For if anybody is in union with Christ, he is the work of a new creation; the old condition has passed away, a new condition has come.

He made Him who personally knew nothing of sin to be a sin-offering for us, so that through union with Him we might come into right standing with God.

spiritual blessing and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Stop forming intimate and inconsistent relations with unbelievers. What partnership can right-doing have with law-breaking, or how can light participate with darkness?

but He said to me, "My spiritual strength is sufficient, for it is only by means of conscious weakness that perfect power is developed."

In their case, the god of this world has blinded the eyes of the unbelievers, to keep the glorious light of the good news of Christ, who is the likeness of God, from dawning upon them.

And all of us, with faces uncovered, because we continue to reflect like mirrors the splendor of the Lord, are being transformed into likeness to Him, from one degree of splendor to another, since it comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the merciful Father and the all-comforting God,

The spiritual blessing of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the common sharing of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

For we must all appear before the judgment-bar of Christ, that each may get his pay for what he has done, whether it be good or bad.

Such is the confidence I have through Christ in the presence of God.

This is the very thing I wrote you, that when I did come I might not be made sad by the very people who ought to make me glad, for I had confidence in you all that my gladness would be gladness to you all.

For by experience you know the unmerited favor shown by our Lord Jesus Christ; that although He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, in order that by His poverty you might become rich.

He who always supplies the sower with seed and the eater with bread will supply you with seed and multiply it and enlarge the harvest which your deeds of charity yield.

Now this is the way it is: Whoever sows sparingly will reap sparingly too, but whoever sows bountifully will reap bountifully too.

Each must give what he has purposed in his heart to give, not sorrowfully or under compulsion, for it is the happy giver that God loves.

This has all originated with God, for He through Christ has reconciled me to Himself and has given me the ministry of reconciliation.

So I never give up; instead, although my outer nature is wasting away, my inner nature is constantly renewed from day to day.

Now the Lord means the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

Such people should consider this: When I arrive for action I shall do exactly what I said I would in my letters when far away.

For the love of Christ continuously constrains me, because I am convinced that as One died for all, all have died,

For I am demolishing arguments and every barrier that is raised against the genuine knowledge of God, taking captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ,

For it was through Christ that God was reconciling the world to Himself instead of debiting men's offenses against them, and He has committed to me the message of this reconciliation.

And I shall keep on doing as I am, in order to cut the ground from under the feet of those who want an opportunity to show themselves on a level with me in the matters of which they boast.

For, although I did cause you sorrow by that letter, I do not now regret it; although I did regret it then. I see that the letter caused you sorrow only for a time.

For I know that if this earthly tent in which I live is taken down, I have a building in heaven which comes from God, a house not built by human hands but eternal.

So, to keep me from being over-elated, there was sent upon me a physical disease, sharp as a piercing stake, a messenger of Satan, to continue afflicting me, and so to keep me, I repeat, from being over-elated.

So, since we have such promises as these, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that defiles our bodies and spirits, and in reverence to God carry on our consecration to completeness.

And no wonder, for even Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.

(for here I live by what I believe and not by what I see),

So I am an envoy to represent Christ, because it is through me that God is making His appeal. As one representing Christ I beg you, be reconciled to God.

But I am keeping this jewel in an earthen jar, to prove that its surpassing power is God's, not mine.

You yourselves must continue testing yourselves to see whether you are continuing in the faith. You must continue standing the test. Do you not know by a growing experience that Jesus Christ is in you? -- provided you stand the test.

Now I am going to tell you, brothers, of God's spiritual blessing which was given in the churches of Macedonia,

Indeed, I do not dare to count or compare myself with certain men who are always recommending themselves. But they do not show good sense, because they do continue measuring themselves with one another and comparing themselves with one another.

For though I do still live the life of a physical human creature, I am not waging this war in accordance with physical human standards,

But I am apprehensive that, somehow or other, as the serpent by his cunning deceived Eve, your thoughts may be turned aside from single-hearted devotion to Christ.

