And I hope that you will realize that we have not failed the test!

I rejoice because in everything I am fully confident in you.

For I testify, they gave according to their means and beyond their means. They did so voluntarily,

Now I rejoice, not because you were made sad, but because you were made sad to the point of repentance. For you were made sad as God intended, so that you were not harmed in any way by us.

And our hope for you is steadfast because we know that as you share in our sufferings, so also you will share in our comfort.

For we are a sweet aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing –

because he not only accepted our request, but since he was very eager, he is coming to you of his own accord.

Why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do!

For even if I made you sad by my letter, I do not regret having written it (even though I did regret it, for I see that my letter made you sad, though only for a short time).

He delivered us from so great a risk of death, and he will deliver us. We have set our hope on him that he will deliver us yet again,

But as God is faithful, our message to you is not “Yes” and “No.”

Now I appeal to God as my witness, that to spare you I did not come again to Corinth.

I do not mean that we rule over your faith, but we are workers with you for your joy, because by faith you stand firm.

Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as if it were coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God,

We do so because we know that the one who raised up Jesus will also raise us up with Jesus and will bring us with you into his presence.

Therefore we are always full of courage, and we know that as long as we are alive here on earth we are absent from the Lord –

Or did I commit a sin by humbling myself so that you could be exalted, because I proclaimed the gospel of God to you free of charge?

was caught up into paradise and heard things too sacred to be put into words, things that a person is not permitted to speak.

For just as the sufferings of Christ overflow toward us, so also our comfort through Christ overflows to you.

For we do not write you anything other than what you can read and also understand. But I hope that you will understand completely