We always carry around in our [physical] bodies the [threat of] dying, as Jesus did [i.e., the apostles were constantly exposed to impending danger and death], so that the life of Jesus [i.e., His virtue, courage, faithfulness, etc.] may be demonstrated in our bodies [i.e., in the way we live] also.

For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

for we must all appear before the tribunal of Christ; that every one may receive the retribution, according as his actions in the body were either good or evil.

Not again, ourselves, do we commend unto you, but as though an occasion we were giving unto you - something to boast of, in our behalf; that ye may have something suited unto them who, in appearance, are boasting, and not in heart.

for whether we were beside ourselves, it was to God; whether we be of sound mind -- it is to you,

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

We are ambassadors therefore on behalf of Christ, as though God were entreating by us: we beseech you on behalf of Christ, be ye reconciled to God.

For, when we were come into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled on every side; without were fightings, within were fears.

And not only by his arrival, but also by [his account of] the encouragement which he received in regard to you. He told us about your longing [for us], your mourning [over sin], and how eagerly you took my part and supported me, so that I rejoiced even more.

For though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent, though I did repent: for I perceive that the same epistle hath made you sorry, though it were but for a season.

Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing.

For ye sorrowed godly: so that in nothing were ye hurt by us. For godly sorrow causeth repentance, unto salvation not to be repented of: when worldly sorrow causeth death.

For behold, this selfsame thing, that ye were made sorry after a godly sort, what earnest care it wrought in you, yea what clearing of yourselves, yea what indignation, yea what fear, yea what longing, yea what zeal, yea what avenging! In everything ye approved yourselves to be pure in the matter.

Therefore we were comforted in your comfort: yea, and exceedingly the more joyed we for the joy of Titus, because his spirit was refreshed by you all.

For I was not put to shame in anything in which I may have made clear to him my pride in you; but as we said nothing to you but what was true, so the good things which I said to Titus about you were seen by him to be true.

His affection for you is even greater as he remembers how obedient all of you were and how you welcomed him with fear and trembling.

How while they were undergoing every sort of trouble, and were in the greatest need, they took all the greater joy in being able to give freely to the needs of others.

For to their power, I bear record, yea, and beyond their power they were willing of themselves;

Ye know the liberality of our Lord Jesus Christ, which though he were rich, yet for your sakes became poor: that ye through his poverty might be made rich.

And herein I give my judgment: for this is expedient for you, who were the first to make a beginning a year ago, not only to do, but also to will.

So, now finish doing it also, so that just as you were eager to want to, you will also [be eager to] finish it, according to your ability.

Now it is unnecessary for me to write you about this service to God's holy people [in Jerusalem, who were in need].

But I sent the brethren, in order that our boasting which is in your behalf may not be in vain in this region; in order that, as I was saying, your were ready:

Otherwise, if any Macedonians were to come with me, and find you unprepared, we--to say nothing of you--should feel ashamed of our present confidence.

So it seemed to me wise for the brothers to go before, and see that the amount which you had undertaken to give was ready, so that it might be a cause for praise, and not as if we were making profit out of you.

Now I Paul, who am humble [when speaking] face to face with you, but bold when I am away from you, urge you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ [Note: This means either Paul was imitating Christ's behavior or that the Corinthians were to do so]:

I entreat, however, that, when present, I may not be bold with the assurance wherewith I think to be daring against some who account of us as though, according to flesh, we were walking, -

You people are looking [merely] at the appearance of things [or, "You should look at what is obvious!" In either case, it suggests they were misjudging Paul's ministry]. If any person is confident within himself that he belongs to Christ, he should reflect on this again: We are just as much Christ's [servants] as he is.

If, however, I were to boast more loudly of our Apostolic authority, which the Lord has given us that we may build you up, not pull you down, I should have no reason to feel ashamed.

so that I do not want to appear as if I were terrifying you by my letters,

We are not overstepping the limits of our province, as if we did not [legitimately] reach to you, for we were the [very] first to come even as far as you with the good news of Christ.

O that ye were bearing with me a little of the folly, but ye also do bear with me:

for if, indeed, he who is coming doth preach another Jesus whom we did not preach, or another Spirit ye receive which ye did not receive, or other good news which ye did not accept -- well were ye bearing it,

and even if unlearned in word -- yet not in knowledge, but in every thing we were made manifest in all things to you.

Therefore it is no great thing, though his ministers fashion themselves as though they were the ministers of righteousness: whose end shall be according to their deeds.

That which I speak, I speak it not after the Lord, but as it were foolishly, in this confidence of boasting.

in reference to dishonour I speak, how that we were weak, and in whatever any one is bold -- in foolishness I say it -- I also am bold.

Are they servants of Christ?--I am speaking as though I were beside myself--I [am] more so, with far greater labors, with far more imprisonments, with beatings to a much greater degree, in [danger of] death many times.

I know a man in Christ above fourteen years agone - whether he were in the body I cannot tell, or whether he were out of the body I cannot tell; God knoweth - which was taken up into the third heaven.

And because the revelations were so very great, in order that I might not be overmuch lifted up, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, one sent from Satan to give me pain.

I have become a fool; ye have compelled me; for I ought to have been commended by you; for I have been nothing behind those who were in surpassing degree apostles, if also I am nothing.

Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds.

For what is it wherein ye were inferior to other churches, except it be that I myself was not burdensome to you? forgive me this wrong.