For God who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," is the One who has shone in my heart, to give me the light of the knowledge of God's glory, reflected on the face of Christ.

my message of truth, and the power of God; with the weapons of right-doing in my right hand and my left;

for the weapons used in my warfare are not mere human ones, but through my God are mighty for demolishing fortresses.

For such men are sham apostles, dishonest workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ.

But thanks be to God, for He always leads me in His triumphal train, through union with Christ, and everywhere through me keeps spreading the perfume of the knowledge of Him.

In every way you will grow richer and richer so as to give with perfect liberality, which will through me result in thanksgiving to God for it.

For He says: "At a welcome time I have listened to you, and on a day of salvation I have helped you." Right now the time of welcome is here; right now it is the day of salvation.

For the sorrow that comes in accordance with the will of God results in repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regrets, but the sorrow the world produces results in death.

because I do not keep my eyes on things that are seen but things that are unseen. For things that are seen are temporary, but things that are unseen are eternal.

He has qualified even me as a minister of the new covenant, which is not a written but a spiritual covenant. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

For just as my sufferings for Christ are running over the cup, so through Christ my comfort is running over too.

Now I will give you my opinion on this matter. For this is for your interest, because you were not only the first to do anything about it, but the first to want to do so; you started it a year ago.

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.

and yet I am cheerful and confident, but really I prefer to be away from home in the body and to be at home with the Lord.

Therefore: "'Come out of company with them, and separate from them,' the Lord has said, 'And stop touching what is unclean; then I will welcome you,

If the meaning of the good news I preach is covered up at all, it is so only in the case of those who are on the way to destruction.

For I feel a divine jealousy for you, as I betrothed you to Christ, to present you as a pure bride to her one husband.

I am glad of it now, not because you had such sorrow, but because your sorrow led you to repentance, for you took your sorrow in accordance with the will of God, so that you should not suffer any loss at all from me.

So, because I hold a place in this ministry and that because I have had God's mercy shown me, I never give up.

My hope for you is well founded; because I know that just as you, brothers, are sharers of my sufferings, so you will be sharers of my comfort too.

And God is able to make your every spiritual blessing overflow for you, so that you will always have in every situation an entire sufficiency and so overflow for every good cause;

If I am in sorrow, it is on behalf of your comfort and salvation; if I am comforted, it is for the comfort that is experienced by you in your patient endurance of the same sort of sufferings that I am enduring too.

So from this moment on, I do not estimate anybody by the standard of outward appearances. Although I once did estimate Christ by this standard, I do not do so any longer.

For this slight and momentary sorrow continues to accumulate for me a solid and eternal glory far beyond any comparison,

I know a man in union with Christ fourteen years ago -- whether in the body or out of it, I do not know, but God knows -- who was caught up to the third heaven.

I have to keep on boasting. There is no good to be gotten from it, but I will go on to visions and revelations which the Lord has given me.

It is now the third time that I have been ready to come to see you, and I will never ask you for financial support, for it is not your money but you yourselves that I want; for children are not by duty bound to lay up money for their parents, but parents for their children.

because you are helping me by your prayers for me, so that thanks to God will be given by many on my behalf for God's gracious gift to me in answer to the prayers of many.

For I am not overstepping my authority as though I should not reach you, for I was the very first to reach as far as you with the good news of Christ.

He saved me from a death so horrible, and He will save me again! He it is on whom I have set my hope that He will still save me,

Let me say again that no one must think that I am a fool, but if you do, please treat me like a fool and let me do a little boasting too, as other fools do.

in honor or dishonor, in slander or praise; considered a deceiver and yet true,

For what I am writing you is nothing more than what you can read and understand, and I hope that you will understand it perfectly, just as some of you have come to understand me partially;

so that I can preach the good news in the regions beyond you, without boasting in another man's sphere of work already done by him.

