if anyone has caused sadness, he has not saddened me alone, but to some extent (not to exaggerate)
he has saddened all of you as well.
2:6 This punishment on such an individual by the majority is enough for him,
2:7 so that now instead
you should rather forgive and comfort him.
This will keep him from being overwhelmed by excessive grief to the point of despair.
2:8 Therefore I urge you to reaffirm your love for him.
2:9 For this reason also I wrote you:
to test you to see
if you are obedient in everything.
2:10 If you forgive anyone for anything, I also forgive him – for indeed what I have forgiven (if I have forgiven anything) I did so for you in the presence of Christ,
2:11 so that we may not be exploited
by Satan (for we are not ignorant of his schemes).
2:12 Now when I arrived in Troas
to proclaim the gospel of Christ, even though the Lord had opened
a door of opportunity
for me,
2:13 I had no relief in my spirit,
because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said good-bye to them
and set out
for Macedonia.
Apostolic Ministry
2:14 But thanks be to God who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and who makes known through us the fragrance that consists of the knowledge of him in every place.
2:15 For we are a sweet aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing –
2:16 to the latter an odor from death to death, but to the former a fragrance from life to life. And who is adequate for these things?
2:17 For we are not like so many others, hucksters who peddle the word of God for profit, but we are speaking in Christ before God as persons of sincerity, as persons sent from God.
A Living Letter
3:1 Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? We don’t need letters of recommendation to you or from you as some other people do, do we?
3:2 You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone,
3:3 revealing that you are a letter of Christ, delivered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on stone tablets but on tablets of human hearts.
3:4 Now we have such confidence in God through Christ.
3:5 Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as if it were coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God,
3:6 who made us adequate to be servants of a new covenant not based on the letter but on the Spirit, for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
The Greater Glory of the Spirit’s Ministry
3:7 But if the ministry that produced death – carved in letters on stone tablets – came with glory, so that the Israelites could not keep their eyes fixed on the face of Moses because of the glory of his face (a glory which was made ineffective),
3:8 how much more glorious will the ministry of the Spirit be?
3:9 For if there was glory in the ministry that produced condemnation, how much more does the ministry that produces righteousness excel in glory!
3:10 For indeed, what had been glorious now has no glory because of the tremendously greater glory of what replaced it.
3:11 For if what was made ineffective came with glory, how much more has what remains come in glory!
3:12 Therefore, since we have such a hope, we behave with great boldness,
3:13 and not like Moses who used to put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from staring at the result of the glory that was made ineffective.
3:14 But their minds were closed. For to this very day, the same veil remains when they hear the old covenant read. It has not been removed because only in Christ is it taken away.
3:15 But until this very day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their minds,
3:16 but when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed.
3:17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is present, there is freedom.
3:18 And we all, with unveiled faces reflecting the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another, which is from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
2 Corinthians 10:2
10:2 now I ask that when I am present I may not have to be bold with the confidence that (I expect) I will dare to use against some who consider us to be behaving
according to human standards.
2 Corinthians 10:6-11
10:6 We are also ready to punish every act of disobedience,
whenever your obedience is complete.
10:7 You are looking at outward appearances.
If anyone is confident that he belongs to Christ, he should reflect on this again: Just as he himself belongs to Christ, so too do we.
10:8 For if I boast somewhat more about our authority that the Lord gave us
for building you up and not for tearing you down, I will not be ashamed of doing so.
10:9 I do not want to seem as though I am trying to terrify you with my letters,
10:10 because some say, “His letters are weighty and forceful, but his physical presence is weak
and his speech is of no account.”
10:11 Let such a person consider this: What we say
by letters when we are absent, we also are in actions when we are present.
2 Corinthians 12:20
12:20 For I am afraid that somehow when I come I will not find you what I wish, and you will find me
not what you wish. I am afraid that
somehow there may be quarreling, jealousy, intense anger, selfish ambition,
slander, gossip, arrogance, and disorder.
2 Corinthians 13:2
13:2 I said before when I was present the second time and now, though absent, I say again to those who sinned previously and to all the rest, that if I come again, I will not spare anyone,
2 Corinthians 13:10
13:10 Because of this I am writing these things while absent, so that when I arrive
I may not have to deal harshly with you
by using my authority – the Lord gave it to me for building up, not for tearing down!
2 Corinthians 13:1
Paul’s Third Visit to Corinth
13:1 This is the third time I am coming to visit you. By the testimony of two or three witnesses every matter will be established.
Colossians 4:1
4:1 Masters, treat your slaves with justice and fairness, because you know that you also have a master in heaven.
Colossians 1:5
1:5 Your faith and love have arisen
from the hope laid up
for you in heaven, which you have heard about in the message of truth, the gospel
Colossians 1:1
Salutation
1:1 From Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
Colossians 1:20
1:20 and through him to reconcile all things to himself by making peace through the blood of his cross – through him, whether things on earth or things in heaven.