Piedodiet pārkāpējam
1 Es pats sevī nolēmu: ar bēdām pie jums vairs nenākt. 2 Jo, ja es jūs apbēdinu, kas gan mani tad iepriecinās, ja ne tas, ko es būšu apbēdinājis. 3 Tādēļ arī es uzrakstīju šo vēstuli, lai tad, kad ieradīšos, man nebūtu jābēdājas par jums, par kuriem man būtu jāpriecājas, jo esmu pārliecināts par jums visiem, ka mans prieks ir arī jūsu visu prieks. 4 Jo no sāpju un līdzjūtības pilnas sirds lejot rūgtas asaras, es rakstīju jums ne jau tādēļ, lai jūs apbēdinātu, bet gan lai jūs sajustu mīlestību, kas manī ir tādā pārpilnībā uz jums. 5 Bet apbēdinātājs nav apbēdinājis tikai mani, bet jūs visus vai – lai neteiktu par stipru – gandrīz visus. 6 Tādam pietiek ar vairākuma nosodījumu. 7 Tieši otrādi – jūs varētu viņam labāk piedot un to mierināt, lai viņš nenoslīkst pārāk lielās bēdās. 8 Tādēļ es jūs mudinu gādāt par to, lai viņš sajūt jūsu mīlestību. 9 Es jums tādēļ arī rakstīju, lai pārbaudītu, vai esat paklausīgi visās lietās. 10 Ja jūs kādam piedodat, tad arī es; jo, ja es kādam esmu piedevis, tad jūsu dēļ Kristus priekšā. 11 Lai sātans mūs nepārspētu, jo viņa nolūki mums ir zināmi.
Pāvila raizes un paļāvība
12 Kad es ierados Troādā, lai sludinātu Kristus evaņģēliju, un ar Kunga palīdzību man atvērās durvis, 13 tomēr, pirms nebiju atradis savu brāli Titu, es nesajutu atvieglinājumu garā. Es atvadījos no viņiem un devos uz Maķedoniju. 14 Lai pateicība Dievam, kas mūs Kristū vienmēr vada uzvaras gājienā un caur mums Kristus atzīšanai ļauj izplatīties kā smaržai visās vietās! 15 Jo Dievam mēs esam Kristus labā smarža – gan to vidū, kas tiek glābti, gan to, kas iet pazušanā. 16 Vieniem tā ir nāves smarža, kas nes nāvi, otriem – dzīvības smarža uz dzīvību. Kas visam tam ir gatavs? 17 Mēs neesam kā tie daudzie, kas tirgojas ar Dieva vārdu, mēs runājam no tīras sirds kā no Dieva – Dieva priekšā Kristū.
1 I have decided not to make my next visit with you so painful. 2 If I make you feel bad, who would be left to cheer me up, except the people I had made to feel bad? 3 The reason I want to be happy is to make you happy. I wrote as I did because I didn't want to visit you and be made to feel bad, when you should make me feel happy. 4 At the time I wrote, I was suffering terribly. My eyes were full of tears, and my heart was broken. But I didn't want to make you feel bad. I only wanted to let you know how much I cared for you.
Forgiveness
5 I don't want to be hard on you. But if one of you has made someone feel bad, I am not really the one who has been made to feel bad. Some of you are the ones. 6 Most of you have already pointed out the wrong that person did, and this is punishment enough for what was done.
7 When people sin, you should forgive and comfort them, so they won't give up in despair. 8 You should make them sure of your love for them.
9 I also wrote because I wanted to test you and find out if you would follow my instructions. 10 I will forgive anyone you forgive. Yes, for your sake and with Christ as my witness, I have forgiven whatever needed to be forgiven. 11 I have done this to keep Satan from getting the better of us. We all know what goes on in his mind.
12 When I went to Troas to preach the good news about Christ, I found that the Lord had already prepared the way. 13 But I was worried when I didn't find my friend Titus there. So I left the other followers and went on to Macedonia.
14 I am grateful that God always makes it possible for Christ to lead us to victory. God also helps us spread the knowledge about Christ everywhere, and this knowledge is like the smell of perfume. 15-16 In fact, God thinks of us as a perfume that brings Christ to everyone. For people who are being saved, this perfume has a sweet smell and leads them to a better life. But for people who are lost, it has a bad smell and leads them to a horrible death.
No one really has what it takes to do this work. 17 A lot of people try to get rich from preaching God's message. But we are God's sincere messengers, and by the power of Christ we speak our message with God as our witness.