Now finish doing it too, so that your readiness to finish it may be just like your readiness to start it, in accordance with what you have.

For it is not the man who keeps on recommending himself who is really approved, but it is the man whom the Lord recommends.

Because the service rendered by this sacred offering is not only fully supplying the needs of God's people, but it is also running over with many thanks to God for it.

So it is no surprise if his servants also masquerade as ministers for doing right, whose doom shall be in accordance with what they do.

Yes, I felt within my very self the sentence of death, to keep me from depending on myself instead of God who raises the dead.

If a man is ready and willing to give, his gift is acceptable in accordance with what he has, not with what he does not have.

"But the man who boasts must boast in the Lord.

As certainly as God is to be trusted, my message to you has not been a "Yes" that might mean "No."

For through the test you get by doing this service you will continue praising God for your fidelity to your confession of the good news of Christ, and for the liberality of your contributions to them and all others;

For see what this very sorrow, suffered in accordance with the will of God, has done for you! How earnest it has made you, how concerned to clear yourselves, how indignant, how alarmed, how much it made you long to see me, how loyal to me, how determined to punish the offender! At every point you have cleared yourselves in the matter.

that is, to go by you on my way to Macedonia, and then to come back to you from Macedonia, and have you send me on to Judea.

But thanks be to God, who kindles in the heart of Titus the same enthusiasm for you that I have;

that is, to understand that you have grounds for boasting of me just as I have for boasting of you, on the day of our Lord Jesus.

For I do not want it to be a relief for others and a burden on you,

For if I did go crazy, it was for God's glory; and if I am keeping my head cool, it is for your good.

Now if the old religious service which resulted in death, although its law was carved in letters of stone, was introduced with a splendor so great that the Israelites could not keep their eyes fixed on Moses' face because of the splendor that was fading from it,

For out of great sorrow and distress of heart, yes, while shedding many tears, I wrote you, not to make you sad but to make you realize that my love for you continues running over.

It was because of this confidence that first I planned to visit you, to give you a double delight;

and put His seal upon us, and given us His Spirit in our hearts as a first installment of future rewards.

obscure and yet well-known, on the point of dying and yet I go on living, punished and yet not put to death,

just as the Scripture says, "The man who gathered much did not have too much, and the man who gathered little did not have too little."

I am not going too far in my boasting, and actually boasting of other men's labors, but I am cherishing the hope that your faith may so continue to grow that through you my work within my sphere may be so enlarged as to run over,

So, although I did write to you, it was not for the offender's sake, nor for the offended party's sake, but in the sight of God for the sake of having your enthusiasm for me made perfectly clear to you. This is why I am so comforted.

Now I did not resort to fickleness, did I, in planning that? Or, do I make my plans in accordance with worldly notions, to have my "Yes" mean "No," if I want it so?

but through an equalizing of matters in the present crisis I do want your abundance to relieve their need, that some day their abundance may relieve your need, so that equality may exist --

why should not this spiritual service be attended with much greater splendor?

I did not make any money out of you through anybody that I sent to you, did I?

Indeed, if I have been doing some boasting of you to him, I have never been ashamed of it; but just as all I said to him was true, so now my boasting before Titus has been shown to be true.

But when I talk in this boastful confidence, I am not talking in accordance with the way the Lord talked, but just as a fool talks.

I am not trying to recommend myself to you again. I am giving you ground for speaking well of me, that you may have something to say to those who are constantly prating about external privileges and not concerned about the state of the heart.

and so in their prayers for you they will continue longing for you, because of God's surpassing favor shown you.

But upon my soul I call God to witness that it was to spare you pain that I gave up my visit to Corinth.

always being exposed to death as Jesus was, so that in my body the life of Jesus may be clearly shown.

always being persecuted, but not deserted; always getting a knockdown, but never a knockout;

For God's Son, Christ Jesus, who was preached among you by us, Silvanus, Timothy, and me, did not become a "Yes" that might mean "No."

