For we write you nothing other than what you read and understand [there is no double meaning in what we say]. And I hope you will [accurately] understand [divine things] until the end;

For if I cause you grief [by a well-deserved rebuke], who then provides me enjoyment but the very one whom I have made sad?

my spirit could not rest because I did not find my brother Titus there; so saying goodbye to them, I left for Macedonia.

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty [emancipation from bondage, true freedom].

There is no limit to our affection for you, but you are limited in your own affection [for us].

What harmony can there be between Christ and Belial (Satan)? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?

What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said:“I will dwell among them and walk among them;
And I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

I do not say this to condemn you, for I have said before that you are [nested] in our hearts [and you will remain there] to die together and to live together [with us].

For if the eagerness [to give] is there, it is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what he does not have.

at this present time your surplus [over necessities] is going to supply their need, so that [at some other time] their surplus may be given to supply your need, that there may be equality;

Besides those external things, there is the daily [inescapable] pressure of my concern for all the churches.

It is necessary to boast, though nothing is gained by it; but I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord.

Because of the surpassing greatness and extraordinary nature of the revelations [which I received from God], for this reason, to keep me from thinking of myself as important, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan, to torment and harass me—to keep me from exalting myself!

For I am afraid that perhaps when I come I may find you not to be as I wish, and that you may find me not as you wish—that perhaps there may be strife, jealousy, angry tempers, disputes, slander, gossip, arrogance and disorder;