From: Paul, an apostle of the Messiah Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother. To: God's church in Corinth, and to all the holy people throughout Achaia.

May grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, be yours!

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah! He is our merciful Father and the God of all comfort,

For as the Messiah's sufferings overflow into us, so also our comfort overflows through the Messiah.

For God's Son, Jesus the Messiah, who was preached among you by us by me, Silvanus, and Timothy was not "Yes" and "No." But with him it is always "Yes."

Now the one who makes us and you as well secure in union with the Messiah and has anointed us is God,

When you forgive someone, I do, too. Indeed, what I have forgiven if there was anything to forgive I did in the presence of the Messiah for your benefit,

When I went to Troas on behalf of the gospel of the Messiah, the Lord opened a door for me,

But thanks be to God! He always leads us triumphantly by the Messiah and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of knowing him.

To God we are the aroma of the Messiah among those who are being saved and among those who are being lost.

At least we are not commercializing God's word like so many others. Instead, we speak with sincerity in the Messiah's name, like people who are sent from God and are accountable to God.

You are demonstrating that you are the Messiah's letter, produced by our service, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

Such is the confidence that we have in God through the Messiah.

However, their minds were hardened, for to this day the same veil is still there when they read the old covenant. Only in union with the Messiah is that veil removed.

In their case, the god of this world has blinded the minds of those who do not believe to keep them from seeing the light of the glorious gospel of the Messiah, who is the image of God.

For we do not preach ourselves, but rather Jesus the Messiah as Lord, and ourselves as merely your servants for Jesus' sake.

For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," has shone in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God's glory in the face of Jesus the Messiah.

For all of us must appear before the judgment seat of the Messiah, so that each of us may receive what he deserves for what he has done in his body, whether good or worthless.

The love of the Messiah controls us, for we are convinced of this: that one person died for all people; therefore, all people have died.

So then, from now on we do not think of anyone from a human point of view. Even if we did think of the Messiah from a human point of view, we don't think of him that way anymore.

Therefore, if anyone is in the Messiah, he is a new creation. Old things have disappeared, and look! all things have become new!

All of this comes from God, who has reconciled us to himself through the Messiah and has given us the ministry of reconciliation,

for through the Messiah, God was reconciling the world to himself by not counting their sins against them. He has committed his message of reconciliation to us.

Therefore, we are the Messiah's representatives, as though God were pleading through us. We plead on the Messiah's behalf: "Be reconciled to God!"

What harmony exists between the Messiah and Beliar, or what do a believer and an unbeliever have in common?

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah. Although he was rich, for your sakes he became poor, so that you, through his poverty, might become rich.

As for Titus, he is my partner and fellow worker on your behalf. Our brothers, emissaries from the churches, are bringing glory to the Messiah.

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.

Now I myself, Paul, plead with you with the gentleness and kindness of the Messiah I who am humble when I am face to face with you but forceful toward you when I am away!

and every proud obstacle that is raised against the knowledge of God, taking every thought captive in order to obey the Messiah.

Look at the plain facts! If anyone is confident that he belongs to the Messiah, he should remind himself of this: Just as he belongs to the Messiah, so do we.

For it is not as though we were overstepping our limits when we came to you. We were the first to reach you with the gospel of the Messiah.

I am jealous of you with God's own jealousy, because I promised you in marriage to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to the Messiah.

However, I am afraid that just as the serpent deceived Eve by its tricks, so your minds may somehow be lured away from sincere and pure devotion to the Messiah.

As surely as the truth of the Messiah is in me, my boasting will not be silenced in the regions of Achaia.

Such people are false apostles, dishonest workers who are masquerading as apostles of the Messiah.

Are they the Messiah's servants? I am insane to talk like this, but I am a far better one! I have been involved in far greater efforts, far more imprisonments, countless beatings, and have faced death more than once.

I know a man who belongs to the Messiah. Fourteen years ago whether in his body or outside of his body, I do not know, but God knows that man was snatched away to the third heaven.

but he has told me, "My grace is all you need, because my power is perfected in weakness." Therefore, I will most happily boast about my weaknesses, so that the Messiah's power may rest on me.

That is why I take such pleasure in weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and difficulties for the Messiah's sake, for when I am weak, then I am strong.

Have you been thinking all along that we are trying to defend ourselves before you? We are speaking before God in the authority of the Messiah, and everything, dear friends, is meant to build you up.

since you want proof that the Messiah is speaking through me. He is not weak in dealing with you but is making his power felt among you.

Keep examining yourselves to see whether you are continuing in the faith. Test yourselves! You know, don't you, that Jesus the Messiah lives in you? Could it be that you are failing the test?

May the grace of the Lord Jesus the Messiah, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you!