In addition to my own comfort, I was made so glad that my cup ran over at the gladness Titus felt, because his spirit has been set at rest by you.

But if anyone has made anyone sad, it is not I, but you that he has made sad, at least, some of you, not to be severe on all of you.

Not that we are trying to lord it over your faith, but we are workers with you to promote your joy, for in your faith you are standing firm.

So in my own case, I will most happily spend my money and myself for your sakes. If I love you much more than I love others, am I to be loved less by you?

I am sending with him the well-known brother whose praise for spreading the good news is ringing through all the churches.

For if the service connected with condemnation had such splendor, the service resulting in right standing with God will surely far surpass it in splendor.

But let it be granted, you say, that I never received from you financial support, yet, you say, by being a trickster I cheated you by my cunning.

For if what passed away was introduced with splendor, with how much greater splendor must what is permanent be attended?

I am ashamed to say that I was, as it were, so weak in the matter. And yet in whatever respect anyone else is daring to boast -- I am talking like a fool -- I too will dare to boast.

For you who are so wise yourselves are glad to listen to fools!

sad but always glad, poor but making many people rich, penniless but really possessing everything.

Are you thinking all this time that I am defending myself to you? It is in the very presence of God and as one who is in union with Christ that I am speaking. And it is all for building you up, beloved, for I am apprehensive that, somehow or other, when I come I shall find you not as I want to find you, and that you may find me not as you want to find me.

Since many boast in accordance with their human nature, I will do it too.

For all the time I continue to live I am being given up to death for Jesus' sake, so that in my mortal lower nature the life of Jesus may be clearly shown.

Now I appeal to you in person, by the gentleness and fairness of Christ, I, Paul, who am so "condescending when face to face with you, but so courageous toward you when far away!"

I actually begged Titus to go, and sent the well-known brother with him. Titus did not make any money out of you, did he? Did not he and I act in the same spirit, and take the very same steps?

For on account of its surpassing splendor, what was once so splendid has now no splendor at all.

For in this one I am sighing, because I long to put on, like a robe, my heavenly body, my future home,

I repeat it, I am apprehensive that, somehow or other, there may be quarreling, jealousy, anger, rivalries, slanders, gossiping, haughty pride, and disorders,

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

and that when I come back my God may humiliate me before you, and I may have to mourn over some of those who formerly have committed shocking sins, and have not repented for them -- their impurity, sexual immorality, and sensuality, which once they practiced.

For you listen to a man, if he makes you his slave, or spends your money for his living, or cheats you, or puts on airs, or slaps you in the face.

I send with them another brother of ours, whom I have often in many ways tested and found to be enthusiastic, but now he is more enthusiastic than ever, because of his great confidence in you.

Five times I have taken thirty-nine lashes from the Jews,

Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I.

Besides, their minds were made dull; for to this day that same veil remains unlifted, whenever they read the Old Covenant; because it is only through union with Christ that it is removed.

To a man like that, this censure by the majority has been sufficient punishment,

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

Yes, his heart is running over toward you, as he continues recalling how you all obeyed him, with what reverence and trembling you welcomed him.

Now it is God Himself who has put the finishing touches on me for this change, because He has given me the Spirit as the first installment of future bliss.

For I who am still in my tent am sighing beneath my burdens, because I do not want it to be put off but to put on the other over it, so that my dying body may be absorbed in life.

What harmony exists between Christ and Belial, or what is common between a believer and an unbeliever?

Not only that, but he has been selected by the churches to travel with me for this gracious contribution which is being raised by me, so that it may turn out for the glory of the Lord and a proof of my readiness to serve.

So you must furnish them, before all the churches, proof of your love and ground for my praising you so highly.

through toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, through hunger and thirst, through many a fasting season, poorly clad and exposed to cold.

I have served Him on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my own people, dangers from the heathen, dangers in the city, dangers in the desert, dangers at sea, dangers from false brothers,

I am arranging it so that no one can blame me in the matter of this munificent fund that is being handled by me.

