He has delivered us from such a terrible death, and He will deliver us. We have put our hope in Him that He will deliver us again

For this is our confidence: The testimony of our conscience is that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially toward you, with God-given sincerity and purity, not by fleshly wisdom but by God’s grace.

as you have partially understood us—that we are your reason for pride, as you are ours, in the day of our Lord Jesus.

I planned with this confidence to come to you first, so you could have a double benefit,

I do not mean that we have control of your faith, but we are workers with you for your joy, because you stand by faith.

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I wrote this very thing so that when I came I wouldn’t have pain from those who ought to give me joy, because I am confident about all of you that my joy will also be yours.

For I wrote to you with many tears out of an extremely troubled and anguished heart—not that you should be hurt, but that you should know the abundant love I have for you.

If you forgive anyone, I do too. For what I have forgiven—if I have forgiven anything—it is for you in the presence of Christ.

We have this kind of confidence toward God through Christ.

Therefore, since we have this ministry because we were shown mercy, we do not give up.

Instead, we have renounced shameful secret things, not walking in deceit or distorting God’s message, but commending ourselves to every person’s conscience in God’s sight by an open display of the truth.

Now we have this treasure in clay jars, so that this extraordinary power may be from God and not from us.

And since we have the same spirit of faith in keeping with what is written, I believed, therefore I spoke, we also believe, and therefore speak.

For we know that if our temporary, earthly dwelling is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal dwelling in the heavens, not made with hands.

We are not commending ourselves to you again, but giving you an opportunity to be proud of us, so that you may have a reply for those who take pride in the outward appearance rather than in the heart.

For if we are out of our mind, it is for God; if we have a sound mind, it is for you.

For Christ’s love compels us, since we have reached this conclusion: If One died for all, then all died.

From now on, then, we do not know anyone in a purely human way. Even if we have known Christ in a purely human way, yet now we no longer know Him in this way.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away, and look, new things have come.

We have spoken openly to you, Corinthians; our heart has been opened wide.

Do not be mismatched with unbelievers. For what partnership is there between righteousness and lawlessness? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness?

What agreement does Christ have with Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?

And what agreement does God’s sanctuary have with idols? For we are the sanctuary of the living God, as God said:

I will dwell among them
and walk among them,
and I will be their God,
and they will be My people.

Therefore, dear friends, since we have such promises, let us cleanse ourselves from every impurity of the flesh and spirit, completing our sanctification in the fear of God.

Accept us. We have wronged no one, corrupted no one, defrauded no one.

I don’t say this to condemn you, for I have already said that you are in our hearts, to live together and to die together.

I have great confidence in you; I have great pride in you. I am filled with encouragement; I am overcome with joy in all our afflictions.

For consider how much diligence this very thing—this grieving as God wills—has produced in you: what a desire to clear yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what deep longing, what zeal, what justice! In every way you showed yourselves to be pure in this matter.

For this reason we have been comforted.

In addition to our comfort, we rejoiced even more over the joy Titus had, because his spirit was refreshed by all of you.

For if I have made any boast to him about you, I have not been embarrassed; but as I have spoken everything to you in truth, so our boasting to Titus has also turned out to be the truth.

I rejoice that I have complete confidence in you.

But now finish the task as well, that just as there was eagerness to desire it, so there may also be a completion from what you have.

For if the eagerness is there, it is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what he does not have.

As it has been written:

The person who gathered much
did not have too much,
and the person who gathered little
did not have too little.

We have sent with him the brother who is praised throughout the churches for his gospel ministry.

We have also sent with them our brother. We have often tested him in many circumstances and found him to be diligent—and now even more diligent because of his great confidence in you.

And they will have deep affection for you in their prayers on your behalf because of the surpassing grace of God in you.

For we are not overextending ourselves, as if we had not reached you, since we have come to you with the gospel of Christ.

We are not bragging beyond measure about other people’s labors. But we have the hope that as your faith increases, our area of ministry will be greatly enlarged,

For I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy, because I have promised you in marriage to one husband—to present a pure virgin to Christ.

Though untrained in public speaking, I am certainly not untrained in knowledge. Indeed, we have always made that clear to you in everything.

When I was present with you and in need, I did not burden anyone, for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied my needs. I have kept myself, and will keep myself, from burdening you in any way.

I say this to our shame: We have been weak.

But in whatever anyone dares to boast—I am talking foolishly—I also dare:

Three times I was beaten with rods by the Romans.
Once I was stoned by my enemies.
Three times I was shipwrecked.
I have spent a night and a day
in the open sea.

I have become a fool; you forced it on me. I should have been endorsed by you, since I am not in any way inferior to the “super-apostles,” even though I am nothing.

Now granted, I have not burdened you; yet sly as I am, I took you in by deceit!

You have thought all along that we were defending ourselves to you. No, in the sight of God we are speaking in Christ, and everything, dear friends, is for building you up.

I fear that when I come my God will again humiliate me in your presence, and I will grieve for many who sinned before and have not repented of the moral impurity, sexual immorality, and promiscuity they practiced.