The Son of God, Christ Jesus, whom we--Silas, Timothy, and I- -proclaimed among you, never wavered between 'Yes' and 'No.' With him it has always been 'Yes.'

If it is I who cause you pain, why, who is there to cheer me, except the very person whom I am paining?

So I wrote as I did, for fear that, if I had come, I should have been pained by those who ought to have made me glad; for I felt sure that it was true of you all that my joy was in every case yours also.

I wrote to you in sore trouble and distress of heart and with many tears, not to give you pain, but to let you see how intense a love I have for you.

Now whoever has caused the pain has not so much pained me, as he has, to some extent--not to be too severe--pained every one of you.

The man to whom I refer has been sufficiently punished by the penalty inflicted by the majority of you;

So that now you must take the opposite course, and forgive and encourage him, or else he may be overwhelmed by the intensity of his pain.

Men whose minds have been blinded by the God of this Age, unbelievers as they are, so that the light from the Good News of the glory of the Christ, who is the very incarnation of God, should not shine for them.

We have been speaking freely to you, men of Corinth; we have opened our heart;

Ever since we reached Macedonia, we have had no rest in body or mind; on every side there have been troubles--conflicts without, anxieties within.

In addition to the encouragement that this gave us, we were made far happier still by the happiness of Titus for his heart has been cheered by you all.

Although I have been boasting a little to him about you, you did not put me to shame; but, just as every thing we had said to you was true, so our boasting to Titus about you has also proved to be the truth.

And not only that, but he has been elected by the Churches to accompany us on our journey, in Keynesian with this expression of your love, which we are personally administering to the honor of the Lord, and to show our deep interest.

I know, of course, your willingness to help, and I am always boasting of it to the Macedonians. I tell them that you in Greece have been ready for a year past; and it was really your zeal that stimulated most of them.

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.

So that we shall be able to tell the Good News in the districts beyond you, without trespassing on the sphere assigned to others, or boasting of what has been already done.

I admit, to my shame, that we have been weak. But whatever the subject on which others are not afraid to boast--though it is foolish to say so--I am not afraid either!

Are they 'Servants of Christ'? Though it is madness to talk like this, I am more so than they! I have had more of toil, more of imprisonment! I have been flogged times without number. I have been often at death's door.

My journeys have been many. I have been through dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my own people, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in towns, dangers in the country, dangers on the sea, dangers among false Brothers.

I have been through toil and hardship. I have passed many a sleepless night; I have endured hunger and thirst; I have often been without food; I have known cold and nakedness.

But his reply has been-- 'My help is enough for you; for my strength attains its perfection in the midst of weakness.' Most gladly, then, will I boast all the more of my weaknesses, so that the strength of the Christ may overshadow me.

I have been "playing the fool!" It is you who drove me to it. For it is you who ought to have been commending me! Although I am nobody, in no respect did I prove inferior to the most eminent Apostles.

Have you all this time been fancying that it is to you that we are making our defense? No, it is in the sight of God, and in union with Christ, that we are speaking. And all this, dear friends, is to build up your characters;

I am afraid lest, on my next visit, my God may humble me in regard to you, and that I may have to mourn over many who have long been sinning, and have not repented of the impurity, immorality, and sensuality, in which they have indulged.

I have said it, and I say it again before I come, just as if I were with you on my second visit, though for the moment absent, I say to those who have been long sinning, as well as to all others--that if I come again, I shall spare no one.