Because I was confident, I planned to come to you first so you might receive a double blessing.

I planned to leave you in order to go to Macedonia, and then come back to you from Macedonia, and let you send me on to Judea.

This is the very reason I wrote you, so that when I did come I might not be made sad by those who should have made me happy. For I had confidence that all of you would share the joy that I have.

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

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

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.

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

Otherwise, if any Macedonians come with me and find out that you are not ready, we would be humiliated to say nothing of you in this undertaking.

I beg you that when I come I will not need to be courageous by daring to oppose some people who think that we are living according to the flesh.

For if someone comes along and preaches another Jesus than the one we preached, or should you receive a different spirit from the one you received or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you are all too willing to listen.

I am afraid that I may come and somehow find you not as I want to find you, and that you may find me not as you want to find me. Perhaps there will be quarreling, jealousy, anger, selfishness, slander, gossip, arrogance, and disorderly conduct.

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.

I have already warned those who sinned previously and all the rest. Although I am absent now, I am warning them as I did on my second visit: If I come back, I will not spare you,

For this reason I am writing this while I am away from you: When I come I do not want to be severe in using the authority the Lord gave me to build you up and not to tear you down.