From: Paul, an apostle of the Messiah Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother. To: God's church in Corinth, and to all the holy people throughout Achaia.

May grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, be yours!

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah! He is our merciful Father and the God of all comfort,

who comforts us in all our suffering, so that we may be able to comfort others in all their suffering, as we ourselves are being comforted by God.

In fact, we felt that we had received a death sentence so we would not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.

as you also help us by your prayers for us. Then many people will thank God on our behalf because of the favor shown us through the prayers of many.

For this is what we boast about: Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world with pure motives and godly sincerity, without earthly wisdom but with God's grace especially toward you.

As certainly as God is faithful, we haven't talked to you with mixed messages like that.

For God's Son, Jesus the Messiah, who was preached among you by us by me, Silvanus, and Timothy was not "Yes" and "No." But with him it is always "Yes."

For all God's promises are "Yes" in him. And so through him we can say "Amen," to the glory of God.

Now the one who makes us and you as well secure in union with the Messiah and has anointed us is God,

I call upon God as a witness on my behalf that it was in order to spare you that I did not return to Corinth.

But thanks be to God! He always leads us triumphantly by the Messiah and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of knowing him.

To God we are the aroma of the Messiah among those who are being saved and among those who are being lost.

At least we are not commercializing God's word like so many others. Instead, we speak with sincerity in the Messiah's name, like people who are sent from God and are accountable to God.

You are demonstrating that you are the Messiah's letter, produced by our service, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

Such is the confidence that we have in God through the Messiah.

By ourselves we are not qualified to claim that anything comes from us. Rather, our credentials come from God,

Therefore, since we have this ministry through the mercy shown to us, we do not get discouraged.

Instead, we have renounced secret and shameful ways. We do not use trickery or pervert God's word. By clear statements of the truth we commend ourselves to everyone's conscience before God.

In their case, the god of this world has blinded the minds of those who do not believe to keep them from seeing the light of the glorious gospel of the Messiah, who is the image of God.

For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," has shone in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God's glory in the face of Jesus the Messiah.

But we have this treasure in clay jars to show that its extraordinary power comes from God and not from us.

We know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus will also raise us with Jesus and present us to God together with you.

All this is for your sake so that, as his grace spreads, more and more people will give thanks and glorify God.

We know that if the earthly tent we live in is torn down, we have a building in heaven that comes from God, an eternal house not built by human hands.

God has prepared us for this and has given us his Spirit as a guarantee.

For all of us must appear before the judgment seat of the Messiah, so that each of us may receive what he deserves for what he has done in his body, whether good or worthless.

Therefore, since we know what it means to fear the Lord, we try to persuade people. We ourselves are perfectly known to God. I hope we are also really known to your consciences.

So if we were crazy, it was for God; if we are sane, it is for you.

All of this comes from God, who has reconciled us to himself through the Messiah and has given us the ministry of reconciliation,

for through the Messiah, God was reconciling the world to himself by not counting their sins against them. He has committed his message of reconciliation to us.

Therefore, we are the Messiah's representatives, as though God were pleading through us. We plead on the Messiah's behalf: "Be reconciled to God!"

God made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that God's righteousness would be produced in us.

Since, then, we are working with God, we plead with you not to accept God's grace in vain.

Instead, in every way we demonstrate that we are God's servants by tremendous endurance in the midst of difficulties, hardships, and calamities;

through honor and dishonor; through ill repute and good repute; perceived as deceivers and yet true,

We have not cut you off, but you have cut off your own feelings toward us.

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 and walk among them. I will be their God, and they will be my people."

Therefore, "Get away from them and separate yourselves from them," declares the Lord, "and don't touch anything unclean. Then I will welcome you.

Since we have these promises, dear friends, let's cleanse ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit by becoming mature in our holy fear of God.

Yet God, who comforts those who feel miserable, comforted us by the arrival of Titus,

So, even though I wrote to you, it wasn't because of the man who did the wrong or because of the man who was hurt. Instead, I wrote to you so that your devotion to us might be made perfectly clear to you before God.

We want you to know, brothers, about God's grace that was given to the churches of Macedonia.

We did not expect that! They gave themselves to the Lord first and then to us, since this was God's will.

But thanks be to God, who placed in the heart of Titus the same dedication to you that I have.

Each of you must give what you have decided in your heart, not with regret or under compulsion, since God loves a cheerful giver.

Besides, God is able to make every blessing of yours overflow for you, so that in every situation you will always have all you need for any good work.

In every way you will grow richer and become even more generous, and this will cause others to give thanks to God because of us,

since this ministry you render is not only fully supplying the needs of the saints, it is also overflowing with more and more prayers of thanksgiving to God.

Because your service in giving proves your love, you will be glorifying God as you obey what your confession of the Messiah's gospel demands, since you are generous in sharing with them and with everyone else.

And so in their prayers for you they will long for you because of God's exceptional grace that was shown to you.

Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!

For the weapons of our warfare are not those of the world. Instead, they have the power of God to demolish fortresses. We tear down arguments

and every proud obstacle that is raised against the knowledge of God, taking every thought captive in order to obey the Messiah.

We will not boast about what cannot be evaluated. Instead, we will stay within the field that God assigned us, so as to reach even you.

I am jealous of you with God's own jealousy, because I promised you in marriage to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to the Messiah.

Did I commit a sin when I humbled myself by proclaiming to you the gospel of God free of charge, so that you could be exalted?

Why? Because I do not love you? God knows that I do!

The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying.

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

I know a man who belongs to the Messiah. Fourteen years ago whether in his body or outside of his body, I do not know, but God knows that man was snatched away to the third heaven.

I know that this man whether in his body or outside of his body, I do not know, but God knows

Have you been thinking all along that we are trying to defend ourselves before you? We are speaking before God in the authority of the Messiah, and everything, dear friends, is meant to build you up.

I am afraid that when I come my God may again humble me before you and that I may have to grieve over many who formerly lived in sin and have not repented of their impurity, sexual immorality, and promiscuity that they once practiced.

Though he was crucified in weakness, he lives by God's power. We are weak with him, but by God's power we will live for you.

We pray to God that you will not do anything wrong not to show that we have not failed the test, but so that you may do what is right, even if we seem to have failed.

Finally, brothers, goodbye. Keep on growing to maturity. Keep listening to my appeals. Continue agreeing with each other and living in peace. Then the God of love and peace will be with you.

May the grace of the Lord Jesus the Messiah, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you!