With earnest entreaty they begged from us the favour of being allowed to share in the service now being rendered to God's people.

but even as ye abound in every way, in faith, and word, and knowledge, and all diligence, and in love from you to us, that ye may abound in this grace also.

I speak not from commandment, but because of the zeal of others, also examining the genuineness of your love.

in this I only advise you: it being for your credit, since you have not only begun to execute it, but you were the first that form'd the design a year ago.

So now also complete the doing [of it], in order that just as [you have] the eagerness to want [to do it], thus also [you may] complete [it] from [what you] have.

But so that things may be equal; that from those things of which you have more than enough at the present time their need may be helped, and that if you are in any need they may be a help to you in the same way, making things equal.

For while he gladly gave ear to our request, he was interested enough to go to you from the impulse of his heart.

this I did, to prevent any suspicion that might be rais'd from my having the management of so great a sum:

I aim at being above reproach not only from God but also from men.

And we have sent [i.e., are sending] with them our brother [Note: This is a different person from the one mentioned in verse 18], who has often proven his diligence to us in many ways, and is now proving to be even more diligent because of the great confidence he has in you [i.e., confidence in the Corinthians completing their collection for the poor].

As for Titus, remember that he is a partner with me, and is my comrade in my labours for you. And as for our brethren, remember that they are delegates from the Churches, and are men in whom Christ is glorified.

For I know your forwardness, which I boast of for you to the Macedonians, that Achaia was prepared from last year; and zeal from you excited the many more.

So my reason for sending our Brothers is to prevent what we said about you from proving, in this particular matter, an empty boast, and to enable you to be as well prepared as I have been saying that you are.

For fear that, if any from Macedonia come with me, and you are not ready, we (not to say, you) might be put to shame in this thing.

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.

But in the Writings it says, He who puts in only a small number of seeds, will get in the same; and he who puts them in from a full hand, will have produce in full measure from them.

Each one [should give] as he has decided in his heart, not {reluctantly} or from compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

Now he who supplies seed to the farmer and bread to eat will also supply you with seed and multiply it and enlarge the harvest that results from your righteousness.

For the rendering of this service not only [fully] meets the needs of the saints [i.e., God's holy people], but also produces overflowing expressions of thanksgiving to God from many people.

(While from the experience of this ministration they glorify God for your professed subjection to the gospel of Christ, and the liberality of your communication to them, and to all men.)

Now I, Paul, urge you by the gentleness and graciousness of Christ—I who am meek [so they say] when with you face to face, but bold [outspoken and fearless] toward you when absent!

I beg you not to make me take as bold an attitude when I come, as I count on taking toward some people who suspect me of acting from worldly motives.

The things in presence do ye see? if any one hath trusted in himself to be Christ's, this let him reckon again from himself, that according as he is Christ's, so also we are Christ's;

I wish you would put up with a little foolishness from me. Yes, do put up with me.

But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.

For [you seem willing to allow it] if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted. You tolerate all this beautifully [welcoming the deception].

I robbed other churches by accepting [more than their share of] financial support for my ministry to you.

And when I was present with you, and wanted, I was chargeable to no man: for that which was lacking to me the brethren which came from Macedonia supplied: and in all things I have kept myself from being burdensome unto you, and so will I keep myself.

As the truth of Christ is in me, no one will stop me from this boasting in the regions of Achaia.

But what I do, that I will do, that I may cut off occasion from them which desire occasion; that wherein they glory, they may be found even as we.

And it is no wonder; for even Satan himself is able to take the form of an angel of light.

What I speak I speak not as from the Lord, but as in weakness, in this confidence of boasting.

Since many boast in an unspiritual way, I will also boast.

For ye suffer, if a man bringeth you into bondage, if a man devoureth you, if a man taketh from you, if a man exalteth himself, if a man smiteth you on the face.

I speak as from shame, that we were so weak. Yet in whatever any man may be bold in foolishness, I say I too am bold.

Are they Hebrews? so am I. Israelites? so am I. Descended from Abraham? so am I.

From the Jews five times have I received forty stripes, save one.

in journeyings often, in perils of rivers, in perils of robbers, in perils from my countrymen, in perils from the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren;

apart from the things without -- the crowding upon me that is daily -- the care of all the assemblies.

Who is weak, and I do not feel their weakness? Who is led astray [from God], and I do not burn [i.e., with righteous anger over the one who caused it]?

And being let down in a basket from the wall through a window, I got free from his hands.

I must boast, although it does not do any good. Let's talk about visions and revelations from the Lord.

And I know such a man (whether in the body, or apart from the body, I know not; God knoweth),

For if I should desire to glory, I shall not be foolish; for I shall speak the truth: but I forbear, lest any man should account of me above that which he seeth me to be , or heareth from me.

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 this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.

I have been forced by you to become foolish, though it was right for my praise to have come from you: for in no way was I less than the chief of the Apostles, though I am nothing.

In what respect, then, were you inferior to the rest of the churches, except for the fact that I, and I only, never received from you any financial support? Please forgive me this wrong.

So, let it be [said] that I did not become a burden to you. But being a clever person, [some are saying] that I took you in by trickery. [Note: Paul is saying that even though he took no financial support from the church, they are accusing him of taking financial advantage of them through other people].

lest having come again my God will make me low toward you, and I will bewail many of those who have sinned previously, and who did not repent from the trash and fornication and licentiousness that they committed.

This is the third time that I am coming to you. From the mouth of two or three witnesses will every word be made certain.

I said before, and still say it before I come, as being present for the second time, though I am still away from you, to those who have done wrong before, and to all the others, that if I come again I will not have pity;

since you demand a proof of my mission from Christ, who with regard to you has shown no want of power among you.

for even if he was crucified from infirmity, yet he doth live from the power of God; for we also are weak in him, but we shall live with him from the power of God toward you.

For this reason I am writing these things while absent from you, so that when I come, I will not need to deal severely [with you], in my use of the authority which the Lord has given me [to be used] for building you up and not for tearing you down.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the holy ghost, be with you all. Amen. {The end of the Second Epistle unto the Corinthians, Sent from Philippi, a city in Macedonia, by Titus and Luke}

Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead;)

[It also comes from] all of the brothers who are with me [and is being sent] to the churches of Galatia [i.e., Iconium, Derbe, Lystra and Antioch of Pisidia].

Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ,

Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father:

to whom be glory from age to age. Amen.

I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:

But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.

as we have said before, and now say again, If any one to you may proclaim good news different from what ye did receive -- anathema let him be!

For do I now use persuasions from men, or from God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.

For I would like to clarify for you, brothers, the situation regarding the Gospel that I have preached: It did not originate from man.

For neither did I receive it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came to me through revelation of Jesus Christ.

And I went farther in the Jews' religion than a number of my generation among my countrymen, having a more burning interest in the beliefs handed down from my fathers.

But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace,

to reveal his Son in me so that I could preach him among the Gentiles, I did not go to ask advice from any human being,

I did not go up to Jerusalem to [discuss it with] those who had become apostles before me either; instead I went away into Arabia. [Note: This is probably when Paul received supernatural power from the Holy Spirit]. Then afterward, I returned to Damascus. [Note: This was in Syria where Paul was converted].

Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and get information from him, and I stayed with him fifteen days.

But from those who were reputed to be somewhat (whatsoever they were, it maketh no matter to me: God accepteth not man's person)-- they, I say, who were of repute imparted nothing to me:

For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision.

But when I saw that they were deviating from the truth of the gospel, I told Cephas in front of everyone, “If you, who are a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you compel Gentiles to live like Jews?”

We [are] Jews by nature and not sinners from among the Gentiles,

know that it is not through obedience to Law that a man can be declared free from guilt, but only through faith in Jesus Christ. We have therefore believed in Christ Jesus, for the purpose of being declared free from guilt, through faith in Christ and not through obedience to Law. For through obedience to Law no human being shall be declared free from guilt.

But if while we are seeking in Christ acquittal from guilt we ourselves are convicted of sin, Christ then encourages us to sin! No, indeed.

I do not ignore or nullify the [gracious gift of the] grace of God [His amazing, unmerited favor], for if righteousness comes through [observing] the Law, then Christ died needlessly. [His suffering and death would have had no purpose whatsoever.]”

This only would I learn from you. Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?

He therefore furnishing you the Spirit, and working the powers in you, is it from the works of the law, or from the hearing of faith?

Ye know therefore that those from faith, these are sons of Abraham.

And the Scripture, foreseeing that in consequence of faith God would declare the nations to be free from guilt, sent beforehand the Good News to Abraham, saying, "In you all the nations shall be blessed."

So then those from faith are blessed with the faithful Abraham.

For all who seek to be right with God by trying to meet all the requirements of the law of Moses are under a curse [from God], because it is written [Deut. 27:26], "Every person is cursed [i.e., cut off from God] who does not continue to obey all of the requirements written in the law of Moses."

But that no man is made righteous by law before God, is evident, because, The righteous man will live from faith.

But the law is not from faith, but "the one who does these [things] will live by them."

Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:

Brethren, even a covenant made by a man--to borrow an illustration from daily life--when once formally sanctioned is not liable to be set aside or added to.

For if the inheritance [is] from the law, [it is] no longer from the promise, but God graciously gave [it] to Abraham through the promise.

Therefore [is] the law opposed to the promises of God? May it never be! For if a law had been given that was able to give life, certainly righteousness would have been from the law.

But the writing shut up all things under sin, that the promise from faith of Jesus Christ might be given to the believing.

So that the Law has acted the part of a tutor-slave to lead us to Christ, in order that through faith we may be declared to be free from guilt.

Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all;

Instead he is under stewards and managers until the time appointed from the father.

But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth his Son, born from a woman, born under law,

so that He could buy back [from Satan] those who were [still] under [obligation to] the law of Moses, and that we could become adopted children.

Believers, I beg of you, become as I am [free from the bondage of Jewish ritualism and ordinances], for I have become as you are [a Gentile]. You did me no wrong [when I first came to you; do not do it now].

They are not rightly zealous after you, but desire to shut you out from us, that ye may be zealous after them.

For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one from the servant girl, and one from the freewoman.