since he has been longing for all of you and was distressed because you heard that he was sick.

Indeed, he was so sick that he nearly died. However, God had mercy on him, and not only on him but also on me, so that I would not have one grief on top of another.

because he came close to death for the work of Christ, risking his life to make up what was lacking in your ministry to me.

But everything that was a gain to me, I have considered to be a loss because of Christ.