UST 2COR Chapter 7

7 So then, fellow believers whom I love, because God has promised these things to us, we should get rid of everything that defiles us on the outside and on the inside. We should become completely holy as we fear God.

2 We ask you to care for us! We have not hurt, cheated, or destroyed anyone. 3 I am not saying these things to blame you. In fact, as I have already written in this letter, we care for you greatly, no matter what happens. 4 I am very confident that you will do what is right. In fact, I often say great things about you. You encourage me greatly, and I rejoice very much about you even while we are suffering.

5 Now to return to how I traveled, when we arrived in Macedonia, things did not get easier for us. Instead, we suffered in many ways. Other people quarreled with us, and we ourselves were often afraid. 6 However, God encourages people who feel discouraged. He encouraged us by having Titus join us. 7 God encouraged us partly by having Titus join us, but even more by how what you did encourages Titus. He has told us that you want to see me, that you are sorry for what you did, and that you strive to honor me. Because of those things, I rejoiced more than I did before.

8 I am not sorry that I wrote the previous letter, even though I hurt you with what I wrote. In fact, the only reason I would be sorry that I wrote it is that I know that the letter hurt you, although only for a little while. 9 However, now that Titus has told us about you, I am very happy. I am happy not because I hurt you. Rather, I am happy because when I hurt you, you became sorry for what you did and stopped doing it. In fact, you felt hurt in a way that honors God. So, we have not deprived you of anything good. 10 That is because, when people feel hurt in a way that honors God, it causes them to be sorry for what they did and stop doing it. They are not sorry that they felt hurt, because God uses how they feel to rescue them. However, when people feel hurt in the way that most people do, how they feel eventually causes them to die. 11 As for you, when you felt hurt in this way that honors God, it certainly caused you to be very eager to do what is right. You argued that you were not guilty. You were upset about what had happened. You feared what might happen. You wanted to see us. You strove to honor us. You punished the person who had done what was wrong. By doing all those things, you have shown that you have done what is right in response to what happened. 12 So then, when I sent the previous letter to you, I was not primarily dealing with the person who did what was wrong. Also, I was not primarily dealing with the person whom he hurt. Rather, I intended to show you how eager you are to act rightly toward us and that God approves of this. 13 Since you responded in these ways, you have encouraged us.

In fact, although you did encourage us, we are even more happy about how you made Titus happy. You did that when you all comforted and strengthened him. 14 We were this happy because you did not disgrace me after I had said great things about you to Titus. Instead, Titus found out that the great things we said about you were actually true. This is just like how everything we told you was also true. 15 Titus recalls how you all obeyed us, particularly how you feared him when he arrived. Because of that, he cares about you even more now. 16 I am happy that I am completely sure that you are doing what is right.

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