For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life:

Nay, we had, as we still have, the sentence of death within our own selves, in order that our confidence may repose, not on ourselves, but on God who raised the dead to life.

For our glory is in this, in the knowledge which we have that our way of life in the world, and most of all in relation to you, has been holy and true in the eyes of God; not in the wisdom of the flesh, but in the grace of God.

as you have partly understood the meaning of my life, namely that I am your source of pride (as you are mine) on the Day of our Lord Jesus.

He has placed His seal of ownership upon us by giving us the down payment of the Holy Spirit [to live] in our hearts.

But I call upon God [as] witness against my life, that [in order to] spare you, I did not come again to Corinth.

For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote unto you with many tears; not that ye should be grieved, but that ye might know the love which I have more abundantly unto you.

Wherefore I beseech you that ye would confirm your love toward him.

Wherever I go, thank God, he makes my life a constant pageant of triumph in Christ, diffusing the perfume of his knowledge everywhere by me.

I live for God as the fragrance of Christ breathed alike on those who are being saved and on those who are perishing,

To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things?

Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.

I have renounced the hidden things of shame, not spending my life in craftiness, nor adulterating the word of God; but setting forth the truth openly, I strive to commend myself to every man's conscience as in the sight of God.

in whom the god of this life has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the likeness of God, may not shine.

persecuted but not abandoned, struck down but not destroyed ??10 wherever I go, I am being killed in the body as Jesus was, so that the life of Jesus may come out in my body:

Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.

For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.

So then death worketh in us, but life in you.

We know that if the earthly tent we live in is torn down, we have a building in heaven that comes from God, an eternal house not built by human hands.

For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.

Now God is the One who has prepared us for this very thing [i.e., the receiving of a new body to live in]. He has [also] given us the Holy Spirit as a down payment. [Note: This refers to the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit as being a guarantee that we will receive the balance of our inheritance in the form of a new body].

for we live by faith, not by sight--

We are confident, then, and would prefer to be away from this body and to live with the Lord.

For we must all of us appear before Christ's judgement-seat in our true characters, in order that each may then receive an award for his actions in this life, in accordance with what he has done, whether it be good or whether it be worthless.

For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:

And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.

Therefore, if any one is in union with Christ, he is a new being! His old life has passed away; a new life has begun!

By pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned,

in love unfeigned, in discourse of truth, in power of God; through the weapons of righteousness on the right hand and left,

As unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed;

O Corinthians, my tongue is telling you everything; my heart is stretched with love for you.

There is no narrowness in our love to you: the narrowness is in your own feelings.

To pay me back, I tell you, my children, you too must stretch your hearts with love for me.

And what agreement [does the] temple of God [have] with idols? For we are the temple of the living God, just as God said, "I will live in them and will walk about [among them], and I will be their God and they will be my people."

I speak not this to condemn you: for I have said before, that ye are in our hearts to die and live with you.

For the sorrow that God desires produces repentance [i.e., a change of heart and life] that leads to salvation, and which brings no regrets. But the sorrow of the world [i.e., sorrow for wrongdoing for reasons unrelated to God or moral principles] produces [spiritual] death.

And his love to you is the more increased by his memory of you all, how you gave way to his authority, and how you took him to your hearts with fear and honour.

We would remind you, Brothers, of the love that God has shown to the Churches in Macedonia--

And with many an appeal to us for permission, they showed their love, and contributed their share towards the fund for their fellow-Christians.

And this led us to urge upon Titus that, as he had started the work for you, he should also see to the completion of this expression of your love.

Therefore, as ye abound in every thing, in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love to us, see that ye abound in this grace also.

I speak not by commandment, but by occasion of the forwardness of others, and to prove the sincerity of your love.

And not only that, but he has been elected by the Churches to accompany us on our journey, in Keynesian with this expression of your love, which we are personally administering to the honor of the Lord, and to show our deep interest.

Wherefore shew ye to them, and before the churches, the proof of your love, and of our boasting on your behalf.

I have thought it absolutely necessary therefore to request these brethren to visit you before I myself come, and to make sure beforehand that the gift of love which you have already promised may be ready as a gift of love, and may not seem to have been something which I have extorted from you.

each one, according as he doth purpose in heart, not out of sorrow or out of necessity, for a cheerful giver doth God love,

Because your service in giving proves your love, you will be glorifying God as you obey what your confession of the Messiah's gospel demands, since you are generous in sharing with them and with everyone else.

while they themselves also in supplications on your behalf pour out their longing love towards you because of God's surpassing grace which is resting upon you.

For though we walk in the flesh [as mortal men], we are not carrying on our [spiritual] warfare according to the flesh and using the weapons of man.

But I have a fear, that in some way, as Eve was tricked by the deceit of the snake, your minds may be turned away from their simple and holy love for Christ.

Even when I lacked the actual necessities of life while I was with you, I was a burden to no one; for whatever I lacked, the brothers from Macedonia supplied, when they came. So I kept myself from being a burden to you in any way, and will continue to do so.

Wherefore? because I love you not? God knoweth.

Because I love you not? God knoweth. But what I do, I will do, that I may cut off the occasion from them who desire occasion, that wherein they boast, they may be found even as we.

For you put up with someone, [even] if he enslaves you [i.e., exercises control over your life]; [even] if he takes [unfair] advantage of you; [even] if he acts superior toward you; and [even] if he slaps you in the face.

but he told me, "It is enough for you to have my grace: it is in weakness that [my] power is fully felt." So I am proud to boast of all my weakness, and thus to have the power of Christ resting on my life.

And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved.

If I love you so intensely, am I the less to be loved? Be that as it may: I was not a burden to you. But being by no means scrupulous, I entrapped you, they say!

I urged Titus to go, and I sent our Brother with him. Did Titus take any advantage of you? Did not we live in the same Spirit, and tread in the same footsteps?

For though he was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but we shall live with him by the power of God toward you.

Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit [be] with all of you.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen.