2 Corinthians 2

So I decided this for myself: I would not come to you again in sorrow.

1But I determined this with myself, that I would not come again to you in heaviness.

Note"Heaviness" in 1611 English meant grief or low spirits, not weight or dullness. The word "again" points back to a visit Paul had already made to Corinth that went badly; it is a second painful visit that he is ruling out.

2If I make you sad, then who is left to make me glad? Only the very people I have saddened.

2For if I make you sorry, who is he then that maketh me glad, but the same which is made sorry by me?

3That is why I wrote to you the way I did. I did not want to come and be hurt by the people who ought to make me glad. I trusted all of you, that what makes me glad makes you glad too.

3And I wrote this same unto you, lest, when I came, I should have sorrow from them of whom I ought to rejoice; having confidence in you all, that my joy is the joy of you all.

Note"I wrote this same unto you" refers to a letter Paul had already sent, the tearful one he describes in verse 4. Whether that letter was 1 Corinthians, a letter now lost, or a portion preserved elsewhere in 2 Corinthians is disputed.

4I wrote to you with many tears, out of deep trouble and pain in my heart. My goal was not to hurt you. It was to let you know how very much I love you.

4For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote unto you with many tears; not that ye should be grieved, but that ye might know the love which I have more abundantly unto you.

5If someone has caused pain, he has not hurt me alone. To some extent he has hurt all of you. I say "to some extent" so I do not make it sound worse than it is.

5But if any have caused grief, he hath not grieved me, but in part: that I may not overcharge you all.

Note"Overcharge" meant to load someone too heavily, and here to press a point too hard. Paul is measuring his words so as not to overstate the damage the offender has done.

6The punishment that most of you gave that man is enough for him.

6Sufficient to such a man is this punishment, which was inflicted of many.

Note"Inflicted of many" means inflicted by the majority: "of" here marks the doer, as in "a door was opened unto me of the Lord" in verse 12. The Greek word behind "punishment" is used for an official censure decided on by a group, so this was a formal act of the congregation rather than private retaliation.

7So now you should do the opposite: forgive him and comfort him. Otherwise he may be swallowed up by too much sorrow.

7So that contrariwise ye ought rather to forgive him, and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow.

8So I am asking you to show him clearly that you still love him.

8Wherefore I beseech you that ye would confirm your love toward him.

Note"Confirm your love" translates a word drawn from public and legal life, meaning to ratify something or make it officially valid, the way a decision or a contract is confirmed. Paul is asking for a visible, public act of reinstatement, not only a private change of feeling.

9I also wrote for this reason: to see how you would stand the test, and whether you would obey in everything.

9For to this end also did I write, that I might know the proof of you, whether ye be obedient in all things.

Note"Proof" keeps its older sense of a trial or test, as metal is proved by fire. It does not mean evidence here.

10Anyone you forgive, I forgive too. And whatever I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, I forgave it for your sake, in the presence of Christ.

10To whom ye forgive any thing, I forgive also: for if I forgave any thing, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person of Christ;

Note"In the person of Christ" renders a phrase that reads literally "in the face of Christ." It can mean in Christ's presence, with Christ looking on, or acting as Christ's representative; the Greek will carry either, and the ambiguity is in the original.

11I did this so that Satan would not get the better of us. We know very well what tricks he uses.

11Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.

Note"Get an advantage of us" means to outwit or defraud us, to come off better in a deal. "Devices" in 1611 meant schemes or plots, not machines or gadgets.

12Now when I came to Troas to tell people the good news about Christ, the Lord opened a door for me there.

12Furthermore, when I came to Troas to preach Christ’s gospel, and a door was opened unto me of the Lord,

NoteTroas was a port city on the northwest coast of Asia Minor, in modern Turkey, near the site of ancient Troy. It was the usual crossing point for travelers going by sea from Asia into Macedonia. "A door was opened" was a common idiom for an opportunity, here a chance to preach and a receptive audience.

13But I had no peace in my spirit, because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said goodbye to the people and went on to Macedonia.

13I had no rest in my spirit, because I found not Titus my brother: but taking my leave of them, I went from thence into Macedonia.

NoteTitus was one of Paul's fellow workers, and Paul had sent him to Corinth carrying the painful letter. Paul waited at Troas for Titus to return with news of how the Corinthians had taken it, which is why Titus's failure to appear left him unable to settle. "My brother" means a fellow believer and colleague, not a blood relative. Macedonia was the Roman province covering northern Greece, with cities such as Philippi and Thessalonica.

14But thanks be to God, who always leads us along in Christ's victory parade, and who uses us to spread the sweet smell of knowing him in every place.

14Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place.

NoteThe image is a Roman triumph, the victory parade granted to a general who had won a major war. He rode through the city with his soldiers, his spoils and his prisoners, while incense burned along the route. The Greek verb means to lead someone in such a parade, and the people led in it are the captives, so Paul may be picturing himself as a prisoner displayed in God's procession rather than as a victor; the King James "causeth us to triumph" takes the other reading. "Savour" means smell or fragrance, picking up the incense of the parade.

15To God we are the sweet smell of Christ, both among the people who are being saved and among the people who are perishing.

15For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish:

Note"A sweet savour" is the standard phrase in the Old Testament law for the smell of an offering burned on the altar, described there as pleasing to God. Both groups here are described with ongoing verbs in the Greek: people in the process of being saved and people in the process of perishing.

16To the ones who are perishing we smell like death, and it leads to death. To the ones being saved we smell like life, and it leads to life. And who is up to a job like this?

16To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things?

Note"The savour of death unto death" and "the savour of life unto life" use a Hebrew pattern of doubling for intensity, meaning a smell that is death through and through and ends in death, and one that is life through and through. In a triumph parade the same incense hung over prisoners marked for execution and over those who would be spared. "Sufficient" here means adequate or qualified for the task, not sufficient in quantity.

17We are not like the many people who sell God's word for profit. Instead, we speak in Christ with honest hearts, as men sent from God, and we speak in God's sight.

17For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ.

Note"Corrupt the word of God" translates a verb built on the word for a peddler or small retailer, a trade with a reputation for sharp practice: watering the wine, shorting the measure. The charge is both selling the message for money and adulterating it in the selling. "Sincerity" in 1611 still carried its root sense of purity, something unmixed and with nothing added.