For out of great sorrow and distress of heart, yes, while shedding many tears, I wrote you, not to make you sad but to make you realize that my love for you continues running over.

So I beg you in your love to reinstate him entirely.

For the love of Christ continuously constrains me, because I am convinced that as One died for all, all have died,

through my personal purity, my knowledge, my patience, my kindness; through the Holy Spirit, my genuine love,

O Corinthians, my tongue is telling you everything; my heart is stretched with love for you.

To pay me back, I tell you, my children, you too must stretch your hearts with love for me.

Yes, just as you are growing rich in everything else, in faith, expression, knowledge, perfect enthusiasm, and the love inspired in you by us, you must see to it that you grow rich in this gracious contribution too.

I am not saying this in the spirit of a command, but I am simply trying to test the genuineness of your love by the enthusiasm of others.

So you must furnish them, before all the churches, proof of your love and ground for my praising you so highly.

So I have thought it necessary to urge these brothers to visit you ahead of me and get your promised love-offering ready beforehand, so as to have it ready as a real love-offering, not as one grasped and grudgingly given.

Why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do.

So in my own case, I will most happily spend my money and myself for your sakes. If I love you much more than I love others, am I to be loved less by you?

The spiritual blessing of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the common sharing of the Holy Spirit be with you all.