1Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that defiles body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.
The joy that Titus brought
2Make room for us. We have wronged no one, ruined no one, taken advantage of no one. 3I do not say this to condemn you; I have told you already that you are in our hearts, to die together and to live together. 4I speak to you with great frankness; I take great pride in you. I am filled with comfort; in all our affliction my joy overflows. 5Even when we came to Macedonia, our body had no rest; we were pressed from every side — battles outside, fears within. 6But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus, 7and not only by his coming but by the comfort he had received from you, as he told us of your longing, your grief, your zeal for me; so I rejoiced all the more.
Pain that leads to repentance
8Even if I caused you pain by my letter, I do not regret it — though I did regret it, for I see that the letter caused you pain, if only for a while — 9but now I rejoice, not because you were pained but because your pain led you to repentance. You were pained in a way that is from God, so you suffered no loss at our hands. 10For pain that is from God produces a repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret; the pain of the world produces death. 11Look at what this very pain, the pain from God, has produced in you: what earnestness, what defense of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what readiness to see justice done! At every point you have shown yourselves innocent in this matter. 12So although I wrote to you, it was not because of the one who did the wrong, nor because of the one who was wronged, but so that your own earnestness for us might be made plain to you before God. 13That is what has comforted us. And beyond our own comfort, we rejoiced still more at the joy of Titus, because his spirit has been refreshed by all of you. 14For whatever I boasted to him about you, I was not put to shame. Just as everything we said to you was true, so our boasting to Titus has proved true as well. 15And his heart goes out to you all the more as he remembers how obedient you all were, welcoming him with fear and trembling. 16I rejoice that in everything I can have confidence in you.
