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

He delivered us from so deadly a peril, and he will deliver us; on him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again.

I planned to visit you on my way to Macedonia and to come back to you from Macedonia, and then to have you send me on my way to Judea.

And I wrote as I did, so that when I came I might not suffer pain from those who should have made me rejoice, for I had confidence in all of you, that my joy would be the joy of you all.

to the one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. And who is sufficient for these things?

For we are not, like so many, peddling the word of God; but as men of sincerity, as from God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.

Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you, or from you?

You show that you are a letter from Christ, delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of carnal hearts.

Not that we are competent of ourselves to claim anything as coming from ourselves; but our competence is from God,

We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at the end of the radiance that was fading away.

And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another, for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.

For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

Therefore we are always of good courage; and we know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord,

We are confident, I say, and would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a fleshly point of view; even though we once regarded Christ from a fleshly point of view, we regard him thus no longer.

All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation;

Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.

Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

But I am afraid that just as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.

For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the one we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.

I robbed other churches by accepting support from them in order to serve you.

And when I was with you and needed something, I was not a burden to anyone, for the brethren who came from Macedonia supplied what I needed. I have kept myself from being a burden to you in any way, and will continue to do so.

And what I am doing, I will also continue to do, in order to cut the ground from under those who want an opportunity to be considered equal with us in the things of which they boast.

Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one.

I have been on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, in danger from robbers, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles, in danger in the city, in danger in the wilderness, in danger at sea, and in danger from false brethren;

And I know that this manwhether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows

Though if I should boast, I will not be a fool, for I will be speaking the truth. But I refrain from it, so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me.

And to keep me from being too elated because of the abundance of revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to harass me, to keep me from being too elated.

Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should depart from me.