Indeed, I had in myself, and still have, the sentence of death, in order that I might not rely on myself, but on God who raises the dead to life.

For this is my proud boast, the testimony of my conscience, that it was in holiness and with pure motives before God, not in worldly wisdom, but in the grace of God, that I have conducted myself in the world, and above all in my relations with you.

As God is faithful, my message to you is not now "Yes," now "No."

For Jesus Christ, Son of God, who was proclaimed among you by us, that is, by Silvanus and Timothy and me, was not wavering between "Yes" and "No," but in him is the everlasting "Yes."

But for my part I call God to witness, as my soul shall answer for it, that it was to spare you that I came not to Corinth

(not that I am attempting to lord it over your faith, but rather to work with you for your happiness); for your faith is stedfast.

I decided that I would not visit you again in grief;

And for this very reason I wrote you, that I might not come only to be grieved by those who ought to give me joy; and because I trusted in you all, that my joy is the joy of all of you.

For I wrote to you out of much affliction and anguish of heart, through many tears; not to pain you, but to convince you of my love, my abundant love for you.

As to him who has been, and now is, causing pain, it is not I whom he has pained, but all of you??t least some of you (not to overstate the case).

for your sakes, that I may not be overreached by Satan, for I am not ignorant of his devices.

I am; for I am not like most, trafficking in the word of God, but rather from a sincere heart, like a man of God, I speak in Christ, in the very presence of God.

Am I beginning again to "recommend" myself? Or do I need, as some do, letters of commendation either to you or from you?

Since all can see that you are a letter of Christ transcribed by men, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone, but on human hearts as tablets.

Not that I am sufficient in myself to reach any conclusion in my own wisdom; but my sufficiency is from God.

It is he who has also made me sufficient as a minister of a new covenant; not of a letter but of a spirit; for the letter kills, but the spirit makes alive.

If, however, the administration of death, written with letters and engraved on stones, began in glory, so that the children of Israel could not gaze steadily on the face of Moses, because of the glory of his face?? glory even then fading??8 how much more shall the ministry of the Spirit abide in glory?

I do not do as Moses did, who used to cover his face with a veil to keep the children of Israel from beholding the passing of a fading glory.

Nay, their minds were made dull; for to this very day, at the public reading of the Old Testament, the same veil rests thereon, because it is not revealed to them that in Christ the veil is taken away.

So then, as I have this ministry because of God's mercy to me, I do not lose heart.

I have renounced the hidden things of shame, not spending my life in craftiness, nor adulterating the word of God; but setting forth the truth openly, I strive to commend myself to every man's conscience as in the sight of God.

Among them the god of this age has blinded the understanding of the unbelieving so that the sunshine of the gospel of God, should not dawn upon them.

It is not myself that I proclaim, but Christ Jesus as Master, and myself that I proclaim, and myself your slave for Jesus' sake.

But I hold this treasure in an earthen vessel, in order that the surpassing greatness of the power may be from God, and not from myself.

On every side I am hard pressed, yet not hemmed in; perplexed, but not in despair;

persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.

For this reason, as I have said, I do not lose courage, but even though my outward man is wasting away, my inward man is being renewed, day by day.

while I am gazing not at things seen, but at things unseen; for things seen are temporal, but things unseen are eternal.

For I know, if this earthly tent of mine were struck, I have a mansion built by God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

I shall not be found naked.

For in this tent of mine I am groaning in deep trouble; not that I wish to be unclothed, but to be clothed upon, that what is mortal may be swallowed up in life.

for I am walking by faith, not by sight.

I am not "commending myself to you again," but I am giving you an occasion of boasting on my behalf, so that you may have an answer ready for those who boast in externals, and not in the heart.

how that God was in Christ reconciling a world to himself, not reckoning to men their trespasses; and that to me he has entrusted the message of that reconciliation.

As a worker with him I beseech you not to receive the grace of God in vain.

I am giving no one a cause of stumbling in order that my ministry may not be discredited;

as unknown and yet well known; as at death's door, yet, strange to tell, I live on; as chastened, but not killed;

Be not unequally yoked with unbelievers; for what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? what communion has light with darkness?

Therefore, Come out from among them and separate yourselves, saith the Lord, touch not what is unclean;

I am not saying this to blame you, for as I have already said, I hold you in my heart to live together and to die together.

and not alone by his coming, but also by the comfort you had been to him. For he told me of your eager longing, of your penitence, and of your zeal on my behalf, so that I was happier still.

Even if I caused you pain by my letter, I do not regret; though I did regret it when I saw that my letter had caused you pain, even for a time.

But now I am glad; not because you were pained; but because your pain led you to repentance.

Note the results of this pain which God permitted; what earnestness it has called forth in you, what explanations, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what fervor, what punishment of wrong. In every way you have proved yourselves innocent in the matter.

So then, even if I did write to you, it was not for the sake of the wrong-doer, or of him who had been wronged, but to make clear to yourselves in the sight of God your earnest care for me.

Although I have been boasting a little to him about you, I have not been put to shame. But as in every matter I have spoken the truth to you, so also my boast to Titus has been proved to be the truth.

And this not as I had expected, but in accordance with the will of God, they first gave themselves to God and to me.

I do not say this by way of command, but by the zeal of others I am trying to prove the reality of your love.