I am glad that I have perfect confidence in you now.

not as Moses did, who used to wear a veil over his face, to keep the Israelites from gazing at the end of what was passing away.

because he has acceded to my request, or rather, because he is so enthusiastic for you, of his own accord he is off to visit you.

You are not squeezed into a tiny corner in my heart, but you are in your own affections.

At Damascus the governor under King Aretas kept guards watching the city gates to capture me,

and if I do put it on, I shall not find myself to be disembodied.

Besides all other things, there is my concern for all the churches.

So I beg you in your love to reinstate him entirely.

because I know that He who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will raise me too in fellowship with you.

For I am taking the precaution to do what is right, not only in the sight of the Lord but also in the eyes of men.

The man that you forgive I too forgive. For if I have forgiven him anything, it is what I have forgiven him in the very presence of Christ for your sake,

So it is death that works in me, but it is life that works in you.

because in spite of a terrible test of trouble, the mighty flood of their gladness mingling with the depths of their poverty has overflowed and resulted in the abundance of their liberality.

As for Titus, he is my partner and comrade in the work for you, while these brothers of ours, the representatives of the churches, will bring glory to Christ.

For they say, "His letters are impressive and forceful, but his physical personality is unimpressive, and his delivery is perfectly contemptible."

Make room for me in your hearts, I have not wronged or harmed or taken advantage of a single one of you.

for I know your readiness to help in it. I am boasting of you about it to the Macedonians, reminding them that Greece has been ready since last year, and your enthusiasm has stimulated the most of them.

Indeed, to this very day, whenever Moses is read, a veil hangs over their hearts,

I beg you not to make me too courageous in that confidence in which I think to take a daring stand against some people who try to think that I am acting from the lowest human motives.

When I went to Troas to preach the good news of Christ, although I had an opportunity in the service of the Lord,

but whenever anybody turns to the Lord, the veil is removed,

For even after I had gotten to Macedonia, my frail, human nature could find no relief; I was crushed with sorrow at every turn -- fighting without and fears within.

You are my letter of recommendation, written on my heart, read and understood by everybody,

I have the greatest confidence in you; I speak most highly of you. I am fully comforted; in the face of all my sorrow my cup is running over with joy.

So I have thought it necessary to urge these brothers to visit you ahead of me and get your promised love-offering ready beforehand, so as to have it ready as a real love-offering, not as one grasped and grudgingly given.

They did not do as I expected but even more; they first by God's will gave themselves to the Lord, and then to me;

I am not saying this in the spirit of a command, but I am simply trying to test the genuineness of your love by the enthusiasm of others.

For everything is for your sakes, in order that His favor by multiplying the thanksgiving of many may make the cup run over to the praise of God.

so you must do the opposite, freely forgive and comfort him, to keep him from being overwhelmed by his excessive sadness.

For I have definitely decided not to pay you another painful visit.

with earnest entreaty, they kept on begging me for the favor of sharing in this service that is being rendered to God's people.

But God, who comforts the downhearted, comforted me by the coming of Titus,

so that I insisted that Titus, as he had formerly commenced it, should bring to completion this gracious contribution among you too.

For they have given, I can testify, to the utmost of their ability, and even beyond their ability. Of their own accord,

I have made a fool of myself, but you have forced me to do it, for I am the man who ought to have been constantly approved by you. For I am not a single bit inferior to your surpassingly superior apostles, though really I am "nobody."

as the Scripture says: "He has generously given to the poor; His deeds of charity go on forever."

But I send the brothers that in this matter my boasting of you may not turn out to be an idle boasting, that you all may be ready, as I have told them you will be,

You look at me and measure me by outward appearances. If anyone is confident in himself that he belongs to Christ, let him have another thought about himself, that just as he belongs to Christ, so do I.

and am prepared to punish any disobedience, when your obedience is made complete.

and not only by his coming but by the comfort he had gotten from you, because he kept on telling me how you were longing to see me, how sorry you were, and how loyal you were to me, so that I was gladder still.

