For my boast is this, to which my conscience testifies, that before the world, but especially before you, I have acted from pure motives and in sincerity before God, not depending on worldly wisdom but on God's unmerited favor.

But with Him it is always "Yes," for, as many as the promises of God may be, through Him they are always "Yes." This is why our "Amen" through Him is for the glory of God when spoken by us.

But it is God who makes us as well as you secure through union with Christ, and has anointed us,

But upon my soul I call God to witness that it was to spare you pain that I gave up my visit to Corinth.

Not that we are trying to lord it over your faith, but we are workers with you to promote your joy, for in your faith you are standing firm.

For if I make you sad, who is there to make me glad but the very man who has been made sad by me?

For out of great sorrow and distress of heart, yes, while shedding many tears, I wrote you, not to make you sad but to make you realize that my love for you continues running over.

But if anyone has made anyone sad, it is not I, but you that he has made sad, at least, some of you, not to be severe on all of you.

But thanks be to God, for He always leads me in His triumphal train, through union with Christ, and everywhere through me keeps spreading the perfume of the knowledge of Him.

Now who is qualified for such a task? I am, for I am not a peddler of God's message, like the most of them, but like a man of sincerity, like a man that is sent from God and living in His presence, in union with Christ I speak His message.

for you are always showing that you are a letter of Christ, produced by my service, written not in ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone, but on human hearts.

He has qualified even me as a minister of the new covenant, which is not a written but a spiritual covenant. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

but whenever anybody turns to the Lord, the veil is removed,

On the other hand, I have renounced all underhanded, disgraceful methods; I neither practice cunning nor do I tamper with God's message, but by clear and candid statements of truth I try to commend myself to every human conscience in God's sight.

For I am not proclaiming myself but Christ Jesus as Lord, and myself a slave of yours for Jesus' sake.

But I am keeping this jewel in an earthen jar, to prove that its surpassing power is God's, not mine.

On every side I am ever hard-pressed, but never hemmed in; always perplexed, but never to the point of despair;

always being persecuted, but not deserted; always getting a knockdown, but never a knockout;

So it is death that works in me, but it is life that works in you.

because I do not keep my eyes on things that are seen but things that are unseen. For things that are seen are temporary, but things that are unseen are eternal.

For I know that if this earthly tent in which I live is taken down, I have a building in heaven which comes from God, a house not built by human hands but eternal.

For I who am still in my tent am sighing beneath my burdens, because I do not want it to be put off but to put on the other over it, so that my dying body may be absorbed in life.

and yet I am cheerful and confident, but really I prefer to be away from home in the body and to be at home with the Lord.

and He died for all, that those who live might live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.

sad but always glad, poor but making many people rich, penniless but really possessing everything.

You are not squeezed into a tiny corner in my heart, but you are in your own affections.

But God, who comforts the downhearted, comforted me by the coming of Titus,

and not only by his coming but by the comfort he had gotten from you, because he kept on telling me how you were longing to see me, how sorry you were, and how loyal you were to me, so that I was gladder still.

I am glad of it now, not because you had such sorrow, but because your sorrow led you to repentance, for you took your sorrow in accordance with the will of God, so that you should not suffer any loss at all from me.

For the sorrow that comes in accordance with the will of God results in repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regrets, but the sorrow the world produces results in death.

So, although I did write to you, it was not for the offender's sake, nor for the offended party's sake, but in the sight of God for the sake of having your enthusiasm for me made perfectly clear to you. This is why I am so comforted.

Indeed, if I have been doing some boasting of you to him, I have never been ashamed of it; but just as all I said to him was true, so now my boasting before Titus has been shown to be true.

They did not do as I expected but even more; they first by God's will gave themselves to the Lord, and then to me;

I am not saying this in the spirit of a command, but I am simply trying to test the genuineness of your love by the enthusiasm of others.

