2 Corinthians 2:2-11

2:2 For if I make you sad, who would be left to make me glad 1  but the one I caused to be sad? 2:3 And I wrote this very thing to you, 2  so that when I came 3  I would not have sadness from those who ought to make me rejoice, since I am confident in you all that my joy would be yours. 2:4 For out of great distress and anguish of heart I wrote to you with many tears, not to make you sad, but to let you know the love that I have especially for you. 4  2:5 But if anyone has caused sadness, he has not saddened me alone, but to some extent (not to exaggerate) 5  he has saddened all of you as well. 2:6 This punishment on such an individual by the majority is enough for him, 2:7 so that now instead 6  you should rather forgive and comfort him. 7  This will keep him from being overwhelmed by excessive grief to the point of despair. 8  2:8 Therefore I urge you to reaffirm your love for him. 9  2:9 For this reason also I wrote you: 10  to test you to see 11  if you are obedient in everything. 2:10 If you forgive anyone for anything, I also forgive him – for indeed what I have forgiven (if I have forgiven anything) I did so for you in the presence of Christ, 2:11 so that we may not be exploited 12  by Satan (for we are not ignorant of his schemes).

1 tn Or “to cheer me up.” L&N 25.131 translates this “For if I were to make you sad, who would be left to cheer me up?”

2 tn The words “to you” are not in the Greek text but are implied.

3 sn So that when I came. Regarding this still future visit by Paul, see 2 Cor 12:14; 13:1.

4 tn Or “the love that I have in great measure for you.”

5 tn Or “(not to say too much)”; Grk “(not to burden you [with words]).”

6 tn Grk “so that on the other hand.”

7 tn The word “him” is not in the Greek text but is supplied. Direct objects in Greek were often omitted and must be supplied from the context.

8 tn Grk “comfort him, lest somehow such a person be swallowed up by excessive grief,” an idiom for a person being so overcome with grief as to despair or give up completely (L&N 25.285). In this context of excessive grief or regret for past sins, “overwhelmed” is a good translation since contemporary English idiom speaks of someone “overwhelmed by grief.” Because of the length of the Greek sentence and the difficulty of expressing a negative purpose/result clause in English, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

9 tn Or “I urge you to show that your love for him is real.”

10 tn The word “you” is not in the Greek text, but is implied (as an understood direct object).

11 tn Grk “to know the proof of you,” that is, to know if the Corinthians’ obedience to Paul as an apostle was genuine (L&N 72.7).

12 tn Or “be taken advantage of.”