I do not mean this for your condemnation, because, as I have said before, you have such a place in my heart that I would live with you or die with you.

For this is why I wrote you, to see if you would stand the test, to see if you would be obedient in everything.

For if I do boast a little too much about my authority, which the Lord gave me for building you up and not for tearing you down, I shall never have to blush for doing so.

I do not want to seem to be frightening you with my letters.

to keep me -- not to mention you -- from being humiliated for having such confidence in you, if some Macedonians come with me and find that you are not ready.

was actually caught up into paradise, and heard things that must not be told, which no man has a right even to mention.

To keep my ministry from being found fault with, I am trying not to put a single hindrance in anybody's way.

And what agreement can a temple of God make with idols? For we are the temple of the living God, just as God said: "I will live in them and walk in them, and I will be their God and they will be my people."

Yes, I know that this man -- whether in or out of the body, I do not know, but God knows --

Paul, by the will of God an apostle of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, to the church of God that is at Corinth, with all God's people all over Greece:

to the one a deadly perfume that leads to death, to the other a living perfume that leads to life.

For I am not proclaiming myself but Christ Jesus as Lord, and myself a slave of yours for Jesus' sake.

three times I have been beaten by the Romans, once I was pelted with stones; three times I have been shipwrecked, and once I have spent a day and a night adrift at sea.

Three times I begged the Lord about this to make it go away and leave me,

But with Him it is always "Yes," for, as many as the promises of God may be, through Him they are always "Yes." This is why our "Amen" through Him is for the glory of God when spoken by us.

On every side I am ever hard-pressed, but never hemmed in; always perplexed, but never to the point of despair;

This is my third visit to you. Any charge preferred must be sustained by the evidence of two or three witnesses.

For if I make you sad, who is there to make me glad but the very man who has been made sad by me?

On the contrary, I am trying in everything to prove to people that I am a true servant of God: by my tremendous endurance in sorrows, distresses, difficulties;

I had no rest of spirit, because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said goodbye to them and left for Macedonia.

But it is God who makes us as well as you secure through union with Christ, and has anointed us,

As God's fellow-worker I beg you too not to accept God's favor and throw it away.

So, since I know what the fear of God can do, I am trying to win men. My inner self is perfectly known to God, and I hope, to your consciences too.

Now since I have the same spirit of faith as he who said in the Scriptures, "I believed, and so I spoke," I too believe, and so I speak,

So, as I have such a hope, I speak with the greatest boldness,

to keep us from being worsted by Satan, for we know what his intentions are.

Yes, just as you are growing rich in everything else, in faith, expression, knowledge, perfect enthusiasm, and the love inspired in you by us, you must see to it that you grow rich in this gracious contribution too.

Did I do wrong in taking a lowly place to let you have an exalted one, in that I preached the good news about God to you without accepting any pay?

For I do not want you to be uninformed about the sorrow that I suffered in Asia, because I was so crushed beyond any power to endure that I was in dire despair of life itself.

Not that I am myself qualified to consider anything as coming from me myself. No, my qualification comes from God, for

and He died for all, that those who live might live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.

For if anybody comes along and preaches another Jesus than the one I preached, or you receive another spirit different from the one you did receive or a glad message different from the one you did accept, you listen to it all right!

If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness!

So whether I am at home or away from home, it is my constant ambition to please Him.

On behalf of this man with such an experience I will boast, but on behalf of myself personally I will boast only about my weaknesses.

But the truth of Christ in me, this boasting of mine shall never be stopped in the boundaries of Greece.

Finally, brothers, goodbye! Practice the perfecting of your characters, keep listening to my appeals, continue thinking in harmony and living in peace, and the loving, peace-giving God will be with you.