I begged Titus to visit you, and sent our other brother with him. Did Titus gain any selfish advantage over you? Were not he and I guided by one and the same Spirit, and did we not walk in the same steps?

You have thought all along that we were defending ourselves to you. No, in the sight of God we are speaking in Christ, and everything, dear friends, is for building you up.

I told you before, and foretell you, as if I were present, the second time; and being absent now I write to them which heretofore have sinned, and to all other, that, if I come again, I will not spare:

But we pray unto God, that ye may do nothing base, - not that, we, may appear, accepted, but that, ye, the honourable thing, may be doing, even though, we, should be, as it were, rejected;

We are glad when we are weak, and ye strong. This also we wish for, even that ye were perfect.

But even if we, or an angel from heaven, were to be a preacher to you of good news other than that which we have given you, let there be a curse on him.

For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? or am I striving to please men? if I were still pleasing men, I should not be a servant of Christ.

But I let you know, brethren, as to the glad tidings which were announced by me, that they are not according to man.

and prevailed in the Jews' law, above many of my companions, which were of mine own nation, and was a much more fervent maintainer of the traditions of the elders.

Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus.

(Now in what I am writing to you, I assure you as if I were standing before God that I am not lying.)

And was unknown by face unto the churches of Judaea which were in Christ:

only they were hearing that he who persecuted us formerly now announces the glad tidings of the faith which formerly he ravaged:

and they were glorifying God in me.

And I went up by revelation, and communicated unto them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to them which were of reputation, lest by any means I should run, or had run, in vain.

Also Titus which was with me, though he were a Greek, yet was not compelled to be circumcised;

However, false brothers were secretly brought in. They slipped in to spy on the freedom we have in the Messiah Jesus so that they might enslave us.

But we refused to yield for a single instant to their claims; we were determined that the truth of the gospel should hold good for you.

But of these who seemed to be somewhat, (whatsoever they were, it maketh no matter to me: God accepteth no man's person:) for they who seemed to be somewhat in conference added nothing to me:

but, on the contrary, seeing that the glad tidings of the uncircumcision were confided to me, even as to Peter that of the circumcision,

and when they perceived the grace that was given unto me, James and Cephas and John, they who were reputed to be pillars, gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship, that we should go unto the Gentiles, and they unto the circumcision;

They asked only [one thing], that we remember the poor, the very thing I was also eager to do.

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.

The rest of the Jewish converts were guilty of the same hypocrisy, so that even Barnabas was led away by it.

But when I saw that they were not being straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I told Cephas (Peter) in front of everyone, “If you, being a Jew, live [as you have been living] like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how is it that you are [now virtually] forcing the Gentiles to live like Jews [if they want to eat with you]?”

But if, while we sought to be justified in Christ, we ourselves also were found sinners, is Christ a minister of sin? God forbid.

Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.

For if the inheritance were by law, it is no more by promise: but God gave it to Abraham through the promise.

Why then was the Law given? It was imposed later on for the sake of defining sin, until the seed should come to whom God had made the promise; and its details were laid down by a mediator with the help of angels.

Is then the law against the promises of God? Far be the thought. For if a law had been given able to quicken, then indeed righteousness were on the principle of law;

But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.

But when faith was come, we were no longer under a paedagogue.

For as many of you as were baptized into Christ did put on Christ.

Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world:

To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.

Howbeit at that time, not knowing God, ye were in bondage to them that by nature are no gods:

Brethren, I beseech you, be ye as I am; for I also am as ye were: ye have not injured me at all.

Even though my condition put you to the test, you did not despise or reject me. On the contrary, you welcomed me as if I were an angel of God, or as if I were the Messiah Jesus.

What then has become of that sense of blessing and the joy that you once had [from your salvation and your relationship with Christ]? For I testify of you that, if possible, you would have torn out your own eyes and given them to me [to replace mine].

you for whom I am again, as it were, undergoing the pains of childbirth, until Christ is fully formed within you.

how I wish that I were with you now and could change my tone, because I am perplexed in regard to you.

these things have an allegorical meaning: the two women signify the two covenants, the one from mount Sinai, which is represented by Agar, whose children were born in a state of servitude.

ye were freed from the Christ, ye who in law are declared righteous; from the grace ye fell away;

Ye were running well; who hindered you that ye should not obey the truth?

But, brothers, if I were still preaching [that a person had] to be circumcised, why am I being persecuted? [Note: Paul's argument seems to be "I must not be preaching circumcision since I am being persecuted by those who believe in it"]. [If I preached that a person had to be circumcised] then my preaching that Christ died on the cross would not be such an offense [to those who believe in it].

I would they were even cut off which trouble you.

For ye, brethren, were called for freedom; only use not your freedom for an occasion to the flesh, but through love be servants one to another.

As we were designed before by him for the position of sons to himself, through Jesus Christ, in the good pleasure of his purpose,

the same in himself to have it declared when the time were full come: that all things, both the things which are in heaven, and also the things which are in earth, should be gathered together, even in Christ. That is to say, in him

in whom also we were made a heritage, having been foreordained according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his will;

so that we should be devoted to the extolling of His glorious attributes--we who were the first to fix our hopes on Christ.

In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,

And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;

in which you once walked. You were following the ways of this world [influenced by this present age], in accordance with the prince of the power of the air (Satan), the spirit who is now at work in the disobedient [the unbelieving, who fight against the purposes of God].

Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

but God who is rich in mercy, on account of his great love with which he loved us,??5 even when we were dead in sins he made us alive with Christ,??y grace are you saved,

Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)