He delivered us from so great a risk of death, and he will deliver us. We have set our hope on him that he will deliver us yet again,

just as also you have partly understood us, that we are your source of pride just as you also are ours in the day of the Lord Jesus.

And I wrote this very thing to you, so that when I came I would not have sadness from those who ought to make me rejoice, since I am confident in you all that my joy would be yours.

For out of great distress and anguish of heart I wrote to you with many tears, not to make you sad, but to let you know the love that I have especially for you.

If you forgive anyone for anything, I also forgive him -- for indeed what I have forgiven (if I have forgiven anything) I did so for you in the presence of Christ,

Now we have such confidence in God through Christ.

Therefore, since we have such a hope, we behave with great boldness,

Therefore, since we have this ministry, just as God has shown us mercy, we do not become discouraged.

But we have rejected shameful hidden deeds, not behaving with deceptiveness or distorting the word of God, but by open proclamation of the truth we commend ourselves to everyone's conscience before God.

But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that the extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us.

But since we have the same spirit of faith as that shown in what has been written, "I believed; therefore I spoke," we also believe, therefore we also speak.

For we know that if our earthly house, the tent we live in, is dismantled, we have a building from God, a house not built by human hands, that is eternal in the heavens.

if indeed, after we have put on our heavenly house, we will not be found naked.

For the love of Christ controls us, since we have concluded this, that Christ died for all; therefore all have died.

So then from now on we acknowledge no one from an outward human point of view. Even though we have known Christ from such a human point of view, now we do not know him in that way any longer.

But as God's servants, we have commended ourselves in every way, with great endurance, in persecutions, in difficulties, in distresses,

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

Do not become partners with those who do not believe, for what partnership is there between righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship does light have with darkness?

And what agreement does Christ have with Beliar? Or what does a believer share in common with an unbeliever?

And what mutual agreement does the temple of God have with idols? For we are the temple of the living God, just as God said, "I will live in them and will walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people."

Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that could defile the body and the spirit, and thus accomplish holiness out of reverence for God.

Make room for us in your hearts; we have wronged no one, we have ruined no one, we have exploited no one.

I have great confidence in you; I take great pride on your behalf. I am filled with encouragement; I am overflowing with joy in the midst of all our suffering.

For see what this very thing, this sadness as God intended, has produced in you: what eagerness, what defense of yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what deep concern, what punishment! In everything you have proved yourselves to be innocent in this matter.

Therefore we have been encouraged. And in addition to our own encouragement, we rejoiced even more at the joy of Titus, because all of you have refreshed his spirit.

For if I have boasted to him about anything concerning you, I have not been embarrassed by you, but just as everything we said to you was true, so our boasting to Titus about you has proved true as well.

that during a severe ordeal of suffering, their abundant joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in the wealth of their generosity.

For if the eagerness is present, the gift itself is acceptable according to whatever one has, not according to what he does not have.

as it is written: "The one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little."

But thanks be to God who put in the heart of Titus the same devotion I have for you,

And we are sending with them our brother whom we have tested many times and found eager in many matters, but who now is much more eager than ever because of the great confidence he has in you.

And God is able to make all grace overflow to you so that because you have enough of everything in every way at all times, you will overflow in every good work.

now I ask that when I am present I may not have to be bold with the confidence that (I expect) I will dare to use against some who consider us to be behaving according to human standards.

And even if I am unskilled in speaking, yet I am certainly not so in knowledge. Indeed, we have made this plain to you in everything in every way.

I have been on journeys many times, in dangers from rivers, in dangers from robbers, in dangers from my own countrymen, in dangers from Gentiles, in dangers in the city, in dangers in the wilderness, in dangers at sea, in dangers from false brothers,

I have become a fool. You yourselves forced me to do it, for I should have been commended by you. For I lack nothing in comparison to those "super-apostles," even though I am nothing.

Look, for the third time I am ready to come to you, and I will not be a burden to you, because I do not want your possessions, but you. For children should not have to save up for their parents, but parents for their children.

But be that as it may, I have not burdened you. Yet because I was a crafty person, I took you in by deceit!

I have not taken advantage of you through anyone I have sent to you, have I?

Have you been thinking all this time that we have been defending ourselves to you? We are speaking in Christ before God, and everything we do, dear friends, is to build you up.

I am afraid that when I come again, my God may humiliate me before you, and I will grieve for many of those who previously sinned and have not repented of the impurity, sexual immorality, and licentiousness that they have practiced.

And I hope that you will realize that we have not failed the test!

Now we pray to God that you may not do anything wrong, not so that we may appear to have passed the test, but so that you may do what is right even if we may appear to have failed the test.

Because of this I am writing these things while absent, so that when I arrive I may not have to deal harshly with you by using my authority -- the Lord gave it to me for building up, not for tearing down!