Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of flesh and spirit, bringing our holiness to completion in the fear of God.
Paul's Joy
Make room in your hearts for us! We wronged no one, we corrupted no one, we took advantage of no one.
I do not say this to condemn you, for I have said before that you are in our hearts to die together and live together with you.
Great is my boldness of speech toward you, great is my boasting on your behalf. I am filled with comfort, I am overflowing with joy in all our affliction.
For indeed, when we came into Macedonia our flesh had no relief, but we were afflicted in every way: fighting on the outside and fears within.
But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus,
and not only by his coming but also by the comfort with which he was comforted by you, as he told us of your longing, your mourning, and your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced even more.
For though I grieved you by my letter, I do not regret it, though I did regret it, for I see that that letter grieved you, though only for a little while.
Now I am rejoicing, not that you were grieved, but that you grieved to the point of repentance, for you were made sorrowful according to the will of God, so that you suffered no loss through us.
For godly sorrow produces repentance that leads to salvation and brings no regret, but worldly sorrow produces death.
For see what earnestness this very thing, this godly sorrow, has produced in you: what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what punishment for wrongdoing! In everything you have showed yourselves to be pure in the matter.
So although I wrote to you, I did not write for the sake of the one who did the wrong, nor for the sake of the one who suffered the wrong, but for the sake that your diligence on our behalf would be made plain to you in the sight of God.
Therefore, we have been comforted, and in our comfort we rejoiced even much more at the joy of Titus, because his spirit has been refreshed by you all.
For if I have boasted to him about anything concerning you, I was not put to shame. But just as everything we said to you was true, so also our boasting, which I made to Titus, was found to be true.
And his deep affection increases even more toward you when he remembers the obedience of you all, how with fear and trembling you received him.
I rejoice that in everything I am confident concerning you.