But I call upon God [as] witness against my life, that [in order to] spare you, I did not come again to Corinth.

For out of great distress and anguish of heart I wrote to you through many tears, not so that you may be caused to be sad, but so that you may know the love that I have especially for you.

Therefore I urge you to confirm [your] love for him.

to those on the one hand an odor from death to death, [and] to those on the other hand a fragrance from life to life. And who [is] qualified for these [things]?

who also makes us adequate [as] servants of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit, for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

always carrying around the death of Jesus in our body, in order that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.

For we who are alive [are] continually being handed over to death because of Jesus, in order that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our mortal flesh.

So then, death is at work in us, but life in you.

For indeed we who are in this tent groan, being burdened {for this reason, that} we do not want to be unclothed, but to be clothed, in order that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.

for we live by faith, not by sight--

For the love of Christ controls us, [because we] have concluded this: that one died for all; as a result all died.

And he died for all, in order that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for the one who died for them and was raised.

in purity, in knowledge, in patience, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in love without hypocrisy,

And what 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 about [among them], and I will be their God and they will be my people."

I do not say [this] {to condemn you}, because I have already said that you are in our hearts, so that we die together and we live together.

But just as you excel in everything--in faith and in speaking and in knowledge and with all diligence and in the love from us [that is] in you--so may you excel in this grace also.

I am not saying [this] as a command, but proving the genuineness of your love by means of the diligence of others.

Therefore show to them the proof of your love and our boasting about you {openly before} the churches.

{Why}? Because I do not love you? God knows [I do]!

But I will spend and be expended most gladly for your lives. If I love you much more, am I to be loved less?

For indeed, he was crucified because of weakness, but he lives because of the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but we will live together with him because of the power of God toward you.

Finally, brothers, rejoice, be restored, be encouraged, {be in agreement}, be at peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit [be] with all of you.