Now I will give you my opinion on this matter. For this is for your interest, because you were not only the first to do anything about it, but the first to want to do so; you started it a year ago.

but through an equalizing of matters in the present crisis I do want your abundance to relieve their need, that some day their abundance may relieve your need, so that equality may exist --

But thanks be to God, who kindles in the heart of Titus the same enthusiasm for you that I have;

Not only that, but he has been selected by the churches to travel with me for this gracious contribution which is being raised by me, so that it may turn out for the glory of the Lord and a proof of my readiness to serve.

For I am taking the precaution to do what is right, not only in the sight of the Lord but also in the eyes of men.

I send with them another brother of ours, whom I have often in many ways tested and found to be enthusiastic, but now he is more enthusiastic than ever, because of his great confidence in you.

But I send the brothers that in this matter my boasting of you may not turn out to be an idle boasting, that you all may be ready, as I have told them you will be,

Now this is the way it is: Whoever sows sparingly will reap sparingly too, but whoever sows bountifully will reap bountifully too.

Because the service rendered by this sacred offering is not only fully supplying the needs of God's people, but it is also running over with many thanks to God for it.

Now I appeal to you in person, by the gentleness and fairness of Christ, I, Paul, who am so "condescending when face to face with you, but so courageous toward you when far away!"

for the weapons used in my warfare are not mere human ones, but through my God are mighty for demolishing fortresses.

For they say, "His letters are impressive and forceful, but his physical personality is unimpressive, and his delivery is perfectly contemptible."

Indeed, I do not dare to count or compare myself with certain men who are always recommending themselves. But they do not show good sense, because they do continue measuring themselves with one another and comparing themselves with one another.

But I shall never go too far in my boasting; no, I shall stay within the limits of the sphere which God apportioned me, so as to reach even you.

I am not going too far in my boasting, and actually boasting of other men's labors, but I am cherishing the hope that your faith may so continue to grow that through you my work within my sphere may be so enlarged as to run over,

"But the man who boasts must boast in the Lord.

For it is not the man who keeps on recommending himself who is really approved, but it is the man whom the Lord recommends.

But I am apprehensive that, somehow or other, as the serpent by his cunning deceived Eve, your thoughts may be turned aside from single-hearted devotion to Christ.

But the truth of Christ in me, this boasting of mine shall never be stopped in the boundaries of Greece.

Let me say again that no one must think that I am a fool, but if you do, please treat me like a fool and let me do a little boasting too, as other fools do.

But when I talk in this boastful confidence, I am not talking in accordance with the way the Lord talked, but just as a fool talks.

but through a hole in the wall I was lowered in a basket, and so escaped from his clutches.

I have to keep on boasting. There is no good to be gotten from it, but I will go on to visions and revelations which the Lord has given me.

I know a man in union with Christ fourteen years ago -- whether in the body or out of it, I do not know, but God knows -- who was caught up to the third heaven.

Yes, I know that this man -- whether in or out of the body, I do not know, but God knows --

On behalf of this man with such an experience I will boast, but on behalf of myself personally I will boast only about my weaknesses.

However, if I want to boast, I will not play the fool, for it will be nothing but the truth that I will tell. But I refrain from doing so, to keep anybody, on account of the superiority of the revelations, from giving me a higher rating than my actions and teachings deserve.

but He said to me, "My spiritual strength is sufficient, for it is only by means of conscious weakness that perfect power is developed."

I have made a fool of myself, but you have forced me to do it, for I am the man who ought to have been constantly approved by you. For I am not a single bit inferior to your surpassingly superior apostles, though really I am "nobody."

It is now the third time that I have been ready to come to see you, and I will never ask you for financial support, for it is not your money but you yourselves that I want; for children are not by duty bound to lay up money for their parents, but parents for their children.

But let it be granted, you say, that I never received from you financial support, yet, you say, by being a trickster I cheated you by my cunning.

since you demand a proof that Christ is speaking through me. For Christ is not exhibiting weakness toward you but power in you.

But I am praying God that you may never do anything wrong, not to show that I am standing the test, but that you should continue doing right, though I should fail to stand the test.

For I cannot do anything against the truth, but only for it.