And I will give you my opinion in this matter; for this offering is fitting in your case, considering that you made a beginning before others, not only in the willingness to do something but also in actually doing something a year ago.

For if there be first willing mind, the gift is accepted according to what a man has, and not according to what he has not.

even as it is written, He who gathered much had nothing over, and he who gathered little did not lack.

For he not only consented to my request, but being thoroughly in earnest, comes to you of his own accord.

For I aim at being above reproach, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men.

Nevertheless I am sending the brothers in order that my boast about you may not prove vain in this instance; so that, as I kept saying, you may be prepared.

For if any Macedonians come with me and find you not ready, shame would come upon me (not to speak of you) in respect to this confidence.

So I have thought that I must ask these brothers to visit you beforehand, and get your promised contribution ready in advance. I want it to be given of your bounty, not extorted from your covetousness.

But let each give according to the purpose of his heart; not grudgingly of under compulsion. It is a cheerful giver that God loves.

Because the ministry of this contribution not only supplies the needs of the saints, but also overflows in many a thanksgiving to God.

Now I Paul, myself, appeal to you by the humble-heartedness and selflessness of Christ??aul who "in your presence is humble, but bold enough when he is absent"??2 I beseech you, and I say, do not make me show my boldness, when I come in the boldness with which I think I shall show my courage against some who think that I am walking on the low level of the flesh.

Though I do walk on the low level of the flesh, I do not make war as the flesh does;

for the weapons of my warfare are not weapons of the flesh, but mighty for God, in pulling down all fortresses.

If, however, I were to boast more loudly concerning the authority which the Lord gave me (not to cast you down, but to build you up), I should have no cause for shame.

Let it not seem as if I were overawing you with my letters.

I have not indeed the audacity to class myself among, or compare myself with, certain of the self-commenders; yet they are not wise in measuring themselves by one another and in comparing themselves with one another.

I, however, will not indulge in undue boasting, but will confine it within the limits of the sphere to which God has assigned me?? sphere which reaches even to you.

For I am not overstepping the limits of my authority, as though I reached you not; since I have already come even as far as Corinth to proclaim the gospel of Christ.

I am not "boasting beyond measure in the labors of others," but it is my hope that, as your faith goes on increasing among yourselves, by the enlargement of my appointed limits,

I may carry the gospel to countries beyond you; and not be boasting of work made ready to my hand within another man's limit.

For a man is proved worthy, not by his self-commendation, but when he is commended by the Lord.

If indeed some one is coming to preach another Jesus, whom I did not preach, or you are receiving a Spirit other than you once received, or another gospel which you did not accept before, you would do well to bear with me.

Yes, though I be unskilled in speech, at least I am not in knowledge; indeed I made this perfectly plain to you in all things and among all men.

As the truth of Christ is in me, this boasting of mine shall not be stopped within the boundaries of Greece!

And why? Because I love you not? God knows I do.

What I am about to say I am not speaking by the Lord's command, but as it were in pure folly, in this boldness of boasting.

Three times I have been scourged by the Romans; once I have been stoned; three times have I been shipwrecked; a night and a day have I been adrift in the open sea.

Not to mention other things, there is the crowding pressure of each day upon me, the care of all the churches.

Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is caused to stumble, but I burn with indignation?

I know a Christian man who, fourteen years ago (whether in the body I know not, or out of the body, I know not. God knows), was caught up??his man of whom I speak??ven into the third heaven.

And I know such a man (whether in the body or apart from the body I know not, God knows),

Of such a one I will boast; but on my own behalf I will not boast except in my weaknesses.

If I should choose to continue boasting I should not be foolish, for I should be speaking the truth. But I refrain, lest by the stupendous grandeur of the revelation any one should estimate me beyond what he sees in me, or hears from me.

In what respect, then, were you inferior to the other churches, except that I myself was not a burden to you? Forgive me this wrong!

And now for the third time I am preparing to visit you. I will not be a burden to you, for I am not seeking yours, but you. For the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children.

But though it be granted that I was not a burden to you, yet, you say, this was my cunning with which I caught you by a trick.

I urged Titus to go, and with him I sent our brother. Did Titus make gain of you? And did I not walk in the same spirit as he did? Did I not take the very same steps?

For I dread that perhaps, when I come, I may not find you to be such as I wish, and that I may be found by you such as you do not wish; I dread lest there should be quarrels, jealousy, tempers, party spirit, slandering, gossip, arrogance, tumults;

and lest when I come again my God may humble me before you, and lest I shall mourn for many those who have sinned before, and have not repented of the impurity and immorality and wantonness which they have practised.

I have said formerly, and I now forewarn you as when I was present the second time, so now when I am absent the second time, so now when I am absent, saying to those who had sinned before, and to all the rest, "If I come again, I will not spare,"

Since you want a proof of Christ who is speaking in me, he who is not feeble toward you, but powerful among you.

Examine yourselves to see if you are in the faith; put your own selves to the proof. Or do you not know, your own selves, that Jesus Christ is in you, unless indeed you fail to abide the proof?

And my prayer to God is that you may do no evil; not in order that I may appear approved, but that you may do what is noble, though I should seem unable to abide the proof.

For this reason I am writing thus while absent, so that when I come, I may not have to deal sharply, according to the authority which the Lord gave me for building up, and not for pulling down.