So I am always cheerful and confident, although I know that as long as I am at home in the body I am away from home and the Lord

Are they ministers of Christ? So am I. I am talking like a man that has gone crazy -- as such I am superior! -- serving Him with labors greater by far, with far more imprisonments, with floggings vastly worse, and often at the point of death.

For my boast is this, to which my conscience testifies, that before the world, but especially before you, I have acted from pure motives and in sincerity before God, not depending on worldly wisdom but on God's unmerited favor.

So I most happily boast about my weaknesses, so that the strength of Christ may overshadow me. That is why I take such pleasure in weaknesses, insults, distresses, persecution, and difficulties, which I endure for Christ's sake, for it is when I am consciously weak that I am really strong.

However, if I want to boast, I will not play the fool, for it will be nothing but the truth that I will tell. But I refrain from doing so, to keep anybody, on account of the superiority of the revelations, from giving me a higher rating than my actions and teachings deserve.

For I consider myself not a single bit inferior to those surpassingly superior apostles of yours!

who comforts me in every sorrow I have, so that I can comfort people who are in sorrow with the comfort with which I am comforted by God.

Now who is qualified for such a task? I am, for I am not a peddler of God's message, like the most of them, but like a man of sincerity, like a man that is sent from God and living in His presence, in union with Christ I speak His message.

Although I am untrained as an orator, yet I am not so in the field of knowledge. Surely, I have always made that perfectly clear to you.

through my personal purity, my knowledge, my patience, my kindness; through the Holy Spirit, my genuine love,

But I shall never go too far in my boasting; no, I shall stay within the limits of the sphere which God apportioned me, so as to reach even you.

The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is blessed forever, knows that I am telling the truth.

Am I beginning to recommend myself again? I do not, like some people, do I, need letters of recommendation to you or from you?

Who is weak without my being weak too? Who is caused to fall without my being fired with indignation?

On the other hand, I have renounced all underhanded, disgraceful methods; I neither practice cunning nor do I tamper with God's message, but by clear and candid statements of truth I try to commend myself to every human conscience in God's sight.

in floggings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, and hunger;

for you are always showing that you are a letter of Christ, produced by my service, written not in ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone, but on human hearts.

Thank God for His unspeakable gift!

Indeed, I am the fragrance of Christ to God, alike for those who are being saved and for those who are perishing;

Why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do.

I wish you would now listen to a little folly of mine. Please do listen to me!

The marks that signify the genuine apostle were exhibited among you in my perfect patience, in signs, wonders, and wonder-works.

All God's people wish to be remembered to you.

For though He was crucified in weakness, yet by the power of God He goes on living. We too, indeed, show weakness through our union with Him, yet by the power of God we too shall be alive toward you through fellowship with Him.

It is really superfluous for me to write to you about this service which is being rendered to God's people,

I will be a Father to you, and you will be sons and daughters of mine,' The Lord Almighty said."

I sponged on other churches by taking pay from them to render service to you,

and when I was with you and needed money, I never burdened a single one of you for a cent, for the brothers came from Macedonia and supplied what I needed. And so I kept myself, as I shall always do, from being a burden to you in any way.

Greet one another with a sacred kiss.

since you demand a proof that Christ is speaking through me. For Christ is not exhibiting weakness toward you but power in you.

I have already warned those who formerly committed shocking sins, and all the rest, and though so far away I warn them now, as I did on my second visit, that if I come back I will not spare them,

But I am praying God that you may never do anything wrong, not to show that I am standing the test, but that you should continue doing right, though I should fail to stand the test.

This is why I am writing this while far away from you, that when I do come, I may not have to deal harshly with you in accordance with the authority which the Lord has given me, for building you up, not for tearing you down.

For I cannot do anything against the truth, but only for it.

I am glad to be consciously weak, if you are really strong. This is my continual prayer, the perfecting of your characters.

Now I hope that you will learn that I am standing the test.

but through a hole in the wall I was lowered in a basket, and so escaped from his clutches.