Any one whom you forgive, I also forgive is literally “But to whom you forgive anything, I also.” The pronoun I is emphatic. In some languages it will be more natural to say “I also forgive” (so Revised Standard Version) or “I also forgive him.” And it may also be more natural to turn the sentence around, saying something like “I myself will forgive any person whom you forgive.” If the receptor language requires the explicit statement of what is forgiven, one may add “what he has done,” since we do not know exactly what the offense was.

I have forgiven: the use of the perfect tense indicates that the offender is in a continuing state of being forgiven. It apparently serves to show that Paul has already forgiven the offender, although this does not come out in the Good News Translation rendering, which seems to imply a general rule.

The words if I have forgiven anything should not be understood to mean that Paul has doubts about whether he forgave the offender. The sense of these words is that Paul is not even sure that the offense was so serious as to need forgiveness. Martin says “if indeed there was anything to forgive.” By making such a statement Paul was softening his criticism of the offender and helping to bring about reconciliation.

For your sake: some languages will have to say “on your account” or simply “for you.” Others will include this idea in a special form of the verb (a form called “benefactive”).

In the presence of Christ appears to mean that Paul acted with an awareness of what Christ would desire him to do. Paul did not only what would be best for the church but also what would please Christ. Revised English Bible translates these words as “as the representative of Christ,” and Contemporary English Version says “with Christ as my witness.”

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellingworth, Paul. A Handbook on Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1993. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .