2 Corinthians 7

1Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of flesh and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.

2Make room for us in your hearts. We have wronged no one, we have corrupted no one, we have taken advantage of no one.

3I do not say this to condemn you, for I have said before that you are in our hearts, to die together and to live together.

4I speak to you with great boldness; I have great pride in you. I am filled with comfort. In all our affliction I am overflowing with joy.

5For even when we came into Macedonia, our bodies had no rest, but we were afflicted in every way: conflicts on the outside, fears within.

6But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the arrival of Titus,

7and not only by his arrival but also by the comfort with which he had been comforted by you. He told us of your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced still more.

8For even if I grieved you with my letter, I do not regret it. Even if I did regret it—for I see that the letter grieved you, though only for a while—

9now I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you were grieved as God intended, so that you suffered no loss through us.

10For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly grief produces death.

11See what earnestness this very thing, being grieved as God intended, has produced in you: what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what readiness to see justice done! In every way you have shown yourselves to be innocent in the matter.

12So although I wrote to you, it was not for the sake of the one who did the wrong, nor for the sake of the one who was wronged, but so that your earnestness for us might be made known to you in the sight of God.

13That is why we have been comforted. And besides our own comfort, we rejoiced still more at the joy of Titus, because his spirit has been refreshed by all of you.

14For if I have boasted to him about you in any way, I was not put to shame. But just as everything we said to you was true, so also our boasting to Titus has proved true.

15And his affection for you is all the greater as he remembers the obedience of all of you, how you received him with fear and trembling.

16I rejoice that I can have complete confidence in you.