And we are sending ¹  with them our brother whom we have tested many times and found eager in many matters, but who now is much more eager than ever because of the great confidence he has in you.

In other words, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting people’s trespasses against them, and he has given us ¹  the message of reconciliation.

I urged Titus to visit you ¹  and I sent our ²  brother along with him. Titus did not take advantage of you, did he? ³  Did we not conduct ourselves in the same spirit? Did we not behave in the same way? ⁴ 

as it is written: “The one who gathered ¹  much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little.” ² 

Now the one who prepared us for this very purpose ¹  is God, who gave us the Spirit as a down payment. ² 

My point is this: The person who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the person who sows generously ¹  will also reap generously.

Now God ¹  who provides seed for the sower and bread for food will provide and multiply your supply of seed and will cause the harvest of your righteousness to grow.

But it is God who establishes ¹  us together with you in Christ and who anointed us, ² 

was caught up into paradise ¹  and heard things too sacred to be put into words, ²  things that a person ³  is not permitted to speak.

But the one who boasts must boast in the Lord. ¹ 

We do so ¹  because we know that the one who raised up Jesus ²  will also raise us up with Jesus and will bring us with you into his presence.

God ¹  made the one who did not know sin ²  to be sin for us, so that in him ³  we would become the righteousness of God.

who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a down payment. ¹ 

For it is not the person who commends himself who is approved, but the person the Lord commends.

The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is blessed forever, knows I am not lying.

In addition, ¹  this brother ²  has also been chosen by the churches as our traveling companion as we administer this generous gift ³  to the glory of the Lord himself and to show our readiness to help. ⁴ 

so that now instead ¹  you should rather forgive and comfort him. ²  This will keep him from being overwhelmed by excessive grief to the point of despair. ³ 

This punishment on such an individual by the majority is enough for him,

because some say, “His letters are weighty and forceful, but his physical presence is weak ¹  and his speech is of no account.” ² 

For if I make you sad, who would be left to make me glad ¹  but the one I caused to be sad?