⁵If anyone has hurt me, he hasn’t just hurt me; he’s hurt all of you (in some sense—not to put it too strongly).

⁶But when the majority of you decided to punish him, what you did was enough.

⁷Now you should forgive him and comfort him. That way he won’t be so discouraged that he gives up.

⁸I’m asking you to let him know that you still love him.

⁹I wrote to you the way I did to see if you would pass the test and obey everything I asked you to do.

¹⁰But now, anyone you forgive, I also forgive. And what I’ve forgiven—whatever there is to forgive—I’ve forgiven for your sakes, knowing that Christ is watching.

¹¹We don’t want Satan to outsmart us. We know how he does his evil work.

Paul’s Journey to Macedonia: Servants of the New Covenant

¹²When I went to Troas to preach the good news about Christ, I found that the Lord had opened a door of opportunity for me.

¹³Even so, I didn’t have any peace of mind, because I couldn’t find my brother Titus there. So I said goodbye to the believers at Troas and went on to Macedonia.

¹⁴But thanks be to God, who always leads us as if we were prisoners in Christ’s victory parade. He uses us to spread the knowledge of Christ everywhere like perfume.

¹⁵God considers us to be the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are being lost.

¹⁶To those who are being lost, we are the aroma of death. But to those who are being saved, we are the aroma of life. Who is able to do this kind of work?

¹⁷Unlike many people, we aren’t selling God’s word to make money. It’s just the opposite! Because of Christ, we speak honestly before God, as people God has